I did it!

As you can see from the previous post, I was successful in my new personal best attempt!  As threatened, the day was a hot one with a completely cloudless sky, so I immediately put any thoughts of a 4:23 marathon out of my head and just focussed on doing better than last time.

The Red Start

I slept badly on the Friday night and had very little sleep on Saturday night.  Next time I do a marathon, I'm going to train using sleeping aids, as having under 4 hours sleep must affect my performance.  I enjoyed the atmosphere at the Red Start and looking at some of the costumes people were running in.  I would like to do a marathon in fancy dress one year but would have to think out the costume very carefully.
For the first three miles I tried to keep my speed constant and not to weave in and out too much to get round other runners.  As I started in pen 7, it wasn't too bad as many around me were also running at the pace I wanted to be at.  The splits for the first three were: 10:10; 9:48; 9:46.  I knew I was speeding up (its very hard as all the music and cheering gets you fired up!) so when the starts merged, I tried to get closer to 10minute/miles, which I managed.  I found mile 8 difficult and started to feel a bit sick.  I'd eaten the same breakfast I had before all my training runs and had a nice pasta meal the night before, so I put it down to the heat.  I'd been drinking a little and often, taking on more in the first few miles, but it was very hot.  Many more people were already walking than I would have expected.  I tried to focus on the fact that Tower Bridge was coming up, my favourite part!  The support was also brilliant and the fact that I had a massive lime green feather on my head also helped!  As well as people calling "Sian!", and mispronouncing it as "Cyan!", I got cheers of "Go Feather Lady!", "Green Feather!" and "Nice Feather!" with the most original shout going to the Cancer Research UK lady - "Sian! Sian! Sian! Do you know you've got a feather in your hair?"!

Approaching Tower Bridge

Just after the 12 mile marker, I saw Karen ahead of me so caught up with her and we ran over Tower Bridge together.  We managed to catch sight of our second band of supporters on the bridge, which again gave us a big boost.  I then said goodbye to Karen and went on, reaching half way at 2:12. 
The next bit was the toughest part as the sun was now high in the sky without any cloud to be seen.   The route narrows considerably at this point and I kept getting blocked in by slower runners, so had to weave a bit more. The number of walkers was also increasing. I kept to around 10min/miles, getting a much needed boost at mile 15 from seeing our support band 1 for the first time since just before mile 6.  The tunnel was very hot but at least it was out of the sun.  The rest of the route round the Isle of Dogs was in full sun and I started to feel the effects.  I'd been using my Garmin for pace but it had started to lose signal so I just tried to keep at what I felt was steady, checking at mile markers that I was on track.  By doing that, I knew I was slowing down but couldn't make myself speed up.  By now I was pouring water down my neck, also carrying the water bottle so it would splash on me as I ran.  There were showers on the course which were icy cold and fantastic, as well as a few house holders with their hoses out for us.  My stomach didn't feel normal and it was hard work to keep going, knowing I had a long way to go.  I kept thinking of the money I'd raised and that kept me going.  By the time I saw my supporters again at Canary Wharf, the crowd had lifted me and I was happier, although annoyed that my pace had dropped.
Mile 15 had been on track at 9:59, then it dropped off to mile 16 - 10:27; 17 - 10:35; 18 - 10:05; 19 - 10:11.
Having said I was happier, mile 20 was actually my slowest mile at 11:15.  When I got to the mile marker, my total elapsed time was 3hours 20minutes, so 4 minutes longer than I took to run Ashby.  That spurred me on and I realised I could still potentially get a sub 4:30 time.  So I pulled myself together and went for it.
Mile 21 was 10:21; 22 was 10:22 and 23 was 10:20.  I managed to see the Tower of London this time too, having missed it last time!  My right calf was starting to feel tight so I did start to panic a bit about that causing a problem.
On one of the bridges crossing the road, Lucozade had put a banner saying something like "You are 2.5 miles for your new pb" which again spurred me on.  My Garmin went a bit funny again with the tall buildings but my average for the next two miles was 10:04.  I could see Big Ben, which was the last spot our supporters would be at.  I turned the corner and dug in for the final stretch.  Having said the support wasn't good round here, it was this year!  The road was narrowed again as ambulances had to get to runners who'd collapsed, but I kept going at 9:52m/m to cross the finish line at 4:27:49.
You may have heard about the inspirational music they play at the marathon finish line - usually stuff like "Proud" by M People.  It was just my luck at someone dressed as Sponge Bob Squarepants had crossed the line just before me so they were playing the theme tune to Sponge Bob Squarepants as I finished!
The minute I crossed the line, I felt really ill and started retching (sorry for the details!) but I didn't have anything in my stomach to bring up.  Once over that, I was very good and remembered to stretch before joining the others in Horseguards Parade.
A nice massage along with a walk to a lovely restaurant for dinner and my legs didn't feel too bad when I got out of bed this morning. Having sat in the car on the way home, they are a bit stiff walking downstairs but not terrible.  I'm now off for a nice bath as part of my recovery programme!