A Weekend in London
At the start of this year I entered a competition on Instagram. It was done by Eric Keeler and Run Through UK and I was lucky enough to win a free entry into the inaugural Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park half marathon in London.
I never win anything so finding out I’d won this the day before my birthday was a great early present. It also meant a night away in London for Steph and I which is also a rare treat as we don’t get to go away very often.
London Baby!
Our hotel was booked and we headed to London at lunchtime on the Saturday. We had a clear run up there, found our hotel easily and at the second attempt made it into the multi-story car park which was over the road.
We stayed at Moxy London Stratford, which is a pretty cool hotel. It was certainly different to the standard budget affair we normally go to.
Once checked in, we went out for some food. Not being the most adventurous of eaters, we played it safe and found a TGI Fridays which was actually really good.
We found that in the Westfield shopping centre which is absolutely huge. It literally had everything there and I’ve since found out its the biggest mall in Europe.
After we’d eaten we had a wander down to the Olympic Park. It was awesome seeing the ArcelorMittal Orbit all lit up in the dark. It was also a good little recce for where we had to go in the morning.
Race day
Race day was upon us and it was an early start. I was up just after 06:00. Once up and ready we went down for our continental breakfast, which was wasted on us as all we had was toast. Expensive toast too as it was supposed to be £12 per head for breakfast but they let us pay £6. Yep, £6 for two pieces of toast, welcome to London!
After breakfast we made sure I had everything I needed for the race and headed out. It didn’t take long to get to the race village, helped by our recce the night before.
The weather was cold and windy and the queues for the toilets were already long. I made the decision to use the toilet before the queue got too big then we had a wander round. There were plenty of stools selling or promoting things and the Olympic Park itself was looking good.
We bumped into Matt and had a brief chat then after a quick wee stop I did my warm up. Stripping down to just my shorts and vest exposed me to the elements but my warm up did the trick. I then made my way to the start line where I had a chat with Lee, who scored a massive PB.
On your marks, set, go!
We were soon off and running, Simon and I had agreed that this was to be a training run so I had to keep my pace steady. I happily let others fly past me while I tried to settle into a steady rhythm.
About half a mile in I realised I’d forgotten to apply my anti chafe gel to my legs. I never used to chafe but since Bridgwater half marathon last year its been an issue on longer runs. I hoped that as I wasn’t “racing” I might get away with it….
This was also the first half marathon I’ve run in a long time with no energy gels. I routinely do longish runs with no gels or water so I knew I’d survive without them. I’m not convinced they even do anything other than maybe the placebo effect of knowing you’ve got that extra glucose inside you.
We all soon found out that the course was really twisty with multiple turnbacks and a surprising amount of little inclines. I was plugging away quite nicely, cheering Lee and a couple of others on whenever I saw them.
So about the lack of anti chafe gel… around mile 8 it began to get sore between my legs at the top of my thighs. Believe me when I say, the feeling isn’t very pleasant and it only got worse.
I tried to put it out of my mind, knowing I could put some gel on it at the finish. And that’s glamourous side of running!
The sights of the Olympic Park were great and it was definitely a unique experience and one I would recommend to anyone looking to do this race next year.
Post race dash across London
I finished in 1hr35.46 which is more or less where I wanted to be. It was nice to finish though and the medal at the end was epic.
After a couple of post run selfies with Lee and Matt I grabbed my goodie bag, put some layers on and headed back to the hotel.
It was now a race against time for the second part of our trip to London, Wembley! Yep, I’m a massive Spurs fan and there was no way we were coming to London on a weekend they were playing at “home” without going to see them.
So after a quick shower and check out we made it on to the tube with enough time to get there before kick off. Until that is, we realised we’d left the tickets in my bag which was now in our car. So off we got at the next stop to go back to Stratford.
Luckily Steph remembered them before we went any further but it still meant me running back to the car. Yep, more running. Just what I wanted having already run a half marathon.
Thankfully the trains leave all the time so we were soon back on our way. After chatting to a season ticket holder who had also run the race we arrived at Wembley Park station.
Come On You Spurs!
After our little ticket snafu, I had resigned myself to the fact we’d probably miss the kick off. I was right, we missed the first few minutes. The main thing was that we’d made it.
This was Stephs first time watching Spurs live. We actually took advantage of her condition for the first time too, having joined the Spurs disability access scheme. This allowed me to get in for free as Stephs carer.
The day was a struggle for her as the amount of walking we had to do was probably too much but she toughed it out.
The atmosphere was surprisingly good, it rarely is these days at Wembley, and despite us being far from our best we picked up a massive 3pts.
I was delighted, Steph was pleased to have seen some goals, we won 3-1, and as we won she’s allowed to go again!
It put the cherry on top of a great weekend away. All that was left to do was travel back to Stratford before embarking on the long drive home.
So now its back to the grind of marathon training. I also have Newport half marathon coming up on 3rd March which I’m looking forward to. I’m hoping it’s going to be a PB attempt but we’ll see how things go.
