Login
Login

Bob Inglis

TCS London Marathon 2023

Help me reach my goal of £3,000

Marathon Diary - Monday 24th April

Well that was hard, but I've done it!  

Firstly huge thanks to our lovely friends and Blackheath residents, Jim and Ulla for putting us up on Saturday night and allowing me to avoid engagement with the massed ranks of the 1st Battalion of the Royal Portaloo Regiment before the start!

The Weather Gods were not kind to us initially as we huddled in a downpour waiting to start, but once we got going, the on-off rain was, if anything, a relief.

I just couldn't get over the amount of spectator support. The route was lined end-to-end and huge encouragement offered including all sorts of sustenance - sweets, drinks etc.

To the list of "Things To Do Before You Die", (which in my case was about 2 hours later at mile 25), I must add running over Tower Bridge in the London Marathon, the noise was unbelievable! Trouble is that's not even half-way.....

Nevertheless, I pushed on and on and the great thing about starting in a relatively slow wave is that I just kept going past other runners all the way.

I wasn't conscious of specifically hitting the wall, but my pace was definitely dropping off as we exited the Isle of Dogs, and I was certainly running on empty on the closing stretch along embankment.

Greatly appreciated the support from Karen, George and Nick, who popped up time-and-time again to cheer me on.

So, how did I do? Well as I said my target time was 04:39:15, one hour slower than my previous marathon 38 years ago.  My time turned out to be 04:14:30 which means I've lost less than a minute/year - I'll take that!

Marathon Diary - Monday 17th April

6 Days to go - OMG! 

Do I feel ready? I'm not sure, my training programme is effectively complete, (other than a short 5k jog on Tuesday) and pleased I've generally kept to it. 

In spite of the sh*t weather over the last 3 months, I've only missed 3 out of 37 runs in that time. I've run 380km against a planned 327 km at an average speed of 5.33/km compared to 5.42/km, so the stats would seem fine, but a lingering feeling that maybe I should have put in a really long run. 

The maximum distance I've done is 'only' 23km, but I know it will be hard at the 20 mile mark, why put myself through it more than once?

So properly tapering down and carbing up this week and do please keep those donations coming in!

Marathon Diary - Monday 10th April

A quiet week, I could pretend I was tapering down, but reality is it was a quiet week! Returned from St Lucia yesterday, so still a bit short on sleep, but will look to get out for some mid-week mileage.
Perhaps though, it is time for the Great Reveal of my target....
I've only run a full marathon once before - Oslo 1985. My time then was 03:39:15. Well there's no way I'm going to get close to that, but let's give myself an extra hour, so my plan is to get inside 04:39:15. 
Very achievable, I think, but need to factor in "The  Wall"

Marathon Diary- Monday 2nd April

3 weeks to go and the official Marathon Website said this weekend past should have been our big 20 mile run - well just the 13.6 miles short!

Sneaked off for some warm (and wet) weather training in St Lucia. Too hot and hilly to run outdoors, but keeping a steady pace with an hour on the treadmill most mornings. Banged in a 2k swim instead this morning to give the old knees a rest!

Marathon Diary - Monday 27th March

Less than a month to go and that was a big week!

Taking up on a challenge, I ran home from the office on Tuesday night, 22.5km, but a really horrible route, not helped by accidentally double-backing on myself in Sunbury!

Followed that up with an even longer 23km on Sunday in the pouring rain with running mate, Pippa along the Thames into town.

But most importantly, I'VE REACHED MY DONATIONS TARGET! Thanks to all my supporters, but let's not stop here, keep it coming!

Off to St Lucia on Thursday for some warm weather training.

Marathon Diary - Monday 20th March

Getting so close to my target, thank you to all my backers, but do keep the pledges coming, let's knock it out of the park!

A relatively settled week. On my midweek 'day off', I chose to go spinning, albeit with some trepidation as I hadn't been in the studio for 3 months, so turned out to be quite sweaty!

Managed 16 km yesterday at 05.26/km, but really need to get in some seriously long runs now, As my son noted "If you ask everyone at 23 miles into their marathon whether their problem is (i) they can't run fast enough, or (ii) they can't run far enough, 99% will reply the latter!"

Marathon Diary - Monday 13th March

Thankfully the awful weather relented for the Surrey Half-Marathon on Sunday.  A good run, but went off too quickly at the start and as a result was suffering towards the end. Just managed to hold it together and pleased with my overall time of 01:51:22, but that was much slower than work colleague Ed, in the picture!

Marathon Diary - Monday 06th March

Two good mid-week runs at pace last week followed by a steady 17.2k run through Wimbledon Common and Richmond Park with my Marathon buddy Pippa and her lovely springer spaniel, Bertie.

Thank you all for your wonderful donations so far!

Marathon Diary - Monday 27th February

Took Part in the February Winter Warmer 10k in Richmond Park yesterday. Pleased with my time of 00:51:11 bearing in mind it was cold and hilly, average pace 05:09/km. Came 1st in >60 age category, (there were only 4 of us!) I was 29/182 overall, which I'm more pleased with!

Marathon Diary - Monday 13th February

Absolutely overwhelmed by the support so far, even though I'm still in 'soft launch' mode - thanks to all of you so, so much!
Still managing to maintain the schedule both in terms of distance and (mostly) pace/km, although quite hard to go fast in sub-zero conditions on Friday morning. A good run yesterday though, 17k @ 5.34/km. 
No doubt about it, music is much more effective than podcasts, up to 20 sec/km!

Marathon Diary Monday 06th February

Good speed on shorter midweek runs, but struggled a bit for the pace on Sunday, Note to self, remember water bottle next time and try and fuel up with more than a cup of tea......

Marathon Diary - Monday 30th January

Ok, skiing vacation over, now it starts in earnest!  Training Programme Week 1 complete and managed to meet all my goals in terms of distance and speed so far.  Managed 16k at 05:36/km yesterday, but don't want to peak too soon.... 

Marathon Diary - Monday 2nd January

Started New Year with my first race - The Serpentine 10k in Hyde Park. Time unspectacular 00:52:58, but a medal's a medal!

I'm running to help save lives in London

London’s Air Ambulance is the charity that delivers an advanced trauma team to London’s most seriously injured patients. Your donation will help save more lives by keeping the helicopter in the air and the rapid response cars on the road, ready for when they are needed most. By providing intervention as quickly as possible after injury, London’s Air Ambulance Charity aims to give patients the best chance of survival, and best quality of life, after trauma.

I will be taking part in the TCS London Marathon 2023 running with the London's Air Ambulance Charity Team. Please give what you can to help save lives in London.

Please Help Me
Reach My Goal

Raised

£5,591 + £1,041.47 GiftAid

My Goal

£3,000

Select amount to donate

£10
£20
£30
£50
£
Next

All payments are secure & encrypted

Thank you to my Sponsors

£52

Sue

Another brilliant achievement Bob! Congratulations on your success and superb time! xx

£1.11k

Kevin Golding

Well Done Bob

£20.80

Daniel Keable

Great effort Bob, well done!

£10.40

Antonia Corr

£20.80

David Wilkie

£50

John Thomas

Well Done Bob

£31.20

John Hooper

Well done Bob. Great finishing photo. You make it look like a walk in the park. Great cause too!

£31.20

Zac Zanti

Well done Bob

£10.40

Mangala Ngala

Well done Bob!

£10

Lorna Hudghton

Well done Bob

£20.80

Joanna Robsob

Well done Bob, fantastic achievement

£20

Adrian Wilson

Well done Bob !

£52

Edward Murphy

Well done- you deserve the medal and a great place to donate to

£31.20

Nick Morris

Well done superbob

£10.40

Carl Tuffin

Huge respect and admiration- well done and a fantastic run!

£10.40

Fiona Chesterman

Well done Bob! Pride of place for your medal 😁 Enjoy a proper beer!!

£52

Paul Simpson

Jolly well done, supremely impressive. Great cause too.

£31.20

James Blatch

Good luck Bob!

£31.20

Owen Roberts

Go Bingles

£31.20

Eileen O'brien

Well done Bob, & for such an amazing charity Eileen

£52

David And Anne

Good luck!

£10.40

Leigh Maybury

£10

Bridget Rendell

Good luck Bob!

£52

Anusha Sri-pathmanathan

Good Luck Bob

£20.80

Josh Gillan

Best of luck on the day Bob! I'm sure you'll smash it!

£30

Jillian Sandison

Run like the wind. Hope you have a great race Bob and well done!

£30

Peter Vose

Well Done Bob

£20.80

Conor Sherrard

Good luck! Look forward to comparing times next week!

£20.80

Ian Kopperman

£20

Austin Keane

£20

Emma Durrant

You’re going to absolutely smash this one Bob! Hope to see you there on the day :)

£20

Azeem Mohammed

Great cause.

£31.20

Roos Coiles

Go go Bling Queen!!

£20.80

Cedric

Congrats Bob ! Have a nice run

£20.80

Sharon Blackett

Good Luck Bob You can do it!

£20

Leslie Eshun

£20.80

Anonymous

£20

Andrew Wyatt

£31.20

Nick Inglis

Good luck dad, see you sunday!

£20.80

James Beale

Go for it Tiger!

£50

Jason Potter

Good on you Bob, and good luck with the target time, should be a breeze for a man of your calibre!

£20.80

Firas Hamdan

Props to you Bob... Best of Luck!

£20.80

Kirsty Langdon

Best of luck Bob!!

£30

Paul Hayward

Great stuff Bob. You got this. All the best.

£100

Howard Lovell

Good luck. Fantastic cause.

£20.80

Rosemary Sandiford

Go Bob!..Great cause.Best of luck.

£31.20

Charles Bingham

Well done Bob and good luck !

£104

Thomas Inglis

H

£20

Laura Yates

Good Luck Bob, great cause! Sure you'll do brilliantly :).

£52

Chris Coleman

Great effort! Good luck on the day. Chris & Kate xx

£26

Guy Sandiford

Good Luck Bob. Hope the weather will be cool on the day.

£10.40

Marjorie Sandiford

Go for it!

£26

Jon Capanda

Good job and good luck!

£31.20

Simon Frisby

mighty impressive - hope the run home from staines pays off

£20

Keith Anderson

£20.80

Julia Sandiford

Keep on runnin', Bob! Good cause! :)

£20

Iain Mcintyre

An inspiration to us all!

£20.80

Maan Al-jadir

Well Done Bob, an inspiration

£20.80

Anonymous

Keep up the training and good luck.

£20.80

Daniel Taylor

Good luck, Bob.

£100

George Inglis

GOOD LUCK!!!!!

£26

Anthony Bromfield

Go Bob go!

£52

James Davis

Go Bobalot Go

£50

Lirio Gonzalez

Where can I join the Bob's fan club???

£50

Iain

You got this! Have a great race!

£10.40

Dan Rigby

Good luck Bob!

£30

Colin Mckinnon

Fantastic result for a great cause.

£52

Vicky Gillard

Good luck Bob. Run like the wind. xx

£20.80

Stelina Lloyd

Good luck Bob!! You are simply amazing! Enjoy the challenge!!

£52

Sasan Kiani

Well done Bob,

£20

Clodagh Hill

Good luck Bob, a truly fantastic cause!

£20.80

Pedro Santos

£50

Omar & Ilona

£20

Susan

Go Bobness x

£104

John David Etherington

Bob, good luck, Great work for a great cause!

£20.80

Doug Lang

Well done Bob. What a great achievement and cause.

£31.20

John Hooper

Well done Bob! Great cause, and I am glad you still have the knees for all that tarmac!

£50

Ahmed Hafez

Fantastic cause Bob!

£50

Phil Hawthorn

I'm sure you'll beat your time goal! Running for a great cause!

£52

Alistair Morrison

Go. Bob!

£30

Anonymous

£31.20

Kevin Golding

Good Luck Bob - Hope you achieve your target time.

£52

Anne-marie Sherry

£30

Ray Ebsworth

£52

Manuella Dias-choudry

£52

Stephen Taylor

Go for it Bob. If I did everything you do I’d be needing the ambulance

£20.80

Nick Morris

Good luck Bob, this year let's go back to naxos

£31.20

Stan

£26

Arnold Isaacson

Best of luck- enjoy

£52

Michael Paget

Hi Bob, You are an inspiration to us all - good luck finding a helicopter outfit

£20.80

Pollyanne Conway

Good luck Bob! Run like the wind and just keep up with Pippa 😉 you are an inspiration with all your challenges. Go get another well deserved medal!

£208

Sarah Brearley

Loads of luck Bob. Hope you get a time that makes you happy! Go well. Wind at your back and all that.

£24.96

Keith Coni

😏

£41.60

Thomas Rees

Go Bob! You never seem to stop.

£52

Sean Whittaker

Great Charity Bob

£20.80

Bill Neilson

May the Compeed be with you!

£27.04

James Lloyd

Good luck!

£104

Elizabeth Light

Graham, Polly and I will be rooting for you. Good luck and run fast.

£50

Bootcamp George

Impressed as ever with your stamina Bob. You don’t seem to need much encouragement to put yourself through this kind of hell, but we wish you good luck and safe running! Love from George, Jo and Arabella!!

£52

Alex Gibbs

£20.80

Sophie & Gus

Good luck Bob!

£52

Paul Giles

Good Luck Bob!

£52

Stewart Tamsett

Bob, fantastic charity. Delighted to support

£25

John

Keep those medals coming!! Well done

£31.20

Sally Siddle

Go Bob! Sally

£50

Pippa Wilkins

Go BOB go!

£20.80

Rob H

Go for it Bob

£50

Kevin Smith

Great cause - got smash it Bob.

£104

Will Inglis

Good luck Bob. Rather you than me

£100

Anonymous

£189.28

Anonymous

Thanks to all the winners in the World Cup Predictions League who selflessly threw their winnings back in the charity pot

£260

Bob Inglis