11812th out of 35,306 = Top 1/3rd

I'm sure that you know by now that I did finish the race...

I finished in 4hrs 17 mins disappointed not to not finish under 4hrs for myself... but there would be no donations for the Evelina for not finishing and that is far more important... the heat made the race very tough for all involved...

I'm happier with my time now that I see that most people were 20 mins slower due to heat...
and 6038 runners received medical attention during the day (as did 120 members of public around the course), 35 were taken to hospital and 25 were admitted. Glad not to be one of them!

I was a bit ill after from sun stroke but feel better if a little stiff in the hips now...

Many thanks to Evelina and the Ship Inn for looking after all my supporters!

I'll post links to photo's, times and more fundraising activities in the next couple of days.

Saint Matthew Academy working together for the Evelina

Two students from St Matthew Academy will also be running on the 26th April in the London Mini Marathon.
Although Ernest, Rhys and myself will not be running side by side and the boys will run 5 instead of 40 odd km... it is a great achievement to get a place in this prestigious race.

Both Boys had to qualify for their place by being one of the fastest in their age group from the Borough at the recent trials. Neither are in a running club but stiil turned up and beat off lots of other hopefuls. Well Done lads!


Both boys are raising money for the Evelina - so why not sponsor them too through my just giving site by adding a message when you donate to make clear the money is for them. http://www.justgiving.com/davecreganlondonmarathon2009

The Best Free Event In The Running Year - Open to all

The Marathon Expo at Excel centre - from today until Saturday...

The 2009 Flora London Marathon Exhibition will be the biggest ever, with over 140 exhibitors presenting their latest products and services. All the major athletic brands are present, as are a multitude of other exhibitors showing and selling everything from technical socks to global navigation devices, and everything between. The show has more manufacturers, more international races, more charities, more running publications, more medical companies, and the biggest and best selection of retailers you will ever see under one roof. There is plenty to engage the beginner and serious distance runner alike.

In the Adidas/London Marathon Superstore there is an Olympic area, women's area and even a children's area, so come and hang out and be inspired.

http://www.lmexpo.com/.

Entry is Free so tell your family, friends and your running club.

Evelina - take over pub for the Marathon

The Evelina has its offical cheering point at the 16.5 mile mark.
@ The Ship Pub, 290 Westferry Road, Isle of Dogs, E14 3GA
Nearest DLR stations are Mudchute or Island Gardens
Or simply walk through the foot tunnel by the Cutty Sark

Timings:
Elite runners will start to go through this point from 10.30am onwards. Please arrive from 10am onwards to secure your roadside place.
There will be T-shirts, balloons, banners, noise sticks and cheer boards at this point. There will also be hot drinks and sandwiches for any early birds who arrive before 9.30am.
Finally please give a special to cheer to Evelina runner - Mark Hammond who is running despite having an arm in a cast.

http://www.justgiving.com/markhammond1

Where's Cregan! Number - 46878

Finding me on the day will be made easier... by this mobile service. I do not take any responsibility for the costs involved!!

Here is the blurb... (click link for full blurb)


"Thousands of runners will be hitting the streets of London this Sunday for the 27th London Marathon and Marvellous will be there with them. We however will leave the shorts and trainers at home as our job is purely mobile. As part of our adidas running campaign, we are giving spectators the chance to monitor runners on a marathon mobile site.

The site allows you to view the location, speed and estimated finish time, so that you can keep track of your chosen runner every step of the way. Even if you don’t know anyone participating, the site provides a variety of services including course information as well as travel and weather reports.

But that’s not all, Marvellous and adidas are also running a series of big screens around the Cutty Sark area of the course where runners will receive messages of encouragement from adidas. So if you know someone brave enough to take on the marathon text RUN to 82233 and track their progress."

In the runners magazines it says text run to 83040- so I'm not sure if there are two different services. The 83040 one - is for times... this marvellous one seems to be for messages, about travel, where to watch and even sending a message to the big screens as well?? I would guess this would cost more and mean you get more messages... costing you more money.

To stop any text service text STOP to the number... keep a record of this on your phone as it is illegal for them then to send you messages.

Saint Matthew Academy - Enterprise week

This week has been Enterprise week at my school St Matthew Academy. The theme has been LIVING THE VALUES - the values of are those of the Olympics.

• Courage
• Friendship
• Excellence
• Respect
• Inspiration
• Equality
• Determination

SMA press gang interviewing the Harlequins Rugby team

I have worked with 4 or five groups taking visits to London, helping run young Olympic enterprise groups, dragons dens and lots more. Reporting on all this activity has been the SMA press gang - I stopped by to train them in blog creation. the press gang has produced a TV show, newspaper and their blog. Well done to all the team and Mr Campbell. To read the blog - click here.

Clicks from all over the world

The Stats now show the blog has been visited by the people from the following countries:

England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland, Ireland, America, Denmark, Greece, Italy, Switzerland, New Zealand, Australia and now Japan!

Marathon running is it good for you?

Well it doesn't feel like it... and many top trainers believe running such a long distance for over almost 4hrs is not a great idea. At the moment I have a deep muscle pain in my hip from the last long run and Ben Morgan is resting a leg injury as well. I'm using the time to apply surgical spirit to toughen my feet... top tip from the marathon running dinner ladies at school.

I have actually not carried out "traditional" training for the marathon because I read this great article by a top trainer in the Independent. I also didn't want to become skinny.

Link to the Independent - cheats guide to preparing for the marathon

so...For example I've eaten lots of protein rather than massive amounts of carbs. The aim was to keep my weight up. Brown carbs passed through me at speed as I seem to process food very quickly. So I eat some but not loads. This seems to stop muscle wastage. Secondly I have not run more than 3 times a week... all the advice is 5+ in the running magazines. Instead I have spent at least 1hr twice a week on strength training. the idea is to be able to hold my form throughout the race so almost every excercise involves abs training too.

This is an excerpt from the article.

"Running for an hour every day puts your body under so much stress that it begins to break down," says Mike Weeks. He should know: though his interest in fitness was kicked off by a passion for rock-climbing, in 2006 he and his partner, Bean Sopwith, undertook the challenge of dragging Jack Osbourne around the Marathon des Sables, a seven-day, seven-marathon race across the Sahara. Weeks ran three marathons a week in training and saw his connective tissue and muscle density drop away. "You'd have to put a gun to my head to make me run for more than a couple of hours," he says. "So many people think running the marathon will make them healthy, and it's quite the opposite. Many people leave it to the last minute and then think: 'Shit. I've got to start cramming in.' Their body is just annihilated in the training."

The interesting thing is that the runner he trained in the article surprised season runners with her progress using this approach. She finished in 4hrs 2 mins with 10 weeks training - she was only 25. But that is a very good time with really only a month and halfs training

Watching the football

Watched the England game and ran 5KM last night. first time in a while... I'll explain why.

The running machine I was on had two screens one showing the football. The second a vitual track - see picture -where I was running my 5KM at 8 miles an hour.

I'm not the lightest person in the world and I found the vibration as my feet feel gave me a headache. The machine was also not as smooth as I'm used to. but flasher I was staggered to find that the machine costs £9K when I Googled it.

Anyway I'm on a running machine as I have a pain my hip which fades as the day progresses but also comes back when I run. It was uncomfortable and I wish I hadn't run now.. however you feel if you don't run you might stop running. I'm impatient for this pain to go so I can do some 10K's to warm up for the marathon. Ben also has niggles I think these are from the long runs we've done. so maybe that they are now done is a good thing? I also think this is a sign that basically this sort of running is not good for you at all. 10K is just right 40/50 odd is just plain daft.

So far I've made less than $10 from advertising on this site... I thought there was meant to be money in the internet?