So much time has passed now (well, nearly 2 weeks, but it feels like a long time!) I’ve shown off my medal to many people, including a child who admired it and said “Did you win??!!”. I’ve been out for a couple of runs this week, nice and slow, but just great to be out on my quiet country lanes again.
After the marathon, it was shocking to learn of the death of a runner just before the end. Really brought it home how fragile life is, and how we must grab every minute we have and make the most of it. Amazingly, over one million pounds has now been raised in her name for The Samaritans. Quite a legacy.
Race Stats
One of the most impressive stats that was published was the following:-
516
runners
5
passed you
I like passing people at the end of a race!
Gels
On a more practical note, I want to record my ‘nutrition strategy’ for the day, because it seemed to work, so might come in handy again.
Before I left the hotel at 7.15am, I had porridge, toast and tea for my breakfast. On reaching the start area I had another cup of tea and a flapjack, and then about 45 minutes before the start I had a banana. (I remember eating it, standing in the loo queue for the 3rd time!) I think I took 2 ibuprofen around this time as well. About 30 minutes before the start I ate one of the thick and gloopy PowerBar gels (which taste like Calpol smells, by the way!)
Around mile 6 I started on my ShotBloks, eating one per mile. Lovely little blocks of sugary goodness!
At mile 12 I had a High5 Isogel These are more like a drink than a gel, so much easier to get down. Taste quite naturally fruity rather than the artificial ‘orange squash’ gels they were handing out on the course.
At Mudchute, mile 17 I took a High5 IsoGel with caffeine and took another packet of ShotBloks with me. I ate a few of these from mile 20, but after a couple I couldn’t stomach anything else so didn’t bother.
Mental Note – DO eat something as soon as you can afterwards. I didn’t, and ended up feeling queasy and faint on a Tube and had to sit on the platform for a minute to recover.
There – I think that’s it. Now to plan the next one!