Mr Alejandro and the London Marathon 2018.
The London Marathon, held last weekend, was a challenge for all athletes not only in terms of endurance but also in having to cope with the weather. The hottest London Marathon on record it is a remarkable feat for those who finished. Among those, finishing in the splendid time of under four hours, was our own Mr Alejandro, Head of Modern Languages. Here he tells us of his journey to get to the London Marathon and the charities for which he is raising money:
‘It has long been an ambition of mine to complete the London Marathon. It is an iconic race known the world over and I have tried many times in the past to obtain a place through the ballot. This year, I was very fortunate to have a close friend who organises the event offer me one of her highly-prized guaranteed places!
With this place, I am really lucky to have the opportunity to raise money for two different charities. Tommy’s and Mind are two charities which mean a lot to me, and it is therefore a privilege to use my spot to raise money for these fantastic organisations.
Tommy’s funds research into stillbirth, premature birth and miscarriage, and provides information for parents-to-be. At least one in four women lose a baby during pregnancy and birth and Tommy’s have a target of halving the number of babies that die during pregnancy or birth by 2030. As the figure suggests, an astonishing number of people have experienced such loss and yet it can still be considered a taboo subject to talk about.
Mind is a mental health charity that provides advice and support to empower anyone experiencing a mental health problem. One in four people in the UK will experience a mental health problem each year, whilst one in six people will experience a common mental health problem each week. I know many people who either currently have to manage living with mental health issues or have done so in the past, and it really doesn’t matter how old you are, how successful you are academically and/or in your career, how much money you have or how attractive you are.
If you would also like to support the charities I’ve chosen, any donation is hugely appreciated. You will find my page at https://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/AriAlejandro
Marathon Training: 16-week plan, 7 weeks out injured!
I am incredibly motivated by the challenge of not only completing this physically demanding event, but pushing myself further and aiming to do so in sub 4 hours. I had originally targeted 3hrs 30 but found myself injured for around 7 of the first 11 weeks of training!
I started running once more with 5 weeks to go and tried to be much cleverer in my training in order to stay injury-free. Most people tend to complete their final ‘long run’ two weeks before the event and then taper their training until the big day but I needed to keep building up the miles until the end. I was so happy to break 4 hours, but also really happy to finish the race all in one piece!
I also needed to carefully manage a friend’s ‘pre-marriage gathering’ in Germany which fell two weeks before the marathon (hence the running in Cologne). It is not only committing to the training runs that makes preparing for a marathon such a difficult feat!
Thank you for reading and for any donation you may give!’
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