Dave and Gem’s London Marathon Madness

I’ll do a proper post race update soon but currently focusing on walking straight, working and looking after the kids 🤣 The official race pictures are coming through which I will post but I had to share this epic photo - the smile on his face at the end says it all. The smile of a hero xx

We did it!!! 🥳🥹🥳🥹🥳🥹
Oh my days that was without a doubt (having the boys and wedding aside) one of the best experiences of our lives.
It was going fantastic until Dave twisted his knee at mile 14. Quick stop at the physio tent and he battled on until around mile 17 after a run/walk strategy and he insisted I went on without him. I grudgingly said goodbye and we carried on solo.
I crossed the finish line at 4:42:19 a little teary and overwhelmed. Dave was a flipping hero and soldiered on to finish in 5:13:50 (I have no idea how he did it - honestly he was in serious pain)
We’re on our way home feeling sore, tired, hungry and in shock that we did it.
Thank you all for the support, messages and donations. We love you all and appreciate every single one of you # #

We’ve been to the expo, collected our race bibs and checked in. The nerves and excitement are high. We’ll try to keep you updated but we will conserving phone batteries tomorrow so we may be a little off grid for a while. Don’t worry, there will 50,000 other runners plus volunteers keeping an eye on us 🤣🤣 Thank you all for your support - just making it this far is an absolute miracle # # #

The flat lay.

A rite of passage for any runner doing a race. Laying all your stuff out is a badge of honour and also a chance for you to constantly look back and check if you’ve forgotten anything 🤣 We haven’t added our nutrition on the picture as it takes up too much space!

ONE WEEK TO GO! 😱😱😱

I’d be lying if we didn’t spend the day checking the clock thinking ‘this time next week’. 🤣

My knee has been niggling again so I’ve made the (surprisingly sensible for me) decision to skip my last long run today to hopefully recover 🤞🏻 Hopefully this time next week we’ll be home, exhausted and sore but with a medal round our necks.

Thanks again for the donations this week. Only £122 to go to hit target 😍😍😍

TWO WEEKS TO GO!! 🥴😱🥳

Two weeks today we will be nervous as hell waiting in our starting pens. We (and the whole marathon community) have been eagerly awaiting ‘that’ email to confirm our colour wave and start time this week. Did you know that there are 4 different coloured start routes ❤️💛💚💙 that join up before mile 4 and different time waves?!

The running Gods have smiled upon us and by some miracle we both have the same colour route and time wave 🥳😍 We are

We have our running numbers!!! We’re all eagerly awaiting ‘the’ email which confirms our start time and place today. There is more than one starting route so we are hoping to get the same one 🤞🏻 Hopefully these will be our lucky numbers but I’m a little concerned mine ends in 911 🤣🚑🏥

Brutal 20 miles!

Had to walk, slipping and sliding may way through big chunks as the canal was so muddy. Got lost multiple times and mis-plotted my route on Strava so ended up through a hilly village. Finally conquer a mahoosive hill only for torrential hail to come battering down for the last few km (hail hurts on bare skin 🤣). Running out of energy and willpower and looked up to see a double rainbow guiding me back home. Got home cold, soaked and hurting like hell but the biggest run is done and the taper now begins 🥳🥳🥳

Less than 5 weeks to go now! 😱 We’ve both been suffering with a list of pains and niggles and Dave has had a tough few weeks with training. Luckily he turned a corner last week and blasted out a PB 5km and then a half marathon PB a few days later! 👏🏻🥳🥳🥳

Thanks to the In Laws (love you both!) we got a chance to do a short run together which was a boost for us both. The nerves are setting in, the fatigue is real, everything hurts but we can’t wait to cross that finish line knowing we have done something we never thought possible xx

Our official race vests have arrived! 😍🥳😱

It’s all starting to feel very real and scary now. Dave’s been suffering with injury the past 2 weeks and my knee has been protesting again. Fingers crossed the physio appointment yesterday does the trick 🤞🏻

Training is starting to reach its peak and it’s another big run this weekend. 6 weeks to go!