Mission completed!

Well, it's done!
 
This is my marathon in 26.2 pictures......
 
We arrived on Friday morning.  We had to get up at 5am but we were actually really lucky as there was a plane fire (read all about it here) and 192 flights were cancelled.

1) Edinburgh Castle

 

We spent the day touring around the city which happens to be one of my favourites in the world! 

 

2) It was exhausting! (this is my husband not a random stranger in case you were wondering)

 

 

We went out for dinner and had quite a bit to drink - my husband is a bad influence. Saturday was really hot and sunny.  We spent the day on Portabello Beach.  In the evening we met up with Bev and Penny to carb load - pizza! 

 

3) Portabello Beach, Edinburgh

 

 

I slept fine and was up early.  Met Penny and Bev for breakfast...

 

4) Scrambled egg on toast with marmite - the breakfast of champions!

 

 

5) We had a 1.5 mile walk to the bag drop....

 

 

6) Followed by the obligatory queue for the loo... (twice)

 

 
7) This is us at the start.  Penny wasn't cold, she was hiding her number as she was purple and we were gold!!

 

 

8) We all moved forward and it started at 10am.....

 

I needed to stop for the loo.  I kept telling myself it was all in my head but it wasn't so stopped off at about 1.5miles!

 

9) 1.5 miles (the loo was here) and you run into the Holyrood Park.

 

 

 

10) First water station....

 

11) Coming up to the beach, about 5 miles ish....  Check out the sunshine!

 

12) 6 mile marker, Portabello Beach....

 

 

 

13, 14, 15) The route follows the coastline which is absolutely beautiful. 

 

16) This was the turn-point at about 17 miles.  We left the coast and go through a really pretty park.....

 

17) Ok, so I didn't take this one but I should have, it was beautiful and you run straight past it (through the gates above)!

 

 

 

 

18) 21 mile marker...

 

19) 23 mile marker.... just a parkrun to go.....

I cried at mile 26.  The sort that means you can't breathe so no photos of the finish I'm afraid.  Good points were the scenery, bad points were no clock - I had no idea how long it took to cross the start line and no idea of how I was doing (my watch packed up at 16 miles) so my time was surprise to me; bus home - it was about a 30 minute walk to the park-and-ride and then a long queue to get on the bus and a 1.5 mile walk back to the hotel (not fun); not much support and no oranges (only sweets).

 

20) Nice medal and t-shirt!

 

 

 21) And the end to my first ever marathon in Scotland!

 

22, 23) The walk to the bus home was miles and the queue was miles long.  Then there was the walk back to the hotel - more miles up and down more hills....

 

 

 

24, 25, 26) The bagpipes welcomed us back to town and the sun was still shining!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Last thoughts..... chaffing - ouch my vest rubbed under my arm and it is very sore!  The support in Edinburgh was nice but London is phenomenal!  Thank you to everyone who has supported me and encouraged me through the last 21 weeks and 471 miles.

 

Total miles this week:

Tuesday: 6

Sunday: 26.6

 

Total: 32.6

Total marathon miles: 471.2

 

 

So good-bye until December when I start again for my next Spring challenge, the Brighton Marathon on 6th April 2014!

 

(this is the point 2 by the way)!

 

 

 

 

 



Week 20 - only 1 week to go!!!!

Ermmmm what can I say about this week?  I managed to run 16.6 miles.  Tuesday was wet and miserable but there was a pretty good turn out for an interval session by Penn Ponds in Richmond Park.  The LSR on Sunday was beautiful.  My photos were rubbish!  I tried to take a photo of a heron and their nest with baby herons in.  I also tried to take a photo of the plaque on Kew Bridge that marks the divide between Middlesex and Surrey.  I love that bit but that didn't come out either.  I did take a pretty average picture though of Syon House.  Next week is a taper week and I will spend most of it worrying about what to pack.  We fly out earlier on Friday morning.  I just got butterflies thinking about it.........

I am looking forward to taking a bit of a break from running; not long now!! What will I do with my Sunday mornings?

 

I know it is hard to see but this is the nest.

Tuesday: Interval session (in the rain) 5.26 miles
Saturday: parkrun
Sunday: 8.25 mile LSR

Miles this week: 16.6
Marathon miles: 439

Week 19

This week wasn't very exciting.  I've had a very sore foot and so went to see Clare Gibson after work on Friday and she fixed me.  I had a nice long run on Sunday with Deirdre, Penny and Bev and saw a seagull eating a fish.  Who would have thought it in the Thames!  I just remembered the naked lady!  How could I forget?  As we were heading up the hill towards Pembroke Lodge there was a naked lady being photographed - what would the "Friends of Richmond Park" say to that!!!!

Tuesday: Hill session at the ballet school, 4.8 miles
Saturday: parkrun
Sunday: 10 mile LSR

Total miles: 17.9
Total marathon miles: 418.35

(2 x spins, 1 x pump and 15 miles cycled)

Week 18

This has been a memorable week......  I went to see my GP on Tuesday for my blood test results.  This isn't anything unusual because I go about every 6 weeks but this time they were NORMAL!  This is totally amazing news - the first time in three years that it has been so I was off the scale happy.  I actually cried when I called my husband to tell him.  I didn't run this week on Wednesday or Thursday.  I went to a funeral on Wednesday.  Nobody likes a funeral but they do make you think don't they and to appreciate what you have.  Well I do anyway!  On Thursday it was my daughter's 18th birthday.  Obviously there was much celebration, wine and cake!!  Saturday after the wine and cake I was super happy to run 5k in under 30 minutes.  The icing on the cake was that Deirdre did too - on the same day!  I know that to most people this isn't anything monumental but for me it is.  I ran a handful of parkruns before my clots (well 5 actually) and didn't start running them regularly until June 2010 (after the clots) as a way of getting back to running and getting my fitness back.  So, it has taken me 86 parkruns to do it.  I admit that I didn't put maximum effort into all of them.  I ran a lot of them with a hangover.  There were quite a few last July that I couldn't even finish.  I've now run 91..... 9 more until my 100 t-shirt!!  (I'm very excited about that prospect).  I don't know my official time for today's half marathon but I was 2 hours 30 mins and something seconds.  It was hot but I don't have any real reason why it took me longer than I'd hoped (I was aiming for 2.25 ish) but to be honest I don't really care.  It was fun and I'm still smiling from Saturday.  Oh, and Edinburgh Marathon is 3 weeks today.... must book a physio appointment as my leg hurts!

Tuesday 5.2 miles group run
Saturday 3.1 miles parkrun
Sunday 13.1 miles Ranelagh Half Marathon
Total miles this week: 21.4 miles

Total marathon miles: 400.45

(2 spins, 1 pump and 20 miles cycled)

Week 17

So, the plan for this week was to recover!  I had Monday off of work and I managed to haul myself down to Virgin Active to sit in the spa pool until I was as wrinkly as a prune.  I was seriously sore until Wednesday anyway but I managed to go spinning on Wednesday morning which helped.  I was raring to go by the weekend and got a PB at parkrun on Saturday.  I wasn't going to run on Sunday but as next week is a bit of a challenge (a funeral on Wednesday and Danni's 18th birthday on Thursday) I went for a 10 mile run with Deirdre.  It was a beautiful, sunny day so I took some photos.

This heron was sitting as still as a statue on the grass near to the tunnel leading up to the Terrace Gardens in Richmond.

This beauty was chilling by the polo field.

It took until Sunday, but I've managed to talk Deirdre into running the Brighton Marathon next year - another Spring challenge!!

Saturday: 3.1 miles
Sunday: 10 miles
Total miles this week: 13.1 miles

Total marathon miles: 379.05
1 x spinning, 5 miles cycled - not bad considering!

The morning after the day before.....

Well I ache this morning but I’m pretty happy.  I’m going to start at the beginning....... which was waking up at 5.30am, getting into my kit and forcing my muesli down.  Paul (Deirdre’s husband) gave us and his brother Ian a lift to the station, where we met Stacey and Oliver, and we got the train to Waterloo.  We walked over to Waterloo East and got the train to Blackheath.  From there we walked to the start.  We got there at about 8.45-ish and we queued for the loo (twice), put our bags on the lorries and lined up in our start pen.  We were in pen 9 – the back!  I probably shouldn't, but I have to tell you that Deirdre tried out the female urinals.  She regretted not trying the she-pee the last time and was determined to.  I didn't!  I didn't want to start the race with a wet leg or worse a soggy shoe but she did it and ticked it off of her bucket list (brave lady) and no, she didn't have a soggy shoe or wet leg!

It took us about 15 minutes to cross the start line but it was amazing from the start.  There were loads of people, bands, music and runners.  It was hot, hot, hot from the word go.  Some parts along the route got a little bit quiet – like between 8 and 10 miles and the going got a bit tough.  It was a nice relief seeing Deirdre’s sisters and their family at about 11.5 miles and it was a great feeling crossing Tower Bridge.  It was even better after half way as we got into a bit of shade going into docklands and it clouded over a bit.  That was a good job as I was totally overheating. 

One of the rubbish lasting effects of my clots is that they permanently damaged my lungs.  The receptors in my lungs were damaged and so although I can breathe and there is air in my lungs the receptors don’t tell my brain that.  My brain thinks I need more air which leads to something that feels a bit like a panic attack.  This gets worse when I’m hot.  I have learnt to control it but it isn’t very nice and it hurts because I get chest pains at the same time.  I felt like this between about miles 9 and 13 so I can’t tell you what a relief it was when we hit a bit of shade.  I walked through every shower and fireman’s hose to cool down.  They were so cold they took my breath away for real!

We saw Deirdre’s kids and their friends at about 14 miles.  In some places around the 14 mile mark there the crowds were so packed that it was hard to get through.  There were lots of people walking and sometimes it was like hitting a wall and we struggled to get through.   Around Docklands we saw Simon and Deborah, Nikki and then Maggie, Allyson and Deirdre’s work colleagues.  The children in Deirdre's class had made a banner with messages from every single one writen on their hand prints!  The drums under the underpass (I’m not sure where we were) gave me goose bumps!  We saw Lyndsey then Deirdre’s kids again at about 20 and then Maggie and Allyson again, my family and Graham at 21 and 22 and Sharon.  We saw the lovely Carol on the Embankment (with her bad back) who nearly made us cry!  Both of our watches has gone wrong by Docklands so I have no idea on how far we actually ran – which was loads more than 26.2 due to the weaving around the walls of walkers. 

The last 4 miles were really tough but we just kept run/walking and although we didn’t make the pace we’d hoped for it didn’t really matter, we finished!  (And we were quicker than Amy Childs by 3 minutes!!) Stacey finished in 5.21.  This is probably the nearest I will ever get to being a rock star as hundreds of people shouted my name which was totally AMAZING!

 

I was a bit premature yesterday when I posted my summary:

Tuesday: 4 miles
Saturday: 3.1 miles parkrun
Sunday: 26.2 miles
Total miles this week 33.3
Total marathon miles to date: 369.95

Only 4 weeks and 4 days until Edinburgh!!
 

Tomorrow is the BIG day!

Tomorrow is the BIG day!  This week started with the bombing of the Boston Marathon on Monday.  It was such a senseless, shocking and sickening thing to happen.  It made me think about all the people who are planning on watching me tomorrow.  My husband, kids and lots and lots of friends will be spread out around the route.  Their support really keeps you going and distracts you from whatever ache or pain you have.  Can you imagine the guilt a runner would feel if their child, partner or friend died, lost a limb or was injured because they’d come to watch them?  All these practical questions came into my head like how would you get your bag back?  Not really significant when people are injured and dying but how would you get your phone to let people know you were ok? How would you get home or back to your hotel?  It puts into proportion the closure of platforms 1-10 tomorrow at Waterloo station! If must have been horrific and will take a long time for people to recover.  I will be wearing my black ribbon tomorrow to remember those who were killed and injured.  My mum’s not too pleased with me for running.  I hadn’t actually told her (she worries about me because of my heart and lung thing) and then there was a bomb.... Well that was it!  I’m still doing it though, sorry mum!!!

I plan on running the whole way with Deirdre.  We’ve done all our training together and bar anything unforeseen we should finish together.  Stacy will be with us too.  This is Stacy’s first marathon and she is a bit worried as she’s had a problem with her knee.  I’m sure she’ll be able to stick with us, if not zoom off and leave us for dust.  We will run the first 6 miles and then run/walk 9 minutes run and 1 minute walk for 20.2 miles.  We probably won’t talk all the way but most of it!  This reminds me of something someone once said to me.  It was a few years ago and I can’t remember what race we were discussing but she asked me what time I was aiming for.  I said something like, “I don’t know, I’m running with so-and-so and we’ll just have a nice run”.  Her response to this has stayed with me to this day: “People like you only say that because you are embarrassed about how slow you are.”  I was pretty upset at the time but I confess, I am slow.  I am aiming to finish in between 5 hours 15 minutes and 5 hours 30 minutes and I will be proud to finish!  I run because I like it, because I enjoy it and because it is fun.  I like to run at a comfortable chatting pace, I like to take in the crowd, the sights and be part of an occasion and lets face it, London is the biggest occasion! 

We had great fun at the Expo on Wednesday when we went to register and pick up our numbers.  I bought more kit (that I don't really need) and GU chomps (that I don't really like) and picked up maps for my supporters.  Deirdre loves the music!! This marathon malarky is so emotional!!

I’m just off to get my kit and my bag ready.  I have butterflies but I’m good nervous..... BRING IT ON!


Tuesday: 4 miles
Saturday: 3.1 miles parkrun
Total miles this week 7.1
Total marathon miles to date: 336.65