I ran my first marathon

... and I loved it for 22 miles, hated it for the other 4! That sums it up really.

It was great to meet so many fellow fetchies (too many to name) and everyone was so friendly and lovely. The Pasta Party food was fine, especially the carrot cake. We had a pleasant drinkie in Wetherspoons on the night before the race but I was sober and getting a bit nervous. Ended up leaving quite early and trying to get some sleep. I slept well until 3:15 am then woke up from my pre-marathon dreaming and couldn't get much more sleep. Too excited I think!
Our preparations all went to plan, we walked to the stadium, calling on Richard on the way and arrived on time to join the v long queue for buses. Then all the buses filled up and we were still standing. They said they were three buses short . In the end they managed to find some more buses but we left 45 mins late and some folk had to sit on the stairs on the bus. The journey to the race start was further enlivened by some poor bloke on our bus being desperate for a pee. He tried to get the bus to stop a few times but nobody else said anything. Whe the bus eventually did stop everyone bar 4 folk got off. The road was running with pee! I stayed on the bus, ready to take my chances with the toilets at the start.
They delayed the start of the race to give everyone a chance to go to the loo. Then we were off at last. Richard and I had agreed to run together and we had a strategy of not going faster than 8:40 miles. It was easy to stick to that cos it was crowded and we couldn't get past. I really enjoyed the run and the scenery was lovely. Didn't see Nessie though. The population of Dores turned out to cheer us on which was great.
By the time we got to 22 miles the leggies were getting very sore and I had eaten all my shock blocks. My water had run out too. I was really looking forward to the fetchpoint and they didn't disappoint although I couldn't say anything to them! The last two miles were very hard and I slowed right down. I told Richard to go on without me and he did a bit but I could still see him. At last I saw the stadium but then realised you had to run right round it before going in. I crossed the finish line in 4:06:56 and I was very pleased with that time. Considering I thought we would do it in 4:30 when we started training. I lay down at the end but managed to get up in time to see Iain cross the line at 4:31:04 which was a great time too.
I struggled to eat afterwards as I felt a bit queasy. Staggered back to the hotel to get changed an opened a bottle of fizzy wine with Iain. Tottered back down the road in my 4" heels and aching thighs to Wetherspoons to meet up with the fetchies in our party organised by santababy. She can get a booking in a Spoonies! It was a great night and I had a fun time but got drunk rather quickly (I know I am a lightweight) but I had 5 glasses of wine in all and I needed to go home for some sleep. Needed to get a taxi up the road as my thighs had seized up.
Well done to everyone who took part and to the supporters and halfpint and roobarb on the fetchpoint. Everyone did brill
Dave you are amazingly fast and Mike did great to beat all his PBs in one day. Well done all xx

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