Day 671

1.  A 4 am alarm call, a 6 am train, a most interesting conversation with three gentlemen en route, and this marathon girl arrived in London!  I like being up early whilst the rest of the world sleeps.  It was very quiet on my walk from Sloan Square to Battersea Park, save for some runners and a few Chelsea Pensioners, and I arrived with a fresh feeling of optimism - in part due to the time of day, in part due to the resplendent Magnolia tree signalling that Spring is on it's way (appreciated that we might have to wait a little bit longer for it in Yorkshire) but mainly due to the fact that it was flat!!!  Perhaps my feet will cope after all!

2.  Not sure what to expect, and lets face it after the Christmas meet up my expectations were quite low, I was very pleasantly surprised by the training day to the extent that I had a great time! Which is absolutely, totally and utterly 100% down to the fact that I MET DALEY THOMPSON!!!!!

3.  Actually that's not fair to the team from Barnardo's, who took us through the marathon day, the cheer stations and the after 'party', and more especially to Baroness Foella Benjamin who, not looking a day older than when she was on Play Away, arrived to give us a pep talk and was just fabulous! Her infectious energy and enthusiasm enough to reignite my self belief that not only can I do this, but I that I might enjoy the experience!  Or at least the feeling at the end, although hopefully not enough that I follow her lead and run ten consecutive London Marathon's!  She also reminded us of the children that we are going to be helping through the money we've raised, and I think I needed to hear that too.

4.  Chat over it was outside for our warm up session with Snowy.  By this point I was seriously worried that Daley wasn't coming, but fear not! He did indeed put in an appearance and I think it's fair to say I was (and still am) somewhat star struck! A warm up lap round the track with him and then we were put in the capable hands of Snowy for our extended warm up session, the purpose of which was - I think - to last long enough for us all to have an individual photo taken with the great man himself.  Thirty years I've been waiting for this opportunity, and the photographer chose to take action shots of us running along the track together NOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!! This is my worse nightmare! I look hideous running as all race photos ever taken and emailed to me afterwards will testify! But it did mean I got a couple of minutes talking to him!!!  SchoolfriendofMG750 I told him we'd been in Olympus Sport to see him circa 1985 and for whilst I don't think he actually remembered us (or being there at all?!) he clearly thought I deserved a hug for my perseverance! Oh I'll never wash my coat nor wear it in the rain again!!!!

5. Bailing out of the option for a long run round the park, I did however do one lap with a lovely lady who I'm looking forward to seeing again, by which point we will both have just run our first marathon!  My feet were a lot better than when I finished on Thursday and with some top tips from Snowy on hot and cold treatment, which I'm liking the sound of as I can do whilst lying in the bath, I'm almost looking forward to the next milestone of twenty three miles!  I think it's fair to say my mojo has returned!

London - 64
Distance covered                      2 miles
Total Distance covered     1161.1 miles