Nerves build as the New York Marathon looms
Monday 31st October 2011, 9:22AM GMT.
I’ve done the months of training and spent more time in my trainers battling the elements than I would care to mention, and finally it will all come to a head on Sunday with the New York Marathon, writes Hannah Webster.
To say I am nervous is rather an understatement. Not even an understatement, it’s almost untrue. What I’m experiencing is a whole raft of anxieties, hopes, uncertainties and excitement swashed together under the umbrella heading of “nervous”.
I have never been to America before, and I am so massively excited about going to New York – the setting of so many American sitcoms and films I love – and running in the biggest marathon on the planet that I don’t quite know how to contain myself.
It’s a good and a bad thing that I have run a marathon before. The good thing is I have some idea of what I am letting myself in for, the bad thing is that I HAVE SOME IDEA OF WHAT I’M LETTING MYSELF IN FOR. You understand my conflict.
Thankfully all the travelling details, the hotel and the race registration bits and pieces have all been sorted by Sports Tours International. The company has sorted all that out and all we have to do is turn up the day before the marathon with ID and register.
I’m trying to focus in on the last six to eight miles of the race, which I know will be a living hell for my body. I ran the Great Birmingham Run the other week in two hours and 10 minutes and I badly wanted to stop at about 11 miles. I can’t contemplate running it twice at that speed, so my target is to finish the marathon in under five hours – or an average of about 11-minute miles. But in total honesty, if I can finish it without stopping to walk I will be overjoyed.
Through cake-baking and sponsorship, I’ve managed to raise just over £300 including Gift Aid for St Giles Walsall Hospice. It’s far short of my £1,000 target, but the plan is to just carry on making cakes and raising money after the event until I get there. If you would like to sponsor me (which I would appreciate more than you realise), my sponsorship page is at http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/hannahwebster.
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