Born to run: recovering post-marathon with family and chocolate

Well done to everyone who ran the marathon this month. Hope you all had a good race and aren’t too sore now!

I enjoyed my first marathon, though I did find it very tough! I am sure you’ll agree, the atmosphere was amazing, a great thing to experience.

I felt like a bit of a novice as I lined up on the start line. As the gun went off and the race began, the pace felt very slow to me, as I am so much more familiar with racing 5Ks and 10Ks. I tried to be cautious but I think for my first attempt at the distance I was still maybe a bit fast. I was warned about what could happen to my legs at around 18 miles and it certainly did. It seemed to happen so quickly. One minute I felt fine and the next minute I was worried that if my legs got any worse I could be reduced to a walk!

Somehow I managed to keep going, I took an energy gel which definitely helped. I’m also so thankful to people who cheered me on too, it really kept my spirits up.

The weather did get warm didn’t it? I don’t think this was my main struggle though. It was purely just a long way! It seemed to go on and on!

A sense of achievement

It’s a fantastic feeling as you turn to run along the Mall at the end though isn’t it? It’s something I’ve watched other runners do so many times on TV, and it felt kind of surreal to finally be running along it myself.

At the finish I felt exhausted but chuffed to have finally run a marathon, all in all I was pleased with my run. In a way I would perhaps have liked to have run a little bit quicker, but having built up from a stress fracture I was absolutely thrilled to get a qualifying time and pleased to get a solid debut. I learnt so much from the experience.

After completing the marathon I realised that you can try and learn as much as you like beforehand, but doing one is a different matter. It’s easy to see how it can become addictive too. I feel very motivated now to improve things in training and get out and have another go. Since the race my legs have been very sore, and stairs were a challenge for a couple of days. It was difficult to keep up with Jacob in the park too. It’s nice to chill out a bit for a few days now and enjoy family time and chocolate and red wine! We’re going down to Devon for a while to see our families and take Jacob to the beach. I will start the grind back to training very shortly though and plug in some more miles.

A big ‘thank you’

Well done again to all of you who ran the marathon for Save the Children and a big thank you for all the money you have raised. I know everyone at the charity is so grateful to you and you’re making a real difference to children’s lives. Good Luck with your recovery from the marathon and good luck for your upcoming events.

Once you’ve recovered and got your legs back, please do keep running to save children’s lives!