London Marathon 2012 - Can I do it?

I thought about resting my foot on Sunday, especially after Saturday’s pain but I really needed to test it with a decent run.  I had a 15mile training run scheduled and had also pencilled in the option of doing the Tom Scott 10mile race.  However I was worried that if I attempted the Tom Scott, I might not finish it.  Instead I took an energy drink and made my way to my usual Sunday run start at Cartha QPRFC in Pollok Park.  I didn’t cover myself in Vaseline not and I didn’t take any fuel with me, not even a Jelly Baby.  I just wanted to run and see how I felt.

 As I hadn’t taken any breakfast, I was earlier than usual and the park was a bit quieter.  It was a lovely Spring morning, cool with a bit of a breeze and I set off, slowly, anti-clockwise through the park.  As I reached the 2mile point, I was glad that there was no re-occurrence of Saturday’s pain and no thoughts about quitting.  I continued around the outside of the park and back towards the car and the 3mile point. There were no thoughts about stopping, not even for a drink of water, instead I decided that I would test my foot by running 10miles and continued over the motorway and along Mosspark Boulevard.

Wobbly Runners Pack

At the 4mile point, I saw a sign for the Wobbly William 5k run and decided that it would be fun to include the route in my run.  I gave the race organiser Bryn a quick “hello” as I started the 5k about an hour before the other runners.  The route was similar to the Bellahouston Road Runners 5k and, although there were no other runners, the direction signs did make it feel a bit like a race.  Probably more like the type of race that the winners usually run, rather than those of us ‘in the pack’ who just need to follow the route taken by those quicker runners in front of us. 

I stopped for a few minutes for a chat with MichelleSandison who had just completed her 5mile training run at a “fast pace”, much, much faster than the pace that I was running, I bet.

I then completed the Wobbly Williams 5k route, lifting my arms in mock celebration as I crossed the line, with a bemused Bryn looking on from the confines of his car.  My foot had started to hurt after an hour of running but nothing like as bad as previous.  I knew that it had hurt badly once I reached the 9mile mark and wanted to see how bad it would be today.  If I continued around the outside of Bellahouston Park, I’d get back to the car with about 9.5miles in the bag.

However as I approached Pollok Park, I decided to run around the park, clockwise this time, and increase my mileage to 12.5.  Job done. Of course I had some pain, a few niggles and I was tired too but I had a huge smile on my face as I did another half mile warm down before reaching the car.  A long blether with running stalwarts Jimmy and Sandra Irvine and then I drove home for a well deserved breakfast, with my morale boosted to no end.  I’ll probably not be able to complete the London Marathon in the time that I had initially set myself but at least now I’m confident of actually running it.  The final two weeks of training is ‘tapering’ and is ‘easy’ compared to all the hard work that I’ve put in over the previous 16weeks.

I can do it!  London here I come! 

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