I Ran A Marathon With 14 Days Prep... Here's What Happened...

so this time last week i had never run more than seven kilometers in my entire life and in 11 days i'm gonna run a marathon is a little ambitious so i'm being perfectly honest i think the thing about running this distance is just this is hard generally last week never ran more than seven kilometers this week half marathon end of next week ladies and gents you know that gut instinct you get you know that one that a lot of times people ignore three or four days ago i had a gut feeling to run and not stop for 42 kilometers i don't care what they say about me i don't know why but i have this yearning to do something really difficult to end off the year now literally this time last year i was embarking on a journey with the team to go to nepal to visit the schools that we have worked tirelessly the entire year to fund and finance and that was probably one of if not the most incredible experiences of my life and it breaks my heart that this year we can't go visit the completion and opening of these schools or any of the new projects are funded this year so between the strange feeling of i need to do something difficult to end this year something more crazy and difficult [Music] than i've ever done before and push myself in a way that most people don't think is possible and between that and the sense that like i feel almost a little bit of this attachment from the work that we're doing in nepal this year because i said like one of my one going into 2020 like one of my one of the things i was looking forward to most this year was putting in all that work and once again as i said going to nepal and visiting the children visiting the completed schools as well as the new projects and i didn't get to have that opportunity this year and it it kind of breaks my heart i guess it was just kind of serendipity that these two things aligned and i made the decision that i am going to run a marathon with 14 days of preparation and i'm gonna try to raise 10 grand for pajar trust [Music] i guess the goal is to raise 10 grand do you think that's realistic i i don't think we'll struggle with tan ground at all um and this is perfect because obviously with the schools we do everything end-to-end so there's not much else to be done whereas this is something people can get involved with yeah well i've never run even a half a marathon but prior to last week i'd never even run more than 7k in my entire life yeah you could probably run a half marathon today i don't know marathon's a pretty big thing yeah it's it's tough but it's not like it's not destroying you you did do what ten was eight or ten rounds well uh oh in the ring yeah ten yeah yeah so it's two weeks even to prep for a marathon [Music] um yeah all right so currently attempting a half marathon this time last week i never run more than 6. 7 kilometers in my entire life so we are currently seven kilometers in and then you know one of the hardest things i'm planning so far is actually just keeping pace like keeping slow you know you get you get to seven or ten kilometers and you get a little cocky and you realize that this is not a it's not sprint almost pain but you know all in all keeping a decent pace we're at well actually i save decent pace and i think my biggest issue right now as an inexperienced runner is as i said you know keeping two fast six minutes and nine seconds per kilometer with this thing it's definitely a little too fast and a little too eager so i'm gonna try to get this half marathon in around 2 15 to 2 30. i feel that i'll be good pace definitely not long and uh you know an injury at this point pretty much means the show's over so got to be careful you know for me to be able to accomplish this it's all going to be in here you know it's all well then fine keeping good pace for you know eight or ten kilometers to do it for 42 kilometers that's a totally different game hey tom how are you doing good how are you doing good good good evening yes yes sir all good thanks so much for helping on the phone with me yeah no worries man um i think your target is a little ambitious so i'm being perfectly honest i think that what sort of fitness level do you have right now um so i'll be honest with you before last week i'd never run more than 6.

7 kilometers in my life okay um as you can tell i don't really think about things sometimes i just do it um excruciating so i got and i did an hour and 14 minutes and 37 seconds so so average pace of four point four seven uh per kilometer that's good um yeah so i i yeah so i mean yeah i've always stayed super fit um but i mainly do like sprinting high intensity uh power lifting that sort of stuff i've always hated running well so a marathon is 42 kilometers um and yeah i don't know what what do you think's realistic like sub five hours i think i think actually that's spot on i think had you trained are you trained um for giving yourself sort of 10 to 12 weeks to prepare given your your recent 15 or 16k run i would say you should be probably pushing for a sub 4. singapore's is is very good but seeing as you're doing this kind of well i mean frankly it's kind of last minute isn't it two weeks i think the best yeah i think the best thing you can do really is is go for maybe a a sub five instead which is still a good time um i'm thinking without you know like doing it on my own like cold dark yeah it's going to be tough but it will be tough it's a great thing to do my company has funded three schools in nepal end to end and a lot of like my youtube audience and you know my customers and subscribers and stuff like that um they always ask how they can get involved with our projects um there's not much because you know i fund everything end to end uh so i was like okay cool this would be a good opportunity to raise some money it's nice to have uh a proper reason to finish it you know there's a there's a there's a clear is a clear why basically you've got you're trying to raise money you've got lots of eyes on you yeah and that will spur you on i imagine yeah for sure so i'm about to run 30 kilometers a bit of a different environment you know it's sunday in the park a pretty nice day it's currently 2 o'clock i think this run should end up taking what i assume like four hours yeah four hours from now three and a half yeah i just gotta be honest it's like one of those days where i don't feel like it at all and like i'm going into to i'm going into today genuinely questioning whether i'm gonna accomplish this thing i just feel like unprepped i was meant to do this like two days ago and then i started running and my knee felt a little off and i was like i can't really risk an injury right now so yeah this will be the ultimate test of my mental resilience first nine kilometers shin splints stitch knees gone and you know especially because this isn't you know this isn't the real thing this thing this is a prep so you know what goes on in my mind is yeah maybe it's actually wiser if i stop now you know make sure i don't injure myself like i said i'd do 30 kilometers a day i did it if i injured myself and you know can't make it to the run i think i'd be less angry at that than if i quit today no matter how bad the shin splints are no matter how bad the stitch is no matter how you know up here you know i'm thinking i'm gonna injure myself and this is probably the best way to go look i'm not an experienced runner in the slightest i'm extremely inexperienced i don't know what the limits are i don't know how far i should push things i don't know if you know me running now with what feels like you know someone piercing a knife through my ankle with every step that's one of the beauty of going into this is i have no context i have that beginner's mind that zen beginner's mind so you know as i said before i start running like one foot forward in front of the and run and just don't stop and that's kind of where my head's at right now is it smart is it wise is it a good tactical decision i don't know but i decided that's that's the way i'm gonna go about things all right so we're just about to come to 20 kilometers you can tell it's a little different outside from the last time i checked in and uh yeah i feel the last 10 kilometers i've i've found my pacing i'm at 6 30 so far and um i mean it's tough but you know we plow on well there we go 30 kilometers and i think it was three hours and ten minutes something like that i'll have to check but um you know it's funny the last eight kilometers was just pure bliss i was uh i started the first five kilometers you know listening to music and then i switched to audible uh a book called uh i think born to run or something like that i've just been listening to that while i've been running in you know it's so interesting because it it compares uh you know these like ancient tribes that literally all they do is like run but they also don't stretch they drink a ton of alcohol you know they do everything that you shouldn't do as a runner and these people smoke like nike athletes ultra marathon runners and you know the author of this book you know his goal was to find out why and basically what he concluded to was what you know he brought it down to was their character and uh one big thing that i noticed is uh they or one big thing that he mentions is they they run and they smile and they laugh and they joke and almost like while they're running it's almost like you know they almost do a little dance um and i popped on some stevie wonder and michael jackson last eight kilometers and just smoked it it was easy i was but and i was like smiling the entire way um the literally the last kilometer like i sprinted like i had so much left in the tank uh when right at the beginning like the first four kilometers i was like i genuinely don't even think i can hit 10 today so uh yeah that's definitely one little lesson to take with me into the marathon day is i just like smile i remember even like i started actually after listening to some audiobook i started smiling like forcing myself to smile yeah amazing i'm very very happy that all right so here's the game plan for tomorrow meet and mine at 10 30. jimmy will get here for around 11 and uh yeah we'll head out the house for probably like 12ish or so and then it starts i am not gonna lie i am yeah i don't know if you can hear my voice i i don't i don't want to say i'm not well prepared because it's like how much preparation could i really do in 14 days um so i think i did everything i could and yeah like granted i i didn't listen to you know some of the advice i got about you know running 30 kilometers seven days before a full marathon um and there's obviously other things that you know i feel like i put more pressure on myself than you really should do that closer marathon but as i said like the timeline was 14 days and i mean even at 30 kilometers like i still don't know what it's like to run 42 kilometers like i don't know what happens once you get past 30 kilometers like is that you know what happens with your body like what happens with your glycogen stores like what i don't know the point is um i don't want to say i'm not well prepared i just if i'm being honest i'm just not super confident going into tomorrow so we'll see how it goes but however it goes just make it look good on camera please i got you a little gift don't mind the color didn't have any others oh belton mate but these are widely known as the best marathon shoes carbon play at the bottom will they do the work for me today statistically they make you four percent quicker no way yeah well so but i'm bad now so [Laughter] so hopefully this will help you hit the sub 4 hour hopefully and um obviously you know never leave a man behind except unless you're coming up from or coming down from manchester to help him do his first marathon then leave him behind to do a sub five while you do a sub four no no i'll stay with you mate i said to you about five miles legs are gonna start just while it's aerodynamic if you run backwards i'll be feeling champ okay it could be better could be better yeah watch a bunch of like um alexa said volume to level two i watched a bunch of like marathon prep videos this morning and it only made me realize how unprepared i am nice so um yeah stop watching those um but yeah i guess i guess it just comes down to one simple factor just run and just don't stall also i find it hilarious how if the just the most beautiful morning this morning beautiful all the way leading up to one when it starts pissing down rain which uh is literally when we start running so that's nice another note when i ran the 30 kilometers i had i stopped like twice um just to piss for me i think if you like run a marathon and you walk any of it except for obviously like a little bathroom break you haven't or you just can't say you run a marathon so that's that but the 30 kilometers i didn't stop for water because obviously i had no water on me and i had no one to give me water or like electrolyte packs or any of this other crap so yeah i literally have no idea about like when the ideal time is to drink i don't even know what to drink like do i drink water do i drink gatorade i have some like um this thing called tailwind that i got recommended so yeah that's that's the one thing i have to figure out um is like when do i start like what like what's my strategy with like refueling like what i do with these like sachets where you going how are we feeling champ not great weather could have your eyes yeah i'm very nervous i swear yeah i plan to get here for like 12.

ah and it's like two i've crashed here a little bit see how many times i went up and down the stairs yeah yeah jimmy how are you feeling how do you think it'd be man how are you feeling right now maybe we're feeling let's do a couple a couple rounds up and [Music] down [Music] wait how far is marathon 26 no it's 42. 1 i think it's always good to type in before you start don't actually know so going in kind of can't just run more you know okay 42. 2 okay to be safe okay that extra 0.

5 should probably get going yeah i know you're going to procrastinate any longer i can't need to pee again dude it [Music] 42. 195 forty point two yeah it is trust me wow okay forty two point one nine five okay so 42 for that okay it might just be progressed let me just double check it one more time all right three two one [Music] see in a bite [Music] how are we getting on fourteen two five minutes and thirty two seconds per nice good lads kilometer we did that last lap picked up pace [ __ ] keep going all right karen what's the news well now it's 10 90. thanks to some very generous donors we got some good news what we reached 10k [Music] are we feeling gents all right see you guys first 33 minutes and 10 seconds it's in the booth until tomorrow let's not get run over i go to america uh we lost them to another break up 4k there is another drink though yeah i'll get it okay i think so like two and just a tad bit more left yeah you're gonna finish before you get here you finish you won't finish back here yeah i know have the what let's see the you got it guys i can't [ __ ] believe i'm saying this but attempting a sub four hour marathon we're at 31 kilometers five minutes and 26 seconds per kilometer but uh three hours 27 minutes 27 seconds [Music] but i can't have anything because good luck boys we'll end it here yeah perfect [Music] push it [Music] is it done [Music] bro some [Music] holy all done mate come on well done water and stuff in the front seat [Music] oh my god my legs [Music] i don't know i mean it's pretty ridiculous two weeks i like honestly without jimmy yeah like bless him i know if he didn't have that stomach thing he'd probably finish down like 340 or something he's a warrior yeah um yeah if he didn't have that stomach and he probably would have finished in 340.