MY FIRST Marathon

Running coach Cory Wharton-Malcolm explores the mental and physical journey he experienced during his first marathon - and why it changed the course of his life forever

I had just come off the back of a disappointing run at the Great North Run. I say disappointing as that's how I felt initially. I didn't get close to the time I wanted and my body felt like I'd been struck multiple blows by Thor's magical hammer. But then I sat back and really thought about it. Time was truly irrelevant as I had just run my first half marathon, further than I had ever run before. Only a few months before, even the thought of covering such a distance was mind-boggling. So I shifted my mindset to one of what I did do, not what I didn't,

There were still six or seven months to prepare for my full marathon. The bizarre thing is I knew exactly what I had to do to get ready for my first marathon, but I just never really got going. I didn't train enough, I didn't sleep enough, I didn't do any strength work, no yoga, not enough work on my balance, mobility or range of motion. To sum it up, unbeknown to me I did everything in my power to sabotage this race for myself, as I later realised.

REACHING THE START LINE