The Last Flora London Marathon

When I think about Sunday and the London marathon, I still get tired, teary-eyed, emotional and completely irrational.  For so long I have wanted to do this race and I guess I can’t believe that I got to line up with thousands of other runners, take part in a great atmosphere and finish it.

On Saturday morning myself and peg-leg made our way to Nottingham station to catch our train to London.  I wasn’t prepared to drive down and risk getting stuck in traffic, getting agitated and generally hating the experience.  We got to Kings Cross station at around 11am and already I was slightly confused about how we were going to get to the expo.  We spotted someone that looked like a runner (he was wearing a NY marathon shirt and had several silver blankets around his pack… and a sign saying Runner’s World Support Group!) and just about glued ourselves to the poor man.  It got us to the expo though :)

Once there, we said goodbye and I picked up my race number, had my chip activated and walked around the expo for a little while.  The atmosphere was absolutely amazing.

Of course I couldn’t stay there all day – we headed to the hotel and after checking in, took a nap, got some supper and then it was time to get a lot of good sleep.

Sunday morning I woke up at 6am and got up with relative ease, took a shower, put on some jeans and a shirt and headed to the dining room.  The hotel was great – they had prepared oats, a range of organic seeds/fruits/other things and then the usual breakfast.  I had some porridge, a few slices of bacon and then headed back up to the room to get my race gear on.  I put on my shirt, shorts and packed something to wear after the race, although right now, it escapes me why.  I mixed some energy drink, poured it into my bottle and packed gels and all the other things that were necessary. 

It was time to get to Charring Cross to catch my train to Blackheath.  The train was absolutely packed with runners (as you’d expect) and everyone was talking about their goals and training and I was just listening to it all and having a great time.  20 minutes later we were at Blackheath and amid a crowd of runners I made my way to the blue start.

The start was crowded with a lot of fairies, Elvis, the queen and a lot of other people you may or may not recognize, lining up alongside us.  I was in camp 6 and the people in there was in a great mood – it was already getting hot and generally we were all feeling like it was going to be a great day.

I didn’t hear the start, but I knew it happened, because the crowd suddenly started to move forward.  As I crossed the line I noticed that a good 9 minutes had already passed. 

I started off a little fast.  Far too fast really.  The first mile went by in less than 10 minutes, but I forced myself to slow down and settle into a comfortable pace well before we crossed that line.  At times I was forced by the runners around me to slow down as the lanes narrowed and widened and narrowed and widened.  I was now moving at a nice pace and still soaking up the positive feelings and jovial happiness around me.  I realised very well that this might be my one and only London marathon and I was absolutely determined to enjoy every single minute of it.

At mile 2 a guy behind me started singing and just about everyone around me joined in.  I didn’t – I couldn’t – I didn’t know the words!  But I still liked it.  I was thinking of how many people missed this because they had music in their ears.  Of the iPod kind.  Or any other MP3 player that you may choose.

Shortly before mile 3 we saw the red runners (they weren’t sunburnt, they just had red numbers!) join us from the left.  I guess they had run a little less than us at that point – there were still barriers between us and their 5K mat was about 100m short of ours.  But at the bottom of that hill, we found a roundabout and after going around it, we were free to mingle and we did!  Of course this meant that after spreading out over the prior 3 miles, we were now in a bunch again and the slowing down and speeding up trend continued.  Especially when we spotted a rhino and had to run to pat it and pass it.  By this point I was already feeling a little hot, but I was still enjoying it and felt quite good!

Mile 4 - 10 passed before I knew it and the only thing I knew was that I had seen a lot of South African flags while running.   Just after the 10 mile marker I spotted someone that I used to go to university with.  I didn’t stop to say hi, making a mental note to send him and email to ask whether it was him.  I couldn’t deal with stopping and having to chat, eyeing some of that lovely meat they had on the fire and then having to leave again!

As we got to Tower Bridge just before mile 13, I was still in good shape.  My legs were feeling great, my body was feeling good, I still had enough energy for another 13 miles at the same pace and I was definitely ready for the last 13.  The crowds got a lot bigger at this point. And more lively.  A lot more lively.  They lifted our spirits and made me forget the heat for just a little while.  The heat increased with every mile and by the time I reached mile 20 I was incredibly hot, felt the sunburn and could probably have done with a dip in a pool and lot of ice.

At mile 21 I still felt good.  I was hobbling along at a steady pace and it looked like the end was in sight – even it if was still 5 miles away.  200 yards later I suddenly saw stars everywhere.  I instantly found myself on the ground and a few moments later I was surrounded my a few men in uniform.  The paramedics where very nice.  I sat up and assured them I was okay.  Okay, so you’re not supposed to see stars.  But they were very very nice and one or two of them insisted that I don’t carry on.  That I pack in, get on the side, get in a chair, get off the course and give up for the day.  They advised me to stop.

I was stubborn.  I was going to finish.  Even if it meant walking.

So that’s what I did.  For the next 4.5 miles I walked.  And I walked.  And when I tried to run, my cooled down muscles hobbled and protested until I gave up and walked some more.  

With half a mile to go and the finish in sight, I decided that I was going to have to run over the line, my arms held high.  I managed to get going, even if it was painfully slow.  I listened to the crowds cheer the runners on.  I loved it.  I wanted to burst into tears because I was so happy to be there, but I couldn’t.  Not just yet.

We made the final turn in front of Buckingham Palace and now I could actually SEE the end.  I found the line in the middle of the road as I eyed going through the centre of the finish.  50 yards before the line I threw my arms into the air and just after I crossed I finally burst into tears. 

I was finished. 

I managed to finish. 

I walked over the bridge to have my chip removed.  More tears.  My medal was hung around my neck I and I cried some more.  At least most people seemed to realised that these were tears of happiness.

I went for my finisher’s photo, tears streaming down my face and then walked to collect my goodie bag, which was a lot heavier than I thought it would be.

I walked to collect my kit bag (which turned out to be very close to the end of the park).  It seemed a lot heavier than I remembered. 

As I walked through the family reunion area, I decided that since my hotel was less than a mile away, I was just going to go there to get my shower.  It turns out that when you’re between 100,000 other people even crossing a park is quite hard.  To get to my hotel I had to queue to get over a footbridge, which I didn’t mind as I got to speak to some other finishers who were all complaining about the heat they had to endure.

After a shower, pizza and a glass of wine, I was in bed, still clutching that medal. 

I do believe this was the marathon finish that I’ll treasure most.