Kielder Marathon 2011 - or should that be Kieldaaaggghh

I did it. I managed 26 miles of the ups and downs of Kielder. My time was 4:50 - granted, that's quite a long time. My stats are: 142nd woman, and 778th out of 1100 odd. The weather was absolute pants. The run started in drizzle, continued in drizzle, an odd spot of sunsine around mile 18-20 and torrential rain to welcome those coming in at about 5:20. Those poor souls, how I felt for them !

Here's a photo of me, BB and CC. BB did the Run, Bike, Run. (duathlon) on Saturday and CC did the 2km run on Sunday. So, we've all got the t-shirts. Cute!

I am pleased to report that I ran about 95% of the course, and overtook many walkers (no disrespect to the walkers, it was a hard course). There came a point, around mile 22 onwards, when it was just as painful to run as it was to walk, so I ran to get there quicker.

I also realised that if I did this off funky-chicken thing with my arms I went faster up the hills - whatever gets you there quickest, right ? My thanks must go to my SIS (Science in Sport) gels for fuelling me through the miles, without the 9 or so of those that I took I am sure I would not have made it round with such 'ease'. Of course, the ample water at the aid stations also helped those gels slide down.

The only downside of my race was the nausea that set in at mile 20, which fortunately was just that. This wasn't something that I could have predicted, as I only trained to 15 miles, and I've only ever run 16 miles before. It was something I was aware of that could happen though.. At the finish, I was dragged off to the medical tent because I looked 'pale'. After about 5 minutes when the blood had returned to my cheeks, I was able to go in search of my BB and CC. By now, I was getting seriously cold and fortunately I was given the old tinfoil blanket that we've all seen people draped in. Boy, do those work ! It was like being wrapped in an electric blanket. Bliss !

The aftermath goes thus, after the race, I fell into a hot bath and went to bed at 8pm, exhausted. We travelled back to London from Northumbria yesterday so I spent Monday in the car, and today it was back to school/work and life as usual.

If I really, really had to run today, I could. But I won't. It has to be said that the nutrition, and the training paid off, and I am now seeking my next marathon, albeit a flat one next time, methinks...