Marathon Report

Well, 

I finished!

and that's what I set out to do.  It wasn't quite the way I had planned it - I had a couple if 'issues' but I passed the finish line and I did it in time to get a medal.

Last week was supposed to be for resting and eating, the resting bit was a piece of cake it was the eating that I really wasn't very good at.  As I get more nervous I loose my appetite which isn't good for 'carb loading' by Friday I could barely eat at all.  Jan and I went up to London on the train and were staying at the Custom House Hotel - don't stay there, ever!.  The receptionist had a clear attitude problem, the rooms were poky and dreary and the night before the marathon the most carb filled meal we could get was fish and chips and the fish, when it finally arrived turned out to be tandoori flavoured - just what you need the night before you're going to run a marathon.  My head told me this wasn't a good idea and I just ate the few chips that hadn't been affected by the tandoori.  We went back to Jan's room, passing the threshold I clocked the very high ridge that made up the space missing at the bottom of the door and thought, 'that looks dangerous'  moments later I went back to my room to collect my running vest so we could write my name on it.  I made the fatal decision not to put my shoes on, completely forgot the ridge and stubbed my toe as I left!.  I knew the minute I did it that it wasn't good and no amount of hopping and swearing helped at all.  I got up to go to the loo several times in the night and each time the toe was a different shade of blue, by the time my alarm went off  it was black and painful, but only when I walked?????.  We strapped it to the next one and I wedged it in my shoe.  I got down as much porridge as I possibly could - not a lot and set out - alone to catch my train (I had a longer journey).  The dockland light railway was fine, I met several people all heading for the start.  We then played sardines on the train to Blackheath.  I had to stand on one leg knowing that if someone stood on my foot it would be game over.

We all then processed up the road towards blackheath and for once I seemed to have got my timings perfectly worked out.  I changed, got rid of my kit bag, did the loo queue where I met and chatted to a  lovely lady then headed for the start with about 10 minutes to spare.

We walked for ages before we crossed the line and that was it, I was running in the London Marathon.  After all the years of watching on TV and wishing I could be there, I finally was!.

I couldn't believe the support, there were so many people lining the streets the noise was incredible.  I gave up on the music early on because I just couldn't hear it and it was more fun listening the the crowd and the music.  I was going well despite that fact that many people were going past me, but that was ok, I knew I would pass a lot of them later on and I did start passing people fairly soon.  Some people were walking just a mile in.  I passed a lot of people who were in the loo queue too.  We merged with the red start and I nearly tripped over a discarded water bottle looking out for Jan.  I decided to give up on that, it was like looking for a needle in a haystack.  Some ways later, we had a lovely moment when she came up behind me - she had done several loo's!.  We had a chat, nearly got taken out by a guide who was using the blind runner he was attached to to ram his way through the crowd and then yell at everyone for not getting out of the way - always one!, and then she speeded off.  I was still going well up until around 12 miles when the nausea arrived.  I think my mistake was that I was using the gels which had worked so well over the cold, grey months of my training but yesterday was really warm and I needed a drink, so I drank but I don't think you are supposed to drink as well with these gels.  I had also started with a very limited store of carbs.  I put my hand up to wipe my face and missed - I panicked, I didn't want to finish with bendy legs and it was already setting in at 12 miles!.  At that point I started to walk and look for a private place where I could be sick.  From that moment on it did become a bit of a nightmare because I felt so ill walking was a struggle, people were streaming passed me now many of them in huge fancy dress!.  I was cross with myself too because I had done the training, I'de run 20 miles - it was the eating and drinking that I seemed to be so bad at.  It was many miles before I was able to start to run again and then it was a run and a walk.  At around 19 miles the blue sky blackened and the heavens opened, I was frozen and soaked, I ran/walked to the sound of balloons being popped and barriers being collected, I just wanted to stay ahead of the people taking up the blue line.  I was passed by vans carrying people who had dropped out and I was so tempted.  I have to say though, there were still, even in the rain, many many people who stayed on the streets to cheer us on, I thought they would have all left but they didn't and that meant so much.

I finally finished in 6 hrs 51 minutes, it felt good to finish but do you know, there were 13 people up there to support me and Jan and only Adam and Emma saw me stagger past.  When we met at the end they thought I had dropped out, I thought they were all a bit miserable, it was only when they saw my medal that they realised I had passed the finish line.

My immediate reaction was 'never again' but this morning I have woken up happy to have finished but feeling this is a job not quite done.  I set out to 'run' a marathon, fitnesswise I know I can do it but I need to get the nutrition and hydration right.  I think Jan is feeling the same way too and Madi has expressed a vague interest too so who knows, I shall leave it a week and then see how I feel.