Last night, Kirsty and I went over to Lara’s to see Liz before The Big Race.

We all carbed up on cake in solidarity with Liz, even though she is the only one doing enough exercise to justify this kind of behaviour. I had bought a beetroot and chocolate cake along, John had made a light lemon sponge, Alice sent tasty vegan chocolate cupcakes with Kirsty, and Lara had created a delicious lemon cake with the texture of a brownie and all the tastiness of fine lemon curd.

There were pre-race nerves, pre-race excitement, an epic quantity of pasta, political debate about upcoming elections, sock-design discussions, more cake, and a collective trying-on session involving the beautiful Tilted Jacket by Norah Gaughan that Brenda gave to me after it turned out to be a bit too small. I have *loved* wearing this jacket everywhere since it became part of my wardrobe, but it is only when hanging out with knitters that the unusual construction and fine yarn choice get the proper admiration they deserve. Amazingly, nobody else but knitters cares about the way it’s been knit, no matter how hard I try to foist this information upon them!

But as for the knitters? We can’t get enough of it. Brenda, everyone is LOVING the Tilted Jacket! Therefore, inspired by fashion shoots which show garments on a variety of folks with different body-shapes and sizes, I present our adhoc Tilted Jacket modelling session. Don’t you love Lara’s red tulips in the background?

First of all, the hands-on-hips or casual open approach to wearing the Tilted Jacket.

Secondly, the yes-it’s-a-woolly-hug closed approach.

Amidst all this fun, Liz told me about a facebook app that allows you to track the progress of people you know who are running the London Marathon! For those who are interested, Liz’s runner – number is 24159 and the address for the app is http://www.facebook.com/adidasrunning

I don’t mind admitting that I’ve been glued to the computer since the race started this morning around 10am, and right now – at 11.08am – Liz’s stats are as follow:

Start time: 09:49:45
Current stage: 2
Stage start time: 10:44:49
Last stage avg. speed: 10.9 kph
Estimated location (based on avg. speed): 15.0 km (9.3 miles)

I will be checking back frequently!

If you have been following Liz’s training progress, you’ll know how hard she has worked for this race. I love Liz’s writings about running and training; in 2007 she wrote an incredible account of The Dublin Marathon which really inspired me. Similarly, I found watching Mark and cheering him on in the Reading half-marathon a few years ago to be an extremely moving and emotional experience. Seeing someone you love pushing to the edges of what they can do in this way is an amazing thing.

I’m going to be cheering for Liz all day and will post her chip time here when I know what it is!

Recommended Listening:
Personal Best podcast, by Brenda Dayne
Limits podcast, by Radiolab

There are also a lot of beautiful recordings on Alun Ward’s blog – http://www.alunward.co.uk/marathon/ – as well as his own writings on running and training for various big races. Check out in particular this dawn chorus recording. Alun’s blog often reminds me of Liz as he has an eye/ear for birds and wildlife when he is out running and training in Oxfordshire.