Mileage 0 - Weekly Mileage 5
Up at 8am, 4 hours kip after Comedy night. Not ideal preperation it's got to be said. Especially as i boated a pack of Hob knobs and Rich Tea biscuits at 3am. Still Comedy Night went well, i am pleased. My attitude was better and there is lots to work on. People enjoyed it and i concentrated more on the people who did come, than the people who didn't. #BepositiveNick.
Then it was into work to do essentially bugger all. Hearts not in it today, i was interested in obsessively checking Facebook and Texts for adoring messages of how amazing i was last night. I got one at 11am. Result. That was enough for this shameful seeker of outside affirmation.
Talking of which, it was time to register for the Marathon. Off Kelly and i went to Custom House. It's her 1st marathon and it brings back so many memories. The Nerves, the expectation, the unknown. The abiding memories size of crowd, the nerves. The scale of the event. Huge.
Luckily i ran with Karl Matthews and Jamie who had done a few London's, so they kept me slow, meaning i enjoyed the first 13 miles, drinking in all the atmosphere, sights and memories. I had enough energy to really enjoy the final 6 too. I loved it. I was hooked.
So much encouragement from the crowds. The huge crowds. Entering into some of the worst parts of London, Passing Pubs that if you entered on a Saturday night you would be stabbed, but now on Marathon Sunday morning they were packed with people with spider tattoos on their face, drinking special brew screaming encouragement at you. Weird.
Passing a blur of faces and cheers, signs of loved ones, people running with pictures of deceased family members or friends they were raising money for. Pipers, drummers, funk bands, techno sets, DJ's, steel bands, all kinds of entertainment adding flavour, colour and atmosphere to the route.
People handing out sweets and food, Overwhelming, Landmarks of London, Greenwich Park, Cutty Sark, Tower Bridge, Canary Wharf, Embankment, The Eye, The Tower of London, Houses of Parliament, the crowds willing you home. The finish. Buckingham Palace. Seeing loved ones in the crowd. Stopping for hugs and tears. You long to see the ones you love. You love more than anything on marathon day.
And then the end. The finish, Tired. Thankful. Elated. Falling into the ones you love. Silver foil blanket wrapped around you. I always wanted to have one of those to say. 'I've done it'. It's amazing. It;s beautuful. It's friendly. It;s full of love. It;s incredible. It;s life.
These are all the things i remember from my 1st London Marathon. But the one abiding memory i have? Mile 18. Isle of Dogs. Narrow road. Hurting. People lining either side. end of the line. Big woman holding a bucket. As a ran past, i looked in. And in the bucket, was a load of......sausages. What the fuck? Sausages!! A load of Cumberland's in a bucket on mile 18. Clearly the woman didn't have the hang of the whole food for easy quick release energy carb thing.
I mean Sausages? they are hard to get down at the best of times. But mile 18? It;s hard enough to swallow you're own spit let alone stomach and offle wrapped in an intestine. What the hell was she thinking? She may have gone the whole hog (no pun intended) and served up Pasties, Buffet bars, Scotch Eggs. Sod it bring out the Roast Taters and Yorkshire Puds. It;s Sunday lunchtime after all.
It totally threw me. I must admit. So i obviously got one down me. I must admit it was like chewing on labia. But i got there in the end, Lets hope i see her again on mile 18 on Sunday.
So we registered, i managed not to waste more than £20 on shit at the expo and it was home to begin the Carb loading. Now i admit i am no athlete. My nutrition is eratic to say the least. However, after a sensible dinner of haddock, mash, vegetable, nuts, fruit, water. I got stuck into the whole of Cadbury's selction of chocolates. I stuffed down Mars, Snickers, Double Deckers, Dairy Milk and my favourite, Wispa. Oh god i love those little bastards. I wish they were as long as a hose pipe. They are not. So you have to buy 46 of them to make them that way. It was a savage carb load session.
I collapsed on the sofa. I was knackered. After russling my way through an AA meeting i fell asleep on the sofa at 10am, woke up 1am, Tea, fag, asleep again on sofa and woke up at 6am. Tea, fag, Bed. Not sure if it's the kind of preperation Paula Radcliffe used when she broke the world record in 2002. It;s probably more the preperation she used in 2004 Athens Olympics when she shit herself. 4 times and stopped. Oh god. Lets hope there is no dirty protest on Sunday. My image would never recover
xx
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