After a quick breakfast of muesli and yogurt I finally decided on long legs and short and long sleeves and headed off to the train - Finsbury Park to Kings Cross and on to Paddington - could spot my fellow runners as I got to Kings Cross by their baggage labels and as we arrived in Paddington we all realised our train was delayed - bit of a worry as it was the last one we were meant to catch to guarantee getting the shuttle bus from Reading station. Thankfully there was another train running a few minutes later so we all hopped on that, many of us with the wrong tickets, stood for the 30minute journey, but all fairly certain there was no way they were going to check tickets - and we were right, got to Reading 10minutes early and made the buses without any worry - a good sign I thought
I've never been to Reading before and the bus journey didn't necessarily take us on the most scenic of routes, but it got us to the Madejski Stadium in plenty of time - time enough to use the proper loos in the stadium, go to the lucozade stand to get my pace band and an extra bottle of lucozade to keep me going. Then the next dilemma - time to drop my bag - what to wear - just as I was going to keep my long sleeves on the sun appeared and so off came the long sleeves and on went the bin bag instead!! I put my bag in before I had time to change my mind and headed off to queue for the portaloos...... less said about those the better, and it was time to head to the start
It was at this point that I realised for the first time in a race I was not in the last wave of runners to leave - I was second to last - even more exciting was that my predicted time (around 2 hours) took me to the front of the wave - so close to being second from the front!!
There were pacesetters at 5 minute intervals, I put myself in front of the 2 hour pace setter in the hope that I would stay in front of him all the way to the end.....
And we were off - took 10 minutes to get over the line - was also at this point that my Nike+ announced it's battery was getting low - but was too late to worry about that then.
The race itself is a bit of a blur - I needed a wee from the moment I crossed the line, but it was a beautifully sunny day and the miles seemed to race by. A few mean hills, an amazing band of drummers at 6miles as we went under an underpass and headed up into Reading town centre -I'd missed the loos at the first drinks station, but saw them at the second - after a very welcome pitstop carried on with renewed energy! Then it was time to run through the University campus - again very pretty - and before I knew it we were at 10miles - only 3 to go and the big wind turbine by the stadium came into view
The last 3.1 miles were a bit of a slog - a long straight road up toward the stadium followed by a cruel out and back section where I spotted the 2 hour pace setter - they must have gone past while I was in the loo 6 miles earlier!! This spurred me on the last mile, I caught up and over took them way before the stadium, at this point I was fairly sure I'd break the 2 hour target I'd set myself, but didn't trust myself and wondered if he was doing a bad job.....
The last 100yds were in the stadium - I could see the clock and knew we'd taken 10minutes to cross the start line - in theory I had about 10 seconds to cross the line - I counted them down in my head (or maybe out loud) as I ran towards it - in true professional style I stopped my watch as I crossed the line only to realise I'd crossed the line well under the 2 hours (well, with plenty of seconds to spare!) At this point I turned into a bit of a sobbing wreck causing a lovely man to check if I was ok and having explained the cause of the tears discovered he too had just beaten the 2hours for the first time. We both chatted and stretched together, congratulated each other again and headed out of the stadium and towards the silver blankets.
It was here I got a tap on the back and discovered a fellow member of Finsbury Park BMF (another Emma) had run the race too, we had a quick chat, a very welcome hug and she headed back to her family.
Then it was time to go and get my fab medal, goodie bag (why do they give you tea bags??) and head back to get my bag.
After donning a few more layers I hopped on the bus back to the station and had what seemed a weird experience of going back over some of the route but with it looking like the run had never existed, the route cleared of us runners, all the spectators and the bottles we'd left lying all over the place.
Back in the city centre I found the coffee shops I'd spotted just after the 6 mile mark and settled down for a coffee and a great slice of cake with a seat by the window in the sunshine - what a way to spend a Sunday afternoon!!
The journey home was uneventful. Could spot the runners this time by their slightly aching gait - although the medals were more of a giveaway!!
Was tucked up in bed by a respectable 10pm - absolutely shattered and very happy - it was a great day!
The final lap of the Relay For Life in Harrow last year was walked to the song Proud
The first line of the chorus is ......
What have you done today to make you feel proud?
Today I'd have to say running the race in less than 2 hours - to me it's always been the time that a 'good' runner would run a half marathon in. I was really proud when my friend Ewan managed to break it last year in Birmingham and now I've done it - does this mean that I'm finally a proper runner? I'm still not sure - finishing the marathon last year didn't persuade me I was, maybe after all the runs this year I might finally be convinced!!
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