On Sunday I finished the London Marathon in four hours and 10 minutes! To say I am happy is an understatement, I am over the moon!
I said from the start of my training that I would like to complete the run between four hours and four fifteen so naturally I am delighted that I reached my target. But to be honest, I’m just as pleased with how much I enjoyed the race. Last year’s (unsuccessful) attempt felt laboured and stressful from the first mile - I was just so hot. But in contrast, I knew this run was going to go well from the start line, I ran at a fairly steady pace and I smiled all the way around.
The weather this year was a lot kinder, and a lot colder. I was at the park for about an hour and a half before going to the start, and then about 20 minutes on the start line, and like many people I was shivering, even though I’d taken an old jumper. The cooler weather certainly helped on the way round though, as did a few spots of rain!
I’d say the highlights of the run were seeing my family at the start, mile 12 and mile 24. It was so nice to see their faces in the crowd, cheering me on, knowing how supportive they’ve been. Another highlight was running over
Tower Bridge, just after seeing my family at mile 12. It’s such an iconic part of the marathon course and given that I collapsed not long before that point last year, it felt even better to be able to run across it.
The hardest part was the last few miles, and the last mile in particular. I know that the signs saying ‘800 metres to go’ and ‘600 metres to go’ are supposed to be encouraging, but to be honest I felt that just made me feel that I still wasn’t as near the finish line as I wanted to be!
Crossing the line was such a good feeling though! I was just ecstatic to have run the whole way, be feeling so good and be finally finished! Last year’s experience meant I felt like finishing was a long time coming.
It always surprises me how badly you can feel just minutes after running! As soon as I, and so many others, crossed the line, we started walking to get our medals, collect our stuff and go and find our families. Whilst minutes before I had been running, walking to the end of the Mall suddenly felt like such a big challenge! It took me ages to walk to the meeting point with my family and I did shed a little tear when I saw them.
I’ll write more about what I learnt during training and the marathon in future blog posts. But for now I'm off for a rest - with a smile on my face!
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