London Marathon 2006
The great day dawns and I got up nice and early to eat a huge breakfast got dressed and bandaged myself up for the race. My parents then arrived and we drove as close as possibly to the race red start. We then parked the car and made our way to the start. On my way to the start the adrenaline feeling started to flow through my body. When I got to the red start line in Greenwich Park, I sat down on a park bench until the race was just about to begin so as to conserve my energy. At this point I was sitting think about Adam think which part of the course he would be up to by now. I then heard a big cheer and the race had begun, I got up from the bench, took of my jacket that was keeping me warm and made my way to the back of the line. It took quite awhile before I actually got to the start line. Both fellow runners and spectators where shocked and surprised to see me on crutches as we where waiting, I explain how I came to be in this situation. At this point I felt good and the new gas springs seemed to be working well. Then finally I had reached the start and went through the arch and over the line. It felt amazing to be part of the crowd and being of equal status as the rest of the runners. The other runners where responding well to see someone do the race on crutches and if I felt a little tired or out of breath then the constant well supply of “well done’s” and “keep going” spurred me on. All the training was paying dividends moving rhythmically and harmoniously in a machine like manner. A head of me was a water station and I decided that I would take a drink. I asked the lady who gave me the bottle if she know what mile this station was at. When she replied that it was about mile five, I was in complete shock as so far it all had seemed quite effortless. I then continued once again looking forward to meeting my family at the six mile mark. I had looked at the route quite a few times but never really memorised it. I know that when I got to the Cutty Sark that I was roughly between the six and seven mile mark and was looking out for my family. After a while it soon becomes apparent that they were not there. I carried on regardless as I was feeling good and the cheers of the crowd surged me on. Over the next few miles, I wonder where my parents where. After a while this thought had settled and I refocused on the job in hand, I was really concentrating on my breathing and making sure that my stride was at the right pace. Once again I seemed to have just been so focused on my rhythm that I last track of the mile marks, it was at this point that I decided that I would let my body dictate my actions. Where if I felt good I would just power right on and if I felt a little worse for wear slow down until I regained my composure. I had just passed the ten mile mark this was meant to be the second meeting point but once again I could not see my parents in the crowd. As my parents where carrying all my food supplies plus bandages and other virtual equipment I really need to be meeting up with them at the pre-arranged meeting points. When I reached the eleven mile mark it had become apparent that the plans had gone out of the window and that I would have to just deal with it as the situation as it arose. I was just coming to the twelve mile mark when I started to feel the first signs of fatigue, my stride was a little miss timed, my breathing was heavy and my right foot was hurting. I decided that I would stop at the next water station to have a break and to re-catch my breath and then do a few wrist exercises. As I was doing this a lady came running up behind me, whom I had met at a previous race in Milton Keynes. I then re-started and a little while later we both agreed to stay together until I met up with my parents. As we were going, this lady boosted morale and gave me great support. This was her second London Marathon so she knew the course quite well and told me that we would soon be reaching the bridge. Once again my sprits where lifted as this was the third point in which I was meant to be meeting my family. As we went over the bridge the camera had just been dismantled, but this didn’t matter as I was just happy that I had got this far after my last few races had gone so badly. This was one of my favourite’s parts of the course as it was a duel carriage way and as I and my lady running friend was going up one side, the rest of the runners was coming back along the other side. The lady told me it was about the twenty-third mile mark. The crowd where really fantastic at this point really screaming home the weary runners for they last three miles and once again I felt part of the race. Unlike before where I was so far back that the crowd had disposed or just moved on to another part of the course. But now it was really just me and my lady friend on one side of the duel carriage way and our side of the crowd was going absolutely crazy which was really driving us on and making the other runners on the other side look over and cheer as well. Due to this I seemed to lose track once again by getting caught up in the moment and before I know it I was up to the fifteen mile mark. At this point I had never gone so far even on both feet! However the next mile seemed to take for ever and once again my mind started to wonder where my family was. There were still small dribs and drabs of the crowd and one man I spotted on a mobile phone. When the race started I stupidly took off my jacket and gave it to my Nan with my mobile phone inside the pocket and hopped off forgetting about it, this was the reason why I had not contacted them earlier. So when I spotted the man on the phone, I quickly hopped over and asked if I could borrow his mobile to call my family to find out where they where. When I got through to them and they then informed me that there where at the eighteen mile mark and was now heading towards me. I asked why there wasn’t at the six and ten mile mark like we had planned and they said that when they got to the six mile mark underground station it was so busy that they could not get out by the road. So they then went back on the underground and did the same for the ten mile mark and the same thing happened again. They then decide that there would go further a field and just wait until I got to them. I explained to them that I was now really tired and had hit the wall and felt completely exhausted and asked them to follow the course back so that we could meet up as quickly as possible. I then returned the man’s phone and started once again, I was really tired know and felt completed utterly exhausted I had not stopped for ages and my left knee and foot was killing me through cramp. But my running lady partner kept me going with words of encouragement. It was at this point for the first time that we both began to really speak as before we were both really out of breath and I was too focused on the race. I found out the lady’s name was Rowan she was running for a charity called Scope and that she lived in Worcester with her husband. I think that she could see that I was in a bad way and all I could say was that I had defiantly hit the wall and it was at this point that I really had to start to fight. I then started to feel a bit faint from lack of energy. Rowan offered me some of her Luzcorde but this usually gives me hiccups which does not help matters. I just hoped that my parents where walking quickly as there could towards me as I was really struggling now. Just when I thought that things could not get any worse, my right wrist started to get that shooting pain in the joint again. Before long my stride had evaporated into nothing and had gone from at least fifty strides a minute to about one ever fifteen seconds. Over the space of two to three hundred meters my wrist had gone again. It was my worst nightmare what could I do now, I was about sixteen and half miles into the course and ever stride was pure agony. I just tried to block the pain from my mind, but it’s hard to do that when you keep thinking to yourself only another nine and half miles left. Rowan was superb as usual constantly cheering me on. I did not want to but this was now the darkest hour of the race and I honestly was considering pulling out at this point. I promised myself that I would never let myself do this, but my wrist was now throbbing so badly that I had lost all feeling in the tips of my fingers. I was in a bad way and my 2006 London Marathon experience looked like it was going to end on a bad note. I re-laid my thoughts to Rowan and said that I did not want to do permanent damage to my hands, she agreed and I then said that if I did not meet my parents before the end of the next bend then I would call it a day and hopefully came back next year. I didn’t want to let my sponsors down or the charity but I was at the end of the road. I was approaching the final bend when into view came my family with my Dad dressed in the CRY heart costume. Finally! I stopped and within in a minute they had reached me after a quick update of my condition a plan was formulated. I would cover myself from head to toe in deep heat take a few pain killers, eat a sandwich for some energy, then take of the cast, bandage my right ankle heavily put on my right foot Asics running shoe and try and hobble the rest of the course. The plan was a little crazy and I was a little worried about me weak ankle but at this point it was the only option other than quit. So I said my farewells to my family and asked them to meet me at the twenty-three mile mark for more food, pain killers and morale support which they agreed to do. I then once again set of with Rowan, I thanked her for staying with me and we began to start chatting again mainly to just take our minds of the next hour of torture. I was also now wearing the CRY heart costume which also raised my moral massively. The crowd at this point was pretty none existent and so was other runners. London resembled that scene from the film 28 days where London is like a ghost town. I don’t know if it was the conversation or the sandwich which I just eaten, the pain killers or all three but I soundly felt revitalised. My right ankle was holding up well and the pair of us where making good progress. It was little frustrating as we were so far behind now that they had started to take down the mile marker signs, so we were not completely sure were about we where. But together we where relentless and marched (I hobbled) on at a good pace all things considering. It was at this point that I had now managed to master the art of blocking out all pain and negative thoughts from entering my mind. I was like a robot programmed for one task to finish this race. Due to this the next six miles were a complete blurr and miles seemed to just merge into the next one. It was only when I saw my parents, at mile twenty-three I realised just how far I had come. I remember saying something like “meet me at the finish”. I was on a mission and I just couldn’t stop, mostly from fear of not being able to start again if I did stop to speak. My parents shouted back that they would see me there and set off for the nearest tube station. Just as I reached the twenty fourth mile mark I was met by the second group of familiar faces which was Adam and his family. Adam had kindly stuck around to see his friend finish the race. When I saw Adam the first thing that came to mind was how bad he looked and I told him so. I said “you look how I feel” and we chatted as we walked along by the embankment. It was at this point when Rowan turned to me and said that she was going to jog on as she wanted to finish before eight hours. I thanked her for all her help and then she was gone. So now it was only two and a bit miles left. The pain killers seemed to have lost there bite and pains ugly head reared itself once again. Adam said that he could no long carry on and would also meet me at the finish line with my parents. For company Adams Dad (Paul) and Sister (Lela) said that they would keep with me and keep me going for the last thirty minutes of my journey. I was just approaching Big Ben when it started to chime for six o’clock. Less than a mile left I can do this just keep going I kept telling myself. Paul & Lela where excellent in this last mile, they knew that it was all psychologically at this point and just kept setting me targets, which I would push myself to complete. My left knee like a car engine with no oil had completely seized up and in strange turn of events my injured right leg was powering me along. My body was falling apart, bit by bit could I make it. Not through not wanting but just physically not being able to do complete the last mile. I dragged my lifeless left leg it was like a dead weight. I once again met up with my family and friends who accompanied me up until the last hundred meters or so until I had to go it alone. The support was great but I was now fed up and desperately tired and irritable. The finish line was insight and all I could think about was the last hardest 800 meters of my life and then it was over! I comically finished the race, how I had started the race with a hop. I could not believe what I had achieved, all the crowd had now gone.
My next worry was how I was going to get to the car. Because I could not walk or use crutches through shear pain and exhausted. I had too much pride to expect my friends and family to carry me or take me to an ambulance. After completing the marathon I then needed to relieve myself front and back. I then noticed in the distance a mass of porter loos. At this point I was in a kind of zombie like trance where I seemed to move without awareness. After inspection of my first choice porter loo I soon discovered the absence of paper. So then through random choice of selection, I then chose another, still no paper and another and another. While my bodily functions where still processing, I was coming close to bare desperation to obeying the call of nature and wonded what would happen soon if I did find the elusive paper. Finally hitting the jackpot toilet, I hastily entered holding my nose and forming a perched position over the hole. My gaze then falls upon the sink. This was crammed with four pairs of poo stained knickers. The irony of the situation caused me to explode with laughter, which brought me back to life. I then exited the porter loos and made my way to my family and then we went to the tube station. While I sat on the underground train. I soon realised how much I had accomplished and how much money we had raised for CRY. Job Done!
posted by Peter'sMarathon @ 8:49 AM
0 comments
