I do no think I need to write about how nervous I have been since the beginning of April. The closer the race date was, the worse it was. On Wednesday, April 24, in London, I was going to collect my race number. The moment I held the printed racing number in my hand, I finally felt that it was happening, and for the first time in my nervousness, I was ultimately thrilled.
Maranoia
My friend made fun of my freaking out. She laughed that I have typical ‘maranoia’ and she was right. Maranoia shows that you are very nervous, anxious about yourself and also afraid that something terrible will happen to you before the race. I kept all possible threats to a minimum, especially the last week. If you ask how to limit such risks, for example:
- You do not go to eat anywhere out, or you do not have any takeaway, as you do not want to suffer from food poisoning just a week before the race.
- You reduce physical contact with people around. For example, I have restricted or cancelled lessons with children because they are successful carriers of all possible viruses.
- You don’t do any sports because you don’t want any injury.
Maybe you think it’s a little too much. Not really, because the chance was the only one and I put a lot of effort into it. Running the London Marathon was my life dream, and I did not want to lose it within a second just because of the above risks. I have done everything to be on the starting line in the best possible form and enjoy it. That was my only ambition, and I have subordinated everything to it.
London ExCel show
I struggled with the pre-race stress, and thanks to the London ExCel show where I got my race number, the stress was all gone. If you’ve ever run a marathon in Prague, you probably know the process is similar – you go to a show, collect your race number, enjoy a big exhibition where different companies promote their products and organise various events or competitions. It was very similar in London, just much larger. There were also many various photo booths:
If my wallet could make any sound, it would cry very loud that day, but it was definitely worth the joy. For example, I bought a beautiful original Marathon Queen T-shirt with the official logo from the exhibition centre. Limited edition not available elsewhere. The colours of the crown are much more vibrant:
Besides the T-shirt, we also purchased some nutritional supplements. They were selling many of these here, and everything tasted great. My Maranoia from unknown and untested food was suddenly gone, and I was enjoying a tasting of various goodies. With a full belly, Ondra and I done body measurements (muscle, fat, water, etc.). These measurements were done on huge futuristic machines, and surprisingly we made quite well.
There was also a booth with the Kenyans who were promoting their country. They wore colourful traditional clothes and were very friendly. When I was doing some simple competition quiz on their tablet, there was a question of from where Kipchoge is. Of course, I ticked Kenya from the list and they were genuinely happy about it; it seems people usually don’t know it. As a reward, Ondra and I got lovely handmade bracelets and a kind goodbye hug. Their marketing worked very well because I immediately added Kenya to the list of places I would like to see.
As we walked through almost all the stalls and corners, we came across a place that looked like belonging to a Hollywood makeup artist. The beautiful girl with short hair smiled at me and offered free make-up with cosmetics which is also suitable for sports. Ondra encouraged me to try it. I could not resist that sexy girl anyway, and she was pretty good with all the brushes:
Last ten years, I have been applying make-up when going to a Christmas party once a year only, so this was a new experience for me. The make-up was so lovely and subtle that I was excited and I bought a set. Why not make myself beautiful for the marathon, right? After all, judge for yourself:
Because of the excellent show atmosphere, all the nervousness and stress of the previous days had vanished. Ondra and I enjoyed it as much as possible, and I was riding on waves of positivity until Sunday morning so thumbs up for this great event :).
This article was translated from Czech.
