I just signed up for the Standard Chartered Marathon - 10K race

Well, the gauntlet was thrown down and I decided to pick it up. What’s possibly more stupid is that I was also the one who threw down the gauntlet in the first place. Actually, I had intended to take part last year but sadly I mixed up the date for signing up and the places were long gone before I realized my error.

For the 10KM race there are 35,000 places and those are usually gone within the first 30 minutes. I actually clicked the button within seconds of it appearing (I had been sat refreshing the page just in case - I really didn’t want to miss it) and even then there were somehow 3,500 people in front of me in the queue!

In any case, I have a slot. This is both awesome and very scary all at the same time. On the one hand I get to take part in something cool, something I never really thought I would do (and let’s be honest, maybe I still won’t) and on the other I’ve just set myself a pretty monumental task. Now I know some people who can just put on their trainers and knock out 10KM from a standing start. Alas, I am not one of those. I have in the past reached 6.9KM, so nearly 70% of the way there - but certainly not a comfortable 10KM. That said I have 110 days to get myself into shape for the attempt.

Why?

Well, one of the things I’ve noticed since moving to this diet is that I have more energy. I basically want to be active. This is very different from how I was on the SAD where I basically wanted to sit on my backside. Now I have energy to burn and, well, I want to burn it. The problem is I’m not very good at doing things that don’t have a purpose. Going running for the sake of running is really not something I’m good at. However, running for the sake of not looking a complete imbecile in front of a crowd of thousands, is a very strong motivator indeed.

It’ll be fun!

And yes, ultimately I’m hoping it will be fun. I’ve never done anything like this before, but nonetheless I’m pretty excited about it. I am following the Starch Solution because it will improve my health, but a bit like the genes, it will only do so much. It might make me heart attack proof (as claimed by Dr Caldwell Esselstyn) and it can help cure or prevent a myriad number of chronic diseases. But it will only get me to a certain base level of fitness. I’ll be healthy but not necessarily fit.

What I want then is to ultimately improve my physical fitness so I can enjoy life more. Simple things like taking part in my son’s sports day. Things like that many people take for granted, but it’s something I’m not that comfortable doing at the moment.

I’m hoping the Starch solution and a bit of relatively mild fitness improvement (no way in hell I’m doing a half or full marathon) could be highly beneficial.