Our epic London marathon runner Rozzie Simpson, shares her thoughts on ‘splits’, toilet breaks and saying goodbye to your toenails.
My mum, Elaine Simpson is the chair of NCB and I am so proud to be contributing in my little way to this charity that is such a vital force for good.
I’m a 21 year old medical student, studying in Sheffield. I’ve got two and a bit years left before I qualify as a doctor I’m currently taking a year out to do a research project on chest trauma.
I’ve loved running since I was 15, but up until a year ago, I couldn’t go further than 5k. I was a heavy teenager, and carrying a lot of weight meant longer distances were just beyond me. But then I lost four stone, and to my delight, I realized I could run further than before. Every time I ran a bit longer I dreamed a bit bigger. I set my sights my first marathon: London, the best race in the world. I feel so privileged to be running it for such a great cause.
I’m four weeks out from the big day and have been training in earnest for 12 weeks. That’s 60 runs, 409 miles and over two and a half days on the road. I’ve run in every storm from Gertrude to Katie and they’ve failed to dampen my enthusiasm. Far from it, I’ve gone completely running mad. I wake up planning runs, I bore everybody to death talking about trainers and if anybody stays still long enough I insist on showing them my latest “splits” (a breakdown of the paces I’ve run for each mile).
My longest training run (21 miles) is now safely under my belt. It’s a very different beast to those 5k slogs I used to do; what was once a simple matter of lacing up and heading out now needs a whole lot of planning. You’ve got to think about hydration, nutrition, toilet breaks and routes. If you’re out running for half an hour, not very much is going to happen to you. If you’re out there for three hours or more, it becomes an adventure. I’ve got lost in the woods, scared ramblers, tried to sneak into a pub for a wee and realized its’ actually a very fancy restaurant, heard gunshots and convinced myself a passing van driver was trying to murder me to name just a few incidents.
What I’m starting to lack in the toenail department, I make up for in determination. I’m so excited that my solitary sport could help somebody else through donations, so please sponsor me. I’ll need all the encouragment I can get come April 24th!
Sponsor Rozzie and support our work with children at: http://m.virginmoneygiving.com/mt/uk.virginmoneygiving.com/fundraiser-web/fundraiser/showFundraiserPage.action?userUrl=RozzieSimpson&faId=660834&isTeam=false&un_jtt_redirect=un_jtt_iosV