Tales from the Sole....The 3 Marathon Challenge.

---

Hey Up....I know what all you lucky subscribers are thinking and i'm guessing it falls into one of the following categories.....

A) Has that jammy b*****d gone away travelling again already!
B) What's he on about, I haven't subscribed to anything?! (well if I have your email address...tough)
C) Man I really thought that we'd seen the last of these bloody annoying blogs!

Well unfortunately I haven't gone away again (yet!), and unfortunately you also haven't seen the last of these.

The reason being I am embarking on a new adventure......to run three marathons in three consecutive weekends. First stop is Rome, then Bratislava and finally Paris.

The reason behind the blog is two fold I guess, for one it would be nice to have some proof that I didn't spend my entire mobile years swilling beer and eating far too much curry. Just think how proud my kids might be one day....presuming I can dupe some poor individual into breeding with me that is. The other far more important reason is that i'm hoping by seeing what we are putting ourselves through, you will be slightly more generous when sponsoring us in aid of The British Lung Foundation! (see below address for more details!)

http://www.justgiving.com/3marathonchallenge

The eagle eyed amongst you will note that I used the term 'we' in the last sentence. Thats right im already well versed into duping people into foolish deeds. My wing man for this adventure is a crazy fool by the name of Ben Liles, all it took to secure his involvement was the promise of a KFC bargain bucket upon completion. A brave and noble creature, yet perhaps a tad easy to please.

The third and final member of the crew is Richard 'Ricardo' Roberts...tour manager, driver and crutch, should one of us do ourselves an injury! Rich will also be doing his part for the challenge and giving up smoking...no mean feat itself if you've ever been to the pub with him!

So anyhoo down to business. I've been training pretty hard since I last wrote a blog, which depressingly I think was some 5 or so months ago now. The streets of South London have witnessed the birth of a new Darren. a stronger, fitter more lean fighting machine than ever before....I've even been off the grog and thus far haven't touched a drop in 2009!

I like to think my running has brought the local community together. Why only last Sunday whilst out on my run, I was jumping park benches a la Rocky Balboa style, when the local children ran behind me. Eye of the Tiger started to resonate in my head and for one small moment I felt a euphoric rush take over my body and a new strength coursed through my veins....that is until I realised that this is South London and that they were probably trying to rob me, no wonder I'm clocking personal bests on every run!

The challenges will come thick and fast over the next two months. With the first marathon In Rome on the 22nd March, as far as the training is concerned, it's time to up the ante.

I'll be blogging every race we take part in on the road to Rome to keep you up to date with how the training is going. We'll also have some nice colour pictures for those of you that lack the attention span for my relentless wittering.

If anybody has any ideas for fund raising please don't hesitate to drop me an email or send a message to this blog!

Once again the address for further info is.... http://www.justgiving.com/3marathonchallenge

---