The following morning - of all mornings - I could take no chances; and so was simultaneously woken at 6am by the ringing of the phone (hotel wake-up call), a beeping of the mobile phone, another beeping this time coming from my watch, AND a knock on the door from the chap with breakfast. You would be forgiven for thinking that I might have been a bit paranoid about oversleeping (PARANOID??...WHO ME?....how very dare you). I can laugh about it now, but more than once in the build up I had the nightmare of waking up, turning on the TV and watching the start of the race which I was meant to be running in! Cold sweats, cold, cold sweats.
I find it ironic (or possibly on reflection, moronic) that, hours before ‘the gun’, a positive person like me was still half expecting something to go wrong. Maybe trouble checking out of the hotel, a flat tyre on the car, problems with the train to Greenwich, getting horribly lost, forgetting to pack my running shirt in my official marathon bag and having to run topless, or forgetting to pack my running shorts in my official marathon bag and having to run……. …...errrrr……no…… But, it all went incredibly smoothly. Nice quiet parking, smooth train journey – fifteen minutes to the start – and as for getting lost…..not a chance. The throng starting throngaging at hotel check-out. The trickle of people became a stream, then a flood. All I had to do was quite literally go with the flow.
Did I get teary-eyed at this – or any – moment? Nope! Wandering around the ‘red start’ of Greenwich Park there was only one emotion available to sample……JOY!! Right from the departure-lounge feel where family bid farewell at the entrance to the athletes-only zone, past the hyowj queue of lorries picking up your luggage which by magic would be waiting for you at the finish, and into the gathered hoards of stretchers (people stretching, the other stretchers better served for the finish), banana-eaters, energy-drink drinkers, photo-takers and meditators. It was just FANTASTIC to see, and a well-earned privilege to be a part of.
I found myself walking around a lot, until I realised what I was about to do and decided to sit down and relax; at least relax as much as a man can before taking on five hours of willing insanity. It was indescribable – and for me, that is saying something – to just be still and let it all wash over you; sometimes focused on myself, my body, my journey, and then to look around to see you are one of many; many bodies, many journeys. For so long, training week after week, run after run, experiencing the true loneliness of the long distance runner, finally to be united with thousands.
The call came to take up our starting positions.
Every one of us, performers backstage, ready for our live, one-off, sell-out show. Rehearsals were over; we were warmed up and waiting for curtain-up, with arguably the biggest audience of all time waiting for us on the other side.
There was only one thing left to do……
…..run the London Marathon
