Stopped crying now. Normal service resumed.
What a weekend! What a day!
Small comedy of errors: left mobile phone at home, then left mouse at home so couldn't use laptop to contact anyone either, then bought a great thing for displaying medals and photos, which I left in Tesco and then got to the run today to find I had packed 2 left gloves.
That aside, I have had the most brilliant time. I took a bunch of photographs which are at the end of this post that give a fairly good idea of what the race was like. (Apologies for the quality of some - I was a bit distracted/busy - and for my being in others!) It was fabulously well organised and the atmosphere was entirely brilliant. All the runners were really chatty and supportive in the holding pens, the warm up was a scream and CHRISTINE BLOODY OHURUOGU started the whole thing off. Goddess that she is.
The run itself was a joy. Seriously. I cannot believe how quickly it went. And at no point was I worrying about how far I had left. I just knew I had prepared properly and that everything was going to be fine. The first 8 miles felt really easy and fluid. Miles 9 a 10 were a bit more challenging and in mile 11 I started to get cramp in my right calf. But then the sports drink they were handing out at the 10 mile marker must have kicked in, because from about 11.25 miles to the finish I really picked up again, nice knee lift and proper striding and everything! When I headed down the final hill onto the finishing straight along the seafront, I started pushing properly hard. This is the only bit where I felt I was puffing and blowing a bit, but I'm sure it made a difference to my overall time.
Not a PB, Olly, but sub-2 hours. This was my personal goal for this race and I could not be more thrilled. Given that 4 weeks ago I was struggling to maintain this kind of pace for a 30-minute run, I'm properly proud of myself. And about to start crying again, goddammit.
I had planned to mark every mile with a 'lap' on my GPS, but I didn't see any mile markers until mile 3 and then again at mile 5. That said, my pace for the last 2 and a bit miles was 8:05, which bears up how I felt I was performing at that stage. Ignoring the 2:36 the GPS logged after I crossed the finish line and before I remembered I had to press 'stop', my time was somewhere between 1:58 and 1:59.
I am sooo doing this event again. I need to see if I get this job I'm interviewing for on Wednesday, and what that means in terms of getting time off to do things like this. If it's a 'yes' and they can accommodate, I'm putting my name down again like a shot!!! AND my parents are thinking about doing it too!!!!!
I'm going to shower and head out for something to eat while the euphoria's still on me. Buzzing. Thrilled. Elated.
To finish, an important message to our potential sponsors. This means YOU. I do these things for charity. The fact that I actually enjoyed this one does not change that fact.
The point is, Diabetes and particularly Type 1 Diabetes, is a total bitchmutha. On top of the condition itself, it opens you up to all kinds of secondary risks, including infections of all kinds, nerve damage and organ failure. And if you get sent to the wrong hospital, full of under-trained, lazy, jobsworth twots, it can damned nearly kill you. I know times are hard, but if you can spare even £1 it would mean so much.
You can donate small amounts easily by text. Just text LEEC75 £x (replacing x with your donation amount) to 70070 - see the last pic below. Or you can head to my JustGiving page, where you can also Gift Aid your donation (making it much bigger at no extra cost) if you are a UK tax payer. A link to the page is below. Do it. Do it now. Thanks.
If you are enjoying these blog posts, please consider sponsoring me in support of Diabetes UK at JustGiving. Many thanks.
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