22 Apr - The Marathon

Crossing the start line was amazing, crowds completely lining both sides of the road as we started off at a gentle trot, but I was really surprised at how quick the pace started to speed up, I think most people had obviously allocated themselves appropriately, although saying that, within 1/4 mile there was one man who was walking!  I really don't understand why people set themselves so far up the field and then do that, where's the logic, it only slows down the people behind you.  I'm sure we'd gone less than a mile when there was a whole line of blokes peeing up against the trees, it does make you wonder how much they'd had to drink in only 1/2 a mile.
We had gone less than a mile when I was amazed to hear the first of many "Go Alli!"  I'd completely forgotten I'd got my name across the front of my vest, it was lovely to hear and really made me smile.  After about a mile, a friend of Louise's from University called out to her from the runners, small world, I'm not sure whether Lou knew she was running too  :)  Then after about the second mile I started to let Louise ease ahead as was always the plan, as although the course was starting to head downhill, I didn't want to tire myself out too much by starting too fast.  I was still putting in a good pace at 8:35 min/mile but reasoned that with it heading downhill it wasn't such a strain.  In actual fact it was beginning to feel really quite comfortable.
At mile 3, our Red Start runners, started to merge with the Blue Start runners who had set off from Blackheath, which was really quite exciting.  Initially we were running down the same road, but with a dividing barrier down the middle.  It was at this point that the the downhill really started to kick in, all the time there were crowds completely lining the route.  The children were all holding out their hands for high 5s and it was great to slap their hands as we ran through.  Fantastic crowds, it was just incredible, I'd had texts from friends who were going to be trying to spot me en route, but it wasn't going to be for a while yet, and to be honest the support from the crowd was so good, I didn't really need it at that point, I was just enjoying it.  People in the crowds were giving out jelly babies and sweets , shouting our names and the pubs were playing really inspiring music.


At the 10K point, my time was just over 56min and only a minute off my PB, so I started to slow down a bit more as I knew I wouldn't be able to keep up that pace for the whole run. It was really difficult to spot the runners and supporters for ES as purple was quite a popular colour with the charities, with Scope and Great Ormond St amongst the other purple runners.   But at the 9 mile point I spied the first of  the other Epilepsy Society Runners, Ian, who was running in a Tutu, very brave.  
Friends had said they were going to be out from about 9 miles, so scanning the crowds kept me distracted and sure enough at mile 11, I spotted the ES banging sticks that my my mum had in her hands and screamed out to the whole family so excitedly at seeing them all and it was so great to see their big smiles coming back at me.  And as if that wasn't fab enough, a 1/2 mile around the corner, I spotted Craig, Jo, Maria and Brian, so big yell-outs there too.  I must have had the cheesiest grin.  You couldn't imagine how brilliant it was to spot every body in such big crowds.  It certainly spurred me on for the next couple of miles to get me to Tower Bridge.  It was such a high point seeing the approach to Tower Bridge, not only is it one of the most iconic sights in London, it was also just approaching the 1/2 marathon point so I then knew the distance left was going to be shorter than that already ran.  There were really thick crowds at London Bridge and as we crossed over the river on the other side, we passed the 23 mile point runners, where the loop ran back on itself.  At this point according to my Garmin, I'd been running for 1hr 59 min and the men's runners running in the other direction had only 3 miles to go!  What a pace!  And actually looking back on it, my PB for a Half Marathon is 1:59:35, so without realising I'd actually been putting on a good pace for myself at this point, but I always knew that I would end up running slower in the second half of the marathon than the first.
For the next mile and a half we ran opposite the faster runners before setting off for the Isle of Dogs.  At the 14 mile mark, my tummy started to grumble, so I kept going looking for the next block of toilets - How come there seemed to be so many before and when you need them, they just seem to disappear? The sign in the distance kept saying they were approaching but it wasn't til 2 miles later that I spotted them, only 4 of them, for how many runners!!! I stopped for 30 seconds before realising it would probably take me 5 - 10 minutes so set off trying to make a plan in my head.  There seemed to have been a lot of pubs earlier, so I thought I'd try for one of those but they seemed to be in short supply too, so finally as we get to 16 1/2 miles I gave a newsagents a go and they were absolutely fab. So many thanks for the guys at West Quay News for letting me use their toilets ;-)  Not too long a delay and I was a much happier lady as I set off from there with a spring in my step.  It wasn't to last long though, as I needed another stop just past Canary Wharf at mile 20, unfortunately this time a well-used Portaloo :(  (but at least no queue).
From now on I was just determined to see it through to the end.  I'd lost a bit of time with the stops and was obviously getting tireder,so just wanted to get it over with, although 6 miles still seemed like an awfully long way to go.  Going along Commercial Road at mile 21/22 the crowds were absolutely Awesome!  People were starting to flag and there were a lot of people on the sides of the road stopping and stretching, but the crowds seemed to pick up on the names on the vests and for what seemed up to a mile it seemed like everybody was shouting my name.  It was absolutely amazing and will be forever imprinted in my memory! It just kept me going.  As we passed Tower Hill at mile 23, I caught up with another of the ES runners a guy called Garry who had slowed down and I started chatting with him and tried to keep him going, we ran together for a bit and when he next had to walk I carried on.  I checked his timing afterwards and he only came in about 5 minutes after me.


The next big marker for me was the Epilepsy Society's meeting point at mile 25, I just wanted to still be going at that point and was determined not to be walking.  I got a fab boost about a 1/2 before when Jo spotted me along Embankment and let a big shout out to "run for Tina". OMG what a fantastic boost! just what I needed, although it really brought tears to my eyes, but there was no better reminder of why I was doing this.  What fab friends I have to have come along and support me the way they did :-)  So there I was at mile 25 passing the Hispaniola and the ES crew with the biggest grin on my face, as captured by one of their group on the photo below

Only 1.2 miles to go!

At Westminster Bridge it was a right turn past Westminster and Big Ben. Tina's sister's partner Tracey had planned to be in the crowd with their daughter Millie at this point (Tracey herself had ran the London marathon 2 years ago for Epilepsy Bereaved, the charity who had helped the family out so much when Tina died) and so I know she's someone who's been exactly in my shoes.  Unfortunately though, I didn't manage to spot them, it would have been so fab to have seen them.  I think my crowd spotting skills were starting to fade with the tiredness   :(

From there, the route headed up Birdcage Walk with the end almost in sight, when suddenly I heard big shouts from my left and all my family were there shouting at me, Big smiles again :D so pleased to see them as I headed for the final 1/2 mile.

Mum banging her sticks  and my bum heading into the distance

I must admit the final run seemed never ending, there were banners going across the road for 800m, 600m 400m and 200m and each of those 200metres seemed sooooo long, such hard work to try and put every last bit of energy into the finish and then suddenly there I was running along the Mall with the Finish line in front of me.  And there you go I was over the line and I'd done it!  Yayyyyy!!!!!