Spotlight: James & his challenge events

Meet James, he has signed up to support us in both the forthcoming Brentwood Half Marathon and the London Marathon…

Read more to find out what inspired James to take on these personal challenges , what he is doing to prepare himself and why he chose to support Kids Inspire.

Tell us a bit about your challenge and why you are doing it?

Running the London marathon has been something I’ve always wanted to do since I watched the first one in 1981 aged 10. We watched the start, ran to church, then ran home to watch the finish and I’ve been in love with the idea of running it ever since. About four years ago I started running, entered a few half marathons and loved the buzz.  This year I finally got through the ballot and after attending a couple of Kids Inspire events decided that this was a charity and a team that I would be privileged to support.

What is your training plan like?

I’m following the VLM 17-week beginners plan. This requires me to run a couple of times during the week for about an hour and then a longer run at the weekends. Last week I actually ran three mornings and then 12 miles on Saturday. The longer runs get longer as you get closer to marathon date peaking around 20 miles about three weeks before the event

How are you feeling about your challenge?

Nervous and excited in equal measure. Someone once said to me that running the Marathon is actually the victory lap. I’m really enjoying the training and can’t wait until Sunday 28th April!

On the day of the challenge, what are you hoping to achieve?

Finish! Raise my £3k target for Kids Inspire and in an ideal world finish in under four and a half hours.

Funds raised by James will go towards our Reclaiming Lives project. You can donate to support James here.

Good luck James, and thank you taking on these personal challenges in support of the Kids Inspire community.