I was feeling pretty breezy but I knew I was pushing my luck and sure enough, in a tale as old as time, the marathon whacked me at mile 18. After a mile or so of self-pity and a few words with myself, I stuck my wheels back on with a soggy Licorice All-sort and a cup of Lucozade and squeezed the throttle to set my sights on championship. The Harriers support at Blackfriars worked its magic and I came home in 3:12:32. Super chuffed 🙂
I felt pretty sick at the end and struggled to fathom the simple numbering system to claim my extraordinarily heavy bag, which almost flattened me. I then got stuck in a Portaloo for a while with this bag on top of me, which would have been a sorry end. But, freeing myself, I finally made my hobbly way to Leicester square. NB – those pelican crossing timers really aren’t very generous.
After a nice phone call with M and D and a reviving bask in the sunshine, I started feeling better and thoughts turned to sourcing a pint. I couldn’t understand why no one could find me, until I realised I was actually in Trafalgar square, not Leicester.
Somewhere in the 26.2 miles my ponytail had begun nurturing a giant dreadlock. I was so tired that I seriously considered adopting the Rastafarian lifestyle to avoid dealing with it as I flopped down on my bed at the end of the day.
Special thanks to all the marvellous Harrier supporters, really does make all the difference in the world. And to our chairman and chief marshal for all his organisation – I was so thankful for the coach amid those train strikes, although we could have done without the bonus lap of Lewisham!
Outstanding mention to Alex Jeffreys for a time of 2:43, which would have been well inside champs if only they wouldn’t keep moving the goalposts on him. Dave Hadaway, who I can wholly recommend as a start-pen pal, also ran well within his GFA finishing in an impressively consistent 3:18. Congrats to Jason Gough for a great performance on his first marathon and for managing to keep his shirt on for a full 3 hours and 18 minutes. Steve Wellstead (3:58), Josh Pratt (4:02) and David French (4:25) also put in stellar performances to complete the Harriers line up.
Cathy x
If you can’t be bothered reading that, here’s a schematic summary: