Manchester Marathon - Race Day (and night!)

So, marathon day today. 

What we've all been training and waiting for is finally here. 

Didn't have a particularly good night's sleep, nervousness and bed was comfy, just not the pillow, but can't complain. But we've woken up to a really nice sunny morning and I suspect it's going to get hotter. So, we got ourselves sorted, packed the van and I even went out to the van and cooked porridge for mine and Natasha's breakfast at 7.00am. So, we had fuel ready to go, checked in with everybody else and everyone was fine. Wished Jack luck because he was obviously starting a lot earlier than us. And then jumped in the van, it was about half past eight and incredibly, the run into Manchester along our route was no traffic whatsoever. So, a half our drive was only 20 minutes. We found our parking garage and that was really safe and secure and that was a really good find. With Charlotte and Miles we then parked and as we walked out, Gigi and Ev walked past. So, there was all that excitement in seeing them.

We then walked a bit aimlessly around Piccadilly not sure where to go. But lots of people clearly for the marathon were going in the right direction. And we found the tram stop within Piccadilly station. And as you would imagine, pretty busy. But we got on the first tram that came and off we went towards Old Trafford it was. And it got busier and busier and the stops, they were not letting people on at one point. It was just so crowded, but we had our banana. We had our pasta. 

Then at one point you looked out the window and you could see where the marathon had started and we were going parallel to all these people running, it made it all a bit real all of a sudden there are 36,000 people running the marathon and then you get about 130,000 people watching and supporting so you can imagine how busy it is. We managed to connect with Lewis and we all milled around the staging area whilst groups were called out to go to their starting areas. We said our goodbyes to our supporters and walked through, took some photos and had last minute toilet breaks - which then as they called us through it was a long walked to the starting area - nerves all around! We were in good time and needed to wait there for about 20 minutes.

The groups went off, Pauline Bampton was in the one ahead of u, and like I say, we were pink, and yeah, slowly the time ticked down, and then at 11 o'clock, a bit of smoke and a bit of fire, a countdown, and we were off. 

Goodness me, it was fucking hard. So, very quickly, I was way behind everybody, I set my slow pace, and they sorted their pace, but it was so crowded, and the people cheering and shouting, so I turned my headphones off just to take it all in, it was great. But I did notice that I don't think I actually ran past anybody. They all just went past me, which is fair enough.

And yeah, so very quickly I was just on my own, so to speak, you know, in terms of not having friends, but having lots of people around me. And I then settled down for the long haul. The problem was that it was incredibly hot. I don't know what the temperature was, but it was easily in the 20s. And as we found out afterwards, it just affected so many people, insofar as not being able to continue, stopping and walking, but mostly not meeting their expectations of time to complete it (including Jack!). All of their times were just so much lower, as in higher, sorry. Because... It was just so exhausting.

So, what was my race like? I struggled. I got to about 8 miles, I think, and had to stop. And then, once I'd done that, it was just stop, start, stop, start, all the time. I just had no energy. I had cramp in my right calf. And...Yeah, it was just... from 8 miles, so, 18 miles left to get through.

I was just a bit pathetic, really. I didn't think I'd walk as much as I did. And, in hindsight, it's all my own fault. I didn't do the work. I didn't put the time in. I didn't put the miles in. I didn't put the hours in. And it showed. I got exactly what I deserved. But, that's a different post for another day. What I did enjoy was all the people waving, and cheering, and partying, and drinking, and dishing out sweets, dishing out drinks. Even many people had their hosepipes connected and on, so they were just spraying everybody as you ran past. Again, it was just so hot, you didn't mind. You were soon dry again.

At a couple of points, I did see John, Miles & Zoe. And then we saw Miles and Kate Miller near the end, about, what was that, about mile 18. So that was nice. And then, I got there, and you kept seeing notifications on the phone. Saying who's made it, who's there, where is it. where's everybody. And, slowly, my time just kept increasing. I knew before I started I wasn't going to do five hours. Then I realised I wasn't going to do five and a half. And in fact, I think I was at 20 miles at five and a half hours. So, it was another hour and a bit. 90 minutes, thinking, oh no. And, so persevered. And then, the last two miles came into play.

And, yeah, the last mile and a half, all the family and everybody was all at a barrier. But behind me, the sweeper truck was looming. I did stop and do a selfie with the family. Which was funny. And then I carried on. And eventually got to the home straight. That was about 400 metres. By now, we're talking seven hours. And six o'clock at night. And, the crowds were sparse. To put it mildly. But, what do you expect. And I was running down. Well, I wouldn't say running. But, trying to, then I had both legs cramping. Cramping on me. 

I heard the man on the tannoy say something like. "Come on everybody. Cheer the last few runners in". And, it just made me feel a bit shit really. But, I crossed the line. And, thankfully, I get a time. I got a medal. I got a finishing t-shirt. I think if I'd been another 15 or 20 minutes longer then I might not have got those. So, that was fortunate to say the least. I went through the various merchandise and freebies that they hand out. But, I just wanted to get out. And, at the end of it all was everybody. And, we all hugged and said congratulations. And, took celebratory photographs. And, everything like that. And, yeah, it was a great feeling. But, most importantly was as a family, we've done it. This is being recorded a couple of days later. And, I don't feel I can say that I ran the marathon. But, I can say that I "completed" the marathon. So, I'll stick with that. That'll do me. And, in future. It'll be forgotten. And, it was just a t-shirt and a medal that I've got.

But, yeah, really good. Really, really proud of everybody. And, everyone did so well. Jack, 4 hours something. I think it's 4 hours 15.

Lewis and Mum were 5 hours 20 and 35. Charlotte was, I think, 4 hours 15 or something. I'm not sure off the top of my head now. And, I was 7. Goodness me.

Marathon Day Night

So, this is a continuation of the marathon day, in case the file was too big. So, we took photos and knowing we had a table or a booth booked at Albert Schloss at 7.45pm, we got an Uber and went back to our car park, got our things and booked into our Travelodge hotel. That was on Piccadilly Square, right in the centre. Brilliant location.

I think everybody would have been perfectly happy not to go out again. But it was booked and we had to make the most of the celebration, the adrenaline and just reflect on the feat that we had achieved. So, we persevered and met downstairs, made our way to Deansgate. Great location, love it there. John and Pauline were ahead of us and had our booth set up. And then we ordered alcohol, which we've not really had for a long time. Well, not much of anyway! Looking forward to that..

In saying that, it took a while for the first pint to go down. After that I was okay, I had three, but it was, it was hard, so tired. And then Gigi and Ev and all their friends arrived. They were in the booth next to us. There was a great atmosphere, there was a good band, very loud. And you just looked around and including ourselves, there were people in their finisher t-shirt, or with a medal around their neck. Because, in fact, lots of places in Manchester would give you a free drink or free food or whatever if you had your marathon medal. We didn't find any, but it was just nice to walk past people and say, "well done, excellent, enjoy it". So yeah, that was good. We then all had a meal. Very quickly, it was like 10pm. I knew I had work tomorrow, and some other people had work. In fact, Lewis and Emily didn't even come, at one point we all looked at each other and just said, should we just go home? And that's what we did. Made our way back to the hotel. After saying our goodbyes and off to bed for a well-deserved sleep.

What a day, what an experience. It was something else. Thinking about it now, I did really enjoy it. But I'm sure my face and my features and my demeanour would suggest that I didn't enjoy it that much.

And I'm proud of everybody.