Alli & Tina's London Marathon Blog (a record of 16 weeks training for the London Marathon)
Friday, 27 April 2012
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
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 :(
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
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| Only 1.2 miles to go! |
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.
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!!!!!
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| Mum banging her sticks and my bum heading into the distance |
22 Apr - Pre-Race
Didn't get much sleep the night before - nerves I think. I'd got everything precisely laid out the night before and had an instant porridge pot and strong cup of coffee. When it came to taking my codeine tablets, I wasn't able to find them (must have left them in Nottingham), so had to make do with some co-codamol and Neurofen Extra from the chemist and just as an extra precaution a couple of immodium to make sure my tummy was settled (or so I thought) We then had our pre-marathon photo by Jeanette, my Auntie before the two of us set off.
We'd planned on it taking an hour to get there and as soon as we set foot on the underground, there were runners all around us. We had a smooth trip to Greenwich Park, where we handed over our kit bags to the Lorries to meet us back at the end. I had a banana and a sports drink to keep me topped up and we made our way straight to the toilet queues and had another photo-shoot whilst waiting.
We were really lucky with the weather, gorgeous blue skies, if a little cool to start with, (so we kept our thin long sleeve layer on until the start) but that didn't matter as we knew we'd be warming up once we got going. And so we headed to the start. I'd been allocated to pen 5, but Louise who hadn't put down any time on her application was allocated to pen 9 at the back. But she was always going to be putting in a better time than me with those long legs and age on her side (my excuse and I'm sticking to it) so we managed to get us both into the same pen. All very exciting with 1,000s of people all waiting to go, we even had a pantomime horse in our pen, although I had no idea how they thought they were going to do it in 4 hours. Then we heard the start and started to walk forward, I was surprised how little time it took us to cross the start line, only around 7 minutes and then we were off!
Marathon Eve - Jane Tomlinson, Expo and a walk around London
It was a luxury I
rarely get, being driven on a coach, I’m normally always the one driving
somewhere, so I took the opportunity to start re-reading Jane & Mike
Tomlinson’s autobiography “The Luxury of Time”. Jane was the most amazing woman who did so much to help others, raising nearly £2 million for cancer research despite herself suffering incurable breast cancer. She made me re-evaluate my health and life and I thought if someone going through all that can keep themself fit, there's no excuse for me not to. She had died the previous September and it had been my intention back in April 2008 to test myself by running the first Jane Tomlinson 10k Run for all that June, but it was already fully booked, so I ended up organising a few local events building up to the Robin Hood Half Marathon that September. At the time, the Half was the limit of my aspirations, there was no way at the time that I could have conceived running a full marathon. This year is the 10th anniversary of Jane's death and in tribute and to raise further funds, her husband and daughter are running both the Paris and London marathon's with a 6 day cycle ride in between. What an amazing family!
On arrival we (myself and my teenage children Harry and Sarah) headed for the Marathon Expo to pick up my race number pack and have a look around the stalls. My number was 39304 one of a series being ran by the approx 40 runners for the Epilepsy Society. I was then able to meet up with fellow skydiving mates Shell and Jules Bergel who had arrived earlier at the show. It was both of their first marathons.
I then met up with Becs Noble on the Epilepsy Society's stand to introduce ourseleves and say thank you for allowing me to run for them. Topped up with sweeties, we came away from there with a couple of ES T-Shirts for Sarah & Harry and banging sticks (which proved invaluable later for spotting them in the crowds) .
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| Shell & I, all numbered up and ready to go! |
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| Hispaniola - Embankment - Mile 25 |
After the Expo, it was back across town to meet up with Mum & Dad. We took a walk down the river from where the hotel was and took a few photos (I don't know how many times I've taken the same photos before from when I lived in London or visited it, but somehow this felt a bit different ). A couple of photos were along the route but thye're going to be a lot more crowded the next day.
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| I hope there are lots of these |
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| I'll be running along here down the Mall ! |
We then met up with my cousin Louise and her family (who's also running tomorrow) for a final carb meal of pizza and pasta. Just need to get some good kip before the big day
Wednesday, 25 April 2012
The full story will be coming soon
What an amazing and unforgettable occasion! But I want to sit down and do it justice because after sticking with the Blog that long you deserve the full story. I didn't have good internet access till I got home and had lots of catching up to do before starting my 3 night shifts, but will hopefully be back in the next couple of days. Needless to say it was a hard slog and definitely the most difficult run ever, but the crowds were absolutely wonderful and I had the most awesome support from friends and family that kept me going. I am absolutely blown away that only 3 days after the run, the donations for the Epilepsy Society are so close to the target.
See you soon with the full story! :D x
See you soon with the full story! :D x
Saturday, 21 April 2012
21 Apr - On our way to London
Wakey Wakey! Rise and shine, we're off to London. Everything packed and setting off for the coach station. Just had a last minute check of the weather for tomorrow and if it stays like forecast it won't be too bad. Less than 5% chance of rain in the morning and then 40% light showers after 1pm, enough to cool us down may be - we'll see.
See you later in London
See you later in London
20 April - Wow what a day!
So much to catch up on.
It started this morning with collecting my running vest from the printers and it is Awesome :) They always say that having your name on your shirt is a really good idea because then the crowds can see it and shout it out which helps especially when you're starting to flag - Obviously the vest, very importantly is sponsored by the Epilepsy Society, but the print is very bold white so I did wonder if my name next to theirs would really stand out, so instead I went with pink to try and make it stand out a bit. I really wanted to get Tina's name on it 2, but there wasn't much space on the front once the number is on, so I got them to add '4 TINA' on the back
The printers, http://www.shirtysomething.com/index.html were really helpful and although the VLM (Virgin London Marathon) people have sent lots of links through for their preferred printer, I was really pleased to keep the work local. The VLM printers had been asking £8-12 , but when I picked it up this morning, Shirty Something refused to take any payment - How lovely, it made me smile all morning :D .
I finally got out for my 3mile run today which I'd put off from Wednesday, because of the horrible weather we've been having. Even though I've ended up doing this run closer to the race than is ideal, I thought it was better to do that than risk catching a cold so close to the date by running in the rain. I thought I'd give the Runkeeper App that my friend had used in Paris, a go , but I got a bit confused (a frequent occurrence with me) and actually set off another running app instead, Doh! I'm going to have to give it a bit of a playaround in London tomorrow to see if I can sort it. If I don't manage to sort it, there's always the official VLM tracking at http://results-2012.virginlondonmarathon.com/2012/ which should hopefully work. There wasn't any official real time tracking last year, but they did have it a couple of years ago and it worked really well.
And the other brilliant news of the day? Lots of sponsorship for the Epilepsy Society. Over £400 donated today alone (not to mention the 25% extra with Gift Aid). There were quite a few big single donations in today too and it really does make me feel quite emotional to have such a response. Sunday is really going to be a day of so many different emotions - Just the thought of the money people have donated will make me well up, but I know I'm going to be weepy because Tina is not going to be here to see how much she has inspired people to give and help others - I'd better take a few tissues with me
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