Brighton Marathon Part 2

Hi guys and thanks again for visiting my page.

Following on from my previous post, here is part 2 of my experiences of the Brighton Marathon!

As I got to mile 14 the cramp was really bad and I had to stop with St Johns Ambulence to get a massage as well as do some stretches. I also felt like I was going to vomit so sat down for around 10-15 mins before I decided to go again.

I started jogging at a very slow pace and the cramp pains had dissapeared for a while but I didn’t want to push it any quicker.

By mile 16 the pain in my legs returned to the point where I just couldn’t run properly anymore. After every 5 steps of running it felt like I had to walk. I really wanted to carry on running but my legs were saying something completely different. I thought about the time last year in Paris where I wasn’t able to complete the marathon and how it made me feel and I was determined that this wan’t going to happen again.

I decided to fully walk the last 9 miles as I was worried that I would cause myself an injury. I was worried about how long it would take me to finish the course because I didn’t want a rubbish time however this felt like the right decision.

After another stop at St Johns ambulance I carried on towards mile 20. Around mile 21 I met Claire and we both motivated each other to finish. She kept reminding me of how well I was doing and I kept reminding her of the end goals. I think what helped us both is that we both clearly still had a strong determination to finish and that helped motivate us more.

As we appraoched the beach around mile 24 there was loads of people cheering us on and giving support and extra motivation. It was nice to hear and it gave me the extra bit of encouragement.

As we got to the last mile the end was near and by this time I just wanted it over and done with. One foot in front of the other was all that I was thinking. The finish line was finally in sight and I decided that I wanted to run to the finishing line as that is something pretty standard for marathon runners and to my surprise my legs felt like they were able to cope with it for a short while.

The overiding emotion I felt once finishing was relief. My official time came in at 7 hours 10 mins and I was quite gutted but in hindsight looking at it now i’m so happy that I managed to carry on and get through it because a lot of other people may have stopped. In one way it made me stronger because it made me realise how positive and stubborn I can be. Now looking back I actually feel pretty pleased and content with myself.

The runners did amazing but I have to give a special shoutout to Claire because I know how hard she worked and how well she did. The following week I decided to do a half marathon near where I live and hope to give you guys an update with how that went in my next post.

Thanks for reading and feel free to check out the pics!

Advertisement