Ian Clements

The Road to London 2027: 26.2 Miles and a LOT of Training

Well, here we go again…

In 2006, a somewhat younger version of me ran the London Marathon. I crossed the finish line in around 4 hours 20 minutes, which at the time felt like an enormous achievement.

Twenty years later, I’ve decided that the obvious thing to do is have another go.

So, I’m officially starting my training for the 2027 London Marathon — this time running for the fantastic charity Scope.

Evidently my previous marathon was a very long time ago. My mind, knees and legs have all had two decades to forget what running 26.2 miles feels like. I suspect they may not be delighted when they are reminded!

The personal target is fairly simple: equal or beat my 2006 time of 4 hours 20 minutes.

Whether that is an ambitious goal or complete madness remains to be seen.

At the moment, running 26.2 miles seems like a very long way indeed. I didn’t know it at the time, but a 10k race I did a few weeks ago was just the start of things. There will be plenty of training runs, early mornings, long Sundays, aching legs and the inevitable moments where I question why I thought this was a good idea in the first place.

But there is a much bigger reason for doing it.

I’m incredibly pleased to be running for Scope, a charity that works to create a society where disabled people have the same opportunities as everyone else. It’s a cause that deserves as much attention and support as possible, and I’m hoping that my marathon challenge can help raise some meaningful money for them along the way.

And this is where you come in.

I’m going to need all the encouragement I can get over the next year — from family, friends, colleagues and anyone else prepared to tolerate regular updates about running, aching muscles, questionable training decisions and increasingly large quantities of food.

Most importantly, I’m hoping you’ll help me reach my fundraising target for Scope. Please click do visit my sponsorship page and give what you can!

Every donation, however big or small, will make a difference and will hopefully provide a useful reminder that there is a very good reason to keep putting one foot in front of the other when the training gets tough.

So, here goes…

20 years after my first London Marathon, I’m going back for another shot.

The stopwatch is waiting.

The training starts now.

Wish me luck!