Siberia Ice Marathon 2012

We are sitting in Moscow airport on our way home.

Yesterday I completed my first marathon and it is still hard to put this into context. Today I am sore, tired and not enjoying the long day of travel. No doubt when I get home there will be time to reflect on the race and the sense of achievement, that will surely come, but for now I just feel tired and sore.

After a year of training, planning and attention to detail I am now sitting at the airport with no immediate need to rush off somewhere and train. Of course I will be back in the gym on Tuesday but for now there is a time to reflect and for my body to heal.

I have managed to achieve a life-long goal and have learnt some useful skills on the way. I have met some amazing people, been to a remote and strongly beautiful part of the world to run 26.2 miles across a changeless landscape and now, all things being considered, want to be at home.

If I take one thing away from the race it is the training needed. There is something deeply satisfying about completing a goal but there is also the unique bond of kinship I felt yesterday amongst people who had completed the race. As the vodka flowed there was the unspoken understanding that the only way we all completed the race was by dedication to our training. No one needed to say it, because it is a universal truth, but marathon training is hard. It is perhaps the most demanding thing I have ever done. But through the training I have learnt so much more about discipline, goal setting, attention to detail and self-belief that I really do have to think that this remarkable journal has deeply enriched my life.

I expect that when I get home tomorrow, and have unpacked my running kit, and made a cup of coffee, a flood of emotion will pour out but for now I just feel pleasantly numb.