London Marathon 2016: My Weekend

And so, after six months of training, and more than a year of anticipation, it's finally over. Blood, sweat and tears have been shed over this monumental effort - for more on my reasons, take a look at my previous post, which provides an insight into my damaged mind.

Now, having only run one of these things in my life, I am in no position to hand out advice and information to anyone, however, there are a few observations I made that may be of use to future runners. Firstly, if you're fortunate enough not to live in central London, make sure you get a hotel close to the start line. The tube is mental at the best of times, but on the days around the marathon, it gets even more congested. Hotels aren't cheap either, as evidenced by the fact that I managed to get two nights in the Canary Wharf Hilton for less than the local Travelodge!

I went down on the Saturday before the race, giving me little time to register at the ExCel centre. And, as expected, the Saturday was extremely busy. Tubes were once again packed, making getting to the point a real pain. At the centre, you queue to get your race number and electronic tag to measure your race time, before entering the free for all of the exhibition.

My race number

Once inside, there are a couple of pieces of advice I can give. The first, and most important, is it will take longer than you thought, so make sure you have something to eat before you arrive. There is nothing worse for preparation that failing to keep your carbohydrate levels up the day before! In addition, while there is a lot of cool stuff on sale, don't make stupid panic purchases. I bought what Lucozade called their 'marathon pack' for £10, which consisted of two energy drinks, four packs of jelly beans and two energy gels. Now, given that they were handing out both the gels and the drinks like sweets on the day, that perhaps was not the best investment I've ever made.

Race Day
So, it's arrived. And inevitably, the first thing I thought was 'why the hell did I ask to do this?' This feeling doesn't abate until you arrive at Greenwich Park, and see people in a lot worse state that you. For instance, before reaching the start line, I had already seen a man dressed in a giant dinosaur costume and someone with a rocket on his back!

Before you're kettled to the start line, make sure you leave plenty of time to get that last drink in, as well as stretch out properly. As I lay here with muscles aching, I can safely say that despite the strong and often nauseating smell, I wish I had taken some form of warming muscle rub with me and applied before the start - it just makes the opening couple of miles that little bit easier.

So having finally started, 25 minutes after the race officially began, I completely ignored every piece of advice I had received pre-event. Having spent the first two miles jostling for position with the rest of the crowd, I looked at my watch to find I was way behind the time I had initially expected. In this position, the sensible thing to do would be to not worry about it and continue at your own pace. What I did was speed up to try and get back on track. Worst. Decision. Ever.

By 10 miles I was back at my normal time, but in order to do so, I had drained a lot of energy from the tank. As a result, by half distance, I was knackered, and my stomach started to feel empty. Before the race, everyone talked to me about the 'wall' that I would hit, and I had imagined that it would be upon me by mile 20 or so. What I realised on that day is we all have our own personal walls, and just be prepared to hit it and go through it regardless of what time it arrives. In my case, between miles 13 and 19, I struggled painfully. Every mile marker seemed to take forever to come by, and there were more than a few occasions where I simply felt like this wasn't possible (a key one being when I was overtaken by a man dressed as a rhinoceros!).

However, I, as so many others out there, was rescued by one thing: the crowd. It is absolutely true that during the race, every member of the crowd becomes a lifelong friend, cheering your name and encouraging you on. You also have no qualms about taking random bits of food from these people, be it Haribo, oranges or the one guy handing out pasta salad (a bit late, mate!). The crowd can keep you going beyond what you thought was possible, either from the support, or just creating moments that are unforgettable.

A few instantly spring to my mind. Firstly, some of the banners that are held up during the race are genius. There were a few occasions throughout the course where people held out signs with things like 'Power Boost: Touch Here' on them, while one man even went as far to attach a horn and hand out 'free honks' to the runners as we went past.

As I was running for a charity, I was also aware of a number of points that Mind had for cheering on its competitors. However, what I completely underestimated was the sheer number of people that would be at each one, and the effect that about 100 people chanting your name in unison would have as you went past. For both the 13.5 and 25 mile markers, I received a welcome boost, and I want to thank each and every person that turned out to support the team - it was an amazing effort!

There will, however, be one moment that will stay with me for the rest of my life. During one of my most difficult periods, I stumbled upon a man dressed as Jesus, carrying a crucifix along with him. Now, that is impressive enough as it is, but the fact that he was doing it barefoot led me to question his mental health. Nevertheless, the reaction he got from the crowd was justifiably amazing, and for me jogging behind him, to hear thousands of people scream 'Come on Jesus!', in that moment, there was literally nothing funnier. During the event, I also heard 'Come on Elvis', 'Come on Rhino' and 'Come on Postbox', but without a doubt the Messiah made my day.

Also, just a couple of quick points before I get to the end. Firstly, though there are a lot of iconic landmarks around London, and people make the point that the London Marathon is 'a great way to do the touristy bits' - it isn't. I can honestly say I don't remember going past many of the key landmarks - it all blurs into one. I can remember the following, and that is it.

• Cutty Sark
• Tower Bridge
• Canary Wharf
• Big Ben

Also, for those of you watching runners, prepare for your own personal hell. I was told that they closed Tube stations due to the high demand, making it almost impossible to get around the city centre (because that is what all of us up North have been paying for!).

However, after 26 miles of arduous, painstaking effort, enjoy the mall. The run in for me was one of my favourite bits, as I had got myself past the mental challenge and was cruising to the finish. I even managed to sprint the final 200-400 metres! The feeling of that medal around your neck is one of the best you will have, so enjoy it, and be proud of your achievements.

However, as I can tell you from the comfort of my bed, be prepared to cancel any plans you had for the next week, as you will lose the function of your leg muscles!

Thank you to everyone who has supported me through this journey, as it has been a difficult, and at times, emotional, rollercoaster over the last year or so. I have achieved what I set out to - I am now a marathon runner - and I couldn't have done it without you.

Before...

And after!

The prize!

London Marathon 2016: My Motivation

It's safe to say last weekend wasn't my average weekend. Whilst I've made a point of being more active and doing more things with my free time more recently, it's safe to say that running 26.2 miles around the streets of our capital wasn't initially what I had in mind!

Before I go into a bit more detail about the weekend itself in another post, I wanted to revisit where this mad idea came from. I briefly touched upon the topic when I wrote my first blog post about the London Marathon back in November, when the idea of running it seemed a good one, but I wanted to provide some further background.

From as young as I can remember, I have always struggled to control my brain. Things that other kids seemed to take in their stride, be it sleepovers, evenings out or simply going to school were at times a struggle for me. You see, I overthink things (as any AS-level psychology student could have told me if they've ever read my blog posts), reading far too much into any situation and seeing only the negatives. During my childhood, I was never diagnosed with any condition, with doctors often explaining it away as 'homesickness'. It is certainly true that my worst times were at particularly stressful moments - upcoming exams and my parents' divorce are two such examples, one considerably more stressful than the other, I do admit!

Over the years, I've found coping mechanisms and ways to alleviate some of my symptoms, but I've never been able to lead what many describe as a 'normal' life (though I am cynical enough to suggest that such a thing doesn't exist). As a result of this, I have often found it far too easy to isolate myself, with genuine friendships seemingly more difficult to build during my school (and particularly, university) years.

Apologies for the short insight into my clearly screwed-up psychology, but it is pertinent to my motivation for the London Marathon for two reasons. The first is simple; if there was any part of me that would have backed out of the challenge, it evaporated when I found out that Mind had places to run. As I mentioned in my earlier post, I have had family and close friends heavily affected by mental illness, and with my own personal connection, I felt this was an opportunity I couldn't miss.

For those of you that don't know, Mind offers support and guidance to any of the one in four people in the UK that suffer from a mental health problem, ranging from anxiety and depression to severe schizophrenia. In 2015 alone, the charity directly contacted 375,000 people through its local services, with thousands more either phoning its helplines or visiting one of its 150 sites across the country. Without doubt, the charity has saved countless lives, and while there may not be specific statistics that we can point to like survival rates for diseases, that is what makes the health problems Mind deals with all the more dangerous.

For those affected or interested to find out more, visit their website at http://mind.org.uk/. In addition, if you'd like to make a donation, visit my JustGiving page at http://justgiving.com/ANDREW-HAYWOOD3.

The second reason was much more personal. As I mentioned earlier, I have always dealt with stressful situations in my personal life quite badly, overthinking every eventuality and tending to opt for the 'plan for the worst' option, rather than just enjoying the now. This thought process, coupled with some confidence issues, led to the break-up of my only proper relationship. Lasting five and a half years, I had always thought this would be it. And like an idiot, I spent a long time planning the future (buying a house and all the normal stuff that follows) and thinking about things that could go wrong, and neglected what really mattered. Suffice it to say, the end affected me significantly, and nearly two years on, continues to do so every day.

Over the last eighteen months, I have had lower days than I ever thought possible, and have been fortunate enough to rely on my family for support. This has formed the foundation of my change in mentality, taking more chances and spending more time focusing on things to do now and less on the future. While this hasn't been enough to get me back what I lost, I hope it will make me happy in the long run, and has enabled me to do things I never thought possible.

Hence the London Marathon. I wanted to set myself a challenge that I could work towards, and a focus that would take my mindset away from overthinking in a negative way and channel it into something positive. The training was an enormous challenge, and getting out of the house for 8:30am on a Sunday morning for an 18 mile run was certainly among one the toughest moments, but knowing there was a bigger challenge to work towards was the key motivation, and really kept me going through the tough times, either during training or other areas of my life.

I'm sorry to those reading this post, getting to the end and thinking 'what was the point of that?' This has certainly been a cathartic experience for me, and has given me a platform to really describe, maybe even to myself, exactly why I took this on. I guess my point is simply this: it doesn't matter who you are or how bad you feel, there is always someone there to help you. And on a secondary note, that even when you feel at the bottom of a dark pit, you can still achieve more than you thought possible.