London Marathon 2012 Wk 24: Olympic Park Run

The clock is ticking. Far, far too fast for my liking. Now there is less than 3 weeks to go before the London Marathon 2012.  On Saturday I took part in the National Lottery Olympic Park Run.

I had thought when I entered that it would be "a walk in the park". After all.."it's only 5 miles", surely nothing to a serial 2 hr cross country runner such as moi? I've also been training for 24 weeks - don't you know!

Yeah. The run was b***dy awful. While the Olympic Park route and Stadium finish was wonderful the race was hard and exhausting.  It was good practise for me since when you run solo you forget what it is like to run with others who may get in your way or you in theirs.

There is also a competitive urge when you are amongst a pack of people which make you want to race rather than run or jog (my usual preference).

It took me 47 minutes (dead) to finish and at the end I felt utterly knackered. To keep to my training programme I had jogged from Forest Gate to Stratford to join the run and once I got out of the stadium I jogged (slowly) back home. The next morning I felt completely drained and very sore.

Of course the memory of running to the finish (see picture above) along the Olympic stadium race track while listening to the broadcast music from "Chariots of Fire" and spectator cheers was an unforgettable experience.

On Sunday April 22 2012 I will have to run 5 times plus this distance!

O-M-G.

I am running the London Marathon for a charity set up to prevent young people becoming homeless and helping them if they do. Check out "Alone in London". Click here to sponsor me on the Justgiving website or click below.