Medal #24: The Virgin London Marathon 2010

Returning to London the second time was less nerve-racking than last year. Weather predictions in the week prior to the race had been for a sunny day, worryingly up to 22 degrees C. Thankfully, race morning was overcast, as we met the rest of the Asthma UK running team just inside Greenwich park for a team photo.

After this, I left PeakSteve at the entrance to the red start and did what I had done the year before - found a nice tree and sat under it for a bit. As I was perusing my course notes, a few spots of rain started to fall; unpeturbed, I continued reading, only for an absolute deluge to commence a few minutes later. At this point in time, I had to think about handing my bag in; so I had to make the decision as to whether I would hand my waterproof jacket in, or keep it with me. I was getting drenched, and I hate getting wet whilst running. I kept hold of the jacket.

I was very thankful for that, as it was actually a bit chilly whilst waiting for the start, hanging about in the pens; people around me were covered in goose bumps and a few looked really rather cold. Once we'd got going, I started to warm up (and it had stopped raining completely by the time we'd started) and took off my jacket at mile 2.

Once again, the atmosphere and support were amazing; in no time at all, it seemed, I was crossing Tower Bridge - and overtaking Richard Branson, would you believe! Soon after, I reached the Mudchute Runners' World support point at Mile 17, and immediately after that, the crazy AUK supporter team at mile 18.

The last few miles were once again more challenging, but I found the whole thing a lot easier than last year, and I can honestly say I enjoyed the day and the challenge. I only walked approx 0.3 miles out of the whole 26.2; which I am very proud of, compared to last year where I probably ran/walked from about mile 16.

My finish time was 4:50:58, nearly 22mins under my previous year's time.

Every single one of the officials involved, from the Expo to the finish line and beyond, were unfailingly cheerful, enthusiastic and helpful. What a wonderful bunch!

Medal #23: The Non-AUK 10K

This year, unfortunately, Asthma UK couldn't afford to run their annual 10K at Dorney Lake - so we upped sticks a whole 24 hours to the Sparks F3 5 & 10K at the same venue.

Having run a half marathon the Sunday before, and having done my last marathon-training long run of 20miles on the Wednesday, I wasn't necessarily holding out great hopes for this 10K run, but I was really pleased to knock nearly half a minute off my 10K PB to come in at 53:44. Predictably, the race was really windy due to the exposure vista at Dorney, but other than that the weather held out nicely.

Organisation-wise, this race was a definite Could Do Better. The car parking marshall was little more than a human bollard, not providing any direction; the race marshalls all seemed to have sore hands and a lack of voice box; and the goody bag was disappointing to say the least, considering the £20 entry fee. The medal was nice, though, and the race director who did the pre-race briefing was energetic and enthusiastic enough to make up for his marshalls' inertia!