I must be a glutton for punishment.
My body is still recovering from running 26 miles round the streets of London and in a couple of weeks it will be screaming at me as I try to do 85 miles on a bike in Highland Perthshire!
At the start of next week the Etape Caledonia training begins.
Thankfully, my leg didn’t give up on me in Sunday’s London Marathon.
All the things people tell you will happen, did happen.
That ‘wall’ everybody talks about becomes a mental and physical challenge when there’s still around 10 miles to go.
You see a lot of people pulling over to the side with muscle issues around that point.
I knew that the last thing I could afford to do was stop, so thankfully I was able to push through.
The crowd definitely helps – and I was chuffed to post a time of less than three and a half hours.
And even a man dressed as Big Ben going past me didn’t spoil the day!
TCS London Marathon 2023 – 3:25:13 🏃🏼♀️🇬🇧
What an incredible day!
Tears & laughter, you name it, it happened! I am very broken right now but I also have a huge smile on my face! Running the streets of London, being cheered on by thousands of people was unreal! pic.twitter.com/6OLMPnBqA1
— Eve Muirhead OBE (@evemuirhead) April 24, 2023
I was even happier to have raised nearly £6,000 for Doddie Weir’s charity and one of the best bits of Sunday was meeting other people fundraising for MND.
I have to thank Steve Cram for planning my training and being a great support – there aren’t many amateur runners who would get that opportunity.
And he even let me have half a glass of wine on my birthday the day before when we were out for dinner with Paula Radcliffe and Chris Evans!
My 33rd birthday weekend isn’t one I’m likely to forget, that’s for sure.
A big curling weekend lies in store.
Scotland are through to the knockout stages of the World Mixed and both Senior World Championships.
Good luck to all three teams and hopefully it’s a full house of golds.
A Seniors winners’ medal would be the last one to add to my collection, I suppose, but I’ve got 17 years to think about whether I’ll make a comeback to give that a go!
These are worrying times for Emma Raducanu.
Even though it was an achievement that can never be taken away from her, the fear that her incredible US Open triumph of 2021 was too much too soon is looking more and more an accurate prediction.
It’s not a good sign when she’s getting ultra defensive with journalists.
A couple of us attempted an interview with Emma Raducanu ahead of her opener tomorrow night at the Madrid Open.
It didn't go very well…https://t.co/ochNsl3Xdi— Mike Dickson (@Mike_Dickson_DM) April 25, 2023
We all have times when we don’t want to answer questions but there’s nothing to be gained by the sort of stone wall approach she took to her media duties ahead of the Madrid Open.
I couldn’t begin to figure out where the anger is coming from but it could well be a combination of things.
That she’s now pulled out of the event with a wrist injury and will drop out of the world top 100 paints a picture of a career that is heading in the wrong direction.
Emma is definitely young enough and talented enough to fight her way back but if she ever wins a second grand slam I think that will be a much bigger accomplishment than her first in New York.
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