Adam Drury spent the majority of his playing career with Norwich City, for whom he made a total of 361 appearances.
Since his retirement last year, the 36-year-old has been involved with the Norwich City Community Sports Foundation, which "helps over 20,000 people every year achieve their goals through sport, supporting some of the most disadvantaged, disabled and talented people across Norfolk".
To help raise funds for the organisation, Drury has agreed to run in this year's London Marathon. With his training now well underway, Sports Mole caught up with the former Canaries skipper to find out how his preparation for the 26-mile race is coming along.
You're running the London Marathon for the Norwich City Community Sports Foundation. Can you tell us a little about the organisation and what tempted you to get involved?
"When you're at a club, they like you to go out into the community to see people that are not as fortunate as you. We would go into schools as well and talk about the importance of staying healthy.
"The Community Foundation does a lot of stuff, not just through football, but any type of sport where they try to encourage people with all sorts of illnesses to participate. It also reaches out to people with problems at home or those that are a homeless. It tries to help them socially by giving them confidence through sport.
© Getty Images
"I did a lot of things for them when I was at the club and after I retired they asked if I'd like to run the London Marathon to help raise some money because obviously they are a self-sufficient organisation. The club itself helps them with the name, but it has to raise all its own funds. The players back it and I'm more than happy to do so.
"Now that the training has started, [running a marathon] is going to be harder than I thought! But I'm a pretty competitive person and I take pride in doing that sort of stuff."
Is there a specific person you can remember that the CSF has helped?
"There isn't one particular person that sticks out, it's more the smiles on the faces of people that I always remember. We see plenty of kids who might not be great socially, but put them in a sporting environment and they make new friends and that's a great thing to see happen.
"It goes right through the age groups as well. There might be people looking for a bit of respite if they're caring for someone 24/7. They can drop them off, which gives them a break and that's fantastic."
How's the training going? I can imagine it's a lot different to training during the week as a professional footballer?
"At my age, it's a bit hard to pound around the roads! I've just been trying to get the mileage in and keep myself fit. It gets a bit boring on the treadmill, but with the television on, it takes your mind of it a little bit."
How far are you planning on running beforehand? Obviously you won't be running the full 26 miles, but will you get anywhere close?
"It's about eight weeks to go, so I might try to run a couple of 20-mile sessions, just so I know that I can get that far. I've been doing a lot of 10 to 13-milers and also playing football with some of my mates [at Cottenham United]. I've been trying to keep the fitness varied. I've never been massively interested in just going out for a run, I like to do a sport alongside it."
© Getty Images
You mentioned earlier that you're a competitive person. Does that mean that you have a time in mind?
"I don't want to set a target, but anything under four hours is what I'm looking at. On the day, people have told me not to get caught up in it because with the adrenalin you can go off too quickly and blow out way before the finish. I'd be more than happy with anything less than four hours."
On Twitter, some of your former teammates like Darren Huckerby have been both encouraging and also calling you "bandy legs"! Have your friends in football been supportive?
"They have been really great, I can't fault them. At Norwich, there has always been a good atmosphere. All the lads live in the city, which gives the club a real good community feeling. The club have been really supportive to me throughout this as well. I lived in Norwich the whole time was there and loved it. It's a really nice family club."
Will any other members of the CSF be running with you?
"I think that there are three others from the foundation running, then a few others who can pay to get involved and run with us. Hopefully none of them are fantastic athletes that are going to end up leaving me behind!"
If you wish to sponsor Drury and the CSF ahead of the London Marathon on April 26, you can do so here.
Liam Apicella
