Where I stood in a queue for a really long time

I'd really been looking forward to the Milton Keynes half marathon last Sunday but woke up with a sore tummy and a feeling of dread like someone was about to send me to the gallows.  I put it down to nerves and told myself not to be so silly, that it had been a funny week and a nice, long run with lots of other people would be just what I needed.  I also knew that my mum, her boyfriend and my brother were going to come and cheer me on and pick me up off the ground at the end so had a great incentive to make it all the way round.

 Arriving at Milton Keynes Central I headed for the station toilets as queues for portaloos are notoriously long at these events and I  thought I be clever.  Not so clever when I emerged to find the millions of runners that had traveled on my train from London were nowhere to be seen.  Neither were any of the promised signs to the race start anywhere in view.  Fortunately I found some other lost souls and me managed to navigate the avenues of Milton Keynes. For the very first time in my marathon endeavours I had made some new friends - running buddies and I felt like a runner!

The race itself was supposed to be flat.  Now I come from Peterborough which sits nicely on the edge of the fens so I have a pretty good idea of what flat is and this was a little hilly or "undulating" as race terminology would have it.  With every down comes an up and so by mile 6 and the sight of a slope I found myself nearly driven to tears.  I kept going - the trick is to keep on going and to be fair I had no clue what you do if you stopped.  I wasn't injured so an ambulance wouldn't appear and whisk me off so stopping probably meant I would have to walk back; so I kept on going.

By mile 10 I was beginning to enjoy myself.  I'd semi abandoned a personal best and decided just to run.  As I cross the final bridge I spotted my family waving, proud with their cameras and hand I remembered why I was doing it and why I running the marathon in April - it was for families everywhere and my Relate Virgin Marathon family.

Sunday was certainly not the high point of my training and ended with me and my mum and her boyfriend standing in a winding queue in the Xscape Centre for 1 hour 15 minutes waiting for to get my bags back but it was really worth it to make me remember just how important families are.