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It all started on the Saturday morning when my sister Katie and her partner (my bro) Simon picked me up for the journey to London. We had a charity photo shoot in the street and on the doorstep - probably much to the dismay of my neighbours as we were rather noisy at 7.30am!
We were soon on our way for our journey to the Excel Centre where I had to have my acceptance form and ID checked over by an official scrutineer. I would then be given my race number which would also have a smaller number on it relating to the corral I would start in based on my predicted finish time. I can't remember what I put when I entered the ballot last April but I knew on the day I was aiming for a 5 hour or at least a pb of less than 5 hours 20 minutes. The final 12 days before the race I hadn't attempted to run at all so had no idea what would happen when I crossed the starting line. After parking the car and getting on the underground we arrived at the Excel Centre and it all started to become very real! Upon entering the hall that the expo was taking part in the first sight I came upon were the large red signs above the desks relating to running numbers. It was at this point I started to feel nervous and emotional.
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Collecting my number 9355 |
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good luck Che message |
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good luck sarah morris love Bro (si) |
A quick scout around the expo and I had made a last minute buy of some energy gels without caffeine, the only ones I had back at the hotel had caffeine in and they don't agree with me so thought it wise to play it safe. I went to the Garmin stand to complain about my watch and then we made our way back out and back to the hotel. Back at the hotel I decided to get everything ready so got my waist pack packed with tissues, my picture of Trinity and gels. I then had the pleasure of attaching my race number to my Sarah top that my mom had made for me in the hope people would shout my name in encouragement and give me a lift.
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blue float |
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I made my way to the toilet as there was no queue, then found a spot to sit down and check Facebook, emails and my fundraising page. I arrived in the field at 8.20ish and knew I had a wait for the start of the race at 10am so tried to stay as relaxed as possible. The time flew by as I was watching the big screens and music was playing the atmosphere was quite calm considering. Some people were sleeping on the grass others were doing some mad stretches and others just sat quiet like me in their own little world probably contemplating what the next 5 hours or so would bring. I didn't have the extra hassle of taking my kit bag to a designated lorry to be transported to the finish line as I had simply left my supplies or 'marathon survival pack' as I called it with Simon. At 9.15am I joined a now large queue for the toilet and saw on the big screen that runners should start making their way to the starting corals by 9.30am. I made the long walk to coral 9.. right at the back. I was fine with that but got in the front of coral 9 about 5 or 6 rows back. Here I started nervously chatting to other runners, there was a mixed bag, a man who was 78 who would qualify for another race if he came in at 5 hours. A few that were aiming for 4.30 hours and charity first time runners hoping for a finish. I still had a pb in my mind but the day was hotting up already and I knew I would adjust my plan accordingly. I had been told by previous runners that it can take up to 40 minutes to cross the starting line but just after 10am as I stood on my tiptoes I heard alot of cheering and saw jumpers and coats being tossed in the air. The runners in Corals 7 and 8 were on the move and stripping themselves of the warm overlayer that would be left behind and given to charity. I discarded my black long sleeve top and prepared for the jog, walk, halt, jog, walk, halt that led us to the starting line and I was off crossing the starting line at 10.14am!
This was the first year they had stands on the side of the starting line and people were clapping and cheering. It's funny looking back as I didn't think once at this point 'This is it I'm running the London Marathon'. The plan was to stick to 11.23 minute miles to get me to a 5 hour finish time but the excitement and flow of people around me led me to running the first 4 miles less than 11 minute miles! Though the excellent news was my leg / injury seemed to have totally cleared up giving me no pain at all. At mile 3 I felt I could go to the toilet and saw a sign reading Toilets ahead 200mtrs there were 4 toilets and no queue but I made what turned out to be a disastrous decision to skip these toilets and stop at the next ones if I still needed the toilet. Of course I would still need the toilet and probably more desperately that I did at that point! Around mile 3 the blue start and red starters merge together now following the same course and when this happened there were roars of Boooooo's from all the runners red and blue! This of course was just abit of fun but I did feel like I had settled in to my group and didn't really want anything to change. Just around mile 4 - 5 I did need the toilet and knew I couldn't keep going and saw the sign for toilets again 200mtrs ahead... Crikey the queue for the toilets were snaking their way through the stream of runners! I joined the back of what seemed the shortest line and had no choice but to stand and wait, and watch the time ticking by on my watch, and wait and wait, Mile 5 according to my garmin was a 20:41 minute mile! I took advantage of standing still and started my music up on my phone and also had my first energy gel. It was ok I told myself just keep going keep moving forwards try to gain some ground back you could still get a pb. Just as I rejoined the mass of runners still yanking my trousers up would you believe who overtook me? The Runners World pacer with the flag on his back of 4:58! Yesssssss I wooped woooped silently to myself how good was that timing to come out the toilet to find him!? Well actually there were 4 of them running at 4:58 target time and there were runners literally glued to their sides. I knew they may have started before or after me so there would be a difference from when we crossed the starting line but I figured if I stuck with these pacers with their magic flags sticking out their backs they would lead me home with a pb or even my desired finish time. The thought kept crossing my mind how amazing would it be to have a marathon time beginning with a 4!! I had my music playing for all of twenty minutes or so, I had it low enough that I could still hear the crowd and sometimes the live bands and music being played out on the streets but I found it an annoyance more than anything and soon turned it back off. I stuck with the pacers and just around the 6 mile marker came along side the Cutty Sark and what a sight it was, beautiful I found myself just staring up at it as I ran around it, the crowds here were thunderous in their cheering.
I was moving from side to side along the road slapping peoples hands, high fiving children desperate for runners to touch them, beaming up at their parents when a runner would venture over and give them a clap! It was around this point I was offered some jelly babies and took one but within a few minutes of swallowing it I found myself bringing bile up into my mouth, not nice at all and this was the start of my downfall. Every couple of minutes this bile would rise up and I was fighting to keep it down.. was it the jelly baby or was it the energy gel, I decided it was jelly baby which was strange as all my training had been done with gels and jelly babies. The heat was rising now and there was no doubt in my mind it would be in the twenty's on the temperature scale. I kept with the pacers until mile 10 then started flagging down to 11:46 minute miles. I was being careful with my hydration as I didn't want to drink too much as this can be dangerous but I was wary of not drinking enough with the time coming up to midday I knew I'd be running still until at least 3pm through the hottest times, there were water stations every mile so I made the effort to take a bottle from each station take 3-4 sips then discard the bottle and collect another one at the next mile and so on, that way I would keep drinking small amounts but regular rather than carrying a bottle and glugging it constantly. By mile 12 I was seriously hurting as I hadn't ran more than 2 miles at a time the month leading up to the event my legs and glutes were screaming at me to walk, and walk I very nearly did until I remembered Tower Bridge is just before half way! All the BBC1 cameras are at that point with runners being interviewed! I don't think I could live it down walking over Tower Bridge. As I came up to the bridge the noise was deafening, this was another amazing moment but still the thought had never entered my head that I was running the London Marathon or that Mo Farah and Kipsang had ran across this same bit of road only an hour or so before me! I was pleased that I had ran the whole first half of the course
after not knowing if I could even run a mile let alone 13 miles I was pleased with my efforts so far but slightly disappointed I couldn't maintain the 11.23 min miles I needed for a 5 hour finish. It was mile 14 when I did the thing I really didn't want to do the most and that was walk! I just stopped running and walked... it felt bad yet so good and this was the start of the 12 and 13 minute miles. My half marathon time was 2 hours 40 mins around 10 -12 minutes over the time I wanted and needed for the full marathon race time and I knew the second half would be done alot slower than the first so I made the decision to walk when it felt bad and run when it felt good. There were people run/walking from the starting line so I was not alone when plodding along. Around this point I got overtook by a Minion. I had a quick glance around for a camera man and was pleased this moment in my life hadn't been caught on camera! At mile 16 I stopped and took my picture of Trinity out my pocket to look at and remember why I was doing this... did I at any point feel like I wanted to drop out.. honestly, yes I did I was hot, hurting and tired the crowd were that overwhelming that I half wished there would be a stretch where there was no support, as crazy as that sounds I realised I had a splitting headache maybe from the sun maybe from the constant cheering, screaming, banging, clapping and music and air horns right by your ear. This was to continue non stop for nearly 6 hours. The only way I can describe it at my lowest point was having to run on a treadmill for 6 hours in a greenhouse in 22degree heat with a boom box right by your ear. By this time the Runners World pacer of run/walk had overtaken me, he was followed by Big Bird from Sesame Street, an old man dressed like Superman and the man carrying a 42kilo fridge on his back! I decided to call my sister, they had a guide that would tell them were I would be for a 5 hour marathon pace and what time I should finish, I didn't want them to worry when I wasn't where I should be at a certain time so called to explain I was falling behind target and had readjusted my finish time to 5 hours 20/30 minutes. I was soon back on track and run walking, a lot of people by this time were walking. I remember reading in books and hearing from people that you see Big Ben before you actually get to run around by him and this can mislead you into thinking you are further along the course than you actually are. I didn't remember getting a glance of him which started off the doubts and calculations in my head. From Mile 18 onwards I knew my Garmin was out of sync with the course as I crossed the 18 mile banner with my watch reading out 18.65 miles, a bit frustrating that I was over half a mile out. I was walking a lot at this point from the vague memories I have from mile 18 as most of it is a blur I probably walked 2 miles non stop and was now glugging water back at water stations and holding onto the bottles a lot longer than before. The miles seemed to merge together and this may not be in the right order but I passed a lady giving out oranges and missed them, bringing back memories of Torremolinos I so desperately wanted a bloody orange! But not to worry a bit further down the road a lady was giving out bananas, I grabbed half of one and stopped and thanked her. London is amazing as people you don't know stand there and hand out food and tell you how great you are doing. The Banana gave me a boost then a lady gave me a star burst. I was a bit wary of it at first as was still struggling with the sickness feeling from the jelly baby. I had thrown away my gels as they were also not helping with the bile. I ate my star burst, it was a taste sensation! I phoned Simon and told him very specifically I had 6 miles to go and I need him to listen to me very carefully... he was to bring to the finish line a packet of star burst, failing that a Big Mac. I couldn't help but laugh to myself that the only thing on my mind at this point was food, actual food. I wonder what Mo Fara was thinking of at mile 20? Safe in the knowledge that bro wouldn't let me down I carried on with my walking and the odd bit of running. The crowd were fantastic and people were catching my eye and screaming "Come on Sarah you can do this. You are brilliant. You look amazing. Keep running" Wow these people don't have a clue who I am, they will never see me ever again but in those few seconds all that was on their mind was helping me to the finish line. Around mile 25 and again I'm being vague as it's a blur, I started talking a lady who was doing her first marathon. She said she wouldn't do another one. At this point I asked the question "Have you seen Big Ben yet? I'm sure we should have seen it by now" I don't think she knew much about what was to be expected on the course so just gave me a strange look then as we round a corner there he was towering above me. Epic. I knew then I was near the finish I also knew my time was not
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Trinity and my medal |
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Me and Katie at the finish |
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