Runner's Words

This could be one of the more foolish things I’ve done in all my time as a runner. But: it could also be one of the most worthwhile. Welcome to No More Marathons™: Last Minute Marathon edition.

Essentially, this is the danger of coming into a year without a running plan for the twelve months laying ahead of me. After all of the heavy planning and preparation that went into 2025’s Chester Triple (coupled with the victory lap Manchester Half a week after the Chester Full) I came into 2026 looking ahead to a year without any major plans. OK, so I (finally!) got a place in the London Royal Parks Half Marathon, which I’m absolutely delighted about and can’t wait to run; I’ve waited years and been knocked back by the ballot every single time, so that’s something to look forward to isn’t it. With that not taking place until October though I’d just spent the opening few weeks of 2026 running how I want, when I want. A friend literally asked me three weeks ago “any marathons this year?” and I was delighted to be able to say “absolutely not”, and mean it. No more marathons, and all that.

Two days after uttering those fateful words, things changed rather abruptly.

April 1st came around and – no, it wasn’t an April fool – I was made aware of an appeal from Moya Cole Hospice for runners for the 2026 Manchester Marathon. It turned out they’d had some dropouts on their charity places for the race and were asking if anyone was keen to take on the challenge. Worried about them missing out on money from lost sponsorship and entry fees, I duly signed up an hour before their deadline. 2026 had just become a marathon year after all.

Couple of issues with this:

• The 2026 Manchester Marathon is on the 19th April
• I signed up less than three weeks before the 2026 Manchester Marathon
• I have not been training for the 2026 Manchester Marathon.

For reference, the last April marathon my training started well before Christmas, and I’d been preparing to run it for over a year. The latest I’ve ever started training for an April marathon is the end of January, when the minor inconvenience of a two-week all inclusive honeymoon in tropical weather kinda got a little bit in the way. That still gave me around ten weeks to prepare though. Here I’ve had 18 days.

Oh dear.

I dread to think how many times I’ve said on this blog “I have no idea how this is going to go” but here, now, it’s more true than ever. I mean really – what on earth is tomorrow going to bring??? The “running when I want” approach to the last few months has been very much not “running to prepare for a marathon”. My weekly mileage is way down on what’s needed, most of my runs are 4-5 miles here or there. At the point of signing up I hadn’t run over 13.1 miles on a single run in nearly six months; tomorrow I’ll be expected to do double that.

It’s also not as simple as just jumping in and trying to make up for lost time either. The last couple of weeks in the leadup to any marathon should ideally be the taper period – winding the training back and letting all the hard work sink in. Trouble is, there is no “hard work” to recover from, but if I’d suddenly gone out and done a couple of 60+ mile weeks with 20+ mile long runs I’d be in pieces by the time raceday came around, and I need to do all I can to make sure I actually finish this one and justify all the sponsorship that’s flooded in over the past fortnight.

So that’s where we’re at. In my nearly 20 years as a runner this might be the most ridiculous challenge I’ve ever taken on. My tenth marathon promises to be the hardest of the lot, not that I can imagine it being worse than Boston 2023 or London 2018, but I guess we’ll find out in around 24 hours time. It spells Big Trouble and I need to take it very carefully, especially in the early stages when I’ll no doubt be full of beans and raring to go.

Hopefully it’ll all be worth it though. The reasons for running this one aren’t personal; I’m not looking for PBs. I’m not looking at where I finish. I don’t care about my position in my age category. I’m not trying to use this marathon as a qualifier for another one. I’m not looking at the medal or T-shirt. I’m looking solely to finish the bloody thing and raise as much as I can to help make up for the shortfall in lost sponsorship and help Moya Cole Hospice to keep doing their amazing work:

• Since 1971 The Hospice have provided specialist palliative care for people with cancer and non-cancer life-limiting illnesses, and they also provide support for relatives, carers and friends too.
• All their services are provided free of charge.
• Moya Cole Hospice is a lifeline for many, but with only a third of their funding coming from the NHS, they need to raise £20,000 each day to continue providing their essential services and compassionate care.

So yea, anything you can give would be gratefully received – no amount is too big or too small and it will all help spur me on when I want to lay down and cry at the 15 mile mark.

And the bonus of this marathon is that I don’t need to immediately run another half marathon a week later, so there is that. As far as I’m aware at the time of writing anyway…