Fantastic Marathon!!

Hey all,

I did it, I managed my goal of doing a sub 5 hour marathon and it felt/feels amazing!!!

We travelled to Manchester on Saturday and Michelle had the perfect idea of going to the cinema in the afternoon so we could sit down and safe our legs for the next day ha ha.  We had the perfect meal on the night, a massive bowl of pasta and bread and OK just one glass of wine ha ha!

We had an early start on Sunday and because it was early, it was hard to force my breakfast of porridge, honey and nuts down but knew that I had to to make sure I’d got enough fuel in me.  When we got to the athletes village it was very cold and we struggled to keep warm, but as soon as we got in our starting pen and in the crowds we warmed up a little.  We had old hoodies on that we planned to throw away before we started, but we were so cold we ended up starting the run in them, it didn’t take us long before they were off and thrown to the side.

Our starting pace was perfect, we wasn’t pushing ourselves and could have a good chat and enjoy the crowds and support.  I did start to worry when I got to about 8/9 miles when my legs started to feel a bit achy and heavy and then the thoughts of how bad I had felt on my last one in October started to come back, I managed to push the negative thoughts to the back of my mind and actually said to Michelle I am not letting this f***er get me this time ha ha!!

I think I have previously said in my blog that I don’t like taking energy gels because they give me a bad stomach, but my hubby said at mile 20 I just needed to take them as I will need any energy that I can get.  I listened to his advice and I am so glad I did, I took the energy gels that they were handing out and they were really good ones I didn’t get a bad stomach off them at all, they definitely got me to the end.

At 18 miles I did slow down a bit, everything was aching especially my lower back, luckily Michelle had some paracetamol with her so I took one and it made such a difference, but there was still a gap forming between us so I told Michelle to just go for it and get her time because at the end of the day yes we went together and have trained together but it was a personal achievement for both of us.  To be honest I don’t think I would have been much company at all those last 7 miles as I went into a zone where my head could cope with still having 7 miles left ha ha.

As soon as I’d got a mile left I went for it, I had stopped a few times to stretch and take on the gels and because I had stopped my watch I wasn’t sure if I was going to get that sub 5.  As soon as I saw that finish line I smiled because it was nearly over ha ha, I crossed that finish line with my arms in the air, buzzing and the biggest smile on my face.  I didn’t actually care about the time as I had had a brilliant run and enjoyed nearly all of it!

I was walking round to where they gave out the medals and a text came through on my phone to tell me what time I’d done it in, 4 hours and 57 mins I threw my arms in the air and shouted yesssss, people must have thought I was mad that were around me ha ha.  I phoned hubby straight away and this time the tears were happy tears I was and still am buzzing!!

Me and Michelle found each other and she had done an amazing time as well 4 hours and 45 mins, we were both buzzing!!  We went and found a seat, got a beer that they were giving out (unfortunately non alcoholic ha ha) and took it all in.

As soon as we got back to the hotel we were both craving chips and had the best chip sandwich ever with a well deserved glass of prosecco!

My family have been asking if I’m going to do another one and I am very tempted ha ha!!  I can’t tell you how different this one was to the one that I did in October, I really hope that if I do do one again it feels the same as this one did!

Speak soon when I have got my legs back and I’m running ha ha xx