Success in the ballot

After three failed attempts at gaining a London Marathon place through the over-subscribed ballot system, I finally managed to bag one. I’d have been running in 2013 either way as I’ve been able to creep into the 5-goes-and-you-get-a-guaranteed-place system before they phased it out. But in April 2012, I’ll be running the Virgin London Marathon without the pressure of raising money for a charity, or being followed as a pacer. This year it’s all about me!

Actually, it’s always been about me. I’m writing a blog documenting the highs and lows of my personal training, a subject that interests no-one but me. How narcissistic can you get? I mean, come on. “Oooh, boo hoo, I lost a toenail.” or “Look at me, here’s how many hits this blog has had.” [I actually did this.]

And to top it off, I’ve been writing posts describing, in detail, just how little training I’m actually doing, in the hope of running a sub 4-hour marathon on my first go? My naivety was actually pointed out to me quite recently by some forum members on Runner’s World while I was writing a piece on running a sub 20-minute 5K. And they were quite right to scrutinize. “Jogging occasionally” was pretty much what I was doing.

Don’t get me wrong, I was putting in the hours. But in the beginning there was no structure or, let’s face it, hard work in any of my training. And because of this, I have some fairly decent shorter distance PBs (41:45 10K, 1:41:41 half-marathon), but a marathon time that is completely unrepresentative of my current fitness level (4:21:21).

So here I am, three years after starting this blog. I’ve been working at Runner’s World magazine for nearly two years, competing in a weekly 5K handicap race with the people at the London Marathon, speed training every Tuesday lunch time and running alongside some pretty tremendous athletes. Not to mention, getting to run in almost any race I like. I’m in a very privileged position. I’ve got access to the right kit, supplements and advice, as well as having a superb bunch of colleagues to run with. As not to squander my position, I’ve set myself a much tougher goal this year. It’s sub-4 or die. Actually it’s sub-3 hours and 45 minutes or die. I’ve based this goal on some recent training times and as of right now (one month into training) I’m fairly certain that I could run a 1:40:00 half-marathon.

That’s it. It’s in the public domain. There’s no going back now. I only hope that I don’t forget to respect the marathon distance. I’ve done it before, but never at this pace (8:30 min/miles) and I’ve yet to run an evenly paced marathon (apart from in 2011 of course!). Those last 6 miles are a true test of will power.

Fingers and (blistered) toes crossed!

Firstly, an apology.

Secondly, some congratulations. After some rigorous training with Coach Jog A Lot, Lady Jog A Lot completed the Royal Parks Half-Marathon (her first) in under 2 and a half hours. I was there to cheer her on (trekking around London and spotting her an impressive 6 times) and was very proud and impressed with how well she did. Hopefully she’ll be up for writing a review of the day soon, as it was a great event as a spectator.

Thirdly, some exciting news. As some of you may know, I was sadly denied a ballot place for the 2011 Virgin London Marathon (again). As I entered for the first time three years ago, I’ll be entitled to a guaranteed place in a couple of years (a scheme which the VLM team have now phased out), where I can hopefully finally crack sub-4. But this week I found out that I’ll be running in 2011 as a Runner’s World Pacer!

Now this is a very proud moment for me. Although I ran quite well as a school kid, cigarettes and alcohol through my teens meant that I didn’t get back into running properly until about 4 years ago. In that time I’ve run a fair few races, improving on my PBs (almost) every time and can run a marathon well under 4:30. Runner’s World wouldn’t put me in a pace group unless they didn’t think that I’d be completely comfortable completing London well under an allotted time. So in 2011 I’ll be pacing the 11-minute mile group.

I’m so pleased to be part of this event once again. I will be training my arse off over the next few months, making damn sure that I am in the best shape I’ve ever been. I’ll also be up and down the country at some of Britain’s great half-marathon events before April, so I hope to see some of you there. But it’s an honour and a privilege to know that I can hopefully help some people meet their targets come race day and it’s a role that I’ll be taking very seriously.

If you’d like to know more about the 2011 Runner’s World Pace Team, there’s a Q+A page here, where you can find out where the team will be over the next 4 months.

*Update: April 5th 2010
I updated this slideshow after I went home for the weekend and discovered another newspaper had included the story!

Sir Jog A Lot was started to keep friends and family interested in my 2009 London Marathon training while trying to raise money for the MS Society. I quickly realised while training that there are plenty of running-related foibles to write about and a ton of things to consider before taking up a marathon.

SJAL has changed quite a bit since January 2009, turning from the original WordPress blog (still live here) into what you can see now. One big change was the introduction of reviews after the 2009 marathon. I was deeply concerned about losing the die-hard fans, who were reading the blog purely for its penetrative look into the psyche of an amateur runner. But I’ve tried to use the PR industry as much to your advantage as mine by giving away as many of the products as I can in the 6 competitions we ran last year.

Although you’ve been able to see advertising on this blog for some time, I can safely say that Sir Jog A Lot has made absolutely no money (not for the want of trying). I wasn’t taught economics at school! The only money I’ve made off the back of this blog has gone straight to charity, either by indirect sponsorship for the MS Society or through the Sponsor this block! campaign, which is on its way to making the Lymphoma Association £1500!

One year on and I’m back where I began; training for the London Marathon (2010). Best of luck to those who are training for the first ever Virgin London Marathon and I hope you’ll get touch through the comments on this blog with any tips, advice or well-wishing to your fellow marathon runners.

James

After a painful few hours, Sir Jog A Lot has been given a much needed makeover.

You’ll now find links to the most popular posts, an easily accessable archive and a little bit of advertising (I’m so sorry). Please keep checking back for product reviews and competitions, as well as hilarious musings from some fresh contributors.

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