Flora london marthon 2009

Part 2
The day of the marathon was very exciting. The sun was up and so was I in plenty of time. I think I’ve already told you about getting to the start, so I won’t repeat that bit.
The race started on time, predictably and as I was in pen 6 I got away quite quickly at 9:52 (or so everyone was told in a text message at about tea time).
You can’t help but go along with the crowd and I had my Garmin set for 5.5mph which I kept to. I noticed that I started to slow down after about 3 miles which was quite frustrating, and I tried to catch up, but needed a loo break so that kind of put me off. All the loos were full with a queue, so I kept going until I found one with hardly anyone outside at about mile 5.
I took small drinks at every drinks station as I was told to do by all the experts. I also took one of the Lucozade sport drinks but only a few sips just to see how it went down (I have had them before and not liked them). I also took 5 gels with me, 3 SIS and 2 Lucozade because I noticed the SIS ones only had 35g of Carbohydrate but the Lucozade had 65 (enough for an hour).
I took one every 45 mins or so with some sips of water.
I never felt completely tired and kept what I thought was a fairly even pace all the way round, but when I looked at the times, i knew I had slowed considerably. I don’t know how the elites keep it up. Still it’s their job and they don’t have to go to work all day then train at night.
The crowds were fantastic. Cheering and whistling and shouting out my name as i went past which they got from a grotty piece of paper hurriedly penned at the hotel reception.
It was a real carnival atmosphere in the blazing sunshine. I had no idea where I was during most of the race as I had to concentrate on keeping going so as not to trip anyone up or trip myself. The only time I diverted was when I heard someone mention peter andre and I turned to see him just over to the right of me, so I went over to say hello and good luck to him and gave him a high 5. He looked very happy and enjoying the experience. (can’t say I recognised the Cutty Sark when I past it because it was all boarded up but I do remember going round the boards)
Tower Bridge appeared out of nowhere and I knew I was almost half way. Wave to the cameras again in the hope someone would see me. Over the bridge and unable to see any sites because of concentrating on people around me.
There were loads of people dropping out injured or cramped up (quite apart from all the men peeing in the bushes). The smell was awful at those points.
Saw Graham at mile 15 as arranged, bless him, he’d got the camera ready and gels and sunglasses, energy bars and drinks. What a star!
Further on and I noticed a sign saying South Quay. Aha, I thought, Hilton Hotel (where we were booked in) time for a quick toilet break. I was in two minds whether to do it or not, but then thought of the alternative queue and went for it. I don’t know if I was the only one who did that, but I got a few smiles.
Onward through Canary Wharf and loads of crowds once more. Through the Isle of Dogs (apparently named because HenryV111 kept his hunting dogs there).
I saw a sign that said “You are 3 miles away from making history” and started to well up. I felt so emotional.
Through a tunnel and out into the city down the Embankment and I knew we weren’t too far from the finish. I was quite surprised we didn’t get any oggy oggy oggy’s as we went through the bridge and felt too embarrassed to start one.
Big Ben loomed ahead it was like being in the British 10k again (embankment’s part of the route). Down Bird Cage Walk past Liz and Phil’s and into the Mall for the last few hundred yards home. Masses of people watching. Finish ahead – one last push and bugger me if I wasn’t overtaken by a bloody Rhino!!! How embarrassing.
5 hours 15 minutes and 35 seconds. More than I wanted, but it was my first marathon.
I was given my medal, then shuffled up onto a ramp where the chip was removed then over to the right to have a photo taken with the medal. Next the goody bag then to look for relatives.
Nat and Lucy were there, but I couldn’t see them. Graham was on the park waiting for me but I couldn’t get to him it took me all my time to get into horse guards where it was almost as crowded as the pens at the start. I got a standing place near a kind of landmark so that i could tell them where I was. I got a big hug from Nat and we chatted for a bit. Then Graham turned up and they both took photos of me with my medal. We then went over to find Lucy, more hugs and then over to sit on the grass where we talked for a bit and I ate a bag of crisps from the goody bag and had a recovery drink. Nat had also brought me a recovery drink which was really thoughtful.
We sat under the tree and chatted for a bit then started to make our way to the subway for the trains back to the hotel. Graham had it all sorted and we got back no probs. One kind lady gave me her seat when she saw I had just finished the marathon. We chatted for a while until my stop. We had to go up some stairs to the DLR (that was hard to do), then loads of seats on there and off we went again to the hotel at South Quay.
I went and got changed and we booked a taxi to Euston. It was only £27 and he had to keep taking diversions, so I gave him £30. The train for Preston was just about to leave, but the men on the gates insisted on seeing our tickets, so i showed them to them whilst they took us to the train. I was too tired to walk all the way to 2nd class so we bought Sunday first upgrades and stayed in first class.
Got home about 9:15.
Great Weekend.
Will I sign up for the next one? What do you think??