Race report

Whoo, well, here we go! Here's my report of the race. If you'd told me this time last year that I would be writing this I would have laughed at you. It was about this time last year that my hips were really bad and I couldn't walk! So, in many ways, me doing this is pretty amazing.

Morning
We woke up quite naturally about 6:15am but faffed around a bit getting ready and dressed so set off from home about 7:50am. I would have preferred to eat some toast or bacon but as I spent most of Saturday feeling very uncomfortable I just had a banana, a brazil nut and a yoghurt. Not exactly filling, I know, but doing battle with many potential gastric problems rather limited me and I haven't got my head round what I could eat in time to sort something out.

I was a bit worried about being late but we saw lots of people going to the run as we walked up and that calmed me down. We walked to the location, Anchor Road, as it just seemed simpler than trying to drive or get a bus with all the road closures and so on. I'm not sure if that was a good choice but it meant there wasn't too much stress about it.

Millennium Square was really busy and whilst I was nervous I was also quite excited. I took a couple of pictures here:

As you can see, it was really a lovely day and I'm so glad it wasn't raining or snowing! Or too hot either. I met up with my lovely family by the globe thing. It was so nice to have them there to calm me down and support me. I wished I'd sorted out tshirts for us with our names on and the charity but it was just one more thing to stress about at a very stressful time so it didn't happen. The Wallace and Gromit appeal people looked great though!

After racing around trying to find a toilet queue that actually moved it was time to line up.

The Race
So we lined up and there was quite a bottleneck to do so but we figured it out and joined the back of the line. We were quite some way from the start line so it was a bit of a wait for us to set off after the gun went. There was also a 30 second silence for Boston which everyone observed.

Eventually we got to the start line, a lot of people were jogging to it, which seemed a bit silly as it was wasting energy but I did too as everybody was. Silly me!

So we started off at a pretty slow pace and my family waved after about 200 metres which was really nice. I was feeling pretty puffed quite quickly and quite depressed by how many people were speeding past and how busy it was. I was quite distracted throughout by looking at people's outfits, wondering if I could overtake someone who looked slow...it was quite difficult to run my own race and very different from pounding the streets on my own. I was also quite distracted looking at the supporters! It was lovely to have all the people shouting and cheering but also difficult to maintain focus. Something to think about for future races.

Anyway, after about 1.5km there was a ramp which I was not expecting and as we came back down, to the covered section of the Portway I began to think "oh dear, this is really hard, I don't think I can do it!". As we got to 3km I was tired tired tired and said to Rob, "I can't do this. It's too hard" and had a little walk and apparently looked terrible too. Thanks, darling! I found the Portway relentless. We'd seen the club runners coming back the other way as we started down it so I thought the turning point was reasonably close. Not so and I was just dying for the turning point to feel like I was clocking up some distance. It just seemed to go on and on. Finally, the turning point arrived and our local Heart radio team were there with music and encouraging us to smile for their cameras so that felt really good.

I walked on and off a bit more to the 5km point and then said, "I'm going to run to 7km" and apart from a brief walk under a bridge I did manage it. The crowds got thicker at about 7km and I didn't want to be walking in front of people, particularly in case my family were there so I made myself keep going. I wasn't going particularly fast but it was definitely better than walking! I reminded myself of a little meme doing the rounds:

Yeah, I went there. Guess what? It bloody helped! I also imagined some of my friends there waiting for me and it really helped me to keep going.

After 7km there was Cumberland Road and I was struggling so badly here, I think I walked the whole way. It goes up a very slight incline and I was really feeling my lack of carbs onboard. I knew I would be able to finish but thought I might have to walk to the end.

But then we passed the 8km marker and Rob said, "Right, 3000 steps to go, let's do this thing". And I said, "Let's finish this motherfucker!" and we ran again. I thought about all the people who have sponsored me, who have been to hell and back with molar pregnancy, like me. I thought about the fact that in 2011 I climbed a mountain and I was hurting all the way down but when you're on a mountain you have no choice. You have to go down to go home. So I focussed down and ran. After 9km I saw my friend and her daughters which was so exciting. I probably screamed like a weirdo but it was so great to have people cheering for me.

We ran round the centre and the end was just so close, but I was so so tired and felt really really sick. I  had to walk outside the Hippodrome. Then a boy, about 10 years old, looked at me and said, "Keep going! The finish line is there, it's just down there!" So I had to smile and run again.

I'm sure 100 metres has never seemed so long but I did it and ran over the finish line...still can't believe I did it and didn't need an ambulance at the end!

The End
So then we walked around the corner and there was a bit of a bottleneck. I know I have to drink a lot straight after a run so although it was probably less than a two minute wait I was like, "where's the water?!" and when I found someone I took two small bottles and drank them down. I got my medal and put it on then my bag with my tshirt and various bits. We were wandering forwards and it was really packed when I spotted my parents. At points when it felt so hard I just wanted my mum so it was lovely that she was there at the end. I gave her a massive hug and both my parents were really proud of us and thanked Rob for looking after me. I still couldn't believe I did it!

We made arrangements for later on in the day and went to pick up my bag.

My stomach started hurting really badly at this point but I'd brought some medication with me so we sat down and I took that and then we went for a fizzy sugary drink and some cake and it was very very brilliant.