Am gonna DO IT by pelican

• Elated, deflated and trying agaon for VLM

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  Apr2820094:02 p.m.

  Compared to my last post this could be a long one, I am also going to colour code the Pros and Cons of my FLM experience.

   

  9 hour bus journey in a normal no leg room bus. Arrived London 0615 Friday morning wandered around navigated Tube network walked along embankment. Headed to Expo for 1000 met Nell McAndrew at registration and got our photo. Met Dim, Bupa and Dan from realbuzz at the real buzz stand.

  Unfortunately after 29 hours without a sleep we had to head to hotel at 2pm sorry was not able to meet as planned at 2.30. Got to hotel approx 4pm and had a blister I could have cried.

  Went Dominion and was amazed at the performance of “We Will rock You” awesome. Bed at 11pm after 38 hours with only 60 minute powernap.

   

  Saturday did not go far Brent Cross Shopping centre where I was pleasantly surprised I also bought a suit for a forthcoming wedding and after a bit o banter I suggested it may be on the winners podium on Sunday and got a tenner off wee hee. Went Diabetes UK pasta party great job folks. Got vest and all stuff prepped for an early start.

   

  Sunday 0530 got a free breakfast then wangled way onto a free bus trip to start rather than the tube system. There were plenty o spare seats so don’t think it was a problem we were all hyped up anyway. Went Vittel but again never met anyone, sorry but I am a pelican out of water. Met another celebrity Lucy from Running Fitness team Asics who was also running for Diabetes UK.

  GO 15 minutes later I reached the start line and away we went, made a conscious effort to go slow so was really amazed to get to 3 mile and be 1.5 minutes ahead. 6 mile met the 11min/mile pace runner, ran with them for a bit as felt really comfortable. At 7 went for water and lost pace runner but carried on at comfy pace I thought. At 10 knees started to hurt so slowed down then became aware of a pack coming upon me and here was 11min runner then I thought I must have been going fast somewhere. Got to half way point dead on time for a 50/50 split but knew that was not going to happen so made a conscious effort to slow down and ensure I finished it. At 14 the knees were screaming at me and swelling up so much so that I could not tell difference between calves and thighs, yet all muscles round about felt fine. Somewhere between 16 and 18 I had to succumb and stopped of at a 1^st aid post for some ice however 2 attractive girls offered me a massage and I could not refuse. Back on the road and can not remember much apart from roars from the crowd until I got to 23 when I started to get emotional and welling up at the realisation I was “gonna DO IT”. Still walking and running. At Buckingham Palace I thought “you can not walk in front of the Queen” so ran from about 500mtr looking up at Buck house to see if she was watching I saw 3 people on the roof and thought surely not turned the corner and the rest is a blur.

  I do know I was really unwell at the finish suffering from heat exhaustion and knees did not want to work, so went Diabetes UK and got a lovely massage but could not hang about so headed back to the hotel where I collapsed onto the bed and slept till 10 next morning.

  Time to complete FLM 5 hours 42 min 9 sec, not happy as so far outside projected time. If anyone had asked me on Sunday if I would do it again I would not have been very nice, however Monday a different story, Tuesday trying to register for VLM 10.

  Watching a rerun this morning they thought approx 500 were expected not to complete the event, from what I understand this ended up being closer to 6000? But don’t quote me on that.

  Well done everyone I know I could not have done it without the support of you realbuzzers and Diabetes UK. Here’s to next year.

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  Comments (19)

  • vickibombicki 'i could have had one of those 6000 places lol glad u did it! well done!! dont forget if you're stopping with us to move your blog over to the virgin london marathon category! x' added 28th Apr 2009

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  • Gazz1971 'Well done buddy you did it and they can't take that medal away now!' added 28th Apr 2009

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  • Johnf 'Well done, one thing it isn't is easy so congratulations.' added 28th Apr 2009

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  • Tunde 'Great effort mate ,YOU DID DO IT !!' added 28th Apr 2009

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  • peterb 'Well done mate , you made it , and it was hell out there .' added 28th Apr 2009

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  • Keith_L 'You are a marathon runner...no one can ever take that away from you congratulations' added 28th Apr 2009

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  • Nick 'I'm sure when you look back, you'll be really pleased that you were able to participate in the race. Well done on making it to that finish line.' added 28th Apr 2009

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  • mel_watson 'Well done, we wasn't that far away from each other was we. I just just happy to cross the finishing line.' added 28th Apr 2009

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  • edwards_pk 'Well done, the main aim is to finish & thats what you done, I was the same on Sunday, thought that I would make it my last London, then on Monday I was moaning that I couldnt get on the VLM site to register for 2010...' added 28th Apr 2009

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  • kizzi10000 'Well done for getting round! Hope the knees are ok now and you've managed to get through the ballot' added 28th Apr 2009

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  • DonnaD 'It took me around 6hr 20 by the time I took those toilet stops off! Far too slow - but more training would strengthen my knees and put that right - here's to next year!!!' added 28th Apr 2009

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  • Lackadaisical_Plodder 'Well done Pelican, yes gutted i didnt meet you, wanted to but i kind of lost my running guys i had travelled up with and was almost in tears looking for them and then it just went so quickly.....' added 28th Apr 2009

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  • running_chick 'Wow! What a tremendous effort! Well done to you and you should feel so PROUD!! Good to hear you'll be back for more. I reckon you'll be so much more calm next year as you'll have all this extra expertise second time round. ' added 28th Apr 2009

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  • shazzer 'Well done Pelican. Remember pain is temporary and you finished it. It is certainly an experience never to be forgotten. ' added 29th Apr 2009

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  • Shaun 'Well on getting round mate, it wasn't the best conditions. I also had a shocker on my first FLM due to getting tripped up but I entered straight away for the next one too. Hopefully see you next year!' added 29th Apr 2009

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  • Dim 'Great to meet you on Friday. Well done on the race. The one thing I'm convinced of - when it comes to a marathon, it's not easy to predict your finish time as there is so much that can happen along the way. Well done once again and good luck with the VLM entry.' added 29th Apr 2009

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  • Baywatch 'Great post! After a few days reflection I have come to the conclusion that the London Marathon is not about "running a time" for most of us, and in fact if we focus too much on that we'd miss out on the unbelievable experience, before, during and after. If we want to "run a time" we should pick on another race! Bottom line is big fella - you were "Gonna do it" and you "Have gone and done it!" - that gold square tells you that and will tell future gerations of Pelicans that you did! Brilliant effort! Be proud of yourself - you have every right to be. Hope you're recovering well. ' added 30th Apr 2009

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  • Vlad 'Well done, amazing story! Glad you finished it, that's the most important thing. bet the medal was around your neck during those long hours of sleep :D' added 4th May 2009

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  • Ally_R 'I'm still catching up on the blogs, sorry to have only just got to yours - whatever was I thinking of, the Pelican should've been top of my list. That was one helluva bus journey, the return couldn't have been much fun either. I'm so pleased you completed the race, pity we did not see each other, like you I was disappointed with my time, so there's not much to say about that, other than you did complete it and you enjoyed it so much, you've signed on to do it again - you nutter!!' added 6th May 2009

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