Zoe’s Double Marathon Challenge for Charity

Edinburgh Marathon 2008 – Fund raising for The Guide Dogs Association

After four months of living, breathing and eating marathon, it has finally come to an end. I successfully ran the Edinburgh Marathon on Sunday 25^th May 2008 with an official finishing time of 3hr 53min 49 sec, placing 2350 out of 6600 marathon runners.

I’d like to say a big thank you to everyone who sponsored me. I am truly touched by your generosity and I am sure The Guide Dogs would want to thank you too. With your help, we well exceeded my original fund raising target of £500 and raised a staggering £1,396.48. It is an amazing effort on your behalf and together we managed to support the basic training of one guide dog (£1000) and feed another for an entire year (£250).

My Marathon Experience (42.2km/26.2miles):

The morning arrived with great excitement. Dosed up on sufficient amounts of Imodium and Ibuprofen, I was escorted to the start by husband and sister in law, where I decked out in the all too common black garbage bag. No points for fashion, but works wonders for keeping you warm.

Like cattle, I queued in the 4hr-4.30hr starting pen wiggling my way to the front with the Wombles. Once 9.00am arrived, the race started in stages. The front pens were let loose first and it took an agonising 5 min wait before our pen was turned free. My first instinct when our barrier dropped was ‘quick, get away from those Wombles!’ The last thing you want to do is run a marathon next to a womble, vegetable or super hero! After four months of hard yakka, I finally crossed that start line to the sound of bagpipes. This was it!

The weather was beautiful (strong winds though) and the marathon course was great! There were bands playing along route and plenty of sporadic cheering crowds. The first five miles were leading out of Edinburgh to the coast line. The course then ran along the coast for 13 miles, where it looped and came back upon itself.

It was difficult to manage my pace at the start and didn’t see a mile marker until Mile 3, at which time I discovered I had been pacing too fast. Despite getting off to a quick start (which can have adverse effects later in the race), it was really testing being overtaken by so many people. (I got my turn from Mile 16 onwards, where I began doing a bit of overtaking of my own…not that I am competitive or anything!).

My husband and sister in law were my cheering squad located between Mile 9/10, giving lots of encouragement. With the half-way mark approaching, there was no sense of relief as I still had the same distance to cover over again! However, I crossed the halfway mark 20sec quicker than my last half marathon race, setting a new personal best time.

From Mile 15, the elite athletes start passing in the opposite direction. Even now, I can’t decide if that was motivational or depressing. Knowing I was ahead of schedule, finishing under four hours was within grasp if only I could maintain pace. I began chanting in my head like a mad woman…’under four hours, you can do it, under four hours, you can do it..’

By Mile 19, things really start getting tougher. I would fiercely argue a marathon is by far a harder mental challenge, than a physical challenge. My longest training run had been 22miles, so I rolled this thought over and over in my mind, pushing myself toward that point. My quads were in pain; the lactic acid was worse than experienced before and I knew if my legs stopped running now, they would never get started again.

By Mile 22, I started to cover a new distance and was beginning to feel slightly faint. My mind chanting became more frantic and desperate…’6km to go, 6km to go, you can do it, 6km to go…’ ‘5km to go, 5km to go…’ ‘4km to go, 4km to go…’ the urge to walk was powerfully strong and each mile from 22 onwards seemed to stretch twice the distance, as if the organisers decided to play a terrible joke.

Mile 25…one more mile to go. No energy left, I was running on empty and it was taking up every ounce of concentration. I can only imagine the look on my face as being something close to constipation (I hope this description isn’t too vivid)!

Mile 26, I saw the finish line…but still had 320m before reaching it! The crowds were thick and the cheering was loud. Digging deep I found the last dregs of ‘oomph’ to pick up the speed for a marathon finish. If I had dug any deeper I am positive I would have fainted right there on the home stretch.

At 3hr 53min 49sec, I crossed the finish line. For the past four months, I had always imagined this to be highly emotional moment. I expected plenty of tears, broken muscles and blisters the size of Mars. But there was nothing. No tears. No blisters. No emotions. Not even a ‘thank god it’s over!’ I have never been so mentally and emotionally drained before, completely incapable of any feeling. I truly didn’t begin to enjoy the marathon until hours later and even now I still glow at the thought of my achievement!

I was thinking of entering the Dublin Marathon in October 2008, but the quote ‘you have to forget your last marathon before you try another. Your mind can’t know what’s coming’ rings so true.

Training for a marathon completely kills the social life, prevents you from drinking, dictates your evenings/weekends and leaves you constantly exhausted and hungry! After the marathon, you then find yourself walking down stairs backwards as your legs refuse to work the way they are meant to.

However! The sense of achievement in completing this mental and physical challenge makes every minute of the training worth while!!

Zoe Watkins xxx