I don’t think I have ever spent a day so close to tears – of joy and sadness, as I did on Sunday the 21st April.

Staying near the Cutty Sark, right next to Greenwich Park, I was up watching the organisers putting up the crowd barriers at 6am, breakfast 4 hours before the start, bath to warm the muscles, Vaseline applied, Heart Rate Monitor on and I was good to go. The nerves were nowhere to be seen my Heart Rate on the walk to the start remained at 60 – 70beats per min. The organization was so good there was never a moment of panic.

After half a minutes silence in memory of the people of Boston the field started moving and very soon I crossed the start line. This was so exhilarating I had to control my breathing and not break down already! I knew my family was at mile 15, 20 and 21, strategically placed to help me at what I thought would be the hardest part, but I reached them feeling nothing but elation.

I met my son and his girlfriend at mile 21 and they ran along beside me, they spurred me on to mile 22. That’s when I started to notice my hamstrings getting a bit tight – but I had got this far I was never going to stop running! There were a lot of people walking by this stage so I had to weave in and out, however the crowd support was immeasurable, people handing out jelly babies and other sugary sweets!

At Big Ben I had to push away the thought that I had done it, again, breathing to prevent breaking down! I knew though, that when I saw Buckingham Palace I would have a bit more trouble. I turned the corner into the Mall alongside a girl who was sobbing and letting go to my own tears I touched her on the back and did the thumbs up as I went past, she was grinning like a Cheshire cat as I imagine I was too.

Wow I did it. I just ran the 2013 London Marathon.

So now I turn my attention to the first ever York Marathon, 21 weeks away I am so excited. I am training some lovely ladies to prepare for their first marathon, some of whom have never run at all. We have called ourselves the White Rose Runners and we are each running for different charities.

As we go through our training I will blog here about any pertinent issues that are raised for beginner runners; training tips, clothing, nutrition, hydration. If you have any running / training questions please feel free to ask – I will do my best to answer all.

Babs

Twitter @50percentdiet
babs@barbarashiells.com