Following Court Assistant Tony Bown's epic run in New York, not to be outdone Past Master and Court Assistant John C Corp, entered his name for the 2009 London Marathon on April 26th , another wonderful effort by a worthy Joiner. You will find below John's thoughts on his fine effort:-
LONDON MARATHON - SUNDAY 26 APRIL
One of the benefits of living on Blackheath is that you can walk out of the front door and the start is 200 yards away provided you are an international. Having been allocated a red route place it was a slightly longer walk to Greenwich Park to join rhinos, soon to be marrieds in wedding gear, miscellaneous weirdoes and not a few ordinary runners. Fifteen weeks of training over, this was it. On a beautiful morning under a clear blue sky, thousands of us started to shuffle forward at 9.45 as the starter gun sounded to commence the race. By 10.00 I was over the start line activating the timer chip attached to my shoe and breaking into a comfortable pace with plenty of space.
Being a Londoner, I had covered the whole course at some point, most of it in a car, so taking in familiar places at a slower speed was interesting let alone enjoying the mischievous pleasure of running in the middle of the road! Similar feeling to walking the City streets in the Lord Mayor's parade.
Memories?
The generosity of my sponsors. The vast crowds along the whole route, the ever increasing heat of the Sun, the wonderful taste (towards the end) of Vittel water and the outstanding organisation of the whole event from start to finish. Running past my daughter's house with husband Mark playing Blueberry Hill on his trumpet at full blast. The irritation of beginning to get cramp just above the knee at mile 19 which cut back my pace. In the end not as badly as I thought - I went out in 2 hours 23 mins and came back in 2 hours 47 mins for total time of 5 hours 10 mins 29 secs although I had secret hopes of 4 hours something. The roar of the crowd driving you on over the last mile down Birdcage Walk and turning into the Mall. Seeing the finishing line and realising that I was just going to better my target of a 5mph average or 5 hours 14 mins. The feeling of exhilaration rather than exhaustion after finishing. Three glasses of Champagne followed by a massage and a shower at the club in St James's hired by Action Medical Research as a thank you to the fund raising runners. No stiff joints the next morning!
The Achievement?
Raising £2,781.20 to date for Action Medical Research with a further £251.25 coming via Gift Aid
Would I do it again?
Yes