Last year, Scott completed the London Marathon. My proudest wife moment, ever.
I am so glad not to be travelling to London this year and battling the crowds, having said that, it was incredibly well managed and we barely had to queue. TFL and the London marathon organisers did a brilliant job, as expected, considering how long it has been running. We knew where everything was and travelling was simple, I am good at working my way around London so that wasn’t a concern at all. From what I understand, Scott’s day was seamless too! Jenson wore his Dinosaur backpack to keep him safe and so we had an extra ‘pair of hands’ on him. Even so, it was an exhausting day, emotionally, mentally and physically and I just watched!
In hindsight, the day was faultless but the endless worries filled my mind all day:
- Would Scott be okay? I had seen on previous years people suffering injuries and some people even losing their life, it terrified me.
- Will we make the right spots? We had agreed meeting spots at the charity supporters areas.
- Will we miss him? I hoped he wouldn’t be quicker than us travelling on the tube and to be honest, he was quite quick. We were never waiting long at an area.
- What if there was another ‘incident’ in London? Need I say anymore 😦
- What if we lose Jenson? I had no intention of doing so, there were three adults and he had two hands to hold and his back pack for reinforcements!
They went round and round. I was actually the biggest problem, at 7 weeks pregnant, I was feeling awful, sick and faint and as a result we missed watching Scott finish. I was gutted; in all honesty, we wouldn’t have made it to the front to see him finish anyway but that’s beside the point. I had seen his train since he put his ballot entry in, chosen his charity with him and barely eaten all day though nerves and the fact I was carrying his second chil drew, I wanted to be there for him!
Scott got in to the marathon through the ballot so chose his charity, he chose Great Ormond Street, a worthy cause. We joined them at their supporting stations for T-Shirts and all things noisy for supporting. The atmosphere was amazing! How I managed to keep my hormones together baffled me as I was on the verge on tears all day. Jenson had whistles and clappers and was in his absolute element, he could make as much noise as he wanted. It’s hard not to make noise to be honest, I squealed when I saw him and cheered on many others.
The trickiest part of the day was the ‘finish’. The only place that everyone would be at one stage over the space of a few hours, carnage! There were areas to meet people and we agreed ‘C’ for our surname, there is little signal due to the amount of people in one area. C was infact miles away and he was invited straight up to the Great Ormond Street after party, they offered food, drink and a sports massage, naturally Scott went there first! Eventually, we received a text informing us of this and joined him. I burst in to tears with pride and relief, Jenson was so proud and immediately claimed ownership of Scott’s medal (we had prepared for this by bringing Jenson his own along)!
Whilst Scott has his massage, I sat and watched people finish and listened to runners tell their families of their journey and accomplishment as well as their troubles around the route, it was mesmerising. Every single person had a different reason and story for whilst they ran, some personal, some interested in supporting charities and some for their hobby. Each and every person sure deserved their medal and I felt humbled to even be sitting in the same room with them drinking tea.
The final stretch
I do, however, feel sad for Scott this year as the marathon approaches. I know that come the 2016 marathon, he will feel jealous, sad, proud and disappointed to not be running this year. I do think it is for the best though. He entered the ballot again for this year but wasn’t lucky this time. I wouldn’t be going to watch him with Emeline and Jenson anyway, it’s a bit too much with a breastfeeding four month old, even if she is beautifully behaved and a curious four year old. I am not ever sure how we would have coped with Scott’s training, it would have really stepped up in December but this would have clashed with the arrival of Emeline and running 20 miles every few days with a newborn and being sleep deprived isn’t the best training!
This year I will watch with admiration, as I will relive the day and emotions I felt. It was mindblowing. I will support friends who are also doing it this year by tracking this and rooting for them on Facebook, it is such a tough job and the effort that goes in to the training is such dedication, you need the sponsors and support from family, friends and strangers to see you through.
Good luck to you runners! Apparently, it’s worth every painful minute!
The Childs Family 