Hand in hand: part 3!

YES PLEASE!?!

Oh my days.

We had to finish in separate funnels, so got separated just short of the line, but I got a nice cuddle afterwards. Paula even said to me "I was looking for someone to finish hand in hand with, thankyou". Wow.

What has followed since has been crazy.

Local press, TV and radio have all wanted interviews, there was a giant picture of the hand in hand finish in the Guardian, whilst today two running magazines rang for interviews with little old me! Plus messages off Paula Radcliffe and Nell McAndrew amongst others. Surreal.

This was a once in a lifetime moment, my own little piece of history. Things like this are a freak one off, so I have tried to have a laugh with it and use it to publicise my club as best I can.

You only live once and should never take yourself too seriously.

The moral of the story? Anything is possible, so dream big everyone.

Xx

Image courtesy of Jane Monti

Hand in hand: part 2!

Miles 16-18 were probably the toughest of the race. I found myself dropping off from the nice pack that I had been in and running pretty much on my own for 3 miles. I lost satellite signal on my garmin through a section of this period of the race, so my garmin recordings may not be 100% accurate, however I logged 6:14, 5:59 and 6:20 through this section.

I took on board my second energy gel at 16 miles, and I don't know if it didn't agree with my stomach or something, but I suffered stomach cramps and was sick in my mouth about ten minutes after taking it!

During that difficult section of the run, it struck me just how isolated you can feel when running on your own, even in a field of some 38,000 runners, in the best supported race on the planet. I am not afraid to say that I really, genuinely felt like jacking it in at points through that period. I felt rubbish, and the thought of having to run another 8-9 miles when I felt sapped of energy already was incredibly daunting.

It seems crazy now looking back, but that is how I felt, and I'm sure there are many, many others that know that feeling from during their own runs at times too. That is part of the challenge of the marathon, answering your own mental demons and questions of how strong you are. But I dug deep and remembered Mr Affleck's words of advise - that when the going gets tough to remind yourself what your running for and all the hard work you had put in to preparing for this run.

I got things together again for mile 19 and 20, deciding to go for it and putting in my quickest miles of the race, clocking 5:41 and 5:44 respectively.

Just before mile 20 I heard on a tannoy that Paula Radcliffe had just passed through that mile marker - Paula Radcliffe!! - I knew it was a once in a lifetime opportunity to be able to say that you have run within touching distance of one of the sports all time greats, so I worked hard and faught my way up to latch on to the pack.

Once I was there I felt comfortable in and amongst the pack. The noise that surrounded us was immense - certainly louder than anything I have ever experienced before, and you could just sense the amount of will power and support the crowd were offering to Paula to urge her on to the finish. It was impossible not to get caught up in it and pushed on yourself. The crowd was shouting "come on Paula!", but I'm sure it helped every single one of us that was in that group to find that little bit extra.

Mile 21 was a solid 5:53, but then the pace dropped off and this was the point where I really had to dig deep. Just as the motorbike with a big tv camera strapped on the back of it decided to plonk itself right in front of me...

I have to admit, I am not camera shy haha, my first thought was 'yay, hopefully this bit makes it on the tele!' The only problem being I expected it to follow us for a few seconds or minutes. Instead after a couple of miles, it dawned on me that this camera was going to be fixed on Paula and of course the rest of the group in and around her through to the finish. My legs were tightening up but I just knew I couldn't give up and let this opportunity to keep running with a legend pass up. I tired and tired, but more than anything I think in the last few miles it was sheer will power and determination not to give up that saw me through.

After recording 6:01 and 6:06 in miles 22 and 23, mile 24 was ultra tough and much slower, down to 6:42 for the mile.

From there on in though, we were into the final stretch and mile 25 saw the pace pick up again with a 5:42 mile.

It was at this point that it came in to my mind that the London marathon team, on its website, twitter and Facebook page, had been pleading and appealing all week for runners to mark the 35th anniversary of the 1st London Marathon by finishing hand in hand with another runner, just as Beardsley and Simonsen had done to win jointly in 1981. Surely not...?!

I made up my mind that if I managed to stay in and amongst it in this final mile then I would ask Paula if she wanted to finish with me.

A 6:12 mile later and there we were entering The Mall, a matter of a few hundred metres from the line, Paula had pushed on ahead by now and I had to find a bit of a sprint to catch up. At the same time I think she may have been easing off. Taking in the moment, soaking up that last bit of support before she retires?

Maybe, but whatever it was, it saw me alongside her with just 100m to go.

I shouted "Paula! Do you want to finish hand in hand?" And half expected that she wouldn't hear me.  

And then she replied "Yes please".

Hand in hand: part 1

Where do we start?

Sorry it's taken a few days to get this latest blog out there, but I'm sure you'll all understand it has been a bit of a whirlwind 48 hours...

But here we are!

The London marathon 2014 provided me with some fantastic memories and convinced me to come back again for another crack at the course, the distance and the London experience. It didn't disappoint!

I travelled down from Preston on the Friday afternoon with Molly this year, after deciding that cramming the travel and expo in together on the Saturday hadn't been a wise decision the year previous. That turned out to be a good decision, as it meant that the stress of registration was out of the way early and I could completely rest and relax on the Saturday.

I had warned Moll that I would be rubbish company and suffering with stress and tension on the day before the race, but having got the important stuff out of the way early I actually felt much more relaxed than I had expected. We travelled on the train to Covent Garden and had a bite to eat for lunch with a brew and chilled out enjoying each other's company. In the evening Alice (Molly's mum) had organised tea and booked a table at a nearby Pizza Express, so I didn't even have to worry about my pre-race carb loading!

I was extremely fortunate to have so much support throughout not only this weekend, but the duration of the full training programme, from family and friends alike. Without all of their help, there would be no story to tell.

The Sunday morning, I awoke a little bit anxious and apprehensive, but most of all just dying to get underway and finally put all the hard work of the past 19 weeks into action.

I knew exactly how I wanted to approach the race, I didn't want to get roped in to setting off too quickly, and wanted to try and run a solid 5:55 pace for as long as possible. In discussions with my coach, Rob Affleck, before the race we had decided that I was in a position to run quicker than my initial 2:40 target, and that 2:37 was a more realistic marker for where I am at right now.

Rob did tell me that on a perfect run he felt that I was capable of breaking 2:35 though, so to try and set off at 5:55s rather than 6:00 p/m pace and see how I felt.

Mile one went more or less bang on the money, I managed to reign in all the tension and adrenaline and resist the urge to set off too fast. I clocked the first mile at 5:51 and was happy enough that I had held back enough.

Miles 2, 3 and 4 were possibly a little bit quick, as I averaged 5:47 pace through that section.

By mile 5 though I had managed to settle into a really good rhythm and through to (and including) mile 12 every single one was between 5:51 and 5:52 pace.

I took onboard my first gel at mile 8, which was a bit earlier than I had done in training. This was because I planned on taking on board 3 lots of gels in the race, rather than just 2 as I had done through my long training runs.

Mile 13 saw the pace drop slightly to 5:56, before I recovered to run 5:50s through miles 14 and 15.