Hitting the road by nickyjt

I suppose i should start with updating you with my account of the London Marathon. I really enjoyed the whole occasion and I must say I was really impressed with the whole organisation of the event. Through out the day I never had to queue or wait and when you think there were 37000 runners, its a pretty mean feat.

I finished with a steady time of 4hrs 34mins which was what I was expecting. I was a little faster in training but as I started in pen 8, it took a while to get going. Also I was tripped around mile 10 which resulted in a stubbed toe (and a much coverted black toe nail) and an uncomfortable few miles before other parts started to ache more. I ran the first 20 miles non stop before a pit stop to top up on water and a cereal bar but found the last 6 really tough with heavy cramp towards the end.

At first I was a little disapointed with my time but 7 days on I can now look back not just on the marathon but the last year with real pride and satisfaction. This time last year I couldnt even run half a mile.

Im planning on entering the ballot next week, if Im unsucessful I have my eye on a string of 20 mile and half marathons to focus on. Also I would I would like to see the London Marathon from a spectators perspective. For me Canary wharf was amazing, the atmosphere and noise was just unbelievable.

I had my first post marathon run yesterday and found it difficult, just a 4 mile run but never found the rythym I enjoyed in my training. Also these runs seem pointless without a marathon to focus on. I have a few 10k's booked for the summer but 6.2 miles seems like a short stroll now, not the challenge it was a year ago.

Finally congratulations to all those who ran on Sunday, I have found many of your blogs over the past 10 months really inspiring and so helpful for my own training, I fully intend to to keep blogging hopefully all the way through to the 2011 VLM.