So, in January I foolishly replied to an email sent by Greenpeace asking for volunteers to run the Brighton marathon, never actually thinking they would pick me. How wrong I was!
Fast forward four months, having not done nearly enough training, still smoking and having had a cider or three the night before, I found myself driving down the A27 between Portsmouth and Brighton accompanied by a very sleep deprived Emily; our network co-ordinator, Spen; Emily's son and our youngest member, and Doug; our network cameraman!
We made it to the start and the klaxon went and my race began at 9:15am. It was a gorgeous sunny day, warm and loads of people lined the streets to cheer us on. It all went wrong when I needed a wee about a mile in. Epic fail.
The first part of Brighton Marathon is really hard, quite hilly, up and down streets and then hills along the seafront. I managed to pace myself quite well and ran, on and off, until about mile 13, which was just about half way. This was a huge achievement for me considering the complete lack of training and my attitude of 'i'll do it on the day' coming back to haunt me, that I managed to stay a few hundred metres behind the 5 1/2 hour pacer. Not bad!
Then at mile 16, I got a huge blister on my right heel, which made me limp and compensate more with my left leg, which in turn aggravated an old knee injury. My knee hurt, my blister throbbed and I knew I was struggling. By this point though I had been running with a lovely guy called Colin for about 6 miles, and his knees were hurting him too, so we kept each other going, positive thoughts go a long way! I even resorted to running barefoot at one point to give the blister a break but this was a BAD idea.
At mile 20, my blister popped, the tears flowed and I hobbled over the St John's Ambulance for treatment. They patched me up and I limped on towards 'The Wall'. There is a huge part of running a marathon that is all about mental strength, and at this point all I could think was 'I don't care how much it hurts, I've not come all this way to give up now, I've gone more than half way, get on with it!'
By this point I was walking not running, and was following behind a group of firemen running in full kit, carrying an adult dummy. I made it my mission before the finish to catch up with and overtake them. Little goals seem so much more achievable than the full 26.2 miles which are just quite frankly terrifying! At mile 23, you are on the home stretch, running along the promenade towards the Pier. It was the longest 3 miles of my life!
I hit the final mile marker and Doug, spotted me and shouted "Not far now - you can do it!" - to which I replied with a tirade of expletives, seeing as people had been saying that since mile 18 and all I had wanted to do was tell them to shut up! Doug jumped the barrier and walked with me, filming the sweaty miserable mess I had become. As we approached the 200m marker, I told Doug I was going to run, and people lining the route were clapping and cheering. I started running, the end was in sight and I was determined to run over the line. The pain was gone, or at least I had blocked it out, and I knew I had nearly done it!
I finally made it accross the line in 7 hours, 3 minutes and 26 seconds! My legs gave out and the tears flowed. I had run a marathon! St John’s Ambulance and Doug helped me up and I hobbled to get my medal and finishers pack. The rest is a complete blur of jelly babies, blisters, massages and pain like I have never felt before in my life.
My lovely friend Emily drove us all home, and I slept in the car and have spent the last week hobbling around my house, unable to put shoes on, with oozy leaky blisters and a walk like John Wayne.
A marathon is not easy, it hurts, really hurts. But I did it, and when you run for a cause like Greenpeace, it is TOTALLY worth it! I’ve got the bug now – Brighton Marathon 2012, here I come...and this time I’m going to do some training!
Thank you to everyone from Greenpeace who came and supported us, ran with me and gave me the opportunity, I’ll be scarred for life with these blisters but I am so grateful to all of you! ...and in case you wondered...I did beat the Fireman!
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