London Marathon Training: Week 10

I missed out last week’s blog because I had such a miserable attempt at running I felt too sorry for myself to put it on paper, virtual or otherwise.  After the high of running a PB in the half marathon in week 8, I thought that maybe I could get below 4.45 or even 4.30 in the big one. But last Saturday’s fail brought me back down to reality with a slap in the face.  All I’m saying is that I couldn’t even get to 13 miles before I gave up.  I felt completely sapped of energy and had just had enough. That kind of attitude does not complete a marathon.

This week I had a mate who’d offered to run with me but he’d forgotten it was Mother’s Day on Sunday.  So we rearranged to go on Sat afternoon when he could get over from Preston.  I rarely do my running after lunch. Psychologically I guess it feels good to get it done so you can relax for the rest of the day.  But it was the only time Raj could make it and I knew I needed to have someone come along to give me a kick up the arse every time I felt like giving up.

I wanted to do 20 miles and I was now okay with the fact that I would walk a bit as well as run. My time targets had been thrown out of the window and the only target was to complete my miles come what may.  

Raj rolled up at 4.15 wearing some crazy white compression tubes beneath his shorts and a green snood on his head that looked like a paisley turban!  I wish I’d taken a picture now but at the time I was just laughing my head off. We set off at a super easy pace, 11.30/12 minute miles, and took our time and chatted and cantered along like we were just going out for a little evening jog.  It felt good.  I took him on a mini tour of Liverpool; along the Otterspool prom, up Menlove Avenue where John Lennon used to live, past the end of Penny Lane, through the University campus and by the Catholic Cathedral, down into town where we were met with bemused looks from the Saturday evening revellers, along the Albert Dock and the new Echo Arena and finally back along the waterfront with the Wirral twinkling in the darkness over the way.  Easy!  

Well apart from the fact that it really wasn’t and by about mile 17 I needed to start walking a bit.  I decided to walk for a minute and then run until the mile was complete, then walk again for a minute, for each of the remaining miles.  It was hard to push off into a run every time I had my walk time.  My legs were gradually turning into that strange mix of becoming more wobbly and solidifying at the same time!  But I kept it going slowly and finally got to 20 miles in about 4 hours.

Thank you Raj!