I started running about 10 years ago…
Preparing for the race, or maybe looking for something.…partly to help me focus mentally, partly to get fit. But for a very long time I had wanted to run a marathon. Sitting at home watching it on tv or popping down to the Thames and watching the runners battle it out over 26 miles was something I felt was a massive achievement and one that I would like to experience. The concept of running that distance seemed so alien to me, yet so many do it year after year.
After starting the way most people do with casual park running, I moved onto various different 10k fun runs. It wasn’t until completing my first half marathon did I feel that I might have a chance at being good at running the distance. I followed up my 1st half marathon with 2 or 3 others before having the chance to take on the big one. I had taken plenty of advice from marathon runners and become a member of the legendary Serpentine Runners club based near Hyde Park. I had made a stab at getting the right diet and putting in the right training.
I wanted to get a good time. Anything under 4 hours is a good time… apparently. Don’t stop for anything I was told. Keep focussed, don’t lose your head. Stay calm. But despite it all nothing could prepare me for the feeling at 21 miles. My head was somewhere else. I actually wasn’t worried about my body, it had taken leave from communicating with the brain long ago. But the out of body style experience I endured for the last 10k was something else. Did I mention the fact that it was unseasonably warm too. Maybe this was the problem. And other runners… no one told me about them. Dropping like flies, or deciding to stop dead in front of me. It became like an assault course for the weary and weak. Holding onto my lucozade like a baby with a bottle and taking on board anything spectators offered me I dragged myself to the finish… ..and what time you say ? Well looking down and feeling a bit sorry for myself, it was 4 hours and 6 minutes. Fudge! I had made it at least to the finish just not the time I had hoped. You’ll be please to know that 2 years later I did the marathon again and made 3 hours 53mins. But its not over yet…