Virgin London Marathon 2013 - Part One (sorry it's going to be long and rambling!)

I can't believe it's been almost three weeks!

I've been meaning to write this blog for a little while but I haven't got around to it for various reasons.  Immediately afterwards, it was all a bit of a blur.  It really took about a week for it to all sink in!  I was pretty overwhelmed with everything in the days leading up to the race, and the days afterwards I spent catching up on all the messages of support I had received, and trying to recover from the experience!  Then came the inevitable - the post-marathon blues.  I didn't think they would get me, I felt on top of the world, but a few days back at work and it soon hit me - I'd spent well over a year building up to this, and now it was all over.  I felt like I had changed in a massive way, I wanted to shout at everyone "little old me finished the London Marathon you know" and I spent a lot of time looking at the medal, the photo's and the comments.  I was tempted to just wear the medal all the time, if only just to help explain to people why I was walking like I was! Between you and I, I actually still take the medal with me everywhere even now, although I no longer sleep with it under my pillow....

I'll start by saying, the Friday before the marathon was one of those days that really dragged.  I actually felt more calm than I had all of the week before, which is not to say I wasn't still panicking, but the panic was mostly replaced by emotions, a complete rollercoaster of them.  I felt like an emotional wreck!  In the three days leading up to the marathon, and on the day itself, I received half of all of my donations, and that in itself made me alternate between feeling elated and feeling tearful (I can't even explain it).  I think the day dragged because then I had the time to keep checking my lists over and over and over - what to pack, what to put in my kit bag, what to carry around the course, the different tube & train journeys required, and of course what I was going to wear.  I know you won't find this hard to believe if you've read my previous posts, but I actually took three pairs of running trousers with me.  And I still just wore the same ones I have worn for every long training run, in case the others would rub!  You might remember me saying that I seemed to be ignoring the big tasks in favour of the non-important things, and that is how I found myself sitting in bed on Friday night, sewing the last few buttons onto my vest.  With that done, I actually managed a decent nights sleep.

Saturday morning flew by, last minute packing and OCD list-checking, definitely brightened by the beautiful bunch of flowers that arrived to wish me luck from Sarah and family Walker.  Sui popped round too with a Good Luck card and a beautiful bracelet for me.  We set off into London and arrived at the hotel in good time, and what a beautiful view we had too.

From there we headed straight to the tube and made our way to the Expo, where I was lucky enough to meet one of my fellow Inspire runners Paul, who was running for the same charity as me, and for whom it was also a marathon debut!  It was so good to meet him and have a hug and wish each other luck, he's been such a great help to me both before and after the big day (thanks Paul if you are reading this).  We made our way into the Expo and luckily there was no queue at all for me to pick up my race number, timing chip and kit bag.  Next up, the chip activation point, and once through there we found ourselves in a massive Adidas outlet with hundreds of VLM 2013 branded items.  I bought three t-shirts, telling myself this was a once-in-a-lifetime experience and so I was going to make the most of it! Beyond that, and a few other bits and pieces (see photo's below) I was a little disappointed with the expo.  Just basically lots of stands of people selling things and somewhere to buy pasta (did I miss something?!).

Can you spot me?

Can you spot me again?!

He spotted me, pointing a camera at him ;-)

INSPIRE! 

Had to be done!

From leaving the expo, we headed back to the hotel for a bit of chillout time before dinner.  I packed up my little bag to carry around with me, and sorted all my kit out ready to go.  I also attached the chip to my trainers and the number (including black ribbon for Boston) to my vest.

When we got to Zizzi's, we sat at a table for two, which was in a row of four others.  It turned out that two of the other tables were also occupied by a runner and their supporter, and so we exchanged a bit of chat and wished each other luck, which was nice.  I was already liking the VLM vibe!

We were back at the hotel and getting into bed by about 9pm, ready for a super-early start the next day (room service ordered for between 6-6.30am).  I had a couple of phone calls from some of my best friends, and settled down to sleep (YEAH RIGHT!!!!).