The running hazard... by harriet_gordon

Wow it's over!!

If I'm honest I've been dreading Sunday 25th April for a good few months, I've moaned about it A LOT... but that's nothing compared to how much I'm going to moan about my legs over the next week!

The race today was without a doubt one of the most fantastic experiences of my life... and I never thought I'd be saying that. I absolutely loved it, every single mile of it! The crowds were AMAZING!! I’m pretty sure I kept a big grin on my face the entire race, even when I got overtaken by a giant mosquito and a man dressed as a sponge!

I’ve heard / read a lot about this dreaded ‘wall’ that appears towards the latter stages of the marathon, fortunately for me today I didn’t hit it. My sprint finish down the entire length of the mall suggested I may have had some more in the tank, but after the last five months of constantly battling injuries my first and foremost goal today was to finish without injuring myself too much more than I already had (I was running on a quad and hamstring injury). My longest training run was a rather pitiful 15 miles, with a couple of 10 milers…. So there was a lot of uncharted territory!

I went through half way today in 1:48, and finished in 3:42:05. It’s not lightning, but I am really stoked with it considering. My time also qualified me for a ‘good for age’ place … so perhaps it’s a chance to get rid of the injuries and give it a proper shot in 2011 or 2012! No doubt about it that I’d do it again, it was just fantastic.

I'm going to have a couple of weeks off now to allow my weary legs some time to recover. Planning on getting in some swimming, and may start a yoga course this week which I think would be fun and a little less tiring!!!

I hope everyone else running achieved their targets and enjoyed the day as much as I did. I've raised over £1800 for Children with Leukaemia now... overall I'm feeling pretty proud of myself today!! :)

Thanks for your support.