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This fortnight, The List's own Murray Robertson will be one of thousands running the Edinburgh Marathon for charity. He showed Kirstin Innes his training diary

mainly just to keep healthy. The first time I

crossed the finish line I swore I was never. ever. ever going to do that to myself again. but after about a week I forgot all the pain and decided to make it an annual event. This year. any sponsorship money I make is going to Alzheimers Scotland. I run to raise money for a charity every other year. mainly so that my friends don‘t get bored of me bothering them for cash. and I try to change charities every time. too. 7 January ‘(‘hristmas is over. I've taken a look at my waistline and I'm not happy. Too many nights out in December. plus the usual yuletide malingering. have left me bloated and out of shape. The Marathon feels a long way away. but so too does my last stint of meaningful exercise. l've drawn up a light eight-week plan to improve my fitness before I embark on the proper. intensive. l2-week programme. My first couple of runs demonstrate just how bad things have become: even breezy sprints feel like vein-bursting slogs. 19 March ‘l'm now into my proper training schedule and I’m having trouble motivating myself. I didn‘t expect great weather this time of year. which is good. because it's turned Biblical outside. There are few things less

‘I ‘ve run a marathon every year since 2004.

appealing than venturing out onto cold wet streets. so it‘s just as well I‘ve sorted out membership at a comfy gym where I'm likely to continue most of my training. 28 April

‘Feeling guilty. I‘ve just abused my system and lost a

whole weekend in celebration of my birthday. Even 3 though it‘s been just three days (a perfectly appropriate :

period of time). the accumulation of booze has left me lethargic and lum ’. I resolve to return to m lan . C. . . forthwith and. by god. run like I ve never run before! After a half-hourjog I feel worse and go home.

17May

‘There are now less than two weeks to the big day and j

I‘m actually feeling pretty confident. I'm spending most of my weekend runs along the coast and on Sunday I ran my longest training distance. which is a half-marathon. in a little under two hours (in fact exactly a minute under two hours). Despite all this. my scales insist I‘ve lost grams rather than kilos. so I‘m going to assume that the weight has shifted around rather than dropped off. Yeah. that‘s definitely what's happened. Regardless. I feel ready.‘

The Edinburgh Marathon leaves Regent Road at 9am on Sat 25 May. If you’d like to support Murray, visit www.justgiving.comlmuzza

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* The Manifesto As part of his new directorship at the Tron, Andy Arnold revives the long- running political cabaret evening which started at the old Traverse in the 1980s Tam Dean Burn (pictured) is your most gracious host. He was once on River City, but you shouldn‘t hold that against him. Glasgow, Tron Theatre, Sun 25 May.

=i= Feminist Fashion-Codes: And What Has Armpit Hair Got to do With it? We admit that we’re mostly flagging this up because we love the title, but the content sounds pretty good too. Wally Salner looks at the importance of fashion in the history of feminism, covering the suffragettes, women’s lib, post- feminism and, in particular, 1968. Glasgow, Goethe lnstitut, Thu 22 May.

=i< Bralniac Live! The chaotic science-based TV show goes live. Wander along and cheer for Big Brother geek supreme Jon Tickle, whydontcha? Glasgow, SECC, Fri 23 May.

* Atr-I-Can Celebrate Africa Day with an interactive session of spoken word and mbira music, organised by Seeds of Thought. Glasgow, Kelvingrove Art Gallery 8 Museum Sun 25 May.

=l= Taste of Edinburgh Channel 4’s high profile food and drink event returns to Scotland. Visitors will be able to sample cuisine from top restaurants, learn more about food and wine in classes and demonstrations, and purchase top-quality local produce. See Noticeboard, page 7. Meadows, Edinburgh, Thu 29 May—Sun 1 Jun.

22 May—5 Jun 2008 THE LIST 31