It’s taken me 24 hours to write ✍️ my “I got in” post.
At the start it felt a million miles away.
I have entered the London Marathon ballot since 1998, just missing the 5 attempts and you’re in rule that used to be in place. I missed 2 years when pregnant and 1 year when I was really unwell, so that’s around 20 ballots 😂
So I decided I needed to go out and make my own luck 🍀 go out and earn it.
When I was a really little girl it was the one day of the year when there was a tv 📺 in my parents bedroom and we would watch the marathon from bed, eating breakfast.
As I got a little older my Pa qualified year after year as a Good For Age athlete, I was so proud of him and loved the buzz of marathon weekend.
My kids started to come to watch Grandpa run the marathon and it became a traditional family holiday.
I wouldn’t have believed you that I run a marathon to qualify to submit a Good For Age application for the London Marathon. I initially dreamt of being able to run 10 min miles (just so it was easier to calculate how long she’d be out for my run 😂).
I’m proud that at the beginning I never gave up.
I started to train for the marathon in April 2019, I didn’t get to run my first marathon until October 2021 due to the kaffuffle that the world got itself into. Then I’ve ran 3 in a 12 month period after that Good For Age time. It means a lot. My dad always qualified for the London marathon with a GFA time. I ❤️ed the experience of supporting him in London. He still has a good for age time in the Vet70+ category.
I may not have done enough to get in BUT I’ve earned the application.
Thank you @fodrunner for helping guide me in this block (and I’ll do a full post on that in the next day or so too).
It’s amazing what you can achieve when you put your energy eyes on the prize.
So here’s a low down of how it all happened ~ Last October me, my brother & my Pa (as well as cousin John) ran Manchester marathon, my Pa declared his retirement from marathons (with a GFA in his back pocket & that at 71 he felt he wasn’t competitive anymore and the training took its toll). I grafted through that marathon, then Manchester again in this April and then Chester in October to eventually secure my GFA QT and we both entered.
The marathon is life in a few hours, every emotion under the microscope, every mindset handed to you to deal with. So many experiences in that relatively small window of time, so many stories coming from those “one foot in front of the other” miles.
I know how knobby it sounds but I know how true it is.
A bloke asked me “are you expecting a sub 3hrs 50.”
My reply was “I expect nothing from madam marathon, I do my training and then I ask her nicely for my outcome. You can’t expect anything from the marathon, you’ve just got to give your polite request.”
There was a point in the marathon where my head said that I didn’t have it in me. I’d written my Strava update in my mind about how I was out of the marathon for now, how I’d given it what I had but that I wasn’t good enough. I then checked myself, had I really given it all I had? Was I prepared to give it away before the finish line? Had I done enough? Would I be proud of the attempt I’d made? THAT quick fire questioning refocused me. I wasn’t prepared to give this away before the finish line. I wasn’t prepared to leave anything in the final miles. I had to push on and see.
I did it!
I know I have more.
I know the marathon owes me nothing and not to expect anything from her. BUT that’s why I love this dance 💃 and you can’t do get be unhappy with running faster than you ever have before over a distance now can you!?!
📆 12 months
⏰ reduced by 25 mins 32 seconds
Not to shabby I don’t think 🤔 (although I know there’s still a stack more).
I was only 55 seconds inside QT so wasn’t hopeful to get in (Pa had about a 20 min buffer)
Yesterday we both got in.
I’m not sure I’ll ever be able to set a goal like that one again 😔 Not something that means some much, right in my soul!
Now, we just both need to get to that start line fit. 2 veterans, 2 GFA athletes – let’s make it 2 medals and many memories
