I made the maps in the images so that my friends could know where to stand and hand me mars bars/bananas, just in case any of them got up in time to cheer me on.
And below, in my longest entry yet, are the general thoughts running through my head on my first, and probably last, ever marathon.
0km : Oh God it's freezing!! Why didn't someone tell me it would be this cold! This is Turkey! I can barely feel my feet! Just start the race, please!
1km : Wow (view over Istanbul from the bridge)
2km: Will these fat people get out of the way!? How did they get in front of me in the first place!?
3km: Ah, good; I can feel my feet again.
4km: Wow, people are already dropping out!?
5km: Is that...is that "Gangnam Style" they're playing? Oh no, that's gonna be stuck in my head now.
7km: Hey, that's my flat!
10km: So...where are the toilets then? I was told they'd be everywhere.
11km: WHERE are the toilets...there are just too many people around to just go in the trees.
12km: Sod it, I'm going in the trees.
13km: Ahhhhhh...
14km: Oh, this is so much better with an empty bladder.
15km: Well, this is surprisingly boring.
16km: Apples!? Whose idea was it to give out apples!? Where are the Snickers and Mars bars! Or even bananas! Do I really have to nibble on this!?
17km: op! op! op! Gangnam style - oh no, not that song!
18km: Genius! Whoever thought to hand out apples! What a huge energy boost! Where's the next apple stall?
19km: God this is boring.
20km: op! op! op! - NO! stop it.
21km: Half way! Great! Although...this is only half way, and my legs are starting to ache.
22km: Oh wow, there's the race leader. Kenyan. Of course. But wait...if he's running the other way, and the next turn is about 5km away...he must 10km ahead of me. Urgh.
23km: And there goes 2nd place, 3rd place, 4th, 5th...I might just count all the people running the other way to keep me occupied...6th, 7th...
24km: ...416th, 417th, oh forget it!
25km: Right, maths time. 2 hours and six minutes at 25km. So to predict my final time, I'll divide that by 5 is which is about 25 minutes? Times 8 is 180 minutes? What's that in hours? Oh and it's not 40k, it's 42...oh my god I've forgotten how to do maths!
26km: Come on, where is that turning. And where is all the support. And what is the 8 times table!?
27km: Yes! The last turn! Now all along the sea-front to the finish and...oh #"*#^*"!!!!!! The wind! The wind is right in my face! This last 20km is gonna be hard...or is it 15km? Oh no, my maths!
28km: Op! Gangnam style! ArgH!!!
29km: Yeah, ok, my legs are hurting now.
30km: My feet! They are swelling up so much! It's like someone is pumping them up with every step, they're gonna burst out of my shoes.
31km: My knees! The knee caps feel like they're on fire!
32km: Right. So I have already run further than I've ever run in my life, my legs are really aching, and I still have 10km to go! This is crazy!
34km: Yes, another over-take...although I shouldn't feel so good, that 80 year-old has spent this long in front of me.
35km: Woah, wobbly legs. Nearly toppled there.. Must concentrate on running now (Oh, NOW I think of that).
36km: I can't feel my feet. Again! But everything else is aching! Why are my arms aching? And my neck, and back, even my hair follicles are aching!
37km: 5km left! Come on Dan, you've done this in less than 19 minutes before, you can almost sprint this. Come on Dan, you've got this now. Almost there, almost there, just run it home. Come on. It's all good now.
38km: OH god it's so far!!! What was I thinking running faster.
39km: Don't cry don't cry don't cry don't cry don't cry don't cry don't cry.
40km: No! Not cramp again. I WILL not walk. I WILL stretch it out and carry on running, and I will not cry!
41km: Yes! Finally turning away from the wind, thank Go...what...noo! Up hill all the way until the finish line!
42km: Cramp! again not now! I can crawl to the finish line from here! But I MUST run it, despite these people laughing at me stretching with only 200m to go.
42.2km: Thank. God. For. That. Never. Again.
My friends all met me at the last meeting point. No surprises there.
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