Virgin London Marathon 2010

I turned up at Greenwich Park very excited and confident. The adrenalin was pumping, the rain had started falling. Great, I thought, much better than the 20 degree heat and blazing sunshine that had been predicted.

After failing to use the portaloos before the start due to the long queues, I rushed to the start, where my competitors were already slowly crossing the start line. At two minutes and two seconds after ten o'clock, my race began...

I started off steady, in a large crowd of slower runners. I met several other people wearing Victa vests, essentially my teammates. They were a pleasant bunch of people, and we mutually motivated each other along.

After 0:32:47 I had passed the 5k point. I was on a good pace. I was happy, comfortable and enjoying myself. I decided that I needed to stop for the toilet, as I didn't get to go pre-race, so my next 5k split was slightly longer. I finally reached 10k in a time of 1:15:09. I got back on pace again after that, my 15k time was 1:54:19.

But then things started to go down hill. My right calf was beginning to ache badly. Several times I had to pull over and give it a rub. The 20k mark was on Tower Bridge, and I reached it in a time of 2:37:47. Nine minutes later I reached the half way mark. But that was it for my calf, I could not run on it after that. I was forced to limp and hobble on.

As I struggled along, the crowd tried their best to motivate me, to keep me going. But my head was dropping, the clocks kept ticking, and my confidence was fading away. My 25k time was 3:33:14, and nearly an hour later I reached 30k in 4:25:46.

The sun was now shining, and the temperature was climbing, but I could hardly walk after 19 miles, 6 of which I had been limping, and I struggled over to the St John's Ambulance personnel, ready to retire from the race. A young woman gave my sore legs a massage and encouraged me to go on, for at least another half mile to the next ambulance station to see if the massage had made things any easier, and reluctantly I took her advice and carried on.

As I struggled on, I became aware that the massage had helped loosen the aching muscles, and I was able to walk without limping. I ignored the next ambulance station and kept going.

Very soon I came across a runner in a rhino costume. I had seen him hours ago, between miles 6 and 7, and at that time I had told myself that I was determined to beat him. That determination came back. The guy in the rhino costume could not be allowed to beat me. I sped my walking up so that I could overtake him. A short while later I reached 35k, 5:22:44.

By this point, everyone around me was struggling with injuries or fatigue. We were all walking or limping, apart from a pirate who steamed past us all. These were people that I would have easily beaten if I didn't get injured myself. But the crowd were behind them, every runner with their names printed on their vests were getting rallied by the onlooking crowd. My name was nowhere to be seen, nobody was cheering me on. This spurred me on even more.

Then I finally got some support of my own. Victa, the charity I was running for, had a cheering point just shy of the 22 Mile mark, across the road from where I injured myself. There was only four people left here, but they were so pleased to see me, and I them. Their cheering put a smile on my face, and some of my confidence came back. I was now hopeful again.

Soon, calls of "Come on Rhino" came from somewhere ahead of me. Another rhino. Another rhino that I could not let beat me. I caught up with him, and that pirate was now limping beside him. I passed them both. Now there was only 3 miles to go.

In sheer disbelief I turned the corner into the Embankment. The crowds were larger and louder. I was exhausted, but the adrenalin rush was back. I passed a blindfolded runner who was being led by a friend in a dog costume, and then a man dressed as a lion. He was another runner I had seen early on and told myself that I would beat him to the finish. 40k, 6:08:55.

I kept going. Parliament Square came and went. Buckingham Palace lay before me. The finish was nearly in sight. I was walking very fast, I must have looked very silly, but I no longer cared what I looked like, or what the crowd thought of me. I had done 26 miles, and there was the Finish Line, straight ahead.

I bit my lip. I took a deep breath. This was it, my moment of glory... I ran to the line, my legs were aching beneath me, but I didn't stop until I made it over that line.

I got to the finish, I got a medal, and I've got a personal best time to beat next year. The shame and humiliation that I felt when I was limping and giving up on the Isle of Dogs was now long gone, and replaced with pride and elation that I had finished. I'm a marathoner, and my personal best time is 6 hours, 27 minutes and 52 seconds.

Next year I will beat that time. You just wait and see.

Peace and Love
xx

PS: I must thank the young woman from the St John's Ambulance station who gave me that massage. Without it, I would have not been able to finish. You made the last 7 miles possible, and I am eternally grateful. Thank you.

I Have An Interview!

Unfortunately it's not in New York...

It's in the village of Heathfield in East Sussex, which doesn't have it's own train station and therefore won't be easy to get to, but that won't stop me going. I've spoken to a girl who will be interviewing me and she's impressed by my enthusiasm, so that's a good and encouraging start.

I'll hopefully be able to view a few apartments while I'm there, because there's no way I'll be able to commute. It looks like a nice place on Google Maps, and certainly an affordable place to live.

Peace and Love
xx

New York

I'm dreaming that dream again...

I've even made a big step towards it. I've forked out something in the region of £100 to get the help of a company called Green Card Base who send out my resume to companies who aren't just hiring, but looking to hire international workers and pay for their green card! I know, it's a gamble, but if it works it will totally be worth it, because then I'll be able to live and work in New York permanently!

And that is the dream!

Peace and Love
xx

Hastings Half Marathon

I did it! I ran a half marathon! Here's proof:



Considering I only trained for two and half months, and struggled to get over four miles in training, to finish in 2.28.44 is a major achievement for me, especially as I was targetting a time of 2.30.00!

I am really pleased with myself! And I won a medal, the first medal I've ever won!

Peace and Love
xx

Long time, no type...

So I've been to a few recruitment agencies recently. The first was very un-enthused by my CV, but the second one, Recruitment COlutions in Tunbridge Wells, they think they can get me something. That's got to be good news - a job and it would be out of Margate! It's the stuff dreams are made of!

Anyways, running - it's getting tough now. I'm running far more regularly and for longer amounts of time. As a rookie who is only a couple of months into training, it's starting to become a bit of a struggle. The knees ache and the calves are tight, but I'm pushing on.

I've bought a running shirt and a pair of adidas sunglasses. They cost a bomb, of course, because I need prescription lenses with them, but it means that I can see whilst running in the sun, which is something I couldn't do before.

Time is flying by, Sunday is the Hastings half marathon! I'm not really in good enough shape to run it, but I'm going to give it my best shot. I can only do my best, so that is what I will do. Wish me luck!

Peace and Love
xx

Exciting Stuff

It snowed again... and there was loads of it! It made a nice change, usually every other part of England gets Alaska dropped on it and Thanet gets hardly anything; this time we took the brunt of it, several centimetres in fact, and no one else got any!

But what's more exciting is this:

Brad Paisley will be doing a show in London! I so want to go to that, he's brilliant and hilarious!

Peace and Love
xx

Super Bowl XXIV!

I enjoyed the Super Bowl so much this last night! It was the 6th consecutive Super Bowl I've seen, and I rate that as the best of the 6!

New Orleans Saints thoroughly deserved that win. From 10-0 down, it was beginning to look like they would live to regret their decision to receive the first kick off, even more so at 10-3 when they failed that 4th down on the 2 yard line. But that onside kick to start the 3rd quarter...

It was genius. Absolutely genius. That completely turned the game around, and from then on their offense was unstoppable.

Of course I must mention the quarterbacks. Drew Brees played exceptionally well and deserved to be the MVP. Peyton Manning on the other hand, so many people hail him as one of the greatest quarterbacks of all time... well he threw the winning touchdown pass, but he threw it to a Saints cornerback Tracy Porter instead of his own receiver Reggie Wayne... Oh well, even the great ones have off days...

I'm happy with the result. I personally don't like Manning. Admittedly he does his job well, but I think that he is over-hyped. No offense Colts fans.

Peace and Love
xx