Today seemed a good day for my first marathon of the 100 Days - bring on The Richmond Park Marathon!
Stayed overnight in Putney at Andrew's Auntie Norma's house to look after her new cat Jimmy while she was on holiday. Jimmy is cute. So cute. But Norma's alarm clock was still set for when she had got up to go on holiday (3.30 am), which woke Jimmy up, and he thought it was breakfast time. So he meowed until Andrew gave him some. Then in the morning my Mum declared he had meowed at her bedroom door as well, until she gave him some more biscuits. And then at 6 am the alarm clock went off again and Jimmy thought that all of his dreams had come true, and that it was breakfast time again. So everyone was tired on Sunday morning. Apart from Jimmy, who had had three breakfasts by that point, but still was hungry. I had stomach ache too, and was feeling a bit below par, but it was marathon day, and that made up for it all!
Richmond Park is one of my favourite places, it's just a beautiful place to be, a real corner of tranquility in this world, and I always feel at ease there. It's the biggest urban park in Europe and has been there since Charles I created it in 1637. Couldn't wait to do the marathon there! The course was three laps of the park - one big lap of 12 miles and 2 smaller laps of about 7 miles each. It was a hot sunny day, and the first lap didn't have much shade from the sun. The second two laps were a bit more shady under the trees around the edge, but still hot. And the park has a few hills as you go around it's edge, which I've never liked, and by the third lap they had definitely got bigger and steeper! I struggled with eating and drinking as I was worried about my stomach, so didn't drink enough and only ate 2 x Nakd bars and a red jelly baby. I felt it by the end when my legs were wobbly, and my head too, and today am paying the price with a headache, but I was pleased with my time and place, 3:44:52 and 11th lady. And it was worth it for a great race and to chat to some of the other runners. Got lots of comments from members of the "100 marathon club" (people who have run 100 marathons or more! And who are my role models!) about my top, and they were all really encouraging about the challenge.
Good finish - last 1/2 mile slightly downhill and can see the finish from way back. Found a bit of energy and speeded up a bit, spurred on by seeing my Mum and Andrew at the finish! Couldn't do this without everyone's support, and I wanted to go faster for them! Good activity day for everyone, Andrew has recovered from dysentery (yikes!) and can run 22 miles again, and my Mum walked 10 miles in the park in the opposite direction to the race to cheer me on, was lovely seeing her on the way around. The other people cheering us on around the park and the marshals were also ace, and made it a brilliant day.
Have raised almost £200 now in the first 2 weeks - thank you so much to everyone who has donated! As I'm aiming for 1000 miles, let's aim for £1000 too for these great charities! The running is fun, but the real reason for this is to raise as much money for these charities as we can and to show my Aunty our support, so big please please please if you can donate it is so much appreciated - any amount we are so grateful for, as everything adds up :-)
uk.virginmoneygiving.com/100days
Thank you thank you thank you!
Stats
Days: 16
Miles: 163.41
