Running for life

I have decided to enter the London Marathon this year.   It seemed like a good idea at the time and it's for a very worthy and worthwhile cause.  I went to a 'meet the experts' day where I listened to experts on running (I didn't know there were experts on running but hey) talk about all the dreadful things that can happen to me in the process of running 26 miles non stop - including death.   People talk about running the way they talk about skiing, golfing, anything where there's an obsessive compulsiveness anality in their wish to impart every bit of detail about every bit of detail.    It reminded me so much of all the books on pregnancy I refused to read before I gave birth, about what could go wrong.  To help prepare myself I've joined a running club.   It feels more like a singles club as there seems to be a lot of pairing off, but I'm not pairing off - firstly because I'm already with someone and secondly because when I'm running I'm just about able to breath let alone hold a conversation.    The running club reminds me a lot of the NCT evening I went to once. I only went to one.  They asked me how I was preparing for child birth and I said I was trying to get as much as possible in before the baby arrived. The woman looked at me sympathetically and told me I was in denial. I said I wasn't. I said I knew I would be having the baby and what they would entail it's just that I wanted/needed to do as much as possible before the day arrived.      I think I'm in denial about the marathon although I have started training.  The point is I find it so utterly mercilessly dull.   And what's worse, a beauty therapist friend of mine has told me it ages the skin.   You look older.   Not only that, by running this marathon, I could have a heart attack, get kidney failure, which is appropriate in light of the charity I'm running for, have dreadful shin splints, get dehydrated if I don't drink enough water, throw up if I drink too much (loss of minerals).    I must eat pasta. I don't like pasta, but I must eat it.   I must not run for a few days before hand.   I will be pulled along by the enthusiasm of the crowd on the day they tell me but I don't think so.   But it's for a good cause. It seemed like a good idea at the time.....