The 17th April 2011. The big day arrived. Heres a short (turns out its not short) account of the day and how I eventually got to the picture below.
 |
| Me with celebratory Beer! |
-- PRE-RACE PREPARATION --
6.15am Alarm goes off, I was fortunate enough to have had a good nights sleep. I marched downstairs surprisingly awake to make my pre-race carbohydrate rich breakfast of porridge and brown sugar.
7.15am Put my race kit on, feared that I had forgotten my lycra shorts, alas I hadn't! And affixed my race number, 40664, to my HOPE HIV t-shirt. My Dad drives me to Bethnel Green station and wishes me good luck.
7.45am Pass through my first set of barriers on to the tube by flashing my race number at the attendant. He gave me a nod and said "Its only free until 4pm" to which I replied "I hope I'll be done by then" and he gave me a pat on the back! Put my music and headphones on to relax my nerves. The train from Stratford to Greenwich was the busiest I have ever been on, I've been at the front of concerts with fewer people invading my personal space.
8.45am Arrive at the Red start area for charity runners, so many lorries for you to leave your kit bag. I put on my Garmin watch and HR monitor, made sure my glucose tablets were in my pocket, put on my sun screen to make my mum happy, and vaselined up my nipples (an absolute lifesaver when I saw my fellow HOPE HIV runner at the end bleeding quite a lot from his left nip).
9.20am Lined up in area 4 ready for race start, before realizing I needed to pee and so had go find the toilets.
9.30am Back in start area, actually ready to go this time. For thousands of people in a small area it was eerily quiet but for the race announcer letting people know what to do. We were all nervous of the task ahead.
-- THE RACE --
9.45am After a countdown from 10, the Virgin London Marathon 2011 begins.
9.47am I finally manage to get across the start line (due to number of people not because I'm that slow)
The first 2-3 miles were quite interesting, with only a few supporters lining the route, mainly because it would have been so hard to see anyone you knew. a few pubs had music blaring out to spur you on. At the 3 mile mark the red, blue and green starts come together and there was plenty of good natured booing and hissing between the ballot place runners and the charity places. All friends here! A few people stumbled on drinks bottles which had been thoughtlessly discarded and they seemed to be in some pain, I felt for them as that would have been a killer being so early on in the race, I don't know whether they finished. After this people started to be much more cautious by drinks stations and watching out for bottles.
Award for best sign of the day, just coming up to the 5 mile marker:
"Pain is temporary, Quitting is forever."
This helped so much especially the last few miles.
My pace was quite good to this point, the heat was quite sticky so knew it was only a matter of time before my pace dipped. My average heart rate during the race was 162bpm which was considerably higher than most of my training runs (~152bpm) despite running at a slower intensity; which I have concluded was down to the warm weather. My aim was to stick to 8 minute mile pace for as long as possible and then just see how well my body could fight fatigue, worked fine to start with, painful later on. I felt a rather large blister pop at about the 6 mile mark, ouch.
Race Highlight 1 At mile 6, under a london bridge were a group of musicians all playing drums, you could hear the beat from hundreds of meters away and the sound as you went under the bridge itself was intense! There were quite a few live bands along the route, but this was my particular favourite.
I was expecting to see some of my supporters about mile 8, so I had my eyes peeled and scanning the crowd at this point to try and catch a glimpse of someone I knew. It was taking a while and thoughts crept in, oooh what if I don't see them when they've travelled all this way. Then I turned a corner to see Lauren looking fairly gormless staring in to space but then Bex and Kirsty saw me and started waving franticly behind her which was amazing. Then like, 100 yards further on I saw all my family, my mum looked like a women possessed, so she was hard to miss as she screamed come on! It was a nice juxtaposition, my mum a bit overexcited and emotional and then my brother looking over and giving me a subtle nod of approval and smile.
I crossed over Tower Bridge which had an amazing atmosphere, absolutely buzzing. I saw Stephen who'd come to support me and Ricardo and he gave me some water, and then:
Race Highlight 2 I saw Denise Lewis!! I knew this was an important moment in my life, and that I would have to choose my few words carefully, so I summoned all my wit and charm and chose to yell "Yes Denise" at her from about a metre away, she loved it and smiled.
Coming up to the halfway point, the race loops back on itself so for about a mile you can see those ahead of you at about the 22 mile marker. I was passing at a good time, as there was no one on the other side yet! Then the race leader car went passed followed by the eventual winner, and now course record holder Emmanuel Mutai who was already way out in front by this point. He got an enormous roar and applause from both the crowd and us other runners as he passed. He finished in 2:04:39! I was still at the 15.35 mile point when he finished, what a runner!
Running through Greenwich and the City was starting to feel heavy, I was really appreciating the water stations every mile or so by this point. It was so hot I would have 3 sips before pouring the rest over my head to cool me down. The lucozade stations were an absolute lifesaver every 5 miles, I would take 2 of my glucose tablets as I approached them before washing it down with some drink. I was well disciplined with just 2 until the last one at 23 miles where I just shoved 5 tablets in and drank the entire lucozade bottle as I was gasping for energy.
Race Low 1 They had shower units every 4 miles or so spraying a light cool water over any runners that wanted it. The one at about mile 18 was not working. Guttedddd.
I said in an earlier blog post that the marathon could be described as 2 races, the first 20 miles and the last 6.2 miles. This could not have been more true. The first 20 miles were sore, but manageable, I completed these in 2hr 45 min which is only a few minutes behind my 20 mile race time. My pace was really starting to dip though now and the last 6.2 miles were agony, I'm fairly confident time slowed down as reaching each mile marker took forever.
Race Low 2 I walked for 10 yards at about the 23 mile mark, big mistake as I instantly felt slightly light headed and legs felt like jelly. So my best option was then to keep running, keep in constant motion till the finish then hopefully not die.
I knew I was close to the finish when I turned the corner by Big Ben, it still seemed to take an age to reach the finish though from here. I saw Kirsty and Fiona from Team HOPEHIV at the 25.5 mile mark which was great as I hadn't seen them on the rest of the course, and with about 800 metres to go I saw the girls again who were very loud and supportive, they apparently ran alongside my for a bit but I was too focussed on dragging my body to the finish to notice, sorry!
 |
| The well earned medal! |
Life Highlight Turning the corner in front of Buckingham Palace and seeing the Red barriers which were the finish line. Wow! A short run in front of the stands cheering us on. Crossing the line knowing I had well and truly beaten the 4 hour mark, easyyyyyy. The 26.2 miles of the London Marathon, finished.
Distance: 26.2 miles
Time: 03:44:39
Position: 6086th out of 34710
Heres the data from my Garmin if you are interested, I forgot to press lap at the 1 mile mark. The gps went iffy around Canary wharf which is quite common apparently and I forgot to press stop as I crossed the line so it went on for a few minutes after. But here you are:
-- THE RECOVERY --
Then I tried to find my supporters which took longer than expected, but I eventually saw Bex, Lauren and Kirsty which was great, I was quickly handed my beer and a large bar of chocolate, I decided not to have them straight away but the gifts were lovely so thank you! My family then came along and then the guys from HOPEHIV who also bought me a small gift to say thank you.
 |
| Me, Lauren, Kirsty and Bex. Thanks so much for your amazing support! |
I had a bit of a sleep, a shower and my mum was kind enough to put plasters on all my blisters before I went off to meet up again with the girls in London where we went to the pub, had some hilarious tube antics and got some food by the London eye before going our separate ways. A fantastic day!
I didn't sleep all that well in the evening but never mind. My legs are still quite stiff, but as I write this i'm just about to go off for a jog to see how I feel. My feet are still very sore and taped up to protect the blisters and I've used some of this muscle cream which helped ease the pain as well as smelling quite nice.
The marathon was the hardest thing I have ever done. I've never felt I have given something every bit of energy before. My body has not stopped hurting since Sunday. But It was worth every moment. I would definitely do it again, not just yet though.
-- THE REASON --
At the end of the day, while I enjoyed the race, improved my health and pushed my bodies limits; the reason I took part in the marathon this year was to raise much needed money for HOPEHIV. The charity work tirelessly to support young people across Africa who are victims of HIV, they generate real hope in the lives of many and work to build a better future for generations to come. If you haven't sponsored already, please do give generously using the link here: SPONSOR!! It makes a real difference.
If you would like to take part next year then you can either enter the ballot which opens on the 26th April or you can apply to HOPE HIV who have a guaranteed 6 places --> Run for HOPEHIV in 2012
--THANKS --
Its been a long journey but thank you for putting up with the bombardment of emails, texts and blog updates over the past 6 months. So thank you to all who have kept up metaphorically!
I know a few words at the end of are blog are small in comparison to my gratitude for all the help I have received from so many people during my training. But here is a list of those I am thankful to for the past 6 months, it is far from extensive and I will I'm sure be adding to this as I remember individuals, but a massive thank you to all of the following...
Every single one of my sponsors, I will thank you all personally shortly; you made me running 26.2miles worthwhile, your money will change lives, thank you! HOPE HIV for allowing me the opportunity and cheering me on. Mum and Dad for giving up so much time and money, taking me to races, cheering me on, listening to me complain about various pains and buying a few pieces of vital kit! Joel, Robyn, Rhiannon, Stephen, Bex, Kirsty and Lauren for their cheering and support on the day, I can't emphasize enough how encouraging it was so see a familiar face on those London roads. You'll all get your easter eggs as promised :) The entire Wilcox family for being a tremendous encouragement. Pete for lending me his adidas micoach for the first few months of training. Warburton for his motivational texts. Lucozade for their refreshing sports drinks and tablets that helped get me round the course. Ricardo for his race day advice and letting me know about the tube station collections. Hannah Shuttles and Steve N for coming to Euston to fundraise with me. Steff for liking every facebook update I bombarded everyone with. Weaves and Elysa for their cards of encouragement before my races. And last but certainly not least, Virgin and the Race Organizers for hosting a fantastic race!
