The day came, and the weather was scorching hot. Not a cloud in the sky; in fact, it later transpired this was the hottest London Marathon day on record. Ironic that I would have to run on the hottest day of the year so far (in April I hasten to add!) wearing black.
Still, as I stood at the start of this magnificent event, looking around at the thousands of runners around me, I just felt elated. To be part of something this big could not be wrong. Everyone seemed happy to be there, joking and chatting excitedly to one another. I remember speaking to a few people myself, nodding in the runner’s code at each other. There were also some amazing costumes and fancy dress on display, ranging from wild animals to people dressed as big planet Earth globes. It seemed that everyone was running for charity, which was fantastic.
I made sure this time to give myself a decent warm up before starting. I was stretching with the best of them, flexing my legs and muscles as if I was a professional runner. I was pretty excited too, and wasn’t even worried or thinking about the ridiculous distance ahead of me. This would be a day to remember! I was hopeful too of seeing some of my friends, who were in London and were going to see if they could spot me from the sidelines.
I vowed I would take my time to begin with; no mad sprinting off in the first few miles. It was boiling, the sun already hot on my skin. Looking around, I seemed to be the only one dressed in black. Ah, not true! There was a furry black gorilla further down the line.
