I'm finished

So yesterday I ran a marathon. Bloody hell! Just looked at my official time which is 5.48:04. I stopped to have a couple of photos taken by friends around the course, so I could have broken the 5.48 barrier I so wanted, I know I could...

I'm one up on supposed world-class athlete Haile Gebrselassie who pulled out at 19 miles with a stitch. He probably hasn't been training properly and has been watching The Apprentice on his sofa when he should have been pounding the streets. When will these amateurs ever learn?

It was an amazing day and I started quite well. I was running a very consistent time all the way to 15 miles then all of a sudden my hamstring felt very bad. I pulled up on the side of the road and as luck would have it the St John's Ambulance had a station about 300 yards up, so they gave me a quick massage and I was on my way again. All going well again until about 18 miles when it went again along with the back of my knee. St John's were about 10 metres ahead of me at this point so another massage later, I was off. This time it wasn't quite so easy to run off and for the next five or six miles I ran about 3/4 of the mile until my thigh began to seize up and then walked to the next mile marker and started again. At around 24 miles I started running and didn't stop (photos aside!) until the finish.

It's great to be able to say that I have run the Marathon, although in truth I feel with more leg work, I can go a lot quicker and run the whole thing in one. I'm a bit worried that may nag at me until I have no option but to do it again. We'll see...

And here's the official spectators guide from Marathon News (part two) - click on thumbnail to get larger image or right click to save to your pc

And here's the official spectators guide from Marathon News (part one) - click on thumbnail to get larger image or right click to save to your pc

For those hardy souls kind enough to come and watch...

I'll be running about 10 minute miles up to around 14/15 miles. After that, your guess is as good as mine. My Asthma vest looks like that modelled above, although I look like neither of those two runners (Nick and Lucy according to the picture name).

Less than seven days makes one weak

In theory, this time next week I will have completed my first Marathon, and whose to say it won't be my last?

Me, principally.

Now, I had managed to get through all my training without any major mishaps, the weather has generally been very kind and I haven't injured myself in any way. Until Friday...

I eschewed the charity curry lunch at work in favour of a five or six mile run just to end the week with a gentle jog and also because I was going for a curry in the evening, so I needed to empty the calorie cauldron a touch so that I could fill it up again later. Incidentally, said curry was very nice, but dreadful service. I've never seen such disdain on a face than when one of our party ordered mineral water!

Anyway, this run. I set off around Putney putting some hills in amongst the flat, running on the Common and on the pavements. I was feeling really good, so I decided to extend through Southfields and give myself the lovely incline on West Hill Road to finish. Sadly, this didn't quite pan out. Just after crossing the A3 towards Southfields, I spotted a couple of dogs playing and before I knew it one of them was running after me! Within seconds it was alongside and the next thing I knew, the sod had bitten me on the ankle. Much growling, teeth-baring and bum-wiggling ensued, but enough about my reaction.

I was clearly on the dog's territory and he was only puppy so he must have been scared, but he had bitten me hard enough to break the skin and I was in no mood to fall ill with DogBiteDisease or whatever you get from a canine nip. I wanted to discover just how rabid this dog was, so I found out to whom the dog belonged and knocked on their front door. The 14/15 year old girl who answered was naturally more concerned about her dog than me and instantly called both of her dogs in, stating that they shouldn't even have been outside. Then, she told me calmly that the Biting Hound of Putney Town should have a muzzle on when he's outside. I could have told her that myself...

So the long and short was that I got myself a Tetanus booster (£1.95, Tesco) and carried on the day getting various different reactions from those who heard my tale, although my secretary simply laughed at me before walking off and getting fatter. I suffered no adverse reaction you'll be thrilled to hear, although I had hoped that the bite would give me some super powers meaning I could run like a greyhound and I was envisaging finishing the Marathon in a record time for an Alsatian. Sadly, it seems that the only dog-like behaviour I have been afflicted with is that I now use the side of the road as a toilet.

Still, if it's good enough for Paula Radcliffe...

Hmmm...

Well, not quite 16 miles...

On the basis that I ran Reading in just under 10 minute miles, I figured if I ran for 2 hours 40 minutes, I would have 16 miles under my belt. So I set off from work in Putney with a vague plan to run home, but definitely not as the crow flies, more as the drunk crow flies home after a night on the tiles. It was a bit brrrrfuckbugger when I finished work, so I wasn't entirely confident I would even go running, let alone complete a long run.

I knew my friend Holly would be with a few others in Wimbledon Village, so I stopped by and stared through the window of the bar (nb, not pub) to see if I could spot them. I could see the karaoke machine being set up (the purpose of the evening), but no Holly or the others, so I jogged on.

Next landmark to run past was the Polka theatre, where my friend Danielle had her birthday recently. I knew she wouldn't be there as I've seen her elsewhere since that night, but I still glanced across at the theatre as it whizzed by. In truth, nothing much does actually "whizz by" as I'm running, and indeed I have time to commit almost every detail of any building, landscape or paving stone to memory, and then redraw it like that kid did on Blue Peter.

Then onto Morden, getting closer to home, but still determined to put in the miles. It was just beginning to get dark. My friends Jeff and Rich live in Morden, so I thought I would run past their place. Can I point out at this point that I'm not a stalker, it's just running is as boring as can be, so I like to make it as interesting as I can, and I'm probably protesting too much so I'll stop. Anyway, I took a wrong turn and didn't run past their house, instead going beyond it deeper into darkest Mordor.

Then I had a choice - run straight home and not get my miles in, or run through Sutton and count the chavs. I won't tell you explicitly which option I chose, but the answer is 593...

Then through Carshalton until I ended up home, 2 hours 40 minutes of non-stop running later. I had a good stretch-down and a nice hot bath, but will probably regret sitting down to type this when I get up in a minute.

About two and a half weeks to go until the day. Now is a positive moment, so bring it on!

16 mile run home tonight...

I'll let you know how I feel tomorrow.