Hello all,
Well, I did it, and what's more I'm still walking, albeit very slowly...
On Sunday 11th October I dragged myself out of bed at the unseemly hour of 7am to make my way to Hyde Park to run 13.1 miles in the Royal Parks Half Marathon. Three hours of karate and a few glasses of pinot noir the night before wasn't the best recipe for running a half marathon, but the time for backing out was long gone.
I'll be honest with you though, I spent the first 3 miles jogging slowly, stopping regularly and wondering if it was really too late to get out of it.
I concluded that I just had to keep going somehow until I finished. My right knee gave up at 5 miles and the pain was excruciating. I knew it was coming though and took some painkillers, which fortunately kicked in quickly.
Between 5 and 10 miles wasn't too bad, back in the park, running round in circles, lovely day.
At 10 miles I should have been thrilled that the end was a mere 3 miles in site, but unfortunately the sheer slog had slightly dampened my spirits, and I thought my toenails actually might drop off (they are black today).
Suffice to say the last 3 miles were hell and quite frankly I was jogging so slowly I could have walked quicker.
But I finished! In 2 hours and 24 minutes, which lets face it will not be breaking any records, but still was in the 2 hours 15 mins - 2 hours 30 minutes that I had put myself down for. When I saw the clock as I ran to the finish line I was surprised, as it had seemed like an eternity and I thought I had been running forever.
Thanks to all who sponsored me to do this, your donations will enable BAAF to continue its valuable work with some of the most disadvantaged and vulnerable children in our society. It has also made me think that regular running might be good for me, even though just yesterday at the 11th mile I was reassuring myself I'd never run again, so you've not only supported children, you've actually achieved a miracle!
Thanks also to Savita de Sousa, Anthony Douglas and Andrea Warman - their donations don't show here, but all have generously sponsored me offline.
