Yvonne Thompson: Marathon Woman

Dear Operation Black Vote readers:

80's soul band Frankie Beverly & MAZE sang my marathon experience step by step, breath by breath perfectly in their hit record "Joy and pain... sunshine and rain"...others might say agony and ecstasy, no pain, no gain, tears of joy and tears of pain, and so on.

Bright, sunny and no going back...the big day came. Was I ready for it? OMG - no way, but as most adventurers, entrepreneurs, and people who generally live their life on the edge would...I felt the fear and did it anyway!

I won't give the mile by mile commentary, but having trained only from beginning of April, having bruised my little toe doing yoga, which was still swollen on the day, having walked into the edge of a table, and bruised my left leg I ran with a list of injuries which was added to by me carrying an undigested full English breakfast for 26.385 miles. I need not describe the consequences of this.

What I would say is that the marathon is an event of epic proportions, and I can only admire and congratulate the organisers for the military precision with which they attended to the needs of over 37,000 Runners, not to mention the thousands of supporters who came out to push the runners on. The teams of volunteers ensuring you have water handed out nearly every mile, sponsors Lucozade ensuring you have isotonic drinks handed out around every four miles, and carbohydrate gels available about every 6 miles.

I trained alone, I did not invite anyone to support me on the run, and I ran alone, therefore the stream of supporters shouting my name baffled, and sometimes even annoyed me, until I remembered that my name was printed on the front of my t-shirt...daaaa! Anyway after the first 10 miles, support of the crowd came in very handy - especially seeing the children who enthusiastically held their hands out to give you a passing hi-five, energy sweets, fruits, drinks, and Vaseline for places you would never believe would become sore from running.

Joy: It was an amazing atmosphere all the way through the run especially seeing the diversity of age, and race, of runners. It was truly a fun day with characters from Micky D from Mc Donald's, The Ommpaloompas (I hope I spelt that right) The Wombles, The Axe Man, Snow White, King George(including his madness), Queens, Princesses, The cookie monster, baby in nappies, the Blackpool Tower and even the Jamaican Bobslay Team... Cool Running's to name a few.

My race strategy on the day was to secretly use an unsuspecting runner as my pacer. Even though I knew nothing about her she seemed to be keeping the pace I was comfortable with - she kept me going. Thanks to her, I kept my pace by ensuring she was always in my sight throughout the marathon.

I was Wombled, Tangoed and Smurfed as they ran by, but I was most amazed, and a little embarrassed to see was how many people, in their 60s, 70s and above ran, and at one point even walked pass, and probably finished before me. It was at that point I had already decided to train properly and run again in 2013!

Pain: This started early on in the marathon. As mentioned in my wisdom I decided to have a full breakfast before running, so I could last the whole race without losing energy or getting hungry. How did that work for me? I ran with undigested breakfast the whole 26.385 miles. After settling to my pace, the run was great until I reached 12 miles. Around half way was when the creep of aches and pains started seeping through. But keeping my eyes on the prize, using Usain, my charity Build Africa, and most of all my Grand Daughters - smiles, I huffed, puffed, focused, and kept going. I found the most difficult part was running through the Docklands. This was an area I was not familiar with, and this I think made the miles in this part of the race seem much longer.

Sunshine: Most of the run was great weather. The sun shone the majority of the race, which was too hot for me. Then it got windy in the Docklands. This was where it got difficult again. They say it is between 18-20 miles is when most people hit "the wall". Well mine came at around 24 miles - by the time I came out of the tunnel at Blackfriars Bridge I was both physically and mentally drained, and this was when I had to use every atom in my body to keep moving. My hips, hurt, my feet were on fire, my swollen toe was banging, my shoulders and legs weighed a ton, I just wanted to stop! I just wanted it to end... but it was not over until - this "fit" lady sings. I was determined not to cry...but by this time I had no choice. I did not know why I was crying but, the tears just rolled out involuntarily and there was no stopping them; they were tears of joy as well as pain.

Rain: My last two miles was when the rain came, and were the longest of the race, hence rain drenched and drained I walked most of it. Turning onto Westminster Bridge with the end was almost in sight, the soaked supporters were still as enthusiastic as those at the beginning of the race. Coming into Bird Cage Walk I attempted to run the last 385 yards, and tried to lift my arms in joy at the finished, but I was too tired even for that.

In Pall Mall I was again greeted by the last of the supporters, and egged on to the finishing line. The "fit" lady had sung! I'd finished. I stopped, and could not walk again for a moment or two. Limping to the point where they take the time tag off your shoe; like others I was officially congratulated and handed my Marathon medal, my gift bag, and pointed in the direction to collect my personal bag.

Wrapped in my Virgin Marathon space blanket, I looked around at others who had been met, congratulated, and helped by friends and family.

Momentarily I looked at them jealously and hoped for, Team Thompson to run up and sweep me off my aching feet, before remembering I opted not to have anyone waiting for me in the rain. I put my jacket on, and using the rain to disguise more tears, limped towards Victoria Line and home.

The BIG Day came. It went. Job done and dusted, ticked off my bucket list, and already thinking about what to do differently for the 2013 marathon!

I now know how important training is, how much more I had to do in training, and remembering to take the organisers health and energy advice.

Most of all my admiration for the first man and more so woman past the post at 2hours and 4 minutes has increased a million fold. Also those "ordinary" runners who came in within the 4.30 hrs classed as average, who by my standards are anything but average.

I'd like to add my very best wishes to the family of Claire Squires. She showed the ultimate sacrifice of giving, and ran the race of her life, even though she was aware that with her heart condition it could kill her, she ran anyway, and posthumously raised well over one million for her chosen charity - The Samaritans.

To each and every one who took part, my sincerest admiration and congratulations... in this case it really was "the taking part, not the winning" that mattered. The event overall raised countless millions for hunreds of charities.

Last but not least The BIGGEST THANK YOU TO Build Africa for giving me an opportunity of a lifetime to make a difference, and feel great about it.

I would also like to thank them and highlight the great work they are doing.

IT'S NOT TOO LATE:

I want to thank everyone who donated to Building Africa. You raced with me through this fantastic journey. All who have promised to donate, and even those who have passed on their non-financial support, "Thank You". My donation page remains open to the end of May so those of you who are still thinking about it...it's time to ACT- please, please, please donate anything you can - every little helps.

Name: Yvonne(Radcliffe) Thompson

Event: Virgin London Marathon: Date: 22nd April 2012:

Number: 36048: Charity: Build Africa: Official Time:6.34 mins.