One week from right this second, I’m guessing I’ll be enjoying a post race EAB (Evening Adult Beverage) in a pub in London somewhere.
London is 6 hours ahead of where I live. It’s 2:30pm as I’m writing so that would make it 8:30pm in London. Something like that anyway and as the saying goes, “It’s 5:00 somewhere.”
It’s hard to believe that the London Marathon is almost here!!! After years of dreaming of running this race, it’s almost Go Time! Thinking about this has made me a little nostalgic. London will be marathon #12 for me.
How is this possible? It seems like it was just yesterday that MFH and I drove to Bar Harbor, Maine, for my first one.
What a trip that was. I’ll never forget it.
#1 Daughter decided she wanted to go. I’d never had anybody cheering for me at the finish of a race before and she wanted to make sure that I was cheered across the finish line. MFH (My Favorite Husband) and I decided that she needed a vacation as much as we did and made flight arrangements for her from DIA to Boston.
MFH and I met her in Boston, rented a car and the three of us drove north to Maine. We sampled lots of seafood. I was able to meet up with some online friends…it was as terrific trip!
At packet pick up, MFH and I got the map of the course. I was stressing in a major way about the course so we decided to drive it.
HUGE mistake!
Living on the prairie of Mississippi, well, we don’t grow the kind of hills here that they have in Maine! We should’ve taken a hint from the name of the race, Mount Desert Island Marathon.
http://www.runmdi.org/
Yea, there are real live, honest to God mountains on that island and we ran almost ever single one of them. As we drove the course the night before the race, I sat in the car and cried. MFH was grumpy and said, “Well, what are we going to do? Go home???” I sucked it up and toed the line the next morning.
You know what? October mornings in Maine are chilly! We huddled around the starting line waiting for the gun to go off and finally we were running. YAY!!!
What a pretty course! This race is a point to point race that follows the coastline of the Atlantic Ocean. Just beautiful! AND HILLY!!!
As I *finally!* came down to the last little bit of the race, #1 Daughter was there by the fenced off finishers chute. She, bless her heart, had been waiting for a few hours for me to get there!
She saw me running, threw her purse on the ground and about mowed people over running the last little bit of that race with me. Me, on the course and she on the spectator side of the fence.
She was yelling on the top of her lungs, “Goooo, Mom!!!” “You’re awesome, Mom!!!”
Now, I’m not a hugely emotional person but that did tug at the ol’ heart strings. That kid is the best!
That race was in 2013.
Now, here I am getting ready to fly to London and toe the line at one of my tippy top #bucketlist races. I’m so excited I can’t stand it!
Have I looked at the course? No. Way. I learned my lesson after that first full that ignorance truly is bliss. I have a general idea as to elevation and where to expect it and that’s good enough for me.
I have changed a lot since that first marathon. I ran that first full weighing 130lbs.
I’ll be toeing the line at London around 105-110…depends on how much I pig out when we’re there sightseeing and meeting friends. LOL!!!
There will be some UK friends cheering along the course along with MFH! Seeing friendly faces along the way puts a spring in my step!!! Their friendship and support means the world!
Happy Running, all!!!
#IRun4Aiden
