As some people completed their first ever marathon in London yesterday, I ended my runstreak. After 374 days and over 800 miles, I didn't go for a run yesterday. The runstreak has ended. Even after feeling incredibly inspired by every runner that headed out to run, I just couldn't muster myself to get out and head out even though it would have only been for 10 minutes. I've run two 10ks and three half marathons over the course of my runstreak plus hundreds of training miles. I'm incredibly happy I did it for so long but it's time for the next challenge and yesterday saw me take another step (although still small) in the right direction with my training.
Before (many) runners were even waking up for those 26.2 miles, I was already out on my bike. I had 60 miles to do and I was determined to get them finished so I could be back home in time to cheer on the people who I knew were running. It was the toughest ride I've had so far. Some points I quite enjoyed it but at others it hurt. I never once thought about giving up and knowing that people were soon to begin running kept me going. At the turn around point I could not have been happier to know I would be finishing earlier than I thought.
I managed to get home just before 11 and swiftly turned on the TV. I set up the tracker online and watched as I saw the tiny men move round the map of London. I was gutted not to have been in the city at the time but loved every minute of tracking from my home.
One moment that really made me smile, even after a not so great ride, was knowing I hadn't missed Paula finish. In primary school I remember writing down that when I was 18 I wanted to run the London Marathon with Paula Radcliffe. At the time I didn't have a clue how the whole marathon thing worked so it seemed completely realistic. She was always an inspiration (and still is!) and seeing her finish her last marathon yesterday brought a tear to my eye. She is an absolute legend. Simply incredible.
So although I was hugely inspired and motivated to run I just couldn't muster the energy. All I wanted to do was watched as thousands of people reached their goals and completed something they'd worked so hard towards. I'm very happy that I stayed and watched. And now it makes me want to run London even more. Now I know about race entries and how it all works etc I've got my alarm set for next Monday when the ballot opens for 2015.
As much as I'd love to run a marathon I'm trying not to get swept away by the opportunities and focus on my goal for 2015.
2015 is the year of the Ironman.
Hopefully 2016 with be the year of the marathon and potentially another runstreak...My running hasn't completely stopped as I'm back out tomorrow for a long training run and many more over the coming weeks! 20 weeks to go...
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