3.0 - Change of plan

Ok, so I've had a bad start. Originally I wanted to start on run 2 of week 2 on the program I'll be doing, but I attempted this the day after a football tournament- basically, I failed 4 x 3 minute runs! Now to make things worse, I ended up playing 5 a side football for 2 hours today, which means my legs won't be in great shape tomorrow.

I'm going to go a step back on the program and try the second routine- 5 x 2 minute runs with 4 minute breaks in between. Depending how it goes, I may skip doing this for the second time on Monday and reattempt the 4 x 3 minute routine. We'll see.

2.0 - Preparation

As I mentioned, the main form of exercise I have recently been getting is at 5-a-side football. I'd been playing bi-weekly but the season is now over and I won't be doing anything else.

There's nothing in the way of me starting training now...

As you would have gathered by now, I'm actually not fit enough to even run a mile yet, though I do come close! For the past couple of weeks I've been aiming to complete a mile circuit and recently notched up a massive 0.9 miles. This is the entirety of my running experience so far and it's time to step it up.

I'll be diving into a running program that I found here - I'm going to start at run two of week two. I'm confident I'm not jumping in too soon by skipping the first few runs. The reason for skipping the first few runs is that I'm really keen to complete the program before an official 5k race that takes place in my local area on May 26th. I'll be entering.

So there's my first target. I have 5 weeks to prepare to run a 5k race (3.1 miles), I don't have a target time though I aim to complete it without the need to stop running. Though I may be naively confident of being able to complete the race without a break I'll also say that if I don't manage to do so, I won't be disheartened! In 5 weeks time I'll be in better shape than I am today, which is good enough in regards to the long term goal!

1.0 - I can't even run a mile...

... Yet after an off-the-cuff conversation, I've found myself and a flatmate in bets with several people that we'll be able to run a marathon.

It'll be a long road for both of us- eating steak at the local just earlier today, whilst wagering crates of beer and bottles of spirits with whoever would take us on- my other flat mate remarked "It's not that I don't think people can run a marathon, it's that you two are the last two I know that would be able to run one!" - And to be fair, he has plenty of reason to say this, he knows our poor diets, he knows how much we drink, and worst of all, he's seen how fast I get tired at 5 a side football! It's all in good heart anyway and the bet isn't exactly what's important here, rather just the element that is going to get me off my arse and eventually ticking "☐ Run a marathon" off the bucket list!

I'm a 21 year old student and I know I should be fit enough to run a mile. It's not that I'm out of shape to the eye, as in, I don't have weight to lose- I'm just extremely unfit. This is where my actual goal lies, not to win a bet but really to overcome how unfit I am.

The bet parameters are

- A full marathon must be ran before the end of 2013

- It must be completed in under 5 hours

... Hopefully without sounding too naive, this really should be possible, it's a large time window and 5 hours isn't exactly a mind blowing pace for the period of time I have to train.

I'll state here that my personal goal is to run a marathon in under 4 hours 20 minutes...

Wish me luck!