London Marathon

marisco_2

I am in awe of anyone who can run a marathon. So every year I take my children up to London to cheer them all on. The atmosphere is always amazing and it is a truly fabulous, fun and humbling day out. I especially admire the runners who are out there taking part to raise money for some very worthy causes and charities, many of them going to huge effort with their costumes which my children love.

Is there a site anywhere that logs who is running and which charities they are raising money for? We always throw coins into the collection buckets that are carried round. However I would like to look into sponsoring someone and giving them that extra oomph to get round the course. If anyone can direct me to an official site for looking into this I would appreciate it.

delain

A lot of athletes use a website called justgiving.

Someone I know uses it for their charity events, he collects for a children's heart charity.

marisco_2

Thank you for that advice delain. None of my friends or colleagues are taking part in it this year, so I was at a loss as to who to sponsor. I appreciate your help.

mountainofdebt

I'm doing a similar thing in June but I've said to people if you want to sponsor me then please feel free to but I'm not going around arm twisting anyone ....I'm doing the event as a bit of a personal challenge not to raise money for the charity.

OP - why not just donate a sum of money to a charity of your choice directly? The charity wins because of your donation (and remember gift aid if you're a tax payer!) and if you give it directly then they win again as they won't have to pay justgiving their cut.

There_Goes_Trouble

Why not contact a charity you like and ask them if they have any runners doing the marathon, and if they can give you (with the persons permission) their just giving page address?

VestanPance

I'm running it. Not for charity though, just for fun.

Turtle

I did it in 2008 for a children's cancer charity and I'd just like to say that the amazing supporters are what get you round the course. So, thanks from me and I'm sure most other runners for making the effort to get out there and cheer people on.

marisco_2

Oh well done VestanPance, hope you have a great marathon. I know from my friends and colleagues that have run it, just how much training is required. What kind of finishing time do you aim for?

marisco_2

Turtle I would not miss it for the world. It always falls around my birthday and has been a special birthday treat for me since I was a little girl. When I was very young the race use to finish on Westminster Bridge. A man was limping toward the finishing line one year, really struggling. A little girl ran out on to the road toward him, she was almost bald. It turns out she was in remission from Leukemia and he was her dad running to raise money for cancer research. He picked her up and sprinted across that line and all the crowd errupted with claps for them both. Ever since that day I have always sponsored a runner.

pimento

My brother in law runs marathons. When I lived in London I would meet him at 13 miles with a banana.

VestanPance

I'm not expecting a good time going on my previous best times, as I had a bit of an injury that stopped me doing any speed work for about eight weeks. I think I should be able to get around in about 4 hours.

I'm being sensible for once and doing it for the experience and fun and will concentrate on going for a good time in future races when I'm fully fit and injury free.

I've ran several marathons, but this will be my first time running London. Maybe this time I'll actually see the sites, as on a couple of big city marathons I've ran I've been that focused on my running I completely missed major landmarks on the route, including managing to miss the Eiffel Tower in Paris! That wouldn't be so bad, but it's in view for several miles as you run along the Seine.