The Last Word

It is with some sadness and a lot of relief that I pen my last Marathon Woman blog post. As many of you will know by now Teresa and I completed it in a time of 5 hours 29 minutes and 6 seconds having run the whole thing in very mixed weather conditions.

Rather than take you step by step through the race (I don't really want to write all of that and I'm pretty sure you don't want to read all of that) I'll summarise the before, during and after and maybe just sentimentally reflect on our (all together now) 'Journey' that brought us to this point.

Before: Well Edinburgh is absolutely beautiful and I'm so glad we made a long weekend of it and got to enjoy some of the city. The Hilton was also a great shout and we made good use of the pool facilities to relax us the evening before! I think if I could go back and do any of the preparation again I wouldn't change it. Mentally we were in a good place, we'd eaten a good amount but of (mostly) sensible stuff and it felt good to finally be on the brink of an event that had been hanging over us since December and had basically consumed our time, energy, thoughts and relationships for many months.

I think I was at my most nervous on the Saturday. A continuous stream of good luck messages was brilliant but served as an ever present reminder of what we had to accomplish and that many many people would be waiting for a favourable report the next day. I also think for the week before I had deliberately not thought about the challenge that lay ahead, lest I become overwhelmed, and with time just to relax and think over the weekend those thoughts came to the forefront of my mind. Sunday morning was a long morning. An early breakfast of very exciting porridge and fruit, then a long wait around. When we finally made our way to the start line (having the debate of do I try and do one more wee or just hope for the best) we were ready. We chatted to a few like minded people who we saw then on the way round and at the finish, and the excitement and expectation was very very tangible. Steve and Farley took our bags wished us well, then we were on our own. Us against the world!


It was a great experience though. And I'm very privileged to have done the whole thing with Tree, even to the point of crossing the line in exactly the same time. We in turn provided much amusement for our fellow runners. Having followed advice to write our names on our shirts (best tip we received, SO many passersby shouted encouragement and just hearing random people calling out your name was such a lift), we also decided to write a little slogan. Teresa went with 'she made me do it' with an accusatory arrow pointing in my direction, and I fought back with 'she said it would be fun'. We had a lot of laughs and conversations with people on the way round and each one put a smile on our faces that took us a little bit further.


Also having determined not to eat any sweets from strangers on the way (we hadn't done it in training, so I wasn't going to do it in the race), at the first kindly family holding out a packet of jelly babies I just thought 'screw it' and proceeded to accept the generosity of every sweetie giver-outerer from that point onward.

After: The first thing I did when I crossed the line (apart from stop running) was cry. And the first thing I said was 'I'm never doing that again'. But my short term memory has kicked in once again and I'm already pondering if perhaps I may do another marathon or two in future. I still can't actually believe we did it. I sort of knew in my head that we would but it wasn't until probably mile 22 that I actually knew that we would, and that we wouldn't walk, and I think I was fighting the emotion from then on.

When we eventually found our way to the runners area afterwards we were greeted by big hugs and Creme Eggs. WHOOP! We had a very long walk to the buses back to the city centre, which probably aided recovery, and were certainly in a much better condition than some casualties who hobbled across the line with crimson socks from bleeding feet. Unfortunately, after a week of being sensible and looking longingly at the desserts and drink we were going to enjoy on Sunday evening, I was just too tired to indulge! (well that's a lie, we did attack a monster brownie dessert between the four of us but I think it's only fair!)

We had been forewarned of a feeling of depression following the event, and this really hit me on Monday and Tuesday. Probably not helped by the long journey back from bonny Scotland but for us we had experienced the elation on Sunday, received the congratulations etc and enjoyed the plaudits. What follows is days and days of being asked expectantly 'how was it? did you enjoy it?' and struggling to answer with the enthusiasm that is expected of you by the asker. I must have seemed quite rude to many of you, and I apologise and thank you for your enquiries and support, but even though it's a relief it's all over, there is a disappointment and a sadness that what you have invested so much of yourself in is now accomplished, which is why so many people immediately ask of themselves 'what's next?'!

What's Next?! So, what is next? Well, on the running front I will keep training over the summer (my body has now recovered sufficiently that I can think of this without trepidation) and am looking forward to a half marathon in September with my brother. I think for me the next challenge will be non-athletic. I have relationships I need to now invest more time into, an exciting summer of seeing friends and family ahead, and things I want to get more involved in at my church like youth work and house group. Plus two months and amazingly the football season will have rolled round again. So I think I'm quite busy enough!

So this is it for now, the end of Marathon Woman (not the end of me but the end of the, one more time, 'Journey' that started with me not being able to run for more than 30seconds nonstop and finished with five and a half hours of continuous, albeit slow and steady, running). Thank you so much for your support, money, prayers and belief in us. This is the first thing I've taken up and really stuck at so it really is possible to achieve stuff if you persevere. Right, that's enough from Oprah Winfrey, thanks again everyone!

Can I have my Easter egg now please Mark?!