Monday 18 April 2011

A hero for a day! 3:29:22

Wow, what a fantastic day!!  It was so amazing to have people along the entire length of the 26.2 mile course shouting your name and giving you the encouragement to push yourself as hard as you can.  Not only did I manage the distance but I even surprised myself with my finishing time.

The first part of the marathon seemed to go so quickly.  My half marathon time was good, at 1:42, and so I carried on as fast as the traffic and my legs would allow.  At 19 miles in, just when I thought I would try to catch up someone in front who had a Diabetes UK vest on, cramp struck my left leg and I suddenly couldn't run at all.  Not good.  Stretching it out didn't help so the only alternative was to run through it - ouch!  Then cramp spread to the right leg and my shoulders too.  I carried on at a slower pace, which seemed to be ok, but whenever I tried to take it up again, the cramp would return.  Those last few miles were so tough!!  I wanted to stop and enjoy a cool drink of water at every water station but I knew that I would never get going again.  Eventually I reached the 800m marker and then the 400m.  All of a sudden the finish line was around the corner, so I sprinted as hard as I could.  Pre-event I was aiming for anything inside four hours but amazingly I ended up doing the marathon in 3:29:22.  I am very happy with that!

For more details on the split times and positions see



After the finish I could hardly walk.  I just couldn't get my legs to move forward.  And it was impossible to think logically about anything like checking the goodies in the goody bag or phoning loved ones.  I was incapable of doing anything.  I tried sitting down and my legs immediately went into spasms of cramp.  After a while the fluids and snacks seemed to be taking effect and I was able to stagger off very slowly to the meeting areas but it was so hard to walk (the steps at Westminster tube were nigh on impossible).

Running the marathon was truly incredible.  I felt like a hero for the day.  The other amazing thing is the amount of additional sponsorship that has come in in this last week.  Thank you everyone who has donated because now even the £2.5k barrier is in tatters -- could I break £3k??  There is still time....

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