Meet our 2022 London Marathon Runners!
This article will take approximately 3 minutes to read
Published 19 Jul 2022 in Raising Awareness
On 2 October, 5 Midcounties colleagues will tackle one of the toughest physical challenges – the London Marathon – to raise money for The Outward Bound Trust. Meet our runners and find out about the difference the money they’re raising will make. 🏃♀️
Raising money for a fantastic cause
The Outward Bound Trust is an educational charity that uses the outdoors to equip disadvantaged young people with valuable skills for school, work and life. They work with over 25,000 young people annually to teach the most important lesson young people can ever learn: to believe in themselves.
The difference our runners make:
“When you go home from a course like this, you’re going to grab every opportunity you can to fulfil your dreams… I think being on this course made me realise that I’m not nothing, that I can be whatever I want if I put my mind to it”. Simon, 16
“No matter how tough life gets, you can always take a step back and realise it will be okay because it always is. I learned we are human and tougher than we all think.” Archie, 17
Read how training has gone from some of our runners🏃♂️
Stuart Newman, Head of Healthcare and Project Lincoln
What made you decide to enter the London Marathon?
I signed up for the London Marathon because I am keen to once again contribute towards the Society’s relationship with The Outward Bound and enjoy helping other colleagues achieve their first marathon, this year will also be my 10th marathon!
What’s your training strategy, are you doing anything different/unusual to train for the marathon?
I am looking to be as efficient as possible this year with my training by making the long runs really count distance wise and do a couple of races before! It’s going to be nice again to train across the lighter, longer summer period rather than the normal freezing cold January & February!
What's your favourite time to run (am or pm)?
I like running in the morning and afternoon. Morning is nice to get it done and be able to relax for the rest of the day, but I feel as though I run better in the afternoon/evening!
Toby Moy, Workforce Management Planner
What made you decide to enter the London Marathon?
I signed up for the London Marathon 2022 because I completed my first ever Marathon when I ran the London Marathon 2021 last October and once the aches & bruises went away I realised that it was an amazing experience & would love to run it again.
What’s your training strategy, are you doing anything different/unusual to train for the marathon?
I am just trying to focus on getting 1 long run in per week. After the London Marathon last year, I didn’t stop training completely but I had a few months where I was only running 5ks & not much more. At the moment I’m trying to do an 8-10 mile run per week and by September I hope to be up to around 18-20 miles.
What’s your favourite time to run (am or pm)?
I generally do my long run on a weekend & I don’t want running to get in the way of my social plans so I will just run when I’m free on a weekend. During the week I am very much a PM person & never wake up early enough to get a run in before work.
Julian Wilkins, Digital Marketing Manager
What made you decide to enter the London Marathon?
I signed up for the London Marathon because I wanted to be involved in charity work this year. This stretches my current abilities and challenges me. I like what the Outward Bound is trying to achieve and love the values of Your Co-op. So I am looking forward to contributing to us making a difference.
What’s your training strategy, are you doing anything different/unusual to train for the marathon?
I am doing a lot to support the marathon run. I am adding regular yoga to my lifestyle, using the training to lose weight and running 3 times a week. My diet is more based around energy food as well and I am planning a detox in August, in preparation for the October event.
What’s your favourite time to run (am or pm)?
After work is good for me, as it gives me that degree of separation before relaxing for the evening and produces a nice feeling of accomplishment at the end of the day.
Alex Breeze, Click and Collect Buyer
What made you decide to enter the London Marathon?
What a fantastic opportunity to push myself to do something bucket list-worthy while raising money for a great charity. After the last few years, I have been fairly stagnant when it comes to physical fitness. I want to feel better in myself physically and mentally. This would be the ultimate challenge to really motivate me to make a positive difference.
What’s your training strategy, are you doing anything different/unusual to train for the marathon?
As a first-time marathon runner, I’m sticking to the training guide provided by Outward Bound. I’m trying to build up in incremental steps and not overtrain.
What’s your favourite time to run (am or pm)?
I’m definitely an afternoon/evening runner. Although my Sunday run is normally a morning one (not too early though!)
Ethan Morris, Workforce Management Planner
What made you decide to enter the London Marathon?
Running a marathon is something I’ve always wanted to do so when the opportunity to run as part of team Midcounties came up I had to go for it. I love a challenge and this is a great motivator to get myself back into shape after picking up some bad habits through the lockdowns over the last year.
What’s your training strategy, are you doing anything different/unusual to train for the marathon?
I haven’t run anything over 5k for many years so my strategy has been a mix of building endurance through at least one long run a week focused on distance rather than speed, and then 2/3 shorter runs between 5k-10k focused on pace.
What’s your favourite time to run (am or pm)?
I’d love to say I was up early and started my day with a run but the reality is that all my running is done after work with a longer run over the weekend.
We know there are lots of brilliant colleagues around the business who are taking on their own challenges and raising money for charities close to their hearts. If that’s you, let us know and we’d love to feature you on Colleagues Connect.
So whether it's walking, running, cycling, hosting a bake sale or even a charity head shave, we want to know!
Just send in your entries to thumbsup@midcounties.coop.
Don't forget to attach a photo, who you're fundraising for and a donation link.