Rigorous training programme???

The good people in the web team at work have kindly put a link my site on our intranet. All well and good you might say, but I think there may be some over-egging of the pudding going on:

Corporate communications office Phillip Sutcliffe will be running the 26.2 miles for Asthma UK. If you would like to sponsor him or keep up todate with his rigorous training programme visit his Phil Runs London website.

"Rigorous training programme"?! Blimey. Methinks I need to sit and work out one of them!

I've had example ones sent from friends and the good people at Asthma UK but they all seem to be different. Should be doing 3 times a week? 4? 5?

They're all based on what time I want to achieve (keeping the hours in single figures would be good I guess).

The male section of my brain seems determined to overpower the sensible part of my brain. I know that it'd be an achievement to just get round without my legs falling off or rupturing my nipples, but I'm discovering a competitive side to me that I didn't realise was there. I support Halifax Town for gods sake - surely that's crushed any sense of hope or achievement out of me!

Plus there's the added motivation of embarrassment avoidance. Now I've done some stupid things in my time, but I'm not easily embarrassed. If you know her, ask my friend Liv about the incident in the beer garden of the Crown and Anchor!

But the prospect of being beaten by an 80 year-old dressed as a rhino would have a somewhat negative impact on any blossoming male pride I have.

So this weekend I'll be doing a few runs and sitting down to get a definitive training schedule together. Because as we all know, preparing to do something is just as good as actually doing it!