Monday 16 March 2009

‘Surely Captain Kirk should have pulled me out of here by now…!?’
oh my god – you should have seen me at the end! That was only after 27k!

M A T T ' S M A R A T H O N 2 0 0 9 .

Time: 03:46:16 (new pb)
Raised: almost £2000 and rising

The perfect start. Having overslept as I hadn’t changed my phone to Spanish time, I jumped up for my pre marathon breakfast, carried out final preparations, packed dry kit, jelly babies, drinks, energy gels……and jumped in a cab to the start. After the usual 25 minute toilet queue we got into position with the other 9500 runners and waited for the start. The start tme approached and a rousing ‘Barcelona’ by Queen (recorded version of course) played over the loudspeaker system. The song ended, the clock started and we were off. The first half went really well – a minute ahead of the pacemaker, enjoying the grey skies and light drizzle and generally feeling good. No real sign of my three injuries at this stage. We made the half marathon point in 1:45 – ahead of schedule but starting to feel it. The mental torment began and I soon started to pay the price for my pace in the first half. Around about the 25k mark my legs started to go and by the time I saw Sue and Alistair at the 27k mark I was really starting to suffer. From there on it was pretty bad, legs tired and plodding away, searching for thoughts to keep me going. The best two I could come up with were not wanting to give sponsorship back to people if I didn’t finish and how disappointed I’d be if I gave up. The clock ticked on, the kilometre signs came and went and eventually I saw the finish line. For the first time in a long run I had nothing left for a final sprint finish and plodded towards the clock grimacing – not a pretty sight I’m sure. For 2 minutes I leaned on my knees, not out of breath exactly but exhausted. I’ve never given so much physically in my life. I’m generally a bit disappointed with my time as I’d wanted to run 3:30 but still pleased that I hadn’t given up and that I’d managed to raise a decent amount for Adams Hats. It’s made me even more determined to break 3:30 next year in London – assuming I’ve recovered!