As the title suggests, and as the London Marathon was over a month ago, I am in the depths of study hell. Should I be posting on my blog the day before my first exam (of about 10 over 10 days)? Probably not, but I need to shed some stress...I'm going mad sitting studying all day: every single hour of every single day. And when I sleep, I dream of drug names (the good, medicine kind (; ) and processes contributing to blood coagulation or cancer development...
...I have been doing my best (and as I keep reminding myself, that is genuinely all a person can do) but, that said, I still don't know how things will go. Watch this space, I guess. I did sign up for this, after all!
But, on a nicer note, I did have an absolutely amazing time at the London Marathon back in April. I ran for Macmillan and could not have asked for better support from my amazing friends and family. Or from the Macmillan team, to be honest. Definitely an amazing charity whose work deserves to be supported.
My training was fraught with injury - 2 weeks off (completely - I mean COMPLETELY unable to run) with a hamstring problem, then 2/3 weeks recovering from some weird agony along the outer edge of my foot (stress fracture???). I had managed 23 miles off-road in the snowy hills of Aviemore on that foot problem which I don't think helped matters. I had done a few 15milers too, but nothing constituting marathon training.
Some photos of myself and my "cycle-mates" on our amazing run in Aviemore...
My lack of training didn't seem to matter though. Never before have I been so impressed with the atmosphere ANYWHERE! I don't say to be offensive, as the people who cheer and support in ultras are wonderful and make the race worth doing. Same with the Loch Ness Marathon supporters in the wee villages and city centre. But London is on another level. I didn't see a break in the crowds once in the whole 26.2miles. And people just shout your name, clap for you, cheer, hold up funny banners...it really was such an experience. I don't think I stopped smiling the whole way round!
A race report wouldn't really consist of much, other than I found it quite difficult to eat from about 18miles onwards. Those of you who read this blog will know I usually have no problem stuffing my face during races (it has been commented on before!!) but I think I was going a bit faster than I should have been given my lack of proper training. Maybe that was why. I felt a bit sick at one point and also think I was drinking too much water so I cut back towards the end. Spending a good portion of my run thinking about the homeostatic mechanisms in my body which are altered when I run and how I could restore normal balance is something I didn't think I would ever do, but there you go...
On the plus side, no injury pain. The only thing which really hurt (and this is the only real problem I ever have in races) is the ball of my foot. I get a horrible pain there, probably pressure induced, when I run for long periods of time. Afterwards its all swollen and bright red.
So yes, after no injuries, lots of smiles, a little physiology revision and amazing crowds I finished in 3hours 34mins. A new pb by about 2 mins. And I loved every minute of it (: I was happy to see, too, that may splits weren't really too bad. For someone who doesn't look at a watch whilst running I must have quite a good internal body clock!!
Oh, and I forgot to mention I was wearing a tutu and supporting my lovely country (:
