I finally done it! I completed the London Marathon 2013 and I have to admit, i felt so proud and rough after crossing the finish line 6 hours 50 seconds later! (eek)
As expected, the atmosphere was awesome, so overwhelming! The crowds were handing out sweets all the way and i even saw someone handing out cheese sandwiches after mile 20… i was tempted! St Johns Ambulance were everywhere offering help if needed and vaseline too, i even saw a fire engine and the firemen spraying their hose at all the runners!
I saw some pretty cool outfits too, batman, superman, cinderella and ginerbread man to name a few. A for effort for them! It was a sunny day!!
I was surprised to learn that i managed to jog all the way to just past mile 19 and i think i hit ‘The Wall’ then… i felt slightly nauseaus, wasn’t sure if it was hunger? My legs and feet were burning and i still had another 7 miles to go which was dreadful to think about. Saw my friend between 19 and 20 and they handed me a breakfast bar to boost energy levels! Felt a bit better after but still felt quite weak…
I took out my earphones to try get some motivation from the crowds and it helped alot but i found at times i would be the only one jogging and alot of people around me were still walking which was really de-motivating!
At this point (mile 20) the miles seemed to be getting longer and longer… all i was thinking about was finishing the race and going back to bed…!!
21…..22………………….23……………………24………………………………………..25………………………………………………………….
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. …. ……. ….
… … ….800 metres to go!!!!!!!!!!!!
What a relief… the running club i usually attend every week in little stoke has a 400m track… i just thought to myself, yes i can do this, it’s only twice around the track!! my feet were really HEAVY…. it felt like i had bags of sand in my socks, my back was aching, my hands felt a bit sticky, my stomach was tense…. gosh.
…………………..400m to go!!
close to crawling, the longest 400m i’ve ever felt, i was in view of ‘FINISH‘ and sprinted the last 100m! Whoooooooosh!!!! And it was officially OVER!!!!!!
Everyone i passed congratualated me, i felt really good! they cut off my tag and put the medal over my neck. Still could not believe what i had just done! Never ever thought i would ever be an owner of a marathon medal!
My legs felt like jelly, i wanted to sit but i knew it would be difficult to get back up, i done some light stretching on the way to the ‘meet and greet’ and finally arrived back at the hotel, sat in a cold bath and then we opened a bottle of champagne in our room to celebrate, finished that and went to bed!
Crazy amounts of support from friends on facebook!
I arrived back in Bristol on Monday afternoon with a deep tissue massage session waiting at The Treatment Rooms located on Park Row. The woman was very good and knew exactly what she was doing to help me recover from the run. I still got a full body massage (£41.00) but she focused on the key points that were the most painful. thighs, lower back and shoulders. I fully recovered (walking with no pain) on Wednesday!
I raised just under £1400 for VICTA (Visually Impaired Children Taking Action) you can view my page here: www.virginmoneygiving.com/vavavoong
Amazing experience and would like to thank John for helping me overcome the issues i had with my knee and ankle and working with me to get me to the race without any niggles so THANK YOU!!!
