Countdown and Marathon Preparations

Gillian

What a crazy and exciting week. It started with a race strategy meeting using Skype to talk to my son in Australia, Hazel’s running husband and my other half Terry. They have given themselves roles and responsibilities during the race and intend to criss-cross London in order to be there for us. I am hopefully amongst other things going to be greeted at mile twenty by a flask of tea. I bet Paula Radcliffe wishes she had thought of that 🙂 What a support crew. I am over whelmed. I love you all.

We also fitted in a four mile mid week run and a five mile run on Saturday between people viewing Hazel and the running husband’s house. This basically meant running round all week like headless chickens clearing out all evidence of sweaty runners,wet laundry and anything baby related, cardboard box dens and toilet roll tubes all thrown into a basket and dumped on my lounge floor every time we went for a run incase the estate agent brought prospective buyers round. It also meant an anxious week waiting to hear if their offer on a new home had been accepted.
As if the forthcoming marathon wasn’t enough to be nervous about, a nerve wracking week buying and selling a house and the baby who broke a piece off his front tooth all added to the mix. “All part of life’s rich tapestry” I could hear my mother saying. Unsurprisingly by the end of the week Hazel came down with worrying flu symptoms and a sore throat which miraculously only lasted for forty eight hours.

After sluggish mid week runs I was surprised when Hazel suggested that we could fit in our Sunday eight mile run before we went to church. Our final Sunday run before the big event. This square on the calendar looked a long way off a year ago. I can’t believe the big day is only one week away.
Hazel didn’t look too well when we set off but as we ran along by the side of the river towards Maidenhead in gorgeous sunshine, we both picked up the pace and had our fastest run to date, managing to run under ten minute miling all the way. No time to stretch. I only had just enough time to shower and make it to church by the skin of my teeth ably assisted by my son in law who dropped me off in the car. I quietly sat in a pew at the back of the church with a bag of frozen peas on my kneecap for most of the service with a big grin on my face. This was my most comfortable and best run for many months. Happy, happy day 🙂