This was undoubtedly one of the most emotional, rewarding and exciting days of my 38 years. The ridiculous thing is that I want to do it all again! (not right now though).....
The day started with a train ride across to the start, surprisingly lots of other people on the tube - well not really over 30,000 other nutcase's doing thing same thing on a Sunday morning. Having watched the marathon on the tele for quite a few years I thought I would be overwhelmed by the size, it actually seemed smaller than I was expecting. This may be down to the fact that everyone was so friendly, the atmosphere was amazing, you could sense the nerves and excitement in equal measures, especially near the toilet blocks!
The weather wasn't too bad for the day, not quite as hot as forecast.
So, got on with the race and I had a plan. This was how it went:
From the very start people in the crowd are calling your name to encourage you, I was pleased that I had my name on my top.
It was a little daunting running in such large crowds, as I normally run on my own.
The first 5 miles just went on by as a warm up, I made sure that I was keeping to my plan nothing faster than 9:30 minute miles and making sure I was taking on good water when the stations were available; every mile.
I broke the race down into sections with certain milestones, got to 10 all good, then on to the half way stage in the time I wanted to conserve energy - 2:08, perfect timing. The next point for me to get to was mile 18, I knew at this point I would see Lynn and Sid in the City. The miles in between 13 - 18 were a little boring in some respect, I could see Canada Tower for miles then seemed to keep running around it, but I was really excited about seeing the 2 of them and I knew they would be as well. So, past the 17 mile marker really looking forward to seeing them, then through the 18 mile mark, I couldn't see anything from the Notting Hill group, no balloons, no banners or anything like that, loads and loads of supporters in this area, all shouting your name; but I was only interested in 2 voices - no good, I'd missed them!!
(I knew how disappointed and concerned they would be, at least I had something to occupy me!)
I was a little deflated for the next mile but was on good time so cracked-on. Still keeping to the time to reach my finish of under 4:25hr. Past the 19 mark and now onto 20, I knew that if I was feeling ok here I'd make it easy, well as easy as 26.2 miles is to run for the first time! I was feeling still quite strong, breathing, knees, nipples and not sunburnt - all good.
20 miles, for some reason in both calfs started to get just a slight twinge of cramp, this has never been a problem for me whilst running in all the training I've done. Had a little stretch and tried to run it off, it's bound to go soon, right?
It only got worse and worse and even worse.......what a nightmare.......I've planned for gels, water, chafing, even if I fall over......but bloody cramp!
Those last 6 miles were horrible, but there was no way that I wasn't going to finish. At mile 25 to my complete joy I saw Lynn and Sid - BRILLIANT! For them, relief and for me.....well....
Over those last miles, it was a huge mix of frustration and having to dig deep, physically I still felt alright, it was just that someone kept shooting me in both calfs. I could only run for about 5 minutes at a time.....but I made it!
My time was closer to 5 than 4:25.
Very proud, yet a little disappointed!
Ready for the next part of my journey, just haven't decided what it will be.......
Good work mate. Proud of you. You've done remarkably well, dont forget where you were a year ago! Looking forward to helping you with the next challenge.
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