#85
The Thames Meander, 03.11.18
As
I get a little closer to 100, I have become a little reflective on
some aspects of my journey. Nothing profound, just looking back over
my list, and I noticed the Thames Meander comes up six times, plus
this one, and I was remembering the first one I did. This was the
race back in 2013, where I think is was that my obsession with the
Thames Path began. As this was so long ago, it was actually a
different route back then, starting at a different place and the
route going through Richmond Park, as well as along the river. 2013
was the first year that I did multiple marathons, raising money for
my Auntie who had passed away the year before. I’d been reading all
these books about people who did lots of multiple endurance events,
and thought that wow, that was so exciting! But I also thought that
was something I’d never be able to do, I’d been brought up on the
one marathon a year is the most that you should do school of thought,
and doing loads of marathons was unwise, and why should I be any
different? But I was so desperate to try, then when my Auntie passed
away, the thought came to me that I should probably grab life by the
balls and stop caring about whether or not I thought I could do it,
and just try, because 1) that’s what she would have done, and 2)
you shouldn’t ever put things off, because life is just to short.
The Thames Meander was #10 of 2013 (although I can’t count 2 of
them towards my 100 now, as they weren’t official events), so I was
starting to think that I might, just might, in fact, be able
to do it. I remember that the weather was good, until about 3 miles
before the end, and I was running back through Richmond Park up a
hill, and a storm suddenly appeared, the sky went dark, a fork of
lightening pierced the sky and lit up the silhouette of a stag
reaching his head up to a branch on a giant old tree. Although I was
23 miles into a marathon and by all accounts, jiggered, I felt this
sudden surge of energy, and that was the point that I stopped
thinking I might be able to do it, and knew that I
could.
Anyway,
enough of all that. Reflecting is all very well, so long as you don’t
miss something else when you’re too busy doing it. Back to now, and
the start of the 2018 winter Thames Meander was about to happen. My
reflections proved in no way helpful, as I forgot, as I have at every
one of the previous 6 events as well, that pacing yourself is
important in a marathon, even if you have done a few. The Thames
Meander is no different, obviously, but I don’t know what it is
about this event, but I completely unable to follow this advice. I
started off far too fast, and ran very well, for me, for the first 13
miles, doing it in about 1:50-ish I think (I must get a new watch),
and feeling quite good, which would have been great had I been doing
the ½ marathon. Alas, there was still another ½ to go, and I felt
it, I can tell you. Still, I am trying to be a bit braver with my
running and not worry about it hurting, so I pushed on. A few miles
from the end I was fortunate to meet Zoltan, who was over from
Hungary on a work trip, visiting London for the first time and
fitting in a marathon to boot. Zoltan, although very modest, is I
suspect something of an ultra running legend in Hungary, and he
really helped me through the last few miles, distracting me with
tales of the crazy ultra runs he’s done, and I was very grateful to
him. Cheers Zoltan! Thanks to this, I managed 4:03 which was the
fastest time I’ve done in 2.5 years.
#86
The Runger Games, 04.11.18
The
second day of the weekend and it was back down to the river for a run
with Saturn Running, I haven’t done a Saturn Run for ages and it
was good to be back! and what a day it was to be back down by the river!
8 laps of 5 km each from near Reading, up to Sonning and back,
through meadows, woodland and along towpaths, all in bright sunshine.
I’d been worried I might feel a bit lethargic after yesterday’s
effort, but I felt good for the whole thing, and finished in 4:19.
Loads of familiar faces out this weekend and it was great to see
everyone, a fabulous day, thanks Saturn!
#87
The Dinosaur Dash, 10.11.18
Back
to the river, for some di-PLOD-ocussing along. Sorry. No more
dinosaur jokes. My favourite route today, the 5 km lap from
Elmsbridge Leisure Centre to just past Walton Bridge and back x 8 for
a marathon. And Andrew was back for his first marathon for over a
year being injured! I had a good 3 laps, a bad 3 laps where I felt
like a Tryannosaurus WRECK (sorry), and then another good 2 laps to
finish with. Even the bad laps were good though really, as loads of
the Phoenix Family were out running/ marshalling today and it’s
always so much fun to be around everyone, it’s always the best of
days. Plus, got to see Sarah get her 100th presentation at
the end – awesome! And well done to Andrew for a successful
marathon come back, now I’m going to sign you up to loads more,
tricera-TROT-ting races. Sorry. I don’t blame you for ditching me ½
way around, with the poor quality of these jokes. They are
Stego-POOR-us. Really they are.
#88
Remembrance Day Marathon, 11.11.2018
Very
excited for today’s marathon, which was down by the river again,
but the other way this time, 4 laps up to Hampton Court and back. A
much bigger event than usual for Phoenix, with over 400 people taking
part for the Remembrance Day Marathon. There were even port-a-loos (a
sure sign of a big event) and timing chips! The weather had been good
for yesterday’s marathon, right up until just after I finished,
when there was a thunder storm and the heavens opened, and it had
rained every moment since, up until about an hour before the marathon
started this morning. The tow path was now looking remarkably like
the Thames did next to it, and within a couple of moments it became
clear that it may be easier to jump in and swim rather than wade
through the mud. But whatever, it’s November, it’s time to
embrace the mud! Plus, I was very excited to be wearing my first ever
pair of waterproof socks, and if this was not a golden opportunity to
try them out, then I don’t know what would be.
The
race was built around the 2 minutes silence at 11:00, and when it
happened, it was a beautiful moment. Marshals had been
trekking all along the course for the first half of the race, and
were in position at 11:00 to sound airhorns, when everyone stopped
running and paused to observe the silence. It was so quiet; everyone
stopped, runners, people in the parks, rowers on the river. Total
stillness.
Then
at 11:02 the airhorns sounded again, and slowly all the noises
returned, people jogged back up to their pace, and everything carried
on. Good to take the time to think, and remember.
I
wasn’t really feeling good today and was struggling a bit. I found
some lemon cake at the aid station, which I think was possibly made
from magic (or just a lot of sugar), as I had a bit after lap 2 and
lap 3 and felt better for a couple of miles after each bit before
fading away again. Finished though, and have a beautiful momentum of
an historic day.
As
my daily cake consumption was only 3 pieces by this point, I bumped
this up to 4 with the chocolatiest chocolate cake ever baked (imagine
the design of the medal, but giant, and made of chocolate), and then
watched Graham’s 100th celebration, which involved
another piece of cake. I now felt sick, but on the plus side, at
least I now had some energy. Kat did her 300th marathon
today as well, and many other people are also celebrating milestones
it seems at the moment. I feel very lucky to have become a part of
such a fabulous group of people achieving remarkable things, and the
last few weekends have been brilliant getting to know people and see
their achievements and journeys to them. Top work from everyone!
#89
The Riverside Marathon, 18.11.18
Today’s
was a bit of a sneaky last minute marathon, and thanks to Rik for
allowing me to come along. In my enthusiasm I had forgotten to check
the trains until the night before, when I realised there weren’t
any. After then realising that it would take 3 hours to get there by
public transport from my house, and that I could pretty much run
there in that time (it’s only about 18 miles away), I decided to
drive across London to get there, which is my least favourite thing
to do, ever. In order to avoid as much traffic as possible, I left
basically at the same time as I would have done should I have got
public transport, thus defeating the object of driving in the first
place. I reassured myself that never mind, it would be worth it, and
I would relax with a coffee once I got there, and arrive at the start
in a state of zen-like calm. On getting to Walton-on-Thames, I
remembered that it was Sunday morning and nothing was open. So I went
to register, hoping that the leisure centre cafe might be open. Alas.
It was not. I had not had coffee, which as it was now 8am, meant that
I would soon become irritable, and tired, and a horrible person. An
emergency plan must be formed. I found McDonalds in Walton, where I
had to parallel park outside (which is my second least favourite
thing to do, especially without the focus brought on by a good strong
coffee). I managed to park, by some miracle, and tricera-trot-ted
(sorry, I don’t think it’s even a dinosaur run today, but it’s
too early to tell) in to McDonalds where I queued behind a group of
lads out from the night before, and group of builders. My irritable
levels were rising. Some people are really annoying. I must have
coffee. My collection number came up on the screen, but when I went
to collect it, the lad (and I mean a lad – and I know I’m getting
older, but he must have been about 12, alas apparently a young age is
no barrier to being patronising) behind the counter informed me ‘this
was the delivery area’. What? What even is a
“delivery area”? And why would it be under a ‘Collection
Point’ sign?? My irritable levels were now in the critical
zone, especially as I could actually see my coffee, which I had
actually paid for, actually sitting waiting in the delivery area/
collection point/ whatever. I hate McDonalds. I actually do. I should
never have come here. I asked the lad who had served me, but by this
time my coffee had been given to someone else. Given to someone
else. Probably one of the builders. Oh My God. This was the worst
day ever. Somehow, I kept a lid on it, and eventually, i.e. by 8:35
am had a coffee. Now, I just had to drink it, drive back to the
start, eat my second breakfast, go to the race briefing, pack my bag,
and have a safety wee, before 09:00. Fortunately though, I now had
coffee, and as they say, with coffee anything is possible.
And
it is. I made the start with a whole 30 seconds to spare, even having
a chat on the way to a lovely lady dressed as a witch who had been in
the Harry Potter films. Today it was back up to Hampton Court 4
times, and I felt a lot better than last week. I even improved a bit
on my pace for the first 3 laps, which I did in 3 hours, but then got
a stitch. A stitch!!! I never get a stitch!, I actually thought I was
dying. I actually did. Then when I didn’t, I thought it might be
appendicitis. By the time I had stopped being melodramatic and
decided that the most likely explanation, given that I was running,
was in fact that it was just a stitch, I had lost momentum somewhat,
which actually turned out to be a good thing, as I then got to chat
to Robert on the last lap (who was ‘resting’ an injury today) and
tried to take some selfies, but his phone broke, and I took the
selfie the wrong way round on my phone and took a photo of the sky
instead. Anyway, all this distracted me from the stitch which
disappeared and I picked my pace back up a little for the last 3
miles. More 100 celebrations to see at the end (there have been so many lately, I really must get a move on too), and lots of the Phoenix Family out again today to catch up with. Top day!
