MY LIFE, MY WAY
My life my way
There are moments in life that stay etched in your heart forever. For me, it’ s the image of a little girl lying in a hospital bed, terrified she’ d never walk again. That girl was me. And now somehow, unbelievably, I can say I have run the London Marathon.
Arriving at the race expo on Wednesday, suddenly everything started to feel very real. I felt a wave of excitement and pride and just couldn’ t believe it was nearly time to tick this dream off the bucket list.
On Saturday I joined my role model Milly Pickles and her boyfriend Liam for a shakeout run, with the most amazing people from Coopah. On the run, I saw Big Ben and the London Eye for the first time and it truly hit my dad and me that, tomorrow, we would be doing this incredible marathon and this would be our final stretch of the race.
We did everything we were supposed to do the night before. Carbo load, magnesium, Epsom salts, foam roll, rest the legs, early night. I did experience a touch of sadness that the journey to this moment, the beautiful, emotional, and transformative experience, would soon be over. But above all, I felt so emotional to be sharing this whole experience with my dad.
The next morning, I woke up at a leisurely 6:30 am which felt so bizarre because I was used to a 3:00 / 4:00 am wake-up for a race. It was so nice to have a slow; relaxed breakfast and get dressed nice and slowly. It gave me time to soak in the moment and get my head clear.
The support crew included my mom, sister, her boyfriend, my boyfriend, my two best friends, and four cousins. En route to the start line I could not believe how organised it all was. You get allocated a colour( mine was blue) and each colour has a different start location. Within each colour, there are different waves( I was wave 18).
Once we got to the blue area, we ditched all our excess clothing because the day was much hotter than expected. I swapped my leg into the blade and Reade was in charge of keeping my walking leg safe— a very important job. We said our goodbyes to the family and off we went inside.
We had access to the accessibility tent which truly was a game changer. Having somewhere to sit, go to the bathroom, stretch, and get into the vibe made the wait so exciting. We then got called for our wave to start the race and before we knew it we were off.
5km went by in the blink of an eye, families were sitting on their pavements with braais and their camping chairs, a drum band, it was just the most amazing atmosphere. Then came 11km and we saw the famous Cutty Sark. All the runners were filming this amazing sight, but not me: I saw the Nandos just across the road. At this point, while I was loving the vibe, and soaking it in, I was also starving and could only think of a big, juicy, saucy burger. Unfortunately, there wasn’ t time to stop, so on we went.
Before I knew it, we were at 20km, just under halfway, and we hit the icon that is the London Bridge. Wow. The best part of this race by far. I cannot explain the vibe and how beautiful it was. Then we hit the half marathon mark and, from there, things just got louder. The crowds were eight people deep, there were DJs in massive trucks, water-spraying machines, and screaming supporters. Stompy started feeling hot but I knew my family was close. A half was the longest race I had done before this, so I was now going into the unknown.
All I wanted was to get a massive hug. Once I saw them, the emotions started hitting and I just kept
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