Well, wonders will never cease, I actually did it!

When I first heard about the roller marathon at Goodwood race course last year I had only just started skating and it was a far off dream.

So, when my friend mentioned it a few weeks ago it was a rushed decision as to whether or not to do it- meaning I only had 3 weeks to train- but I got my skates on and did it. Nothing like a bit of panic to concentrate the mind! 

I originally planned to book for the full marathon (you could do 5, 12 or 26.6 miles) and see how far I got on the day but once I had booked I felt I really needed to go for the whole thing.

Over the past 3 weeks I began skating outside for the first time in London having found a great park with an outdoor track. I managed to visit it 4 times over the past 3 weeks and combined with my regular 3 times a week training, I was soon getting fit.
 
My last big skate to train was on Friday the 31st July when I did 20 miles but found myself limping home with a very sore knee and awful blisters- add to that the next 2 days spent intensive training at roller derby for 5 hours a day and by last Monday I was beginning to lose hope I would be able to do it.

But one visit to the osteopath and some pain killers later I set out at 7am on Sunday determined to give it my best shot. 

The weather was very hot (and of course I left my sun-glasses, sun-cream and white t-shirt at home) and there were over 700 hundred of us taking part so it was a bit of a scramble at the start but I soon began to overtake the 2-year olds on their little rollers skates and find my own speed. 

Each lap is around 2.4 miles (so I had 11 laps to do) and unfortunately after my first lap I realised I had some nice new blisters so had to stop after laps 2 and 3 to put on more and more plasters- I was already losing hope!

After lap 6 (around 14 miles) my knee made a funny twinge which caused major panic in my head and meant I had to decide whether to carry on or not.

By then backup had arrived with a clean, white t-shirt and some painkillers so I carried on but slowed myself down and took shorter strides to rest my knee.
 
Soon everyone doing the shorter distances had finished as had the very fast speed skaters so I often felt I was the only one out there - but the thought of a cold beer and a hot bath at the end got me through!
 
Lap 10 was hard but lap 11 sailed by and I felt I could do a few more- of course I didn't- even I'm not that foolish!
 
I finished in around 3 hours (my original hope was to do it in under 4) and raised over £300 for the NSPCC so thank you everyone who sponsored me.
 
Unfortunately I only have very blurry photos from the day so you'll have to settle for a picture of my medal instead.

With my love of medals it's nice to have one I earnt rather than made or bought!