The life of a supporter

Yesterday Ali ran the Kielder Marathon. The weather was very similar to the kielder100, drizzle wind etc. This time it was my turn to be support, Ali has certainly done her fair share of staying up through the night to support me! First thing to work out was getting her to the start as although everyone thought originally shuttle buses were running from Kielder it turns out they weren't. So I dropped her and someone else who was staying at the hostel at the start then rushed back, got my bike and rode up to cheer her off.

They did a startting loop and she came through smiling and headed out and I set off down the road, wishing that I was on a road bike (I had brought my singlespeed mountain bike) as lots of people sped past me. I got to the four mile point (ish) and it wasn't long before Ali turned up. I passed her a gel and headed to the viaduct. Here there were lots of people cheering and a smiling Ali took another gel off me and asked for sweets next time. Now I was glad I was on a mountain bike as I headed off into the forest to try and see her on the North Shore. As it turns out there was a fireroad that ran parallel to the lakeside way they were running on and I was able to drop down loads to see her.

At this point there was about five of us on bikes that kept seeing each other, all arriving at the points at slightly different times to cheer our respective other halfs on. It seemed no time at all and Ali was running across the dam and ready to turn back home. She told me that enjoyment was 7/10 - not bad for 18miles into a marathon!

I managed to catch her another few times on the way back and she was aiming to get as close to her london time as possible, not easy on a very hilly course. I even ended up sprinting up a hill to make it to the finish in time after the last point I had seen her.

A very happy Ali soon had all my extra layers on and I rushed off to get a car.

She is already talking about next year so I'll get another chance to be the support crew!