Russell Turner | Happily Ever After

Happily Ever After

Life in The Rural Retreat with a beautiful wife, two cats, garden wildlife, a camera, a computer – and increasing amounts about running

Earlier posts can be found on Adventures of a Lone Bass Player, where this blog began life. Recent entries can be found here.

Turning Down A Place York 10k 2026 Durham 10k Not London At The Double (For Now)London At The Double Index

You Shall Go To The Ball

by Russell Turner - 22:20 on 17 August 2026

The road to London continues to be a twisting one. Last Tuesday I received a polite refusal from Prostate Cancer UK, which was fourth on my list of preferred charity partners. They’d had more than 4,000 applications for 305 places so the odds were similar to winning a place in the ballot. Such is life.

Just a day later I received a phone call from a very jolly lady at Comic Relief HQ to say they’d be happy for me to run for them, details to follow later. Comic Relief was bottom of my list of six applications, partly because of the £200 registration fee – more than twice what some of the others ask – but after having turned down Spinal Research I didn’t want to push my luck again, so I said yes.

I have a place in the 2027 London Marathon Double!

Today, after a few days of wondering if they’d forgotten about me, the confirmation email landed, including the news that I’d be running on the Saturday, the unique day I really wanted. I have until the end of August to pay the registration fee, which is handy because it means I can wait a little longer to see if I’m offered a place by Breast Cancer Now or Cats Protection – my two top choices.

Matchgirl has asked several times if I’m sure about this, £2,500 being a substantial amount to raise. Although that’s true, I’ll take a chance. City Limits will play a benefit gig if we can find a suitable venue and, after sponsoring a local runner this year, Chatterbox should be able to come up with something for one of its own. (I hope.) I also have thoughts of giving fundraising talks to local groups, a quiz night and other money-raising stuff.

I’d like to say that this inspired me to take a 10-mile run as the start of an eight-month training plan. I can’t. For the last week I’ve been bravely battling a persistent cold, or possibly covid, during most of which I’ve hidden upstairs to reduce the risk of infecting Matchgirl. I thought the worst was over at the weekend, when I was well enough to play with the band on Saturday and run a cautious 5k on Sunday – my first run since York. Sadly, today has been a day filled with coughing; Matchgirl has borne it stoically.

Whoever I run for, the five-runs-a-week training plan is already in the diary, beginning on December 22. I’ve included a couple of break weeks (although I’ll still run) to accommodate a couple of half marathons along the way. Ahead of that there are a couple more 10ks then a pre-training plan training plan to create with four runs a week. I’ll be busy.

I could be busier. If The Running Gods want to persecute me they’ll let me win one of the New Balance draw places for London on Sunday. Two marathons in two days? Why not?

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