Job done

This could be quite a long post but even so I'm bound to forget some of it.

The evening before the marathon we met up with 8 members of the extended LERC family for a pre-marathon pasta party, it was a lovely evening and good to get some last minute advice. We headed back to our hotel so I could get all my kit out ready for the morning, nerves were really starting to kick in-no backing out now. I'd been warned that I probably wouldn't sleep that well but actually I was so tired that I slept brilliantly.

I woke up at 6.30 on Sunday 28th April, also known as my 38th birthday and got into my running kit. The weather was perfect-overcast and cool, absolutely ideal. Breakfast was revolting-instant 'just add water' porridge but it's food. I left Pete in the room and went off to meet up with the rest of Team LERC on tour, we made our way to Old Trafford together and did the usual pre-race faffing. I was on a different start to the rest of them so we said our goodbyes and good lucks and I made my way to the start area. As I got to the start I was anxious to get going, it was really going to happen. Yikes. At 9am we started to move towards the starting mats and within about 5 minutes we were off. As I started I heard "Laura" and there was Pete waving me off, he often feels like a running widow so it was lovely to have him there.

I wanted to finish in under 5 hours, or maybe 4.45 if it all went my way but above all I wanted to enjoy it and do it right. I set myself a maximum  pace of 10.15 a mile, any faster early on then I'd be bound to struggle later on and 26 miles is a long way to struggle! The atmosphere was great, plenty of people to talk to (obviously you can run faster if you don't talk but it's nice to chat) which really helped to settle me down. The first 4 miles were a sort of loop so Pete was at mile 4 with his camera again. I couldn't really tell you much about the actual route, there were some out and backs so I could spot my clubmates and give them a shout. The support from the locals was amazing and having my name on my vest meant that I got lots of shouts.

After a few miles warming up I just relaxed and enjoyed it, keeping an eye on my Garmin to make sure I wasn't going too fast. There were lots of water stations and I stuck to taking a gel every 4 miles as I had in training. I'm not going to talk too much about the mile by mile, the splits will do a better job than I can  (10:17 10:19 10:18 10:24 10:12 10:14 10:17 10:28 10:15 10:25 10:20 10:47 10:37 11:00 10:28 10:56 10:34 10:22 11:01 10:23 10:41 11:07 10:35 11:16 10:36 10:09) the ones that start with 11 are where I had to walk for long enough to drink the isotonic drinks. I wanted a consistent pace and I'm pretty pleased with how that turned out.

The LERC on tour support crew were at about 9 miles, fab to see them. I went through halfway in about 2.16 so more than on target and feeling absolutely fine. After about 19 miles the route took us away from the towns and up a long, windy country lane with very few spectators. At 20/21 miles I rounded a corner and heard the unmistakeable sound of cow bells, Jane, Maz, Carrie & Adam with a supply of Jelly Babies and a massive 'happy birthday Laura' banner. Jane's rendition of happy birthday rounded it off perfectly. I felt sorry for the 7,990 who didn't have a LERC support crew, they are amazing and always seem to be at just the right place. So just a 10k or less to go, I was prepared for it to get a lot harder here and hoping to avoid the dreaded wall. It did get harder but not to the degree that I wanted to walk or wished I wasn't doing it. 22/23 miles I got a bit emotional thinking that I was going to do it and I still couldn't quite believe it. Mile 24 was the slowest of the whole race, I was feeling it by then but still felt pretty good considering. Miles 25 and there was Pete again so I knew I was near the end.

The approach to the finish was something I will never forget. All I could hear was people cheering and shouting my name, incredible. I crossed the line in a time of 4.35.53 which was far better than I'd ever hoped. I did it, I ran a marathon and I ran it well and I'll certainly do another one. As birthdays go it was certainly a memorable one and rounded off perfectly with a glass of fizz with my clubmates and very proud husband.