Yesterday I volunteered at the Virgin London Marathon.  My friend Laura was in charge of the water station at mile 23 and so my friend Steve and I signed up to help her and I really wanted to do a blog post to write up my experience.

We arrived at about 9am (Laura had been there since 6.45am) and it was all hands at work setting up the station with water, signing volunteers in and giving out the t-shirts and hats that Buxton had supplied.  There were those like myself that had volunteered but also two scout groups that were volunteering as well and so nice to see the kids get involved.

The first wave to come through were the male wheelchair racers followed by the female wheelchair racers with first places going to Marcel Hug (1 hour 35 minutes) and Tatyana McFadden (1 hour 44 minutes).

Next to come through were the amputee runners and the visually impaired runners being led by guides.  The guides are astounding, running the marathon to assist someone – the first time I saw a blind runner with a guide was at Brighton 10k in 2015 and it made me cry as I had not seen it before and yesterday was no different (emotions are high on marathon day so these were just the first of many tears).

Next to come through were the elite women followed by the elite men with first places going to Jemima Sumgong (2 hours 22 minutes) and Eliud Kipchoge (2 hours 3 minutes).  Obviously these guys are elite but their pace, their stamina, their finish times everything is just amazing.  I was slightly nervous about giving water to any of these in case i dropped it and they tripped and fell and oh god the pressure!

Following this are the runners from clubs, ballot places and charity runners.  This was when the footfall really picked up and you couldn’t hand the water out quick enough.

Being at mile 23 I naturally expected most runners to be flagging but most people looked so strong.  I saw Steve from my running and cycling clubs come through and finished in 2 hours 58 minutes – astounding effort!  I didn’t get to see Joanne from my cycling club but she finished in 3 hours 51 minutes.  Next for me to see was my friend Darren who thought it would be good to soak me with the water I had just given him before he set off to finish in 4 hours 45 minutes.  Next up was my friend Warren who finished in 5 hours 10 minutes shortly followed by my friend and work colleague Amy who finished in 5 hours 15 minutes.  I also missed my friend Vicki though she finished in 5 hours 56 minutes.  Amazing effort and runs by all who are completely inspirational!

There were also people who came through in tears and I just wanted to hug them all, run with them or do something and its easy to say not long now but after 23 miles I am sure another 3.2 seems like an eternity.

And the poor men running with the bleeding nipples – ouch!

I also managed to see a man I had heard about from an obstacle group I am on who was completing the marathon with a 4 stone tumble dryer on his back (as you do)!  And he finished in 6 hours 5 minutes – insane!

I also saw Paul Martelletti who I have seen run and win races before and is an amazing athlete and finished in 2 hours 17 minutes.  And Makoto Takeuchi, from Japanese rock band The Chambers Flag, who was (as he has done numerous times before around the world at various marathons, which is how I had heard of him) dressed as Jesus carrying a cross and running barefoot who finished in 5 hours and 58 minutes.

I truly mean that I am completely in awe of everyone who takes part whether they finish first or last.  I headed home at about 6pm and there were the final people coming through and i found it slightly heartbreaking as they are cleaning up the streets and they have to finish on the pavements and there are very few spectators left but they keep going and are just as inspirational!  This was where the tonne of jelly babies and wine gums that I had bought came in handy and got eaten pretty quickly!

Would I volunteer again? Absolutely!  Would I recommend others to do the same? Absolutely!  It was an amazing and humbling experience and made me realise the hard work that goes in behind the scenes that you do not often realise and everyone who plays a part in that does so voluntarily and completely for free.

Massive respect to everyone who takes part whether it be a runner or a volunteer – I take my hat off to you all especially my lovely friend Laura who has selflessly done this for 14 years! x

Yesterday I took part in the Brighton 10k and it’s safe to say I was not overly excited – I’ve not been overly excited about any running since my half marathon last month.  I was running with my husband and so we chose to stay in Brighton rather than drive up Sunday morning and be rushed/traffic etc.

We got to Preston park and it was way too muddy for my new Asics!  Everyone set off with trainers literally caked in mud.  The route was slightly different to last year but still undulating for the 6.3 miles.  The sun came out the second we started, which was good as it was so cold on the start line – pleased I packed my sunglasses to run in.

I had decided that as I have been beating myself up since my half marathon where I was not impressed with my performance that at the Brighton 10k I would not check my watch and just run.  At about 4k, after thinking we were steaming along, I found out that we in fact were not. I was running slower than usual.  It was strange as I genuinely believed I was running really well up until that point.

From this point on I tried to pick up the pace and push through but I found it tough, tougher than I thought I would.  When we finally got to the seafront I was keeping one girl in my sights the whole time – a fellow Mudd Queen.  You run part way up the seafront and double back on yourself.  At the point you double back there is about 1.5k to the finish and my husband was reminding me to take deep breaths (something I am useless at) and lengthen my stride (which I did try to do but it obviously didn’t last for that long).

Towards the end of the seafront I wanted to be sick and actually heaved (sorry).  Thankfully there was no public puking and off we set again.  At the home stretch this happened again and unfortunately the Mudd Queen I had caught up to was now several metres in front of me.

I finished over 2 minutes longer than this run took me last year and I was really disappointed.  The intention was to stay in Brighton for the afternoon to watch the marathon runners but we headed home instead.

We did get to see a lot of the marathon runners and I am in awe they are amazing – 26.2 miles and here I am moaning about 6.3 miles.

Now I know not all runs can be good and everyone has bad runs but I had no reason for this run to be bad – no illness, weather was perfect, running with my husband, tried and tested clothing but mentally I was clearly not in the right mind.  So i have no excuses.  My half marathon has knocked me and it is showing in my efforts.  Time to get back to run club and work on this I have the Hackney Half coming up and I want to run thinking yes this girl can! 

On Good Friday I set off to London with my lovely friends Laura and Helen as we had signed up for a treasure hunt run.  We did not look even slightly out of place travelling into London wearing Bunny ears at all.

The event was run by Dead Drop Fitness and I had not done one of their events before but they were being discussed in an OCR Facebook group I am part of and I was intrigued.

We had opted for the 10k version and the mission was simple the Easter Bunny had all his chocolate stolen by the Evil Rampant Rabbit and it was our mission to follow the clues to recover the stolen chocolate, take down the Rampant Rabbit and save Easter.

A week before the event we received an email telling us to add someone as a friend on Facebook and they would be leaking information about the event over the coming week.  We first received an email with some clues as to where the event may start and information was drip fed to us through the week on the lead up.  The clues were also hilarious – in the emails giving us bits of information the story was very funny and I won’t give too much away but it contributed to making the whole event a lot of fun!  We then found out the day before where we were to head for the start and what time to be there for.

Once we got to the start and found the other ‘operatives’ waiting in Berkeley Square, some also wearing bunny ears so we knew we had found the correct starting point, we were giving a briefing, a map and explanations about how this would work.  To my relief this is not just a race but there is a different side to it as not only do you have to get to the finish point but there is extra fun involved, which was our strength.

At 12.30pm we all set off and to begin with we had to find 3 separate chocolate dealers who we met and had to give the password of ‘I want to rub chocolate all over your body this Easter’.  It is only once you had given the password they would speak with you, firstly by giving you chocolate and then giving you a clue.  The three clues led you to the Easter Bunny who was in Hyde Park.  The Easter Bunny had 4 clues to give (that you could only have one at a time).  Each clue gave you a number that you then entered into an app to lead you to the finish point where you would find the Evil Rampant Rabbit and then beat him (with a very soft stick – no harm to bunnies here) to get the stolen chocolate back.

Extra fun included rabbit selfies – so on the map there were optional rabbit selfies marked where you can go and take a selfie, which then deducts 8 minutes from your time – we were doing the 10k race and so had to complete a minimum of 5 out of 16.  Don’t want to brag but we got all of them (boom)!  You could also take a photo of other operatives (without them noticing), which then gets them 8 minutes added to their time.  Let’s just say we took a lot of those!

We were lucky in our team (Scrambled Legs) as we had our very own personal human sat nav by way of Helen who very freakishly knew every square inch of Hyde Park and the surrounding areas.  I’m not joking it was like she had a built in park compass and I said if ever she wanted to give up her job as a PA she could be a black cabbie, not that you need a black cabbie in the park but you know what I mean.  Seriously one of the clues for a rabbit selfie was to take a pic at the circular horse track and to try and get a horse in the background.  Helen promptly turned full circle and headed off in the direction of the track (that I didn’t even know was there) though did tell us we would not see a horse, which we didn’t and so most of the clues went this way.

Laura was very stealth like and running off in every direction though taking off her bunny ears when we saw operatives on other teams so they didn’t notice us.  However, given that most people in the park were having a leisurely stroll, picnic or playing with kids and we were running around with a treasure map I think we stuck out like a sore thumb and not sure taking the ears off made much of a difference ha ha.  It surprised me how much we didn’t care we were in a busy park and carried on running around like lunatics without a care.

We tried to incorporate the OCR in us all with Laura climbing on top of the post box we needed a pic off and when we had to take a pic on the band stand Laura did struggle as there was a fence around it, with a closed gate.  I should add the fence is about 2 feet tall so not much of an obstacle though Laura is not one to break the rules so whilst Helen and I jumped it she politely walked round and through the gate.

We got to the pub, which was the finish point, with most people already there – I think we were 3rd from last to turn up but our surveillance skills were on point and we only won!!

After we had bashed the Evil Rampant Rabbit we were each given an easter egg, medal and drink at the bar and as we won we also received a bottle of champagne.

I cannot recommend doing an event from these guys enough.  What is not to like?  You can get in your exercise, spend time with friends, get to run around London having fun, excellent value for money and I guarantee you will laugh a lot and not regret signing up.  I will absolutely be doing another one for sure!

I’ve been training for a long time for my first half marathon which was yesterday in Brentwood.  Run a half marathon people said.  It will be fun people said. It didn’t feel like fun to me.

Running has taught me one thing and that is that a) I don’t much like it b) i will do it if there is mud, water or obstacles involved and c) your result is completely dependant on circumstances that are out of your control.

Unfortunately last week I started my Monday with my usual early morning run and after 4.5 miles, that felt harder than usual, I really started to feel unwell and on Tuesday the doctor told me I had bad laryngitis with a high fever.  I ended up sleeping for most of last week and despite lots of messages from well wishers, and against better judgement, I decided I would still attempt to run the half marathon as planned.

Not sure that was the best idea as I struggled through the whole thing.  I really thought this blog post would be positive and happy and celebrating completion of my first half marathon.  I imagined saying how I got through the run at a comfortable pace and enjoyed it (not sure why I thought I would enjoy it as running is not my favourite).

I was running with my two friends Laura and Helen and they were amazing.  My pacing is hit or miss and most usually an epic fail unless I run with my husband who seems to have a gift for it!  I knew the first 3 miles were pretty much downhill and was conscious not to make the mistake of going off too fast and paying for it later.  We did go off too quick but kept trying to rectify ourselves.  At the 1st mile one lovely lady who had come out to cheer told us we were doing amazing and nearly there – I’m not sure she understood how many miles were to be run and that no in fact we were nowhere near the end but her sentiment was lovely nonetheless!

After the 3rd mile the sun came out and everyone was happy with this.  Not me.  I am not the best runner but I run better in the cold rather than the sun and the warm.  At this point the arm warmers came off.

Surprisingly I actually knew most of the route as it is part of our cycle club route, which you would think would help but it meant I knew where all the bumps in the road where.  I felt like the whole run was either on an incline or a decline with not many flat sections.  And I don’t like hills.  This was definitely not the run for me.

My throat was on fire and I drank so many bottles of water to help so naturally ended up with a stitch that took forever to go.  Maybe I should title this how not to run a half marathon?

By the 10th mile I knew we were on the home stretch and that I could do this.  The marshalls on this section were from Nuclear and obviously this was the best stretch of marshalling and great to see some familiar faces.  Even at the water stop when people noticed we were in our Mudd Queens or Nuclear tops we got a bigger cheer though it was followed shortly after by a huge spraying of water, which for me was greatly received and made me laugh!

What was also good was the sign we saw showing support for random strangers – amazing!

The event is very well organised and it was lovely to see members of my running club Havering ’90 Joggers and friends from local triathlon club Havering Tri – everyone smashed it.  My husband managed a massive pb looking for sub 2 hours and ended up finishing in 1 hour 51 minutes, I am so proud of him he has trained hard for this and given so much time out to help me that to see him smash his goal is amazing.

I finished in 2 hours 29 minutes and whilst my original goal was sub 2 hours 30 which I achieved I will admit I feel disappointed in myself as I know that was not a great performance by me.  I was down on myself most of the way, however, I was not feeling well and I finished it and all training is good training so I really can’t complain even if i cried both before and after – I ran a half marathon and 13.1 miles is 13.1 miles though I am not sure I will ever end up in the starting funnel by this sign!