Ross continues to grow physically, and is making little bits of progress. Fin is still our wee start, never ceasing to amaze us with his intellectual prowess; counting, reading, writing, creativity with fibbing and negotiation skills my colleagues in Sales would kill for.
The marathon was a great day. I must admit my training was limited to single long runs at the weekends as I really struggled to find time during the week. This meant I was probably not as prepared as I should have been but I'd worked up to and managed 4 runs between 15 and 20 miles before marathon day. Each of these left me with a very painful right knee and concerns about being able to do 26 miles. It also required pretty much a full half day every weekend so Clair had to take the brunt there too as I disappeared off leaving her with the kids. The physio treated my knee in the few weeks before the marathon, working on my knee, then my ankle and eventually my bum! Thankfully she discovered the week before the marathon that sticking acupuncture-type needles into the muscles in my right buttock released the tension down to my knee, and somehow this meant that during the marathon my knee was pretty sore, but nowhere near as bad as I thought it would be.
I think the rest of Team Ross were slightly better prepared, although Bungee had 2 weeks on conference centre diet, and Ross had a very painful hamstring to contend with. Potters, Graham and Sophy were probably the best prepared, but we were all equally motivated by Ross and by the huge amounts of money people had been sponsoring us. The total raised, split equally between The NSE and The Children’s Trust is over £28,000. Thanks everyone!!!
We met in Greenwich Park near the start line on the morning of the race, put our bags on the waiting lorries and joined the thousands of other runners in the cold drizzle waiting for start-time. Everyone was pretty quiet and if anything like me a little apprehensive about the coming hours. We were probably about halfway back in the main start group but even though we were in the midst of over 35,000 people the organisation at the start area was so good that we were over the start line within 6 minutes of the official start-time. Bungee and Ross went on ahead from the start and the Crudens, Potters and I started together through the streets of east London, although we did lose Sophy at the first toilet opportunity. The three of us stuck together doing 10 minute miles for the first half of the race, overtaking Richard Branson who was doing his best to keep a low profile, and taking in the atmosphere - the locals around the east end really do make the race a pleasure for the runners. The little brass bands, the massive house parties (including the house as a pirate ship complete with 50 Captain Jack Sparrows), the sign saying "Run like you've nicked something", and the music at the various pubs all kept our minds off the miles and the first half was relatively easy. Also, seeing our family and friends about 11 miles in was fantastic and pretty emotional for me. I saw Clair as we were approaching and despite shouting at the top of my voice for him, I was already past Fin before he saw me, but he did, so I could carry on without stopping.
I then started to feel my knee and the first pangs of hunger! Breakfast was starting to feel like a long time ago and the gels weren't even hitting the sides of my stomach. Going over Tower Bridge I started to slow up and Graham had already gone ahead a little. i could tell I was holding Potters back so I told the big man to go on ahead and then I was on my own (apart from the thousands of other runners and crowd, but you know what I mean. By the time I got to the gel station at 14 miles I was in bits, so I stopped there and had a few gels. i then saw people in the crowd with chunks of bananas, others with slices of orange and others with Jelly Babies. So I pretty much stopped and had my lunch, which after washing down with a bottle of water I headed off again pretty slowly. I was then overtaken by Stu from work, dressed as a 6 foot Cornetto, and between the indignity of that and the calories from my impromptu picnic starting to kick in I managed to get back up to speed.
The route round Canary Wharf seems to go round in circles but eventually you come out into bright sunshine and huge crowds, many cheering the names we all had on the front of our shirts. They do make a difference in doing this but still, as you go on, the miles just seem to get longer and longer... By about mile 22 I was starting to slow again but then I started to hear the crowd shouting "Go Richard". There was no way I was going to let Mr Branson beat so I managed to pick it up again and headed down the embankment, struggling but moving. Saw some friends during the second half also, and some of the boys in Westminster Square. Heading up towards Buckingham Palace they have markers saying 800m, 600m, 400m and 200m to go, and these must be the longest 200m distances ever. I was burst by this stage but knee that when I rounded the corner Clair, the boys and our parents would be in the grandstand there. I rounded the corner and saw them straight away, just before finishing in a time of 4h 57m 21s. As Rich put it when we made it to the top of Mont Blanc, "it was emotional".
I crossed the line, collected my stuff, managed to find Clair in the chaos that is the meeting point, and met up with the rest of team Ross, all of whom had finished ahead of me, including Sophy who we'd left at the loo 1 mile in. Everyone was pretty buzzing with what we'd achieved and following a quick photo opportunity with Ross, we headed off for a few well earned beers.
Great to have done it, and to have raised so much money, but please never, ever let me consider doing the marathon again...
And a pic from Ross's Christening last December.
