I'm Finished.....but perhaps not (Simon's Marathon Blog)

It has to be said I was pretty nervous at the beginning. The wonderful Olivia Belle of Help the Hospices appeared out of nowhere, gave me a hug and wished me good luck. It helped that we were shuffling along next to one of the Save the Rhino International (SRI) costumes - I remember first seeing one of these in the original SRI office near Marble Arch back in 1992 when SRI was just Johnny Roberts and David Stirling. "What are you going to do with this?" I said to David. "Someone's got this rather bonkers idea about running a Marathon it it.." he replied. The awareness created by SRI for what they do by using the costumes in the marathon has been at the back of my mind nearly ever since....but with SPANA the beauty is that the costumes, the straining effort of the weight the donkeys/runners are carrying and the distance they are walking all ties together very neatly.

And then we were off. Although we were at the back, there was still a good crowd as we came through Blackheath, down towards the river and back through Charlton, but by the Cutty Sark it was all beginning to get very quiet. Pedestrians were using the route and as I came out of Greenwich, a long, straight almost deserted road opened up in front of me. The only evidence that a marathon had just swept by was a road covered in squashed jelly babies and discarded carbo gel tubes. And things were closing down - the lorries were out picking up crash barriers and it was difficult to see where they were inside the costume, although you could hear them loudly enough. Water points were packing up, the micro-chip counters rolled away and even the mile counters taken down - it began to get a very lonely experience. But its absolutely true what every participant says about the crowd. I didn't hear one "Come on Donkey!" that wasn't heartfelt, genuine or unappreciative, more so since it had now been some 4 hours since the elite atheletes had passed by. Every pub cheered us on. One, near Tower Bridge, even roared as I stopped to dance to Aretha Franklin's "Respect" which was booming out of loudspeakers - to the amusement (or possibly embarrasment..) of my colleague Jo who was now able with almost empty roads, to walk alongside me. And then once over Tower Bridge, with all the more serious runners coming the other way, all the cheering teams from Shelter, Merlin, and even the runners themsleves (including ex-Eastenders and "The Bill" actress. Lucy Speed..) were clapping and shouting encouragement. This was the best part of the marathon for me...

After this the routes split and with SPANA colleagues Kat and Nicola (who had relieved Jo at Tower Bridge) we headed down into Canary Wharf and the Isle of Dogs - I hadn't been looking forward to this bit, but once again the crowd was amazing, and in a burst of energy brought on by a cocktail of bananas and Lucozade I did 4 miles in about an hour...before I knew it I was facing home!

But then everything went a bit pear shaped. It became almost impossible in places to figure out where the route was. Roads were variously closed, semi-open or wholly opened. Attendant rather vague policemen unhelpfully waved us off empty roads onto busy pavements with the excuse that "We're just about to open it.." and then no traffic came along whatsoever while we battled with uneven paving slabs, traffic lights, bouncing off lamposts, phone boxes and drunk people.

This was all largely forgotten once the friendly sight of Tower Bridge loomed up again along with the return of car-free, closed roads.

And then it nearly all came completely unstuck.

As I headed into the underpass alongside the Thames something smacked into the costume and nearly bowled me over. Somehow I just managed to stay on my feet and instead knocked down and trampled underfoot a very drunk non-English-speaking tourist. All I saw as I continued on my way was a shocked face looking up from the ground which although its owner could speak nothing I could have understood, still spoke volumes - It said "I am a tourist in this country. I have had way too much to drink. And I am now struggling to understand whether I really have just been run over by a donkey."

Another diversion, but only onto the broad Thames-side embankment all the way to Westminster. Alongside Big Ben, across Parliament Square and down Birdcage Walk. With Buckingham Palalce now on my left, a few yards and I'm into the Mall and then a few yards on and I've finished.

Or I'm finished. Or both. More later.

Simon Pope