London Marathon? Am I insane? I need help...... by nickeames

So I have completed my Marathon. My marathon that I have trained really hard for and to be fair I can honestly say that it was both my worst experience and my best experience ever! Let me explain: My worst experience in the fact that I did not have a good run at all and felt dreadful from about ONLY 11 miles (more on that in a min,)but the best experience in the fact that it’s a great thing to do, the crowd wear excellent, I got round and I can look back and say that I have done a marathon.

I got to the blue start in good time and felt good. I knew it would be busy with runners but surely there must have been more than 37,000 people there – it was heaving! I started off in pen 8 from the blue start and it took us about  15 mins to get to the start line. I was going really well and making sure I was sticking  to my 10 min miles. I was quietly confident that I could stick to this pace all the way round and achieve a 4:20 time or at least sub 4:30. After all I had completed 2 training session of 22 miles at the desired pace.

I ran the first 11miles feeling great , running to time, slapping few supporters hands along the way,  seeing my family (wife, kids mum, dad, and  in laws) at the 6 mile mark, running alongside Sir Richard Branson for about a mile (about mile 8)and was still confident of a good race.

It was around the 11 mile mark however that all of a sudden I felt awful. I really began to struggle and just couldn’t understand why. I wasn’t going too fast, I didn’t feel injured, I just had no explanation for it. For the next couple of miles my pace had dropped to about 11min miles but by Tower Bridge (13 miles) I had to walk. I was so annoyed, I had trained so hard for this and in none of my long training runs had I had to walk in any of them (let alone at 13 miles!) As I had mentioned at the start I was confident of doing a good time, but I was also confident that I could get round the course without having to walk. And here I was walking at 13 miles!

The last 13 miles were torture. I couldn’t shake it off at all and for those 13 miles  it was a mixture of jog, walk, jog, walk, jog, walk – all the way. Again I wasn’t injured or out of breath I just had no energy. I did develop a stomach ache for a couple of miles (probably too many gels,) and did cramp up a bit. All sorts of emotions and thoughts were going through my mind, including packing it in! But the crowd kept me going.

I was totally blown away by the crowd!!! Absolutely amazing, and if I knew all their names I would thank them personally on here right now. I was expecting a big crowd but nothing like that! And their words of encouragement- brilliant!!!!  A friend of mine had recommended me putting my name on my shirt as the crowd would shout my name out. MY GOD – I felt like a celebrity, with people constantly shouting my name, but done with real encouragement. It was a massive help.

It was also great to see my family for the second and final time on the 23 mile mark. We nearly missed each other, Infact it was me who spotted them and I managed a quick chat before completing the final 3 miles, finishing in (a very disappointing) 5hrs 14min.

As everyone says it is an achievement just to finish, and my understanding is that Gordan Ramsay didn’t finish. So at least I beat him.

I finished in a very disappointing 5hrs 14 mins but considering how I felt half way round pleased that I managed to finish!

So why did I feel so bad? I have no idea and am not looking for excuses. But was it the fact:

 I have had really bad Hay fever

I have not slept at all well for over a week (Due to Hay fever I think)

We had had a busy day in London the day before taking the kids to see the sights of London (admittedly mainly on the bus but there was a fair bit of walking)

I had a headache and was burning up a bit the day before the marathon (probably due to the above)

I spent the first 9 miles of the marathon faffing about on my phone trying to contact my family to work out where they were – hence not concentrating on the run.

However I did feel absolutely fine at the start of the race and don’t think it was one of the above, but maybe a combination of them all. No excuses though.

SO how do I feel now? Well I am delighted to have achieved my first (and probably my last) marathon!! Something I never thought I would do. This morning (the day after) yet again I didn’t sleep well. Up at 5:15 (which bizarrely was my finish time.)  I feel fine from the waist up but my legs are a little sore, slight chafing (not in a pleasant area) and a number of blisters on my feet. I hardly had any blisters during training.

Will I ever run the marathon again?............ Will I ever run again?.............

I honestly cant answer that. I really don’t think I will run the marathon again. I have to say I really don’t enjoy running. I know its good for me and it does keep the old weight off, so I MIGHT keep the running up – WITH SHORT RUNS!!! But Im the kind of person who needs a goal to aim for and at the back of my mind it will always niggle me that I know I can do better than 5hr 14...................