The Marathon? Well, it was a spectacular event. To have a man running with an iron tied to his back, in the same race as an elite runner completing the run in 2 hours and 5 minutes and all the people in between (including me) is really just amazing. The spectators were fantastic. I have been a spectator twice, but to be on the other side of the barriers was incredible. The support was very strong. I particularly enjoyed the parts in the race where there was loud music, specifically the live bands - that gave me such a lift. As we were waiting to start I looked around me and couldn't quite comprehend that 35,000 people were about to run 26.2 miles together. The sheer volume of runners was breathtaking and quite hair raising at first. I dropped my gels near the start and there was no way I could stop and pick them up - I would have been quite literally 'run over' !
As the course dipped and rose again I was aware of looking ahead and seeing the most beautiful, multicoloured carpet ahead that was actually a sea of runners! It was stunning.
The first 12 miles felt fine although I was faintly aware of my legs feeling a little tired. It was a risk running my last long run (19.3 miles) two weeks before the marathon but I had no choice because of my virus putting me out of training for three weeks. I knew this was going to hurt as a consequence and from about 17 miles it did!!!
It was really really hard running this marathon and it challenged me physically, psychologically and emotionally. My legs really hurt and some of the miles seemed to go really slowly. People say that training for the marathon is the hard part but that hasn't been my experience. I think running the Marathon was one of the hardest things I have done.
And this is what is most staggering to me. 35, 000 other people would have found the Marathon, to a greater or lesser degree, really difficult and yet they did it. Only about 400 people did not complete the race. That is an impressive amount of people who, whatever they were going through finished the race. I will never watch a Marathon again in the same way. Spectators call out your name (if you have written it on your top, that would be a lot of names to remember!) and they know that the runners are doing something difficult. But until you have done it yourself you don't fully understand what an incredible challenge it is.
Amy and I ran together and ran over the finish line in tears. Mine were tears of relief at finishing. Our time was 5 hours exactly and we ran non-stop!
Would I run another Marathon? Well, probably not this week! But I have raised almost £2000 for St Helena Hospice and that's brilliant - THANK YOU so much to everyone who sponsored me. And I do enjoy the training. And I would quite like to have a different experience with less tired legs! So YES I do want to do the London Marathon 2009!
