London Calling

Fire up the Flux Capacitor

Back to the Future has been on the telly pretty consistently here over the past couple of weeks, so I figured what better way to catch-up on some long overdue posts (though not Italy, that one is still in the works - and really long).

Marathon #5. The 13th of April was a day Kirsten had circled on the calendar for 3 months. She was entered into and had been training for the London Marathon. As the dutiful husband I was supporting her by extolling her virtue at the pub, sleeping in on weekends so that I would be well rested when she got back from her 10-15 mile runs, and generally ensuring that the yin/yang of our combined weight remained consistent as she shed pounds on her strict mileage regimen. For the first time (!) she actually trained for a marathon as opposed to the previous times in Philly or Boston when she decide to run as a spontaneous decision (I know, she's just not right in the head). Her goal was an unbelievable 3:40 and all her training was designed to achieve that. We spent the week before the marathon in Italy so she could run the Tuscan hills and focus on her target time. K's sister, Arden, flew in for the weekend and we organised a travelling contingent of supporters to follow Kirsten around the 26.2 mile course. Those hardy souls included Jon, Dina, Martyn, Christian (who got his own workout in), Bethany, Clair, Nick, and briefly Clara, Mike and Bas. Arden and I set out early with an ambitious goal of seeing Kirsten at 5 spots along the course. The plan got scuppered almost from the start partly due to naive planning and partly due to poor public transport. While we managed to see the Masai Warriors at our 1st stop we missed Kirsten, and spent the next hour + playing catch-up. As if to compound the growing anger I felt the rain set in to really rub in the grim reality that I might not see her at any point during the race or best case scenario half way through. Due to the wonders of modern technology we did stay in contact as Kirsten kept calling us from her mobile to tell us where she was. So let's put this in perspective - here's this woman in the midst of a 26 mile run (8:30/mile pace) calling us with updates on how she was getting on and generally chatting!!! Truly a freak of nature.

After meeting up with the calming influence of Jon, Dina, Martyn and Christian we revised our plan and made it over to Canary Wharf to see Kirsten 2-3 times in the space of 30 minutes, finally we were getting somewhere and supporting our girl as she was on the back half of the marathon miles. The last time we saw her, a few miles from the finish, resulted from a true team effort. An all out sprint from the tube station down to the course just as Kirsten came by, at that point I am reasonably sure that we were all more winded than the woman who had already completed 22 miles.

From there we shot down to the finish line, or as near as we could get, to meet up with our triumphant marathoner, in a steadily increasing and cold downpour. We found her among the limping, bloody nippled and generally miserable looking masses. Kirsten was smiling and relaxed, if I hadn't seen her do the run myself I wouldn't have believed she had just run a marathon.

We bundled her up, covered her with umbrellas and headed home so she could take a well deserved shower. After a bit of a rest our friend Stef hosted a post-marathon lunch at her recently opened, and fabulous, cafe on Clapham Common - Schmidt's (plug!). It was a treat for all of us.

Jump ahead one month and it was off to the States for me to see the littlest one get his diploma. So off to the Big Easy, New Orleans, for a 3-day trip. Kirsten was excused from duty due to the cost of the flights and the quick turnaround, besides someone has to pay the bills. The trip was filled with the standard New Orleans fare - oysters, Abita beer, seafood, Bourbon St. (LaFitte's - Mark?) and the list goes on and on. Of course the reason I was there was to see young Mr. Hennigan get his diploma - and get announced as magna cum laude (!!!) - at least there is one in the family. It was good to see the whole family, especially since none of them have made it over to visit in London as yet (ahem!). Other than that it was nice to be reminded of what that big bright warm thing in the sky is. But as it goes just as the body was getting adjusted to the time difference it was time to hop back on a plane, go transatlantic, land at Gatwick and head straight into work...what a reward.

Watch this space, Italy is on its way.

Big shout out to TM and MA (and Publius), loyal readers even during the slow (very slow) times.

posted by Brian and Kirsten Hennigan @ Sunday, June 15, 2008