Day 7 - Marathon envy (and me in a wedding dress)

This morning I was like an excited child. I woke up and switched on the radio, excitedly following the interviews with elites and celebrities. Imagining the scene, empathising, sympathising, generally 'ising, It wasn't long before I was out of bed, in front of the TV, watching with anticipation. I took to running up and down the stairs with to tell Rhiannon of every tiny bit of news, such was my need to share the experience with someone. Eventually she was kind enough to come downstairs and spare me the need for this yoyo-like activity. We watched, and we marvelled. And I was still springing around the streets on the way to church, such was the residue of nervous energy.

I love the event, and this is the time of year when I get marathon envy. I always wish I was there, one of the nervous runners attending the Expo, queuing for the loos on raceday, waiting in the pens (wondering what that person dressed as a pantomine horse put as their predicted finish time to end up in the same pen as me), shuffling through the start line and getting swept along for at least the first 13 miles by the extroardinary support and the sheer magnitude of the occasion. I love it, and I keep entering the ballot, but no luck. I probably should run another marathon somewhere because I ought to be able to get the good-for-age standard which secures a guaranteed London entry. This always the Leicester marathon this autumn...

My friend Paul Hanson found this picture from the marathon on the BBC website. It looks uncannily like me in a wedding dress. It's so convincing, even I think it might be me. I'm fairly sure I wasn't there though...

Meanwhile, I can report that I feel a little tightness in my calves after yesterday, but still no pain. That's good.

So let me finish by simply listing the impressive achievements of my Barrow Runners clubmates. Today belongs to them.

2:24 Stuart Spencer
2:46 Alex Toll
3:12 Helen James
3:30 Bomber Harris
3:31 Alex Palmer
3:52 Dean Tonks
4:00 Sarah Morley
4:09 Elaine Pladgman
4:13 Alex Blossom
4:16 Alison Newill
4:42 Pauline Bawtree
5:47 Norman Harding