London Marathon 2024 training report - by Heather Morgan

Cleobury Mortimer Running Club has always been important to me, but over the last 14 months, that feeling of community and friendship which the club has given to me has been so wonderful. The icing on the cake came for me at the Christmas Party when Nikki drew my name from the Marathon ballot. Unfortunately, I couldn’t be there on the night so when my phone kept pinging with videos and messages saying RING US NOW, I kind of knew something was up!

Every kind of emotion went through my head in the following days; excitement, fear, doubt, imposter syndrome….

My daughter Tess is also running the London Marathon in a charity place for St Richard’s Hospice – a charity close to our hearts. It seemed like fate that I was going to be able to join her on this journey.

Cue a 16 week training plan written by Andie Ford starting with the inaugural New Year’s Day Parkrun at Wyre Forest along with 455 others. Most importantly on the training plan are the long slow runs (LSR) – these are the holy grail of any marathon plan and I have embraced and enjoyed them. They have developed my strength and stamina and allowed me to figure out a sustainable (hopefully) marathon day pace.

I have been lucky enough to do some of my training in the tropics (in Hong Kong) and in the Southern Hemisphere (Australia) during an extended trip which I had booked a long time ago. I ran along fantastic coastal paths, encountering local wildlife along the way.

So far training has gone well. I no longer feel daunted but instead I am really excited for this once in a lifetime opportunity. I’m looking forward to seeing the CMRC Red Army down in London and hope that I am smiling in at least some of the photos! My photo record (like many others) is 10% flying, 20% trying and 70% dying or crying!

Thankyou CMRC for giving me this opportunity! #dbs