Thursday 4 February 2016

London Virgin Marathon 2015 London Calling part 2


LONDON VIRGIN MARATHON 2015
Part 2



The Aftermath.
Meeting with my friends and family was chaotic to say the least, but we eventually found each other amongst the thousands of other people. I’ve never been one to cry after running and this occasion was no different, all I wanted to do was EAT! Whilst my girlfriend and friends sobbed with emotion I was more concerned with eating the entire contents of my rucksack. Soon after this I demanded more food and we made a speedy retreat to Nandos!
Well derserved Nandos.


Runners high.
After fuelling on chicken, chips and coke I finally felt full and for the entire train journey home I felt giddy and happy. I kept looking at my medal and feeling chuffed with what I had achieved.
At home I relaxed in a bath and ordered more food, this time in the form of a pizza.
My body was still running on adrenaline, so I sat and watched the highlights of the day on the BBC. Still thinking at loud “ Wow I’ve done it! I was part of the London Virgin Marathon 2015!
I actually didn’t come down for 3 days!!!

Rest and recovery.
The week after, I learnt the importance of recovery. I rested initially for 2 whole days and to my surprise my legs were not too stiff or painful, Epsom salts in my bath helped and a recovery sports massage was gratefully received.
A few days after, I did an 2-3 mile walk and by the weekend I went out for a 3 mile jog and it all felt great. I kept the mileage low for another week and used a reverse taper to build back up.
I had sustained a few toenail injuries, but other than that I felt amazing.

Sweet charity
My decision to run for Age Uk was based on my relationship with my Dad's partner Linda.
 A few years previous, Linda had been diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease which had inspired me to run the Brighton Marathon 2014.
I had made a plan of how and where I was going to collect donations and my friends and family had supported me all the way.
At Christmas, I did street collections dressed as an elf, I had raffled a days annual leave, set up a regular fitness class with all money going to my just giving page and basically bombarded social media every week with progress reports and my just giving link! 
To my surprise I surpassed the Age UK minimum donation required and raised a massive £2,500! 
All the training and fundraising had given me an awareness of how vulnerable and lonely some people are and how lucky I was to have such amazing friends and family.
Lucky to have so much support from my family & friends.

Finally…..
My final thought from running The London Virgin Marathon for Age UK was how precious and fast paced our lives have become. We race around, we work hard, we play hard and we get so absorbed in our own daily dramas that we don't make time for a simple phone call home to Mum & Dad. We can’t spend 5 mins talking to our elderly neighbor and we avoid charity collectors in the streets.
 What if we stopped and thought about these minutes and seconds that we save by doing this, it would be minuscule in the grand scheme of things and hardly worth worrying about.
In the bigger picture you know in your heart that your Mum & Dad would love to hear your voice or see you more often, your neighbour would rejoice in a 5 minute conversation about the weather and that charity worker would have a smile on their face for the rest of the day just because you donated a £1 and acknowledged their hard work.
You don’t have to run a marathon to be charitable, you can start today, right now!
Go on, I dare you !


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