This Winter, Lucy and Sam made a big decision: to run Paris Marathon in April. We'll be writing a series of blogs about their progress, to show you how it's possible to go from #NoughtToMarathon in just 5 months.

So we decided to run a marathon, from scratch, with a deadline of only 5 months. The Marathon International de Paris is on Sunday 8th April 2018, and is one of the most popular marathons in the Europe, limited to 50,000 runners.

Our marathon route will take us all 42.195km around the beautiful French capital, beginning at the Champs-Élysées and circling the Place de la Concorde, passing the Louvre and the Eiffel Tower.

We are both at different stages of our running careers, so our #NoughtToMarathon journeys will be slightly different. We'll each be following bespoke marathon training plans, and have chosen to fundraise for two different charities that are close to our hearts. Throughout the 5 months from now to race day, we'll be undertaking quite different journeys:

Lucy's #NoughtToMarathon Journey

In 2016, whilst still a student, Lucy challenge led our Amsterdam Marathon, completing it a time of 05:25:13. She's aiming to knock an hour off that in Paris, and achieve a sub-4:30 time. Having run on-and-off since Amsterdam, Lucy is keen to get back on track and into some serious training to make sure she can smash 4 hours 30 out in Paris.

Sam's #NoughtToMarathon Journey

Sam will be taking on this challenge as a total beginner. Not only is Marathon de Paris going to be Sam's first marathon, but he has yet to even run a competitive race! Epitomising the #NoughtToMarathon spirit, he's going to be following a Nike Running Club training plan to the letter, and is aiming for a sub-5:00 time.

Over the next 5 months, we'll be posting a series of blogs here, to document our respective #NoughtToMarathon journeys on the road to Paris. These blogs will be personal, giving you an insight into our training progress, the obstacles and challenges that arise, and the tips we have for all of our first-time marathon runners. We're going from nought to marathon in 5 months: and if we can do it, so can you.

Throughout the campaign, we'll share our progress in our Marathon Forum, as well as using the #NoughtToMarathon hashtag. Follow our progress, and join us on our journey.

You can sign up to one of our Spring Marathons here, and join us on our journey. Train alongside us, and raise money for an incredible charitable cause along the way.