We had fun at lunchtime watching the bidding war for the ball. After nine days it’s price had risen to £82; then this morning it crept over the £100 mark. As the close approached we were refreshing the browser constantly in the hope that it would go up a few more quid in the last minutes. The auction was due to end at 12:03 and at 11:41 it leapt up to £115, which pleased us no end.
Then with only 3 minutes to go it went to £130. With less than a minute and a half to go it went to £160 and as we entered the last minute it again climbed to £170! In the last 30 seconds we had two bids come in at £200 and with less than 10 seconds to go the winning bid came in at £205! We are obviously very pleased by this!
This morning, also saw our last run, organised by Portsmouth Joggers to give us familiarity with the different stages of the Marathon. It was only 2 miles, and very very light running. Having done two Great North Runs (47000 entrants) it was a reminder for us.
So, a reminder for those with their feet up, and a nice cup of tea. We’ll be at the red start. Three of us in green vests, and we’re tall. My number is 41102 and Em’s is 41101, Steve’s is 4110<something>. We’ll be aiming to finish in under 5 hours, and starting off with the 4:30 pacers. Note that the pacing is based on satellite tracking so that we keep a constant pace throughout. This means we will be aiming to go through the finish 4 hours and 30 minutes after we go across the start line – this is not the same as 4 hours and 30 after the gun because it takes a few minutes for us to get near the start due to the size of the race.
So this, is the proverbial "it". The marathon is no longer next year, next month or next week. 24 hours from now it will all be over. Thanks for supporting us everyone. The next update will be post-marathon!