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Sunday 9 October 2011

Half Marathon (better late than never)

I thought I'd better get this blog out before the Royal Parks crowd all do theirs v. efficiently tomorrow ;)

So 2 weeks ago I DID my Run to the Beat HM!!!!  It was brilliant.  I met up with Carla (Fortnight Flo) and Alma (Plustenner) and we ran all the way together apart from a short distance in which I had to shoot off and find a toilet or else I'd have had a Paula Radcliffe moment!!  Thanks to the Royal Standard for letting me use theirs! After that I managed to catch them up and we stayed together until the end!

Carla paced us brilliantly and kept us going steady rather than run off like all three of us really wanted to do.  I honestly think that's what made it so much easier than any of my training runs.  I'm definitely going to take more notice of pace in future and less notice of speed.

The weather was a little bit warm, but there were plenty of drink stations and we made sure we took advantage of each of them.  In the last 2 miles we saw several runners collapsed at the side of the road being looked after by medics, so we did the right thing.

We went over the line in official time 2hrs 33 mins!!! Amazing!  My prediction from my training runs was 2h 45m so it was an excellent time.

The support all the way round was terrific.  I had my name on my shirt and it was so good when complete strangers cheered me on and shouted my name. Passed the Leukaemia and Lymphoma Research cheer point at about mile 11 and they roared my name out. (I was wearing one of their bright yellow shirts).  I felt like a Superstar!.

Carla's family kept popping up all round the course with a big banner.  I have no idea how they did it.  They must have been running faster than we were :)

I saw Mike and my Mum in the last 500m cheering and taking  photos and it was really nice to see them.

Carla grabbed Alma and my hands and we went across the line all together, yelling!

Then we were finished, all still standing and all feeling great. It was the most amazing feeling.

We got our medals handed in our chips and went to get our bags.  Then we did a bit of stretching and went our separate ways.  That is when everything started to go wrong for me.................TO BE CONTINUED....

3 comments:

  1. I NEED THE FULL DETAILS OF THE TBC!! I'm sorry for grabbing your hand and pulling you away from your family - I was just delighted that I'd got to the end and wanted to cross the line with you both! You looked AMAZING and I have not doubt you will EASILY do a marathon. Lets make sure we meet up for some training runs x

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  2. Was brilliant to meet you and I am so proud of us doing such a great time! Good luck with your training for London 2012, Carla and I am planning to do a 22 miler on 24/3 if you would like to join us :)

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  3. Aw thanks Carla, London Marathon here we come. I'm glad it's in the Olympic year as well. Makes it even more memorable. xx

    Thanks too Alma, at the beginning of November I'm going to my "winter training camp" (our house in Spain) lol. If we're back by 24th March I'll definitely do the run with you two. I find it hard to believe that I'll be capable of running that distance, but then I never believed I could do the Half ! xx

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