Welcome to my Life

The day had finally arrived and with a restless night because of nerves I woke up at 5.45am to grab a bowl of Porridge as they tell you to eat at least 3 hours before the race. As the traffic was going to be bad I packed a change of clothes and shoes into a bag and got dropped off at Bristol around 7:45 and made my way to the runner's village. It was quite empty at this time with only a few people walking around. I made my way to the charity tents and had a look around before bumping into one of my sisters friends who was one of the organisers. After a quick chat I climbed up on this wall and sat down next to another runner. After a while we broke into conversation and when his mate turned up they told me what to expect of the day.
Once the tents were open to hold your bags I made my way over and dropped off my bag before heading towards the lucozade area and picked up a bottle.
After a while everyone started to make their way to the start line and after a delay we were all off, running into Bristol was nice and as everyone was running at a slow pace it was idea because of my knee. After the first mile I needed to run a bit faster but it was hard work as I had to weave in and out of everyone which took a while. After 2 miles I caught up with this guy who also was running for Cancer research, he told me that his Wife had to stay at home and watch the kids but he had another friend running with him. This was also his first Half Marathon. I told him I was concerned about my knee and he was very supportive. We also passed this couple in a camel outfit (pictured below)

After about 5 miles and two water/energy stations my knee started to hurt a bit and the guy I was chatting to stopped as he had a call of nature so I was back on my own. 2 miles later he caught me up but my leg was starting to hurt so I told him to push on while I started to walk. I only walked for 30 seconds as my legs were so numb I decided to carry on but by the time I did the guy had gone so I was on my own again running next to this guy in old ladies clothes with a Zimmer and a blow up croc on his back. He was great, shouting all the time and keeping everyone smiling and laughing. At 8 miles I lost him but as I started running back down the portway I gave him a little shout of appreciation.
Just before 9 miles I got chatty with this woman called Nicky and as we ran we chatted about the run and training and life, it's nice to run with someone because it takes your mind off the distance left and it makes the time fly by. 3 miles later I had to slow down as my knee was killing me so I lost her but just before 12 miles I bumped into another of my sisters friends and ran with her all the way to the finish. After finishing my legs was numb but 60 seconds later all pain kicked in and I felt sick and could hardly walk. My knee was killing me and I had to limp. I grabbed my medal and foil sheet to wrap around me and grabbed loads of lucozade before I left for home and a nice hot bath.

I have just checked my time and it was 2hours and 20 minutes which I think is quite good as my knee had forced me to run slower then I normally would. It is a shame as after all this training before my injury the speed I was running at I would have finished in 1hr 45mins but at least I have raised nearly £500 for my charity.