Things I learned when I ran the marathon for what is, so far, the only time:

1. I’m slow.

2. I can run for a long time slowly.

3. This means that I was overtaken by the Hintertux Glacier.

4. It also means that I ran twice as long as Paula Radcliffe did that day. You tell me - who’s the real athlete?

 

Five years after my first attempt, I’m doing it again. The reasons are two-fold:

1. I’d like to raise money for the rainforest foundation and thereby save the most remarkable natural resource on the planet for future generations. (www.justgiving.com/joeharland)

2. My son Noah told his teachers that ‘Daddy runs marathons’. In order to avoid making a liar of him I felt a second crack was necessary so that the plural was at least slightly accurate.

 

Just before valentine’s day I ran a 10k in 50.47.

 

This Sunday I’m going to attempt to get around the Milton Keynes half marathon course in under 2 hours. It’s not the mother’s day I hoped to provide for my wonderful partner Nicola, but without it I’ll be horribly under-prepared for April 13.

 

I am running it with my long time cohort Chris, who due to a recurring shin injury will be running the event in ‘compression socks’ (DVT leggings I think). This presumably adds to his speed as the shame of looking half-man-half-hairy-netballer will no doubt cause him to rattle around the course in record time. I myself will allow my gait (described by one friend as ‘like a squid on a trampoline’) to do the shaming for me.