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.

This afternoon I embarked on my first official training session for the 2010 London Marathon. I jogged a massive 1.2km, that's 0.75 miles...

I know, that's not very impressive, especially considering I was very out of breath at the end of it, but it was my first run, and I wasn't expecting to go much further than that.

I was actually very pleased with myself. My legs felt strong and were not tired afterwards, and as I mentioned yesterday, my Asics were so comfortable that I couldn't feel the ground beneath my feet. So that's encouraging.

But I am slightly annoyed at how quickly I was out of breath. Hopefully that will improve a lot as I do more training. Fingers crossed!

Peace and Love
xx

New Shoes

Yesterday I took my new running shoes for a test run... well, test walk. I didn't want to run in them immediately, I wanted to make sure they were comfortable before any running begins.

And they were so comfortable, almost like walking on air. I couldn't feel the road beneath my feet. They also felt very sturdy and supportive, so I certainly made the right choice. Which is a relief, I must say. They only cost me £50, and they are therefore the most expensive thing I have bought since October last year, when I bought my current jacket!

Peace and Love
xx

I've Got A Golden Bond Place!

So I've finally heard back from VICTA... and they've given me a London Marathon place!

I'm well scared, but so excited also! I actually get to take part in one of the biggest sporting events of the year! How cool is that?

You can sponsor me online here: www.bmycharity.com/V2/stuyrandall

There you can also find out why I chose VICTA...

Peace and Love
xx

Public Ballot

I got some marathon news today. Unfortunately, I didn't get a place in the Public Ballot...

But all is not lost! I still have the possibility of running for charity. As I said in an early post, I could be running for the RNIB... But as I haven't heard from them for a while, I decided to contact a few other charities today. One of them, VICTA (Visually Impaired Children Taking Action) got straight back to me, and sent me a form to fill in, which I have already filled in and sent back to them. So I could know as soon as tomorrow whether or not I'm running for them...

I hope I will be...

The nice people from the London Marathon actually sent me a consolation prize too - a rain jacket with the marathon's badge on it! It's kind of cool, but it's red. I don't wear red... But hey, free gift! Don't get many of those these days!

Peace and Love
xx

Marathon

I've applied to run the London Marathon in 2010! I've entered the public ballot along with 120,000 other people for the 20,000 spaces available, meaning I have a 1 in 6 chance of getting in the race... Or do I?

I also applied directly to the RNIB, a charity for blind people, to run the race for them, as there are 12,000 reserved spaces for charity runners. They have confirmed to me that I am on their list of reserve runners. This doesn't entitle me to a place in the race outright, but it does increase my chances when the public ballot results are drawn in September...

Many of the people who have applied directly to a charity would also have entered the public ballot too. Now if a charity selects their runners, and then some of these selected runners get public ballot places, these runners would technically have two places in the race, so the charity drops them from their team and offer the newly available places to their reserve runners...

My maths isn't great, but I think that shortens my odds to 2 in 11! I'm pleased with that!

Peace and Love
xx