The London Marathon

Tommy and Inca got back last night from their wonderful holiday in Ibiza. They stayed in a B&B that was on the quiet side of the island with wonderful swimming coves and had a relaxing time. Tommy went off to find some fuel and was lucky to find a garage that still had some diesel.  They did their laundry late last night and then this morning I was up early and ironed it so it was ready to pack, as they went back to university today. Inca left early this morning to meet her dad who was driving her back to Cambridge while Tommy started packing up his stuff. 

Gavin left home early this morning as he was running in the London Marathon today. I walked Xena, back home for a coffee, and then Tommy dropped me off at the station so I could go up to London to see him coming in. 

I had been tracking his progress and he was doing much better than expected, but as I was coming out of the station he phoned me to say that at 21 miles he collapsed and was currently in the St Johns medical tent. He had been doing so well, he came through the halfway mark in 1 hour 45 minutes and was on track to finish in 3 hours 40. However he suddenly felt all tingly and fainted, but two kind runners picked him up and walked him to the nearest St Johns tent. They checked his blood pressure which was extremely low and he was slightly dehydrated. They gave him electrolytes and said an ambulance would take him to the end of the race to collect his stuff but it was a 3 hour wait as the ambulance could not get through the crowds!! He decided not to wait but to walk the rest of the race - so after signing a disclaimer he left. Of course he did not walk all of it, he ran the end bit very slowly and despite the 25 minutes of lost time at the St Johns tent he finished in 4 hours 36 minutes. He is a very determined person (and a bit foolish!).

This year the marathon had 45,000 runners, it is the biggest fund raiser for charities in the UK as if you don't get a placement on the ballot you can enter through a charity and have to raise funds/donate money to a charity. Gavin enjoys this marathon best of all as he says the crowd support is like nothing else in the world, and of course it is all for a good cause. He donates every year to Whizz Kidz and over the years they have been very grateful for his funds raised and donated.

It was very busy today and there was a lot of police presence. They were anti vaxxers holding up banners which many supporters, and even runners, did not like and told them very explicitly what they thought of them! It sometimes got a bit heated and the police had to politely calm them down. 

I have added some extra photos here of the marathon. The race goes past all the iconic London landmarks and in this image the runners are passing Westminster.

We are now home and Gavin is feeling absolutely fine, but he will be sore tomorrow. And he has confirmed that that was his very last marathon (but he said that last time!) Tommy has now left to go back to university and we will miss him very much.