Slowing the pace

Today was the 35th London Marathon. My brother ran the marathon for the second time in the good for age category after completing it in 2013 and finished sub-3 hours with just 43 seconds to spare with a finish time of 2 hours 59 minutes 17 seconds!

He'd hoped to smash his marathon record of 2 hours 54 minutes but the humidity, crowds and starting off too quickly combined to slow him up. I watched his progress on the Runkeeper live tracker and London Marathon app.

At the 25k point he was just 30 seconds behind Formula 1 driver Jenson Button and eventually finished just two minutes behind him. Not bad for an ultra runner that's used to a slower steady pace on country tracks rather than the unrelenting Tarmac of the London streets! A proud sis yet again today.

I spent a couple of hours with my mum and dad and aunt and uncle at the Castle for lunch and a gentle stroll before heading to the airfield with Honey for a walk and couple of beers with my flying instructor and friends early evening.

I met a fascinating character in the airfield bar who recounted tales of his great grandfather who flew in the Royal Flying Corps in 1914. He showed us his photograph and an official RFC letter he had folded up in his wallet. We talked about how aviation seems to run in the blood and it made me miss my grandad and wish he'd lived long enough to see me fly.

A gentle day today was needed as I feel like I've been hit by a bus with my hayfever. I need some early nights this week. All good intentions for an early start and some time in my office to catch up on admin and some writing went out the window. But sometimes we need to slow the pace to get ahead in the long run.