18-24 miles: The hard miles! Horrible blister at 19 miles that felt as though it had burst. Had to take a small break to stick on my free Expo plaster but it worked well. Able to run again and could hardly feel it after this. But a lot of my earlier energy had now gone and I was finding it hard to keep going at a reasonable pace. I was trying to lift myself as I approached 20 miles by saying “this is further than you’ve EVER run before!” but to be honest I didn’t care. All I could think about was there was still over 6 miles to go and it seemed so far… At this point I decided to start taking an extra break each mile. I was now walking for the first minute, running the next 5, walking another minute and running to the next mile marker. It didn’t make a huge difference to my times as I was only about 30 secs. per mile over target. I found this part of the course difficult. I felt as though we were running in big circles and not really going anywhere and all those underpasses and tall buildings – I didn’t like it. I can’t believe I managed to run past the Tower of London without seeing it! Managed to keep my pace going until just after 24 miles. But as I stopped for my second walk break I knew I wasn’t going to start running again.
24-26.2: The end! As soon as I excepted that I was going to walk the rest of the way I felt a lot better. I was still on target to finish sub-5:30 so I thought I would soak up the atmosphere and enjoy the last bit. Also I was hoping to see my brother and his wife and I thought it would be easier at a slower speed. Sadly even though I was plodding and they had a banner I still missed them! Did meet some lovely spectators with bits of Mars bar though. I was a bit sick of jelly babies by now so to have a bit of chocolate was divine. They even told me I was doing really well which was probably a bit of a white lie but much appreciated! I work near the finish so I know Birdcage Walk is deceptively long and that the bit around Buckingham Palace is slightly uphill so I decided to save my last bit of energy for the Mall. As I went round the last corner I could hear “What have you done today…” and I suddenly thought “I’ve done it! All those long runs in the cold and the rain and the dark – they were worth it!!!” I was nearly crying as I got onto the Mall, realised how close the finish was and then just pelted along waving my arms like a nutter as I went across the line.
Afterwards was a bit of a blur. Felt OK but had real problems eating anything, I seemed to crave stuff that wasn’t in my goody bag and that I hadn’t bought with me. Don’t think I could have drank any more Lucozade if my life depended on it! The only nice thing I had was my 2 slices of pre-buttered Malt Loaf, so glad I bought them even if they are ridiculously overpriced. I was very glad to see a friendly Shelter Volunteer face – Jo, who helped me back to the Reception. I’d put far too much stuff in my kit bag and it would have been a bit of a struggle without her carrying some of it for me. Finally met up with my brother and his wife at the Shelter reception where I forced myself to eat my Lucozade energy bar and some pasta. Best bit was going home via Starbucks so I could get a grande latte – yum! I could walk OK and didn’t feel particularly sore anywhere, maybe walking the last part of the race helped? Wore my medal for the rest of the day and hung it on my bed post when I went to bed! Had a really uncomfortable night as the sunburn on my shoulders kicked in – ouch… but it was worth it!
Truly one of the best days of my life!!!
:-)
