It’s hard to believe but it’s all done. Last night we had the closing ceremony and I wondered how earth London is going to be able to match what we experienced here during the last 3 weeks.

The Marathon : Recap. I glance over and I see the Bronze medal lying next to my Gold medal and I can hardly believe it. 'How the heck did I pull that one off!' is a question I’ve asked myself a few times during the last 24 hours. Yes, it did come as a surprise, that part is certain.

I did not feel good after the cycling road race. I felt ecstatic about the gold and it numbed the pain but I knew my body was hurting. A road race of 50k should not have done that much damage, no matter how hard the course and how hard I went but 2 days before I was not in top physical shape and irrespective of that I pushed my body hard, maybe too hard. I realized it during the road race but I pushed through and got the gold I came for.

In the two days leading up to the marathon I could feel my recovery was not as fast as it should have been. The thought of pulling out of the marathon had crossed my mind a thousand times. I knew my training in the chair had not been enough for this level of competition. I just ran out of time in the final weeks of getting ready and I had to make a call on focus on that which I though I could win gold in, the Handcycling. And then I went for an easy training ride the night before the race. Although a bit tight I actually felt good and I decided to go out to the race and just to enjoy it. I went to bed completely relaxed and had a good 5 hours of sleep.

I woke up at 5 and went for breakfast and caught a bus to the start. Got everything ready, warmed up and joked with the coaches and some cycling supporters that I should take it easy as I still had to finish the race!

We took off and I realized that we are going to be a big pack for most of the way. Initially there were around 30 in the group. I jogged in the back of the pack and chatted to some of the other racers. Up in the front of the pack there was a serious battle going on as there were several accelerations by the contenders but none of them really sustained a high pace. As we toured through the city and a few parks some guys started dropping and slowly the group reduced to around 15 racers. For a brief moment I got excited and found myself in the front of the pack setting the pace but a quick twitch and a small spasm here and there reminded me that I should go back to the back and relax. So I stayed there and every time somebody got dropped I went around them and pushed back to the back of the group. I counted down the km and they actually went by fairly fast. With about 5km to go I realized that I’m actually not going to completely embarrass myself and that I will probably finish with the main pack. Much more than I had hopped for! With about 2km to go things got a bit crazy as suddenly we had much less street to work with and the pack was still around 15. I really did not feel like crashing so I moved around the outside to the front just after I avoided a bit of a tangle. We then went around a tight hairpin and I heard that terrible sound of metal on road as somebody went down. Then suddenly another sharp turn and this time the sound of metal was accompanied by a few yells of pain as guys went into barriers and down. As we entered the Birds nest through the tunnel I turned my head and saw there was only 6 of us left in contention for the medals. I had not counted on having to sprint and I knew it was going to hurt but I was second as we entered the track with 500m to go. I dug deep and I guess the effect of the fully packed stadium with the crowed going crazy made me forget about everything and I fought with everything I had. A Japanese racer passed me but I kept going. With about 50m to go I dared to look behind me expecting the wave of racers rushing for the line but I saw only one about 20m behind me. I realized that I had pulled off my first paralympic medal and I just enjoyed every moment of it. I saw Kurt cross the line first, his first gold medal of the games with the Sasahara from Japan right on his wheel and I coasted across the line in third right with them. The time was an amazing 1:23.17, my second fastest time of the year and paralympic record for Kurt. It capped what have been my greatest games.

People have started to leave the village today. The selection of food has dramatically reduced, the freezers with ice cream are gone and so are the vending machines. The games have closed and we have packed. Tomorrow we return home to family and friends and I can’t wait to see mine and share my happiness with them!