Thanks John, Roger and Howard!
5.53.26 was my official finish time, about half an hour slower than what I had hoped, owing to the heat. The first 10 miles went according to plan, and at a pace that I had planned. But I lost about 30 minutes of running as I had to make two stops at St Johns ambulance stations between 13 and 16 miles because of cramp, which never happened at all in training when the temperature was 8 degrees max compared to 19 yesterday. I had thought if I had problems it would be after 20 miles so this totally threw me and I was gutted.
St Johns were brilliant and got me going again, big big thanks to them they were fantastic. I managed to do a mixture of running and walking the rest of the way, walking as the cramps began again, and running when they subsided. It really was agony but I had to get round, pulling out was not an option! The last 3 miles the crowds were just amazing. My legs are very sore today but it was worth it, especially as I knocked 1 hour 8 mins and 9 secs off my 2009 time!!
Here's my performance as recorded by my Garmin: Sorry I forgot how to make it live, perhaps Paul or Howard can help?
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/79808076
Pictures to follow soon when I get home from London. There is an unconfirmed report that I was spotted on the TV going over Tower Bridge, I shall check my recording and let you know.
The next challenge is to finish my fundraising - the race night at the end of the month will help enormously as I am at almost £1700 against a target of £2000 for Children with Leukaemia, thanks to so many people's generosity. Please let me know if you would like to come, it should be a fantastic fun night, We have lots of great raffle prizes and everyone has a good chance of winning something on the races. My sponsorship page is still open if you would like to add to my total, now i have proved myself! The link is on my signature below.
Then after that the Great North Run (a mere half marathon!) in September and Great South Run (little 10 miler!) in October, both for Guide Dogs.
Yes I am totally mad in case you were wondering!
Thanks again to everyone who has supported me, through my training and my fundraising, I couldn't have done it without you (and a special thanks to Roger for helping with publicity).
