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The Studio Project / Marathon Fundraiser /
40th Birthday Celebrations / Lambeth Country Show
Amsterdam Marathon
October 15th 2006
At 10.30am I began running at the start of the 2006 ING Amsterdam Marathon, my first marathon, along with 20,000 other brave and possibly foolhardy runners.
Pumping techno music, a fleet of hovering helicopters and thousands of cheering fans, including my wife Mandy, sent us on our way out of the Olympic Stadium.
3 hours and 49 minutes later I crossed the finish line in the Stadium, feeling a lot better than I had any right to after running all that way. My sprint finish took me past the group of Dutch runners in business suits(!) I had been vying with most of the way round the course.
I had trained for this day since the start of May and the endless miles pounding the streets round Wimbledon had taken their toll. I developed a hip (Piriformis, actually) injury towards the end of the summer which seriously affected my longer training runs, which resulted in me not being able to run further than 15 miles before the big day. Several physio and massage sessions helped me get to the start line but it was a sizeable step into the unknown, well, several thousand actually, to tackle 26.2 miles. My biggest fear was that the injury would seize up and I would not be able to finish, which would have been a minor tragedy after all that hard work, and all the amazing support and sponsorship I had received from everyone.
I started off slowly and steadily, letting hundreds of runners go past me, including many of the elderly and the fancy-dressed. It was a little disheartening, as I knew I could run faster than that, much faster, but I knew I had to run my own race to get round in one piece. The injury was sore, (it’s like a deep sciatic ache in the buttock for those who want to know) for the first 10 miles or so but after that it just seemed to blend into the very general aches and pains – everything hurts after a while!
When I was half way round (13miles/21k) I felt quite good, despite the pain, and I knew I would be okay. In fact I began to speed up and ran the second half of the Marathon about 7 minutes quicker than I had run the first half. It was a good feeling to be cruising along in the later stages while hundreds of people walked or had dropped out completely, many of whom had sped past me earlier in the day. (Ha!)
At the 30k mark I turned a corner to find my cheering support team (Mandy, Debs and Dan), which was a huge lift after two and a half lonely hours. It is such a physical and psychological challenge to even attempt a marathon, a runner needs to draw on every ounce of strength within to get through the tough moments, of which there are many. I found the last 10km quite an emotional journey, but in a very good way; and as you could imagine it is a wonderful feeling to cross the line and fall into the arms of your loved ones – when you eventually find them that is! It took me a few minutes of waddling around aimlessly, as I didn’t know where they were in the stadium.
Once again I would like to thank all my generous supporters who helped raise £1,702 for Rathbone.
We had a great night in Amsterdam to celebrate, it’s a great city to celebrate in, and several cold beers went a long way to killing the pain and helping me forget my faintly ridiculous Charlie Chaplin-style walk. If you are planning on running a marathon at any point in the future be warned – going downstairs for a few days afterwards is a painful and faintly embarrassing experience.
Would I run another marathon? Possibly, but maybe not if I have to run through so much pain again, and if someone else would care to take up the baton next year they have my wholehearted support.
Thanks again.
Shaun
