I survived! First I made it through the expo, luckily getting there before 10 am. Noise levels soon rose, though, so we left again at 12:30. I have to admit to feeling a bit smug when I saw the masses of people getting off the DLR as we left.
The next day, I woke up bring and early, feeling fairly nauseous with nerves, as usual, but remembered to drink water from early on. Breakfast was just a bowl of granola and yoghurt. No fruit. I then took the tube to Cannon Street, and quickly found my train. It was already pretty full, but I found a seat, so I had a comfy ride to Greenwich, and chatted to the runners I was sitting with.
I arrived there around 9, but it was already hot enough that I had to take off the sweater I was wearing. After dropping off my kit bag, I tried out two different toilet queues, and had my photo taken at both. The second line took so long that it was hard to get into my pen, even though there was plenty of time, but a marshal let me in.
I was in pen 7, and we didn't pass the start line until 10:40, so it only took about 3 miles for the heat to get to me. I had been consciously holding back, but I started recognizing the signs of heat exhaustion (not least my racing pulse), so I decided that I didn't want to be carried out on a stretcher and began walking. I had read that it's smart to walk in the sun and run in the shade, so I decided to follow that strategy. Thank goodness I was carrying my own hydration belt! But I still picked up lots of bottles on course, and kept refilling my bottle, pouring water in my cap, and squirting myself. I also used the showers quite a lot.
It didn't take long until almost everybody around me was mostly walking, which made it difficult to remember to run, but I eventually got into a sort of rhythm. I wasn't in any pain, but eventually my feet got really tired. Running was better for my feet, so that gave me the incentive to run more than I might have otherwise.
Despite the heat, my body was confused, so I made more toilet stops than necessary. I was especially annoyed by a long wait for the toilet, only to discover that I didn't have anything to do there! Since most people were walking, I found that anytime I ran for a good stretch, I got an amazing response from the public. They went wild just by seeing somebody running. I felt like a star!
I had supporters at three places: mile 8, mile 19 and mile 24.5. I don't know if I would have been able to get through without knowing I had them to look for.
My finishing time was 6:33, but I'm so glad I made it. Interestingly enough, Mapmyrun has my distance at a whopping 45.9 km! (Does this mean I did an ultra?) I had to do a lot of weaving to get around all the walkers, but that's a bit much.
The support along the course was really amazing, and I did feel that some of the people forced me to start running when I wasn't in the mood, so that's good in a way. I was even more impressed by the runners run/walking with friends who were having a terrible time, firmly talking them through the course. Especially considering the lack of water.
I really enjoyed the sights, and didn't find the Isle of Dogs too terrible. On the other hand, I only talked to a few people, so at times life on the course was pretty boring.
I accepted most of the food on offer - how can you say no to free ice cream and fruit? My cheese cubes partly melted, so I quickly learned to only eat a small mouthful at a time, but they seem to do the trick. I didn't touch my jelly babies. Like at Christmas, it didn't take long until I was unable to face sweets.
I'm glad I didn't write my report yesterday, or the tone might be somewhat different. Mainly because my brain was a bit fuzzy yesterday, and I was feeling more negative about marathons in general.
I'm also starting to wonder whether my presence at an international event always lead to a heatwave. Today I'm back to feeling that I have unfinished business with the marathon distance. After some stiffness yesterday, I'm feeling a lot less stiff than yesterday. My bad heel was a bit painful as usual at the beginning of the race, but hasn't bothered me since. And best of all, I don't seem to have any niggles, and my toes all look as good as they did before the race!
My chocolate coffee beans ended up as a sort of brown frogspawn, very far from appetising. But it's a pity you didn't fancy your jelly babies - it turns out that they are gorgeous heated up 
London Marathon (Report, better late than never) 
Swansea half marathon race report
And another VLM report... or what you should not do :)
