... is a person who's prepared to reach down and help remove the sweaty sock from a marathon runner who has siezed up post race and hasn't got anywhere to sit down to undress. ;-)
Today that friend was Neal Gibson who made the mistake of sticking his head in the shower changing rooms in Inverness just as I was utterly failing to get my second sock off. Thanks Neal, your help was much appreciated!
Of course, Neal wasn't the only friend I met today. Most notably there was the lovely Ellen Thomson who I first spotted being interviewed for the TV before the race and who I so nearly planted a big soppy kiss on her cheek during the interview. To my undying regret, I hesitated and missed the moment. Darn, could have been famous for a moment. ;-)
As I said in my last blog, I planned to take it easy and deliberately made my way to the back of the field before the start and had a nice easy run for the first couple of miles before I caught up with Ellen. We then ran together until the half way point, just enjoying the scenery, putting the world to rights and not worrying about our times. By the halfway point though, I could feel that I still had plenty of gas in the tank so to speak and took off to see how much I could make up in the second half. As we'd already taken 2 hours for the first half my sole aim was a sub 4 (and to try and enjoy it) and I'm glad to report that for the first time ever, I actually enjoyed the second half of a marathon!
Passed squillions of folk and caught up with a black South African who was as wide as he was tall. Not fat but lots of muscle. Sort of guy who looked like he could run through a brick wall as if it was wet tissue paper. Anyway, we got chatting and he was telling me about running the Comrades marathon, Coast to Coast etc. and I spent my time boring him with the WHW & Highland Fling etc. so I think it was quits. ;-) Anyway, a really nice guy and we helped each other through the second half. He finished a bit ahead of me with a PB so he was well pleased.
I finished in 3:53:18 (a PW I think) but in so many ways it was a positive experience so I'm happy. The weather was great, the company was great and it great to actually enjoy the second half of a road marathon. That said, I don't think I plan to do it again for a while as it really does get in the way of some great hill races but I might well go up for the 10K as my wife enjoyed the trip up and it was great to meet up with so many of the WHW "family" again.
3 comments:
Glad you enjoyed your day Tim. I spent the day wishing I was there. It is a bit of a dilemma - the 'sensible' thing is to rest for a bit after a long race, but I really missed not being part of Loch Ness today, and I'm sure I could have got round comfortably. Still, too late to worry. Well done to Muriel as well.
I can't believe you were oblivious to the welcoming party. We were screaming our heads off!
Congratulations. See you soon.
Debs x
What? Where were you??
Really sorry about that but I'm oblivious to just about everything at the end of a marathon (other than looking for places to throw up).
Nice to know you were there even though I completely failed to see you! ;-)
Post a Comment