Day 35: A Rest Day of Waiting, Wicked and a Little Bit of Batman

So, Day 35 of the London Marathon 2025 training plan was a rest day, and it certainly had its moments! It wasn’t exactly the relaxing, feet-up kind of day I might have hoped for, but it was, at the very least, a day.

A Hospital Adventure (or: The Art of Waiting)

The morning kicked off with a trip to the hospital for Emilia’s orthodontist appointment. If you’ve ever had the joy of waiting in a hospital, you’ll know that time moves at a speed entirely unrelated to the rest of the universe—less a ticking clock and more a slowly leaking hourglass. Three hours in the waiting room, punctuated by some brisk corridor navigation for dental x-rays, felt like an endurance event in itself. There’s something uniquely draining about the quiet, oppressive hum of a hospital waiting area, where time stretches so thin you could iron it.

Eventually, we made our escape, dashing back to Sittingbourne to return Emilia to school before I promptly turned around and headed straight back to Rochester for work. A completely logical and efficient route, if one happens to be a migrating swallow rather than a human with limited patience and a need for lunch.

Comic Books and Small Pleasures

Since it was, technically, a rest day, I made a small but important detour after work. Kelly and the girls are deep in their Wicked obsession at the moment, so I popped into the new location of Get Ready Comics on Rochester High Street to see if I could find them something from the fresh batch of merchandise. It only seemed fair—one cannot simply ignore the gravitational pull of a comic book shop and expect to leave empty-handed. Naturally, I treated myself to a Batman comic book while I was there. If marathon training has taught me anything, it’s that small joys are essential, and sometimes that joy involves a caped vigilante punching crime in the face.

The Traditional Rest Day Feast (Maybe It’s Time for a Change?)

To round off the day, I kept with my customary rest day pizza. This tradition has served me well, though I suspect at some point I should consider broadening my horizons beyond cheese and pizza dough. Perhaps next week I’ll explore new rest day meal options—but that is a culinary adventure for another time.

Rest Days: Not Just About Resting

While it wasn’t the kind of restful day that involves lounging around and deep contemplation of one’s life choices, it was still a change of pace—and sometimes, that’s the best kind of rest. Between the waiting, the dashing, and the entirely necessary comic book indulgence, it was a day well spent.

Looking forward to getting back to training tomorrow—hopefully with fewer waiting rooms and more miles covered.