Wullie vs The Edinburgh Marathon

A journal to chart my progress as I attempt to run a marathon.

Marathon date :- 23rd May 2010
Days to go :- 203

Weight :- 16st 4
Age :- 35
Fitness level :- Errrrrr

Training.
Friday night I started my training regime for the London Marathon.
It was a total eye opener.
I'm following the "Couch to 5K" program to kick off with and then start the marathon program (kindly provided by $kint) early in the New Year. I'll chuck in a cheeky wee half marathon around March time as a guide.

So the C25K program gets you off your arse and gently back into a running program via training 3 days in every week. Week 1 involves you running for 60secs then walking for 90secs for a total of about 30 mins. Week 2 increases the run time and decreases the walk time etc etc so that in 9 weeks you should be able to run 5k in 30 minutes easily.
I was a fit guy in the past and thought this program was taking the piss. It would be a breeze.
Errrrr... no.
It was a humbling experience. I could just about do the first session. Totally stunned!
In the days between not running I'm doing some light weights and following the 100 push up program. I'm also doing light workouts on a cross trainer at the local gym as per 4me2's suggestion for good all over training.
I do week 1 - day 3 on Tuesday

Diet
No set diet as yet. This will come when I start the full marathon traing program. At this time it is healthy eating. No pop or junk. Plenty of water and a balanced diet with serious portion control!

Motivation
I had Hodgkins Lymphoma. I have seen too many of my fellow cancer sufferers die in the last 24 months. I'm doing it for them and to show that this disease can be beaten.
That's motivation enough.

Thanks for all the info and support so far!
Wish me luck. :yes:

Days to go :- 194
Weight :- 15st 13 (5lb loss)
Fitness level :- still sh!t

Week one is under the belt now and I'm feeling pretty good about it. Managed to go from only 4 "good form" pushups and then collapsing to now 5 reps of 15. It doesn't sound a lot but when you are in as bad a shape as me it is some achievement! :)
I've noticed a rmarked reduction in my moobs as well due to the pushups, which is a bonus.

Running is going well. The C25K program is good for easing you in. I'll be doing Week 2 day 2 tonight which is running for 90 secs and then walking for 2 minutes over a 30 minutes period. I'm not having any problems here at all and feel I could up the pace a bit but I'm sticking to this program and doing it right. I walk at 4mph and run / jog at about 6.5mph... I did a test on a treadmill at the local gym.
Baby steps all the way.

Knees are a bit fragile from pounding the road so am looking for a soft surface near me to run on. Tried the treadmill at the gym but just didn't like it. Running on the road felt harder for some reason (maybe air and wind resistance as well as being fecking cold recently) and, since the marathon takes place outside, I figure I might as well stick to being outside!

Not an awful lot to report on this week.
Man flu has kept me down to just the one run but have been keeping the pushups going. 4 reps of 18 with a final of 25 so core strength build up is definitely happening.
Hopefully back on track from today.