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I did it! 13.1 miles in 2 hours 7 minutes. I’ve had such a brilliant day.

Last night I ended up having a major muesli binge, seriously, I must have ate at least 800 cals of the stuff I just couldn’t stop! I’d love to know what causes me to do that. Anyway, I was up nice and early to have my breakfast which was a bowl of Rude Health Fruity Date porridge made with 1/2 cup of oats, 1/2 cup of skimmed milk and 1/2 cup of water. I added some agave syrup and topped it with half a banana.

Me and the hubby made our way to my parents who gave us a lift to the metro. When I started to see all the other runners I got so excited! The rain was pouring down at this point so when we arrived in Newcastle we waited in the metro station while I got my timing chip attached and my race number pinned on and downed a Beet It Shot and snacked on a few dates.

We started to make our way to the starting line and I thought it would be a good idea to go to the toilet. The lines for the portaloos were just ridiculous, I had to wait for 30 minutes! We continued to the starting line and I grabbed a bottle of the new powderade zero. The starting line was huge and really long. There was so many people it took us ages to get anywhere near my zone. I thought I’d better make another trip to the loo, and again the lines were massive. I waited for ages then a steward came and said we had 10 minutes before they would close the zones and we would have to start from the back. I was not amused.

Please forgive the photos of me today, obviously I was make up free and looking a bit on the dodgy side!

I had to abandon the toilet line and hurry to my zone. Now when I signed up for the race 7 months ago I honestly thought I’d be looking at between 2.30 to 3 hours to finish, therefore I was placed in the second from last zone. When I eventually got there it was closed and I had to just get into the last zone. It took 40 minutes from the race actually starting to crossing the starting line.

I hadn’t realised but my lovely hubby was waiting on the side lines just passed the starting line to cheer me on. He got some great photos:

 

He even got an action shot of me!

The run itself was fantastic. The crowds were amazing and the atmosphere of the whole thing was mind blowing. Running over the Tyne Bridge is something I’ve always dreamt off and was fabulous!

I did get frustrated as being suck near the back I had a lot of slower runners and walkers to try and over take, I spent a lot of time weaving around and between people to get past. I really think this affected my time in the end. Some parts of the route got so congested with runners I was stuck at a near walking pace. I never thought I would say this but for me the run didn’t actually feel that hard until the very end! I really feel I could have run a lot faster without the congestion. The crowd were so motivating and the Cancer Research UK volunteers shouted my name and cheered me on when I passed them it was great! At mile 8 I grabbed some dates from a little bag in my pocket to keep me going. There were a few inclines but nothing too bad until mile 11. There was a killer hill which was tough! Then you hit mile 12 as you turn on to the coast road and see the sea, that was such an amazing feeling! Mile 12 seemed to last forever – I was giving it my all and sprinting it out, the finish line just never seemed like it was going arrive!

Crossing that finish line was one of the best moments ever! Almost as soon as I crossed the line the torrential rain started. I managed to get my finishers bag and then spent ages trying to find my hubby and parents. I called into the Cancer Research UK tent. They thanked me for taking part and gave me a banana which I pretty much inhaled! (I’ve never seen so many bananas in my life!) I eventually found them and immediately downed a vita coco coconut water and ate a home made spelt wrap filled with peanut butter and half a banana, plus an apple which I’d asked them to bring for me. I also had a scoop of vanilla whey mixed with water.

Then I posed for my victory pic!

After waiting in standstill traffic for an hour we decided to cancel our booking at the Italians and get food in South Shields. Everyone else had Fish and Chips but I just could stomach that so I had a Subway – Turkey with salad and sweet chilli sauce in a 6 inch wholemeal roll.

My Mam also treated me to an ice cream – toffee fudge with chopped nuts.

Delish!

Now I’m home, my legs are aching and I have a headache but I’m still buzzing. It was just amazing to see so many people running for so many charities. Very inspiring! I’ve raised over £400 for Cancer Research UK. I’ve just eaten an Eat Natural Bar from my finishers bag with a lovely mug of green tea.

I’m trying to decide what else I might munch on before bed! Tomorrow it will be back to more restrained eating so I may well make the most of it, especially since I missed out on my pizza!

Thanks again to everyone for all your good luck wishes, its meant so much that I had you all behind me today. I’ve also decided that I would like to run again next year and try and get in under 2 hours, I must be crazy! :-)