Katie's Classics

**  Here is my Virgin Money Giving page for anyone who wants to sponsor me **   L ondon Marathon - April 26th, 2020 - Pandemic says no.  London Marathon My Way - October 4th, 2020 - weather says 'have fun' The time, the place, the company, none of it turned out how I had planned my London Marathon to be this year. The only thing that made me consider running that far in the first place was the crowd, the thousands of people on the streets cheering you on. However, a pandemic happened so that didn't but being out in the rain on Sunday wearing a race number there were so many people who cheered, honked car horns (even an Ocado delivery driver) and other runners who waved or stopped for a chat... it was incredible, what is more incredible to me is that those 45 000 people that should have been in London were all over the world still running together and sharing their stories and challenges. This is social media at its best, as a community as support from all around the ...

Yesterday I did  my first Parkrun of 2020 after missing New Years Day injured and it was my home run of Hove Prom Parkrun. Easily the best Parkrun in the country! The reasons being: 1. I just need to roll out of the front door and I am there 2. It is flat (although the weather can be challenging at times) 3. It has the sea - which makes me happy (although as in point 2 can cause weather related challeneges)  and then there are all the reasons why I love Parkrun generally - even though, when asked, I will always claim to hate running. The diversity and friendliness of the Parkrun community amazes me. It is such a supportive atmosphere. My 2020 challenge is a marathon but for many it could just be to get out in the fresh air more, do a bit more exercise, meet people, to get stronger, to get faster or just to run a 5km. Parkrun, whereever you are allows you to do all of these things. You can run - Hove prom has some seriously fast club runners if that is your challeng...

I am having a slightly later start to my fund raising campaign than I had initially planned. Largely because a minor life event happened. As of November I am engaged to be married. The date of said wedding is in June. For those of you paying attention to my sporting calendar you will have noticed that June is in between the London Marathon and Ride 100, not to worry though because we are both taking part in these events. So, as you may infer, we are as mad as each other! Training started in November, while we were on holiday in Lanzarote. An all inclusive week for swimming and running in the warmth before winter training really kicks in here in the cold. What was a lovely idea, and I know that the Canary Islands are famous for wind, but it was exceptionally windy. I thought Hove Prom on a bad day was a struggle, Lanzarote provided me with a 45km/hr wind along the coast. Which made for a really nice run in one direction.... less so the other. Unfortunately the future Mrs Katie i...

I have just completed a year of madness. 15 sporting events in 13 months from my first ever triathlon - Brighton Sprint Tri - in September 2018. To my first Olympic triathlon in September 2019. I did (at least) 1 event a month in between, ticked the London to Brighton bike ride of my bucket list and discovered a love for open water swimming. I did all this because I wanted to and because I like a challenge. However, the support I have had throughout has been amazing and I wanted my next challenge to be bigger and for a cause. Not being content with just running the London Marathon I have decided to attempt all three of the London Classics in one year - except, because I have already done the 2 mile Serpentine I will finish my year in September with the Serpentine Super 6! I will be doing all of this for the Youth Sport Trust @YouthSportTrust for many reasons, chief among them being that sport, especially for young people, is so important for mental health, personal identity, co...