What a Marathon!

Let me start by saying that I will not be touching on the fabulous world of cruising at all this time, this is purely a ‘proud Mom alert’ post so be warned!

Now it has to be said that my middle son Rhys is not a natural athlete, a bit like his Mom really, but last year he decided to set himself a challenge and boy, did he rise to it! He applied for a place in the London Marathon and to his great surprise, he got in. So began many months of training. All through the Winter, and in all kinds of weather, he has run, walked, cycled and then run some more. He has worked really hard to build up his stamina and it well and truly paid off.

I really felt that I needed to be there on the day to support him, so last Sunday, along with his brother and sister, my brother and some of his family and a crowd of Rhys’s friends, I headed off to London for what turned out to be a fabulous day out, a real day to remember.

Its bizarre to think that Rhys had already started running by the time we set off on the train, I find it hard to comprehend running for so many hours, well actually, to be completely honest I find the thought of running at all hard to comprehend! Arriving in London we headed to Carnaby Street where we met up with my niece then stopped at Bubba Gumps Shrimp Co for lunch, which was fab, before heading towards Embankment, sort of mile 24 – 25 where we waited to try and spot Rhys.

We had been able to follow him all day on a London Marathon phone app which was absolutely brilliant, I don’t think my brother has ever been so excited about anything in his life, he was ‘stat’s mad’ all day 🙂 , even Grandpa was at home following on the TV and also on the London Marathon website on his laptop! It was all so exciting.

We could see that Rhys wasn’t far away and we managed to get right up to the barrier at mile 25 while we waited for him. He finally appeared, stopped for a quick hug, declared himself to be ‘knackered’ then off he went to the finish line which we couldn’t get close to. We caught up with him on Horse Guards Parade shortly after and I have to say he looked surprisingly spritely for someone who had been running for 5 hours 25 minutes. I was so proud of him I cannot tell you!

I take my hat off to each and every person that takes part, it is a massive thing to do and takes tremendous dedication and determination to even attempt it let alone complete it.

So there you go, an amazing day that none of us will ever forget for sure, and he is applying to do it again, and has even talked about a triathlon. He certainly doesn’t take after his mother!

For now guys, Happy cruising and I will catch you all soon.