Not quite as planned!

With my emergency training schedule complete, I was all set for a run of around 3hrs 20mins, which would have been a little bit quicker than 2002.

But on Friday, I felt like I was getting ill. By Saturday night my arms and legs were aching and I was shivering. It was a painful choice, but I decided that if I didn't feel any better in the morning I wasn't going to run. Running a marathon isn't easy, running a temperature isn't easy. Running them both is stupid!

On Sunday morning I did feel a bit better and decided that I was going to get to the finish, no matter how long it took. I left home to get to the start 45mins before the race began. Unfortunately there were heavy delays due to a broken down train. Eventually we were turfed off our train leaving us with a 2mile walk to the start. Well, the marathon just isn't long enough on it's own!

Arriving late at the start, we had to join the back of the queue behind the slowest of the slow. I did try and weave my way through but it was impossible to run with any speed or rhythm - not much fun really. This proved to be no bad thing though as I was feeling pretty ropey by about 23miles (I think the paracetamol had worn off) and I decided that, although my legs were still working, given the heat and my state of health, I would run/walk the rest, eventually crossing the line just inside 4hrs 15mins.

So it wasn't much fun as a run, but then that's not why I did it.

And finally, a big thank you to everyone who supported me in various ways.

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