So you didn’t get a place for London???

October is always a tense month in the running world.

Tense for those holding their breath waiting to see if they have got their longed for place in the London Marathon.

And those with their fingers crossed that the place they applied for in the ballot…hopefully isn’t successful ha ha.

It causes much tension too in the running world.

Lot’s of folks moaning that they have entered the ballot like 30 times in a row and never been successful, and people bragging that they will be running it again for the 200th time

Slight exaggeration for effect above, but you get the idea.

I have been truly blessed to have run the London Marathon 3 times.

In 2012 I ran my first ever marathon for Great Ormond Street and raised £2012 (maybe a bit more I think)

In 2015 I ran it for the Ron Pickering Fund, raising £1000+ or so

And this year I ran with a deferred media place, off the back of me writing my best selling book The Fat Girls Guide to Marathon Running. I deferred my place due to some issues with my feet in training…I just couldn’t catch up and knew it was the right thing to do.

I will be running it again in 2020 because of the whole back of the pack drama that happened this year….but rather than dwell on that, I’m focussing on celebrating the fact that I have been championing plus size runners for almost a decade.

And therefore I will be leading a team of more than 50 women under the Too Fat to Run banner…to celebrate 10 years of The Fat Girls Guide to Running blog…women who are about to start working with me in a spring marathon training programme.

But here’s the thing…I know there are still women out there that really had their heart set on running London in the spring, and are now in limbo wondering what the hell they should be focussing on instead.

There are other races though…perfectly good races…races which will still get you into the 1% club, so if you feel it in your bones that this was the year you’d run 26.2 miles…why not consider one of these others?

Here are 10 other marathons

  1. Brighton Marathon – Sunday 19 April 2020 (I did this in 2014)
  2. Paris Marathon – 5th April 2020
  3. Edinburgh Marathon – Sunday 24th May 2020
  4. Great Welsh Marathon – Sunday 5th April 2020
  5. Blackpool Marathon – Sunday 26 April 2020
  6. Milton Keynes Marathon – Sunday 3 May 2020
  7. Vienna Marathon – Sunday 19th April 2020
  8. Hamburg Marathon – Sunday 19th April
  9. Madrid Marathon – Sunday 26th April
  10. Stockholm Marathon – Sunday 20th May

And if you really do have your heart set on running London????

Holiday Inn will soon be offering runners the chance to win a place with free accommodation, a champion’s breakfast and a transfer to the Start Line. Keep your eye on their Facebook page for full details. 

Whatever you decide. If you would like to join a friendly training programme for women just like you, led by me, 5 time marathon runner, LIRF qualified coach, transformational life coach, motivational speaker and author…then get involved.

We start officially on the 1st November…but the women are being let into the closed facebook group from today.

Check it out here

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