The London Marathon waiting game

It's that time of year when anyone who has sent in an entry for the London marathon starts biting their nails and wondering if they are going to get a place (me included!). For non-elite runners in the UK there are basically 4 ways of getting into the London marathon - via the ballot (where 90,000 plus people are vying for about 25,000 places!), by getting a 'good for age' place (whereby you can prove that you can run a marathon in a certain time - way too fast for most people), via a place from a running club (running clubs are allocated a set number of places which they often raffle for their members) and finally a Gold Bond place from your chosen charity (basically this is a place that the charity has to buy from the organisers for about £250 and they then allocate them to people who promise to raise a certain amount). I have been rejected in the ballot 5 times and accepted once so the 3 others times I have run it I had to take a gold bond place.

A couple of days ago I had an email from Debbie, a fellow runner who I met briefly at the Three Forts marathon earlier this year, who's the editor of a new website how2fundraise giving people advice on how to go about raising money for charity. Apparently she has had a lot of emails from people who are scared of making the commitment to raise the £1500 that most charities require one to raise for a 'gold bond' place (some charities require a minimum of £2500). As she knew I'd done a lot of fund-raising she wondered if I'd share some tips on their website.

Naturally I was only too happy to help. First of all she asked me to complete
this questionnaire about what I've done. Then she asked me some other questions about the London Marathon in particular so that she could include the details in a special article she's putting together about the London Marathon. She'll send me a copy when it's finished.