Beyond the olympics

HannahMaryTaylor

 One of my biggest worries was the toilet situation.  13 miles of bowel movement can’t be good, would I have to do a Paula Radcliffe and dump on the side?  Turns out there were toilets, so I was saved.  The boys of course had no problem urinating or going anywhere! Jogging around the spot with nerves, I look around at people giggling, chatting and stretching.  The atmosphere is amazingly alive.  I am indeed waiting to run the Bristol half marathon.  13 miles of hell, you’r probably wondering why on earth I am putting myself through this?  Firstly, I have raised over £300 for the CLIC Sargent for children with cancer charity, secondly, each week I share a different sporting experience for you, so I am blaming you!!  Thirdly, I get a free massage at the end...  This will be one of those occasions after running for ten minutes I shall think, ‘am i thin yet?’  One can only hope!  

Due to lack of organisation, I booked my ticket late, so my sister and I were running in different waves half an hour apart.  She hadn’t trained much, so 45 minutes into the race, much to her distraught, I over took her, making my time 45 minutes ahead of my sister.  Not that it was a  competition.  

The beginning of the race went smoothly, I had trained so up to 4 miles I was fine, although I must have been calculating my miles wrong while training as every mile was about two of my trained miles.  After mile 5, the endorphins started kicking in, I thought I was brilliant and pictured my whole life ahead of me, it was all glittery, perfect and I was highly successful.  Unfortunately these didn’t last long as it suddenly got really humid and I felt the need to stop at about mile 8 to walk for a bit.  But no, my legs didn't work, they had forgotten how to work and felt like rubber tubes, so I was forced to start running again as it was all I seemed to be able to do.  The last 4 or 5 miles went really slowly, but I seemed to have reached a stage where my legs couldn’t stop.  I sprinted the last 200 metres and as I crossed the finish line there were flashes and cheers.

I felt amazing.  I had completed the half marathon in 2 hours 15 minutes, what an achievement.  First thought was ‘where’s the massages?’ 

                            The before picture

The after picture