Paula and me

Before - Lewisham Station - pre warm up walk to Greenwich

After. Happy, happy, happy

26.04.15
Day 376
Warming up jog and walk from home to Green Start, Greenwich Park, then 26.2 miles run at averaging 8:30mins (some 7.50, so others must've been well slow!) finishing in a time of 3:44.08. Warm down in the pub with Kent AC: beer, crisps and good craic, warm down walk from Lewisham

Paula Radcliffe ran her last ever London Marathon today. I ran my third London, and PBed so beautifully I feel it's only the beginning, at 52 years old. As I have said before, I know plenty of over 60s, who still run 3:30 or thereabouts, so there's inspiration to carry on.
What I am signing off from, though, is, of course, this blog, but not before I've bored on a bit about how it went, so that hopefully, when I run the race again next year (GFA place guaranteed!) I can have documented evidence about how to conduct myself. I presume the blog will remain available to me for reference, somewhere in interweb world. You never know, it might be useful for other feisty elderly runners in menopause and feeling a bit doleful. There is nothing like running endorphins to make a woman feel like an Amazon.
So, the last three days of just walking and lots of eating really paid off. By my calculations I ate about 3,000 calories a day. I put on at least 2kg in weight. However, that chunking up, both in muscle terms (thanks Erik, at Team6 ) and fat layer, helped me feel strong today.
I started out worrying that my friend Siggy, knocking out the 8:20 miles, was going too fast for me, but she told me to go ahead at mile 17, when I realised I was happy at this pace, and sometimes at around 8m/m
I ate four gels (yuck) and drank more than one bottle of nauseating Lucozade sport, and I ate two bananas. For breakfast I ate both porridge and Crunchy Nut Cornflakes, then had toast and coffee at the start. I did not feel the need to shit myself.
My stress incontinence threatened, with the urge to wee at 6miles, but I managed to hold everything together and brace pelvic floor, core and everything. I followed my favourite mantra
'hips high and aligned, shoulders loose and low'
I stretched the back of my neck often and was hyper aware of posture. It made me feel strong and bouncy.
So, Paula and I, we were both happy, she with her 2:37 with insufficient preparation and me with my 3:44 after a Year of Training Seriously.
Happy, happy, happy.
Until my next blog
Ronnie x