NDJ's London Marathon - I did it!!

Yes, you read the title correctly - I did it! In a steady 5:26:30, which I am very happy about!

So that's the short version. Here's the long version...

Up at 6am, and not feeling too bad. Breakfast, last few bits and pieces into the kitbag, and off to the station for the 6:52 train... which was promptly cancelled by the embarrassing shower of shite that is Greater Anglia. After a mini meltdown, over to the other platform to wait for the 7:22... which was then severely delayed. Which is the point when you thank God for credit cards, and spend £80 on a taxi to London Liverpool Street instead. Tube to Charing Cross, then a train to Blackheath leaving in 2 minutes, so a hurried goodbye to Chris, and a 20 minute journey surrounded by dreadful public school graduates boasting about how little training they'd done (in retrospect, I imagine they dropped out around mile 9, or were lying).

Blackheath was like Twickers on a big match day - hordes of people walking down the closed high street and a bit of a carnival atmosphere, just without the beer. After a very long queue for a portaloo (amazingly clean and equipped with loo paper!), and a quick bag drop off, suddenly I was in the starting pen. I was chatting with a few people, and it took a while to realise that the race had started up ahead of us, as we hadn't moved yet. In the end, it took around 15 minutes after the start to get across the start line, which was a surreal moment: "Oh my god, I'm running the actual London Marathon!".

I stuck around the people I'd been chatting with at the start for the first couple of miles, then realised that that meant I wasn't looking after my own pace. I'd decided beforehand to stave off my habit of starting too fast by running 5 minutes and walking 1 minute, sticking to 12 minute miles in that style. In the end, I ran the whole first mile and most of the second, then checked myself and forced myself back to the planned pace. Originally I'd thought that after mile 5 I'd go to running 10 and walking 2, but actually having tried that for a mile, I found my legs were happier with the shorter walk breaks. I then kept that pace throughout the entire rest of the race, which is probably why my pace remained steady with very little variation away from the 12 minute mile.

I had my first spectators at mile 7 - Chris and my mum-in-law Margaret - and I ran over for a big hug, before running off again. I was feeling pretty fine, but the weather was turning weirdly humid, and I suddenly realised that I'd forgotten to tie my hair back before handing over my bag, and started to feel a bit nasty and hot and knackered. I then started to panic that I was about to bonk, and not even at halfway. Mile 11 felt horrific, I felt myself slow down, and everything was going a bit foggy, then suddenly we turned a corner and were just metres from going over Tower Bridge! I burst into tears, and then suddenly everything was okay. I ran over the whole of Tower Bridge, because why on earth wouldn't you, and after passing the 12 mile marker, I was feeling fine.

If I'm honest, from then on I just really enjoyed it. Yes, there were hard parts - my right hip (ironically always my 'good' hip in the past) started twanging horribly around mile 18, but then I got to have another hug with Chris and Margaret, and a mile later with my lovely friend Mary, and at mile 20 I allowed myself the emergency ibuprofen secreted in my bag of sports beans (well, one of them, as the other pinged into the crowd when I pressed it out of the blister pack!) and that helped. At mile 22 I spotted Vikki and Rachel - well actually, Vikki screamed my name so loud I couldn't have missed them - and I got a double hug before running past Tower Bridge with a huge grin.

The thing is, after around mile 20, I knew I was going to finish, because in the worse case scenario, I could have walked the rest from there. But actually, I carried on running with a smile on my face. I had a slightly weird bit where I started to get worried that I was dreaming and I would actually wake up in the morning and have to run the marathon, but I checked with a marshall that it really was the approach to mile 23, and that helped! Passing the 24 mile marker, I screamed with joy, and then got the brilliant bonus of a third hug with Chris and Margaret (who practically walked a marathon trying to see me as many times as possible!) and before I knew it I was at mile 26 and it was finishing, and I came round the corner and saw the finish and the tears started and then the grin, and I crossed the line at a run with my hands in the air and the biggest smile ever!

It's all a bit crazy and hazy and frantic after that - you get processed through for your medal, goody bag, and baggage reclaim, and I managed to get through to Chris on the phone while that was going on, then my Dad and Stepmum called, and I was trying to get to the meeting area, and sort my bag out, and put my foil blanket on at the same time. I made myself eat a cereal bar, because that's what I always did after long training runs, and once Chris and Margaret finally found me, all I could do was babble like a loon!

The journey home felt a bit surreal, and I was still not entirely convinced I hadn't dreamt the whole thing. I read all the lovely Facebook messages and texts, and when we were finally home, I had a bath and ate cheesy chips and olives and had a beer (the body wants what it wants) before falling asleep.

This morning my legs are pretty stiff, but I'm still on a high. I can't believe I did it! I'd almost say I would do it again... until I remember the months of training involved! But if you are thinking about doing it, I'd tell you to go for it - it's definitely a once in a lifetime experience!

So finally, special thanks to everyone who sponsored me, the lovelies who turned out on the day to cheer me on, the friends and family who followed my progress on Facebook, the tracker app, and this blog, Angela Porter at Live Simple for the Pilates, and most of all to my brilliant husband Chris, who believed I could do it even when I didn't.

Signing off now...

NDJ xxx