Newham elected Labour mayor, Sir Robin Wales, set us off alongside local hero and Olympic 400m champion, Christine Ohuruogu. There were 3700 starters and I took 1 hr 18 mins to finish (I was pacing Mrs Grayee – this is my excuse and I’m sticking to it). Apparently I came 104th according to my “age group and gender” which sounds better - whatever it actually means.
It was to my mind pretty cruel for the organisers to make us actually run past the finishing line at the 6k point!
Fellow West Ham Labour Party and UNISON member, Forhad Hussain, was with us at the start while the first person I saw at the end was Harvinder Singh Virdee who was a “Newham volunteer” (see pics). While Labour Councillor Ayesha Chowdhury also took part but I did not see her.
It was all in all a good day and I look forward to next year’s event. I was going to run today for the Charity “Alone in London” but I am planning an “off road” ½ marathon later this year and think I will raise more money with a longer race.
I am currently losing the race with middle aged spread and have decided that since I am too weak and greedy to cut the calorific intake I will have to expand the calorific output. So I am aiming to take part in a full marathon early next year (even though I swore blind I will never do another one).
The friendly atmosphere; good organisation; blue... blue skies and loads of early spring sunshine of today leads you into such rash promises
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