Ape-ril

[marathondan]

4. Banana splits

Here, thoughts started to form about how nice it would be to take a walk break. The crowd support was getting stronger and stronger, but I was getting less and less able to acknowledge their contributions. I resisted the temptation to walk for a while, but eventually came upon a significant downhill. Ah, I thought, descending is bad for the quads, why not walk this? So I slowed to what I told myself was a power walk, arms swinging. Pace had been around 11 min per mile, so as long as average pace for the current segment stayed below 12, I was happy. I felt a bit shameful, walking along the margin as the crowd encouraged me, but I think they were sympathetic. Bottom of the hill achieved, I returned my jog, to whoops from the supporters. And it helped - the legs really felt rested after a couple of minutes off.

Somewhere around here I clattered into the back of a runner. I was probably graciously acknowledging the cheers of my thousands of fans, and before I knew it, she had sneaked in front of me. We both staggered heavily but fortunately didn't fall. I tried to express concern as best I could, via the face of a growling gorilla with huge, clawed hands. My toes on both feet got severely pressed into my shoes, and the pain of that was actually a useful distraction for a mile or so.

I was now on the fast side of the two-lane runner highway. In previous years, the other side has been a steady stream of strugglers and stragglers, already heavily run-walking and facing a long day. Today, at my slower pace, I passed the sweeper, a big green tractor with brush implements, having a go at diverting the thousands of empty water bottles into the margins. I suppose biodegradable paper cups would be too much to hope for in future? Surely Buxton haven't gained that much market share from Evian as a result of their sponsorship? They could still put their logo on the cups.

Through Blackfriars underpass - another good opportunity for a walk, this time on the uphill, and we were onto the Embankment, where the atmosphere is like a gladiatorial arena. The hot air blast of the crowd roar almost physically carries you along. The JDRF stand would be along here. Previously I'd noticed a big yellow sign saying "Customer Parking" right behind it, so I had a bearing on it a good 100m in advance. Positioning myself hard right, I moved in to hail Sweder, wanting to say something like "not much in the tank, but nearly there". Instead what came out was a simian grunt, as man and ape faced each other and shook hands. Once again, I truly felt boosted by the contact, and was on my way.

The final meeting of the day was to be with the family around mile 25. I'd scoped out the spot on Street View in advance, and again positioned myself hard to the right. I allowed myself one more walk, but made sure I was back to a run before the kids saw me. Scanning crowds for loved ones is always a frantic affair, bringing to mind mass disasters and missing person scenarios that fortunately most of us never have to contend with. They must be here somewhere... this is a good distraction... and there they are, kids all in Scope t-shirts. Keep going, they say, but I move in for proper hugs, and a few tears behind the mask.