London Marathon ...one more time ...

Reckon my first trip to London was in 1980. It was during the family relocation to live in Belgium with my Dad’s job. In hindsight, I now appreciate how big a deal it was moving my Mum and wee sister from the life we knew and it has also served me well to remember how it feels to be an “immigrant”.

Over the years, I visited the city on a significant number of occasions for gigs (it appears to be an increasing habit of some bands not to venture north), for work and including this year, five times to run the London Marathon.

Last year (for a complicated bag of reasons) …I attempted to move my life to London only to return with my tail firmly between my legs (where it still resides at times) several month later. When it comes to a “fight or flight” response my default having had the shit kicked out of me a couple of times, is to run …and run hard. On my return to this side of the river Tweed, I was fairly clear that I would most likely never set foot in London again.

I was fortunate to get my old job back but had been asked to keep a level of involvement in the mess I had left behind. This required two visits south and on both occasions, this triggered a level of the anxiety that I had experienced in the hours immediately before departure - both physically and mentally exhausting …but very necessary.

There were also two remaining echoes from my time there last year … the 2014 London Marathon and the Thames Path 100 miler. In the spirit of recovery and reconciliation with London, I decided to do both but also decided it would be my last time at the marathon. In 2000, I ran my first 26.2 in Glasgow and had my wee daughter out supporting …it felt good having her down in London for this one.

In addition to the run, we walked as much of the place as we could and had a trip on the London Eye and thoroughly enjoyed the whole experience – always good to end something on a high note.

It would appear the ghosts are gone for good finally …or at least confined to that wee corner of their private hell where they rightfully belong. Now, I can look forward to returning  to London for all the right reasons.

The run might have been my second slowest on the five but that doesn’t matter …

Next up, is the matter of the Thames Path 100 miler which is once again proof that my judgement on “what’s best” is worth questioning.

Tae be continued …