what is it with seaside resorts and goths ? there’s always loads of them milling around dressed in black and looking moody.
goths always make me smile. i used to be one but i wasn’t very good because i was always smiling. i couldn’t help it. we all looked so funny.
there’s something going on here.
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i started at the back with a few thousand others. here we are making our way to the start line. at this point i was feel very unsporty in my long trousers, fleece top and mini rucksack (nearly everyone else was in shorts and running vests).
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we slowly shuffled until eventually we reach the starting line:
because i was walking, a few thousand runners whizzed by me in the first hour. this was a bit depressing, but then i’m not in any way sporty so i wasn’t too bothered.
it was a bit disturbing seeing people pack away around me though:
i kept my pace steady throughout the race and enventually started to catch up with some of the people i’d stood with in the original line with.
By about half way my walking speed was faster than those who’d run as far as they could and were walking the rest of the course. By the time it was 8 miles to go i was being rarely overtaken myself and it was me who was doing the overtaking.
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those last 8 miles were great as my patient pace meant i could really push a bit faster to the finish. and i was whizzing round people (without having to resort to anything as vulgar as running).
somewhere in the middle my feet stung like mad things so i took my pain killers which helped hugely.
the last bit of the route is very well known walking territory for me so i knew how far i had to go. i even had time for a self portrait with big ben behind me:
and finally i made it to the finish line:
the official photographer said i looked ‘very fresh’ and i realised i hadn’t really broken in to a sweat or got out of breath the whole race !
In the end i came 33,507th out of 35,680 people.
hoorah for walking. hoorah for all your lovely sponsoring and support. (and hoorah for pain killers)
give yourself a medal:
the outfits some people wore were amazing. i couldn’t imagine running a marathon normally, let alone wearing a heavy hot costume.
here is a giraffe chasing mr tickle chasing the police:
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here is the pink panther answering his phone:
and a star and a person pretending to be a star:
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i was pleased to see some old friends had come to watch the marathon to spur me on
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i saw hundreds and hundreds of gloves whilst i was doing the london marathon, but i decided early on there was no point trying to get photos as i couldn’t keep up with them without stopping (and causing trouble for those behind me).
but if you ever want a new jumper, gloves, hat or even a bum bag, then it’s worth following a marathon course. it’s full of discarded cardies.
here is a typical glove
bananas seem to be the fruit of choice for marathon runners. this bin near the start was bulging with old skins
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i did it. official time was 6:12 which i was quite pleased with.
i think i had around 15 minutes of ‘stoppages’ including waiting 5 -10 minutes for a potty kid to get me a plaster in the first aid section, and having to leave the course to buy a bottle of water from a local shop when they ran out of the free stuff (because i was so far behind at the start). then there was the mid-marathon toilet queue which was a few more minutes …
my knees were fine (hoorah for the power of prayer) but my feet no longer look like they did this morning !
i took around 170 photos so expect plenty more marathon photos and stories over the next few days.
but for now, here’s a self portrait somewhere around the 18 mile mark (around the time of my medical pitstop – the grin hides the pain)
thanks everyone for your generous sponsoring – it really kept me going !
just look at the amount of effort which has gone in to creating this sign !
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this chap was busking on the streets of kings lynn a few days back. his guitar didn’t have many strings and the ones it did weren’t in tune. luckily he wasn’t singing.
i can see myself taking this kind of role in years to come.
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my brother=in-law kev works for a church in nottingham and often sends me pictures of gloves.
here he is (with baby sarah) showing his holy credentials in a pentecostal manner (despite being anglican).
christianity real is quite an amazing faith. God, who invented everything became an actual person for the sake of us humans. he was killed by us, to take the blame for the bad stuff we all do all the time. and after all that he even sent his holy spirit so we can experience him and be more like him before our time on earth is over.
how cool is that ?
it’s a double category – cola on railings and bollard. what is stranger is that the tesco cola is unopened.
i’m writing this at 5.30am on race day just before leaving to get my train to london. see you later !
the ‘holiday jiggy’ is a family tradition.
here are my wife, her sister and their mother doing a jigsaw on holiday.
the finished article:
on holiday i did lots of training walks for today’s marathon. one morning it was so windy (and cold and rainy) i nearly got blown off this sea wall in to the slimey bog to the left.
whatever the weather does today i suspect it won’t be as bad as that morning !
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look how upset this dog is. it really breaks my heart to look at him.
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