To think that MIL is being ridiculous

[BasinHaircut]

DH has just had a call from his mother who has apparently just applied to a charity for a place in the London marathon.

MIL is 59, does absolutely no exercise, and I guarantee will not go for one single run unless someone goes with her. She has signed up with her 60yo partner, who works long hours so wouldn't be able to run on a week day before 7:30pm, so I have no idea when they think they will train.

Her partner has also just spent the best part of a month suffering v badly with his asthma, so hardly the time to start crash marathon training I'd have thought?

Am I right in thinking that any sane person planning on running the marathon would have started training before now?

We are a bit worried that firstly, MIL could cause herself serious physical harm, and secondly, that they are going to ask people to sponsor them (they have to raise around £3k between them) and not do it properly, or at all. The upshot of that being that they are letting the charity down and denying someone who would actually do it the chance?

[Topseyt]

I don't think Basin is being snide or sneery. Realistic more like.

For several years I used to live on the course of the London Marathon. It was on the Isle of Dogs, around the 20 mile mark if I remember rightly, and DH ran it a couple of times.

It takes a huge amount of training, and the chances are that you will still come home with some sort of an injury. DH was very fit then 20-ish years ago, still is now as he is a keen cyclist. He still had to put in masses of training virtually every day for several months. He had huge blisters and bleeding nipples at the end each time despite following all advice carefully.

I understand your concerns OP. It just isn't something you can simply set out to do on a whim. Oh, and before anyone asks me whether I trained in support of DH, no I didn't. A marathon would have been beyond anything I would have been able to commit to, not to mention that I was heavily pregnant with DD1 when he ran his first one in 1995.

DH no longer runs marathons. He prefers cycling anyway. He ran London 3 or 4 times for different charities and New York once. GNR a couple of times too.

Running is high impact on your body, even with the best gear and training. That's why I am relieved he is cycling instead.

It is good that your MIL wants to get fitter. Joining a local gym would be more realistic at first though, or some gentle swimming.

[suzannecaravaggio]

Trying to run before they can walk is the phrase that comes to mind
I hope you update us after the event OP!

[PrimeDirective]

I'm just saying that the charity but is a complete red herring here.
If she has a charity entry, then she will have to pay a fixed fee in advance for the place regardless of whether she even turns up. So if she doesn't pay by the deadline in advance of the race, her place will be given to someone else. The charity will not lose out.

[BackforGood]

Wow there are some strange posts on here. The OP hasn't been sneering nor snidey or any of the other things some people have accused her of. I've even gone back and read the thread a 2nd time to see if I missed something the first time.
The OP is right to voice her concerns. You should prepare very carefully if you are going from being a person who doesn't exercise, to a person who wants to run a marathon at any age, but, with each decade, then a little bit more caution and certainly a lot more preparation is advised.
There was a thread on here a couple of weeks ago talking about the Couch to 5k app..... yes read again 5k, not 26miles.... and that some people found they hadn't managed it in 9 weeks, but had had to repeat the first week about 3 times, then a couple of times at the 2nd week etc. It was a nice, supportive thread, and people were saying that it's OK to do that and take it at your own pace, but I think it gives a bit of a measure of what's realistic for people who have not exercised regularly ever in years.

[Runningupthathill82]

I think the thing is, BackforGood, that the c25k thread was for people who are genuinely trying to get fit and who are doing it in a realistic way to improve their health in the long term. So the advice given was helpful and realistic.

Whereas there is clearly no way the OP's MIL is going to train for and run the marathon in any sort of decent time. It's tough enough getting to marathon standard in four months if you've got a good base of fitness, which she doesn't from the sounds of it. But it's perfectly possible just to get round the thing slowly and safely at walking pace - and it's not really the OP's business if that's what her MIL chooses to do.

I mean, each year there are thousands of people who do the London marathon, and other big city road races, on zero training. Dressed as giant caterpillars, or carrying fridges, tied to their best mates, or whatever. The majority of them finish, perhaps minus a few toenails. They also don't tend to be the ones who do themselves serious injury.

When you look at the people who sadly die taking part in the VLM, the GNR or similar, they are usually semi-serious runners who push it far too hard on the day, or who take supplements they maybe shouldn't. It is very unlikely that the OP's MIL will do herself serious harm walking the course, though it will be tough and uncomfortable.

I also say this as someone who has applied for the London marathon several times and never got a place. I'm not that bothered as I can and do take part in other major races instead, on which I'm going to get faster times and pay a much more sensible entry fee.
There's oodles of races for "proper" runners, but only really a handful that are geared to slow charity runners in the way the London marathon is. In an "ordinary" marathon the MIL would finish last. At London, she certainly won't, she'll raise £3.5k for charity, and she will have support all the way round the course.

Ok, it's not ideal and a 10k road race would be far more sensible - but if she wants to do it I think the OP would be better sitting back and letting her crack on.

[Soooosie]

Ask her what her training plan is and link her to training websites

[daisychain01]

Basin - an alternative approach you could take, if you'd like to help, is to give her some information (as she's a novice)

1. If she has a confirmed place in the LM, then she can very legitimately defer it to 2017 (she just returns her race 'ticket', and they automatically re-enter her next year). LM have always had this in situ to prevent people from being forced to run with a cold, injury etc.
   

1. She can then take a longer term view to her training. She can find herself a local running buddy (so she doesn't limit herself to her DP's schedule, who can only run after 7.30pm) I agree with her that running alone when you've just started out, isn't right for everyone.
   

1. I'd recommend she tries to find her local Park Run so she can start running locally and regularly with other people of all shapes, sizes, ages. It is a fun way of getting into running. Also she will see her fitness improve over 12 months.
   

If she can take a longer term view to this 'project' she will be more likely to get round in one piece, enjoy it and get fit.

[BasinHaircut]

daisy thanks, can you defer charity places then?

[daisychain01]

Yes basin. What happens is that LM allocates bona fide running places to charities for free. Once the charity has accepted an application from a member of the general public, they give them the place on the understanding that the runner will raise money. The marathon place is still officially bound by the rules of LM. So no transferring your number to someone else for example. But asking for your position to be deferred until the following year is a common practice for health and safety reasons.

The other thing I meant to mention is that in the past I've known plenty of people in my athletics club to apply even if they weren't intending to run the following year, as people are very often rejected. Its just a way of hedging your bets so that, eventually you get your place. So your MIL would be fine.

I hope your MIL does get to run, but giving herself a year to train up is probably best.

[TriJo]

I finally got in for this year through the ballot at my 6th attempt - I'm deferring to 2017 though because my baby is due in March! Have done three marathons before, never slower than 4:30 and went under 4 hours once, so have a good idea of what's needed. I don't even want to think about the world of pain that OP's MIL will be in if she is going from 0 training in January to even walking it in April, at the end of the day 42.2km is a long way regardless of how you cover it and it would make me feel very uneasy that she's so naive about it.

If she has the spot confirmed, deferring and doing it in 2017 would be a much, much better option.

[daisychain01]

I agree with you TriJo, having run 4 Londons, I concur that it is totally foolhardy to go into the event with zero fitness base. All the best for your 2017 event.

It's not even as if the MIL was, say a keen cyclist with good cardio conditioning, then she could feasibly switch to running.

The marathon distance is one to be respected!