The run-up (LOL) to the London marathon

(originally written for the local "Hook Focus" magazine)

Motivation

Entering London for me was a personal challenge; I do work with Barnado’s anyway on other events to support their work helping vulnerable children and protecting them from exploitation. After my first marathon in Bournemouth last year I was keen to do another.  Running London for Barnado’s seemed obvious.  Although the training and the race were always going to be hard, raising the target brought an added challenge.

Putting the "fun" into "fundraising"

The fundraising ended up being really good fun; right from the start I thought it would be better to work together and so we got some stuff going as soon as possible.  The virtual runs Pete and I organised at Christmas were brilliant – got a lot of people out running “gold rings” and “days of Christmas”.  It felt like the whole club enjoyed that, and we made £700.  In the meantime we’d been selling tickets and getting raffle prizes for our 90’s Disco (thanks for organising that Emily).  We got a real trove of raffle prizes (thanks to all who generously donated) and sold loads of tickets.  With the DJ and Hartlett’s café buffet and some outrageous fancy dresses; it became a truly memorable night.  We sold so many raffle tickets on the night we had to buy more, and the cash box just kept filling up.  We raised just over £1,700 that evening and split it 3 ways between Lucy, me and Pete. Other fundraising highlights were the woolly hat shopping trip (which made about £250 in donations) and the Hook Runners bingo that I put all my winnings from the line, cross and full-house in the fund as well.

Training (best bit)

The training was going on during this; I loved it.  I followed the same plan and advice from Terry that I used for Bournemouth and aside from a really tight calf muscle in February that Rachel massaged out it went really well – always loads of support on offer.  The speed and threshold sessions all felt fast; the long runs got done and stretched up to 22 miles; Bramley 20 was fantastic – a great race and a good time.  Aside from snow cancelling Fleet, I couldn’t have asked for a better lead up; except for the fact that so many people I care about got injured (which is heart-breaking).

The day of the race 

Race day finally came. After having a busy night before Bournemouth, this time I made it easier on myself.  I stayed over in London and just had a quite night in.  I think that evening before really helped ... I could focus on the race, look back on the training and think about all the people that had supported me (you know who you are).
At 10am when the race started I was in pen 3 so got across the start line and underway quite quickly.  I just ran it at target pace (just under 9 minutes a mile); stuck out the heat and drank plenty of water and kept up electrolytes and energy with gels and SaltSticks (Cheers for that tip Rachel).
It was hot, so hot... all was going well till mile 18 and at that point I just realised I was going to have to slow it down.

Letting that target slip away... 

My sub-4 hour target was still just about possible at mile 20; but I wasn’t running quick enough at that point to clinch it.  So I just dug deep and went for the best time I could.  Finally crossing the line at 4:09 which is 8 minutes under my earlier PB at Bournemouth in 2017.  Given the heat, I’m delighted with that.

Overall

The scale of the event, the atmosphere, the crowds, the noise, the music, the Hook Runners cheering stations and all the good wishes from everyone afterwards made it a day I’ll never forget – especially given my new PB and the £2,700 I raised for Barnado’s along the way.



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