Marathon on your mind? 6 reasons to sign up for next year’s race

The London Marathon has only just been and gone, but spring is here and runners everywhere are gearing up for another season of outdoor training. If you’re feeling inspired – or looking for inspiration – we caught up with Hannah Davies, trainer at Sweat It, to get her expert advice on why you need to take the plunge and sign yourself up for next year’s race…

Accountability

Having a specific event to train for helps to give you a bit of pressure to get out and start working towards race day. This particularly helps if you hold yourself accountable to others by telling people you’ve entered an event – it could just be the kickstart you need. It’s also likely that you’ll be doing the marathon to help raise money for a particular cause, which will give you that added burst of motivation to get you through your training and the big day itself.

Commitment

Often when it comes to training you ‘go through the motions’ and don’t really have a focus to motivate you. However, knowing that there’s a big event you’re working towards will give you that focus to put the work in and push yourself.

Try something new

A marathon experience is one like no other. Yes, it’s hard work, gruelling, and at times you’ll question why you signed yourself up for this, but you’ve always got to think about the end goal. Trying something new will make you re-establish your limits. Change can be difficult but pushing yourself out of your comfort zone opens up a whole new world of opportunity.

Move more

Training for a marathon will inevitably boost your general health and fitness, as running is great for improving cardiovascular health. So, not only will you feel fitter as your training improves, but you’ll also feel a lot healthier and better in yourself too. It’s a proven fact that exercise releases those happy hormones, so let the endorphins flow and get that feel good factor.

Create good habits

Committing to an event and being able to succeed requires good health and nutrition. In the build up to the race, you’ll learn new habits and understand ways to fuel your body and recover properly, as well as mental strength and stamina. These things will then become part of your everyday life and be a natural habit.

Mental strength

The feeling of achievement when you have completed something you committed to, went through all the training, and then crossing that finish line, is one of life’s natural highs. It makes you feel like you are capable of anything. After completing the marathon, you’ll go through life with a very different outlook.

By Charlotte

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