A Moment of Magic

Waking up at 6am this morning, I was rather pleased to see cloud cover.  I am sure that 12,500 over people were probably grateful as well.  The reason, Today was was the Olympic Anniversary run.  5 miles around the Olympic Park culminating in a finish in the Olympic Stadium.

My boy Max is a serial early waker, usually some time between 5.30 & 6.00am.  Lo and behold, a Sunday morning where we needed to get up early and he decides to have a lie in!

Anyway, once we were all sorted, we were out of the door by 07.30am and on a Bus towards Lewisham to catch the DLR to Stratford.  The DLR was perculiarly quiet with probably only another dozen peopla sporting the National Lottery emblazoned techincal t-shirt that arrived with the event's running number.

It wasn't until arriving at Stratford and walking through Westfield that there was a sea of Blue shirts.  For those of you that have followed my blogs over the past couple of years, you may recall what a fantastic experience myself, Mich and Max had when we came to watch the Paralympics last year

I realise that this event was never going to match the high of such a spectacular and historic event.  But if the stewards on duty even had 10% of the enthusiasm that the Games Makers had, it would make for a far more pleasant experience!

Upon arrival at the Stadium, I had to ask no less than 5 stewards if there were pushchair storage facilities.  Fifth time lucky, somebody could answer my question.  Once that was sorted, we secured some seats in the Stadium.

At 9:40am I made my way to the white start area, where an enthusiastic warm up was happening and most people were joining in.  There was a bit of a buzz, but not quite what I thought it would be?

The race was started in waves with the Red wave due to start at 10:00am and the White start at 10:09 and two more waves (I think) after that. There was a minor delay of a couple of minutes, but an air horn sounded by Sir Chris Hoy got the event under way.  There was a large screen showing the start of the race and there was lots of laughter as we watched one person after another, throwing any thoughts of a race plan out the window as they stopped and tried to get photos of the Olympian.

Just gone 10:10, the White start were under way.  The start was being beamed back into the Stadium and Mich said she saw me on the screen (my Union Jack Bandana has its uses).

Now this may sound a bit negative/miserable call it what you will, but the first 4.75 miles was literally running around a building site. The course was narrow and covered all sorts of rough and dusty terrain. There were hardly any Marshalls and virtually no support (spectators weren't allowed around the course for security reasons).  Some may say well that is not what running is about.  But to be honest, I thought this event was meant to be a celebration of the Olympics and I was expecting a bit more of a feel good factor.

But despite this, the finale did make it all worth while.  You approached the Stadium on a slope that went below ground level and for a moment you could see the stadium seating through and archway, but just when you thought you might actually run out onto the track, you had to take a sharp left and then run 3/4 around the stadium in a sub terrainian passage way.  You can only imagine what a hive of activity this area must have been during the Olympics & Paralympics.  There was a nice touch with the sound systems playing sound clips of commentary about British Athletes winning Olympic Events, plus the obligatory Chariot's of Fire music.  This certainly started the hairs on the back of the neck to stand up....

Then you entered the stadium amphitheatre, this was certainly a Moment of Magic, I didn't know which way to look, it was certainly an impressive sight and feeling.  I slowed the pace down a little to try and absorb the moment.  It took me a while to spot Mich & Max in the crowd and I had to stop so Max could see me as it must have been difficult for him to try and pick me out in a moving mass of blue.  Then the final 100metres, running down the track where so many famous athletes had won their medals.  I just had to put on a sprint!  My result, 41:25.

Photo finish between 5 of us!

I posted on Facebook later that I felt quite proud to have run on the same track where British Olympians and Paralympians had won medals.  In fact there is an inscription on the back of the medal which reads 'I followed in the footsteps of Legends'

Thumbs Up for the Stadium Finish

So, there you have it, an honest account of the event and speaking to a few others, it seems they had the same opinion about the event.  Maybe for people that had not experienced the Olympics or Paralympics, it might have felt like a better event.  But the bar was set so high with the Olympic experience, in all honesty that was never going to be matched!

Was it worth it? Yes for the Stadium finish. 

Could it and should it have been a better event? I certainly think so.  I believe there is talk of making it an annual event? 

Would I do it again? No, especially as the Stadium will have a certain East London football club that I am not particularly fond of as residents ;-)

Until the next time
TJH