SUNDAY 26 April 2009
I woke up at 6.15am after a dodgy night’s sleep. I stayed at my friend Adam’s flat in Forest Hill, London, and took the train at 8.30am to Greenwich were the start line and assembly area was. I got off to a start at 9.54am surrounded by thousands of people supported tons of charities.
During the first mile I was finding my pace and feeling very comfortable. The crowd were really welcoming and it was a great start to the day. There was even a Priest was at the side of the road blessing runners and throwing holy water over them. Even though it was quite unexpected to be getting blessed, it was nice and refreshing to have some water thrown at me as the heat from the sun and cloudless sky was really intense and signalled a very tough race ahead of me.
Mile2, I pass a guy in a heavy-looking Rhino suit. I give him the thumbs up and run ahead.
Mile 3 the red starters (that’s me) merge with the blue and green starters from their different start routes, and we’re all on the same bit of road and it’s very crowded.
I run very happily to Mile 9 and a lot of this is downhill, feeling good and keeping on a target pace of 8 minutes per mile, which would give me a 4hour finishing time. I am running just behind someone holding up a big Scottish flag and I feel very at home.
Mile 12 and I am crossing the Tower Bridge which looks amazing in the brilliant sunshine and with the hoards of people cheering us on. I am so glad I had my name printed on my t-shirt as loads of people shout ‘go on Jenny!’ Fantastic stuff! Adam spots me on the bridge but unfortunately I don’t spot him.
Mile 13 and, shortly after, the halfway point arrives and I am still on track for a 4 hour marathon.
Mile 15-20 is absolutely horrible. I now associate Canary Wharf with pain. Until mile 15 I have been running without stopping once. Shear agony slows me down to a walk which is a painful thing to do but even more painful to get back into a run as my legs just want to give up and go home. The combination of a snaking route through Canary Wharf, blazing hot sunshine, and running uphill in pain makes for a very unpleasant time. I am now walking for a minute, running for 5, and then walking again.
Mile 18, a wee boy shouts ‘come on Jenny’ and gives me an ice lolly. I love this child!
Mile 19, I am running alongside Tarzan and Jane.
Mile 20 I am walking again until a man comes from behind, shoves me forward and shouts ‘come on, almost there!’. I think ‘how rude, I was having a much needed walk’ but actually he does me a great favour as I now don’t stop running until the end. I overtake him later and shout ‘thank you’ for his encouragement.
Mile 22, I hear a loud ‘JENNY!!!’ through the music of my iPod and to my delight it is Matt and Brian, Adam, Adam, and Mark in the crowd. With energy out of nowhere I jump up and down waving to them before running off in the crowd knowing that the finishing line is in sight (not literally unfortunately).
Going through a tunnel (with plenty ‘oggy oggy oggy, oi oi oi’s from fellow runners), passing Big Ben, the Houses of Parliament, and the London Eye passes me in a bit of a haze as I’m so concentrated on repeatedly telling myself ‘no stopping until you finish, almost there Jenny!’. As the route curves to the right towards Buckingham Palace, I notice the flags of the charity I am running in support of, the National Deaf Children’s Society’. And who should be there but Jacqui! She shouts ‘hello Jenny Mackay’. Well hi there Jacqui, how lovely to see you. I smile all the way to the palace and look up to see if the Queen is admiring my running efforts. Sadly she’s not there.
Then 600 yards to go, and 400 yards to go, 385 yards (why o why I have no idea?) to go, 200 yards to go and I can SEE the yellow Flora finishing line. To my utter amazement my legs quicken and I’m running at an almost-sprint to the finish line, and I cross it at 4 hours and 30 minutes and it’s the best feeling ever ever EVER!
The training I have done and previous races I have taken part in definitely helped me complete the physical challenge of the marathon, but most importantly to mentally spur myself on I kept close to mind the reason why the NDCS is such an important charity and the difference it can make to thousands of families. I was also thinking about all the lovely support I have had in my taking on the marathon and also the fact that you were all tracking me and would know if I was slacking!
Thank you so much for your generous donations and heartfelt encouragement. Doing the marathon was such an awesome experience, and I would definitely recommend it to anyone. If I can do it and eat as much chocolate at Easter as I did, anyone can do it!
Love from Jenny xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
P.S. I'd like to thank Lady GaGa, Girls Aloud, Linkin Park, Tao Cruz and Freddie Le Grand for the power-music that kept my feet going!
Thanks for visiting my fundraising page.
I'm going to attempt to RUN THE LONDON MARATHON on 26th April 2009 to raise money for the National Deaf Children's Society...
...and I need YOUR HELP!
I have a charity place, which means I need to raise a minimum of £1,500 (yikes!) to take part. I know I can raise this amount with a bit of help from my FABULOUS FRIENDS, FAMILY AND COLLEAGUES and through other fundraising events.
The National Deaf Children's Society means a lot to me. I will be taking the British Sign Language stage 2 course in January as well as training hard for the crazy 26.4 mile challenge I have set myself.
One campaign of the NDCS is called 'Must do better'. Many deaf children across the UK are under achieving in schools. Deafness is NOT A LEARNING DISABILITY, and there is no reason why, with the right level of support, the majority of deaf children should not do as well in school as their hearing peers. That is why we want the governments in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland to commit to CLOSING THE GAP between deaf children and their hearing peers. Over the next year, NDCS will be campaigning on this important issue throughout the UK and my fundraising will help the NDCS further the aims of their campaign and hopefully MAKE A DIFFERENCE to a lot of young deaf people's learning.
Donating through Justgiving is quick, easy and totally secure. It’s also the most efficient way to sponsor me: The National Deaf Children's Society gets your money faster and, if you’re a UK taxpayer, Justgiving makes sure 25% in Gift Aid, plus a 3% supplement, are added to your donation.
x X x X Jenny X x X x
