The London Marathon

Hi everybody.

I completed the London Marathon in 4 hours, 47 minutes and 47 seconds. I am very pleased with this time because I had only recently just come back from injury, having done very little training in the period of 16^th March-16^th April and almost literally jumped straight into the marathon. Obviously I’m slightly disappointed that the month’s absence from training owing to my injury meant that I was not fully fit and therefore my finishing time was not as quick as I would have liked it to be, but I think that it is amazing to have finished the race with that time, despite everything that had happened. Face it, I could have been a lot slower. And at any rate, this surely gives me a wonderful incentive to apply for next year’s London Marathon so that I can do better.

So, here’s how the day began.

I woke up at 5.30 on Sunday 17^th April after having gone to sleep at 10pm the night before. I needed all the rest I can get before what was going to be a very gruelling day. I went downstairs and had a bowl of Kellogg’s Start and a banana. Bananas have potassium in them and they give you lots of energy. They’re also incredibly easy to use. Just peel and eat. Easy.

At 7.15, I met my uncle at Woodford station who is also running the marathon. While this was my first marathon, for him this was his 4^th, which makes him a veteran when it comes to marathons. Even more of a veteran is his uncle, who ran his 20^th marathon and, at the age of 86 was the oldest runner in the race!

Together, my uncle and I went on the Central Line to Stratford and then changed to the Docklands Light Railway, where we took a (light) train to Greenwich. We arrive at Greenwich Park at about 8.30, where I separated from my uncle, who is starting at a different point. I met up with other runners from the RNID and we introduced ourselves to each other. I then spent the next hour or so doing my various stretches and queuing impatiently for the toilets to relieve myself of any last-minute nerves. Once again, the reality of what was about to do started to hit me. I tied my timing chip to my shoe. The device is important because it will time precisely how long it takes me to run the route from the start line to the finish line as soon as I cross both – this is as opposed to when the starting gun is fired, because there can be a time delay between the gun being fired and me crossing the line, which would distort my finish time and make it appear as if I was running for longer than I had been.

And they’re off! At 9.45, the marathon officially begins. But due to the sheer number of people taking part, it’s another 20 minutes before I actually cross the start line and begin running. The race started off well. Stomping the streets of Blackheath, then moving into Charlton. At the two-mile point, I saw a lady that I work with. A few of my colleagues, family and friends had told me in advance where they would be around the route, and this really helped my confidence, knowing that soon I would be approaching yet another familiar face.

We get to mile 5 now. It’s a pretty good run so far. Although I have crossed the 5 mile marker, my watch tells me that I have in fact run 5.3 miles. This is because I have zig-zagged across the roads, trying to circumnavigate the bodies of those running slower than me. I don’t feel breathless yet or feel the need to stop, but I am aware that my fitness might be lacking slightly due to having to take a month out of training because of my foot injury. I can take comfort in the fact that my foot is causing me absolutely no problems at all on the day.

At around the 7-mile mark, I saw my uncle. I recognised the back of his running shirt and the back of his head. He gave me encouragement as I overtook him.

Getting to mile 10 caused me no problems whatsoever. Everything was still going very smoothly. I felt no pain at this stage. The spectators seem to get noisier by the minute. It works though as their cheers are really spurring me on.

By the time I got to mile 12, I was starting to flag a little bit. The weather is quite a lot hotter than I had expected it to be. I was informed by the weather forecast that the temperature would be 14°C. I don’t know what the temperature was, but it was much hotter than 14°C. I drink plenty of water to keep me hydrated, but I am starting to feel some discomfort. As I am slowing down, I see that I am approaching Tower Bridge and such an amazing landmark in sight only serves to speed me up again. A patriotic Brit as ever.

At the halfway point, I find that I have clocked up 13 miles in 2 hours and 4 minutes. I knew that if I could complete the latter half of the marathon with the same pace, I should finish with a very good time. I also knew that realistically, I was going to get progressively slower as fatigue set in. So 4 hours and 8 minutes became less practical and 4 hours 15 minutes seemed more reasonable. But as time went on, even that seemed difficult to achieve, what with the searing heat and not being on top form. 4 hours 30 minutes became the new target. Then I saw the crowds cheering me on and I realised that I didn’t need to get bogged down with timings and such like – it would be an incredible honour and achievement to just finish the race, no matter how fast or slow.

Having now moved North of the River Thames, I am running through the Docklands. At around mile 17, I see my family, including my dad and my brother, just coming out of Mudchute station on the DLR. If had been running any faster, they would have missed me completely!

As we get to mile 20, things start to get very difficult. It becomes harder to run long distances without needing to walk for a bit. My legs seemingly turn to stone. I start to get overtaken by people wearing ridiculous costumes. I carry on regardless. Ultimately I have to start walking more and more, which is dispiriting but I felt no shame in doing that. Virtually every other participant in the race had to walk at some point, I would guarantee it. Those last five or six miles were sheer torture at times, and when I think back to it, it seems to have gone by so quickly, but my recollection of it at the time was that this last stretch took ages to get through.

At mile 24 or 25, I see my family on the Embankment and that spurs me on again. I stop for a photograph or two, as it would not have done any harm to savour the moment. I then turned into Westminster and the Mall for my sprint finish. The last mile or so along the Embankment and Westminster seemed horribly longer than I had previously thought it would be. It just kept going on and on and on.

Somehow, I cross the finish line with a time of 4hrs 47mins and 47secs which, as I said, I’m very happy with. I smell of sweat, my face and back are sunburned, I have blisters on several of my toes and I can barely move my legs but I feel an amazing sense of achievement. Job done.

There are two sides to the marathon. One is the physical side, the running part. The other is the fundraising part, and I can say at this stage that I have more than exceeded my £2000 target. As things stand, we are on more than £2800, and £3000 is looking likely. I would never have imagined it in a million years.

So, what next?

I’m conflicted.

My heart says "never again!" but my brain says "come on, next year we can beat this year’s time!"

Charity Case

It is tomorrow.

The London Marathon has fast approached with the momentum of a runaway locomotive. I say, those eight months of training went by quickly, didn’t they? Well, here we are now. I have almost met my £2000 target for the charity of my choice.

Things are really building up. Although my fitness is not at its best owing to a lack of training in the wake of my injury, I’ve come a long way since the days where I couldn’t run two or three miles without being hopelessly out of breath. My runs have been getting longer and longer. It’s getting rather odd when you now consider a 6-mile run to be a “short run.” In actual fact, 6 miles is a very long distance, but compared to my longer weekend runs of 14-20 miles, 6 miles is very short!

Aside from all the training I’ve done solo in my local area, I’ve taken part in a 10km race in Southend, and a half-marathon in Roding Valley. Entering the races has without a doubt helped me acclimatise to the conditions of a typical race, so that it won’t seem all too alien to me when I run the London Marathon. At the same time, doing those races sometimes brings out the worst in me. There’s a bit of a competitive spirit inside of me and occasionally my competitive nature gets the better of me and I feel compelled to run faster than I really ought to. I tell myself “it’s not a race, just go at your own pace. You’re just practising for the marathon.” Then I realise, “hey, this IS a race! Show these other runners what you’re made of!” And I then get carried away. So I will have to be careful not to let myself be influenced or intimidated by other runners who speed past me with apparent ease. Especially those in the silly costumes. I will hopefully take my own advice and go at my own pace. I will relax and enjoy the marathon. There really is little point in doing it if it is going to be a long, arduous and torturous slog. At the same time, I won’t take the whole thing too lightly. I’ve pledged to raise a large sum of money for a deserving cause and I am taking this responsibility seriously. This is highly unusual for me, since I tend not to take anything seriously in life.

Today I shall just relax and conserve my energy for tomorrow. Lots of carbohydrate will be eaten today, in the form of pasta, which just happens to be my favourite food. I do love Italian food. I've also been drinking plenty of water to keep me hydrated over today and tomorrow, and I will keep drinking water regularly tomorrow. Not too much water though - wouldn't want to get hyponotraemia. Early night for me tonight as well. I'm going to meet my uncle Mark at a nearby Underground station tomorrow morning at 7.15, so I will probably wake myself up at 5.30 or 6am, which will give me enough time to eat some breakfast, get everything out of my system, and prepare myself mentally and then get on the train nice and early.
Upon arrival in Greenwich, we'll both continue our preparations and steel ourselves up for the big race. Unfortunately we're not going to be together at the start as we have been allocated different starting places. My uncle was one of the lucky ones who got a place in the marathon through the ballot, whereas I got my place via a charity. We run at different speeds though, so even if we had been together at the start, it wouldn't be for very long.
Not only my uncle, but my uncle's uncle is also running in tomorrow's marathon. He also happens to be the oldest participant in this year's race, and this, at the sprightly age of 86, is his 20th marathon. He's a legend and a real inspiration and he is one of the reasons why I'm running in the marathon. After all, if he can do it, then surely anybody else can. It proves that age is no barrier, as he started running in his 60s.

Last thing before I run the marathon tomorrow - thank you to everybody who has sponsored me and/or given me their best wishes. It is all very much appreciated. If you have not sponsored me yet, and would like to, you can do so online at: http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/martinpampel

This is Martin Pampel, runner 46411, signing off. At least until tomorrow anyway. I will update again on the marathon after I've finished the marathon, assuming that 1) I finish it, and 2) I have regained the strength to get up the stairs of my house and use a computer.

Well, wish me luck. I'm going to bloody well need it!

Indecent Expo-sure

Hooray! At long last, it looks like my foot is better. What took it so long? The important thing is that it is better, although it's probably too late now to get in any extra pre-marathon training as I'm unlikely to benefit from any this close to the race.

I visited the physiotherapist again the other day. It was a different lady this time but the treatment was the same. More stretches, more gentle massaging, more rubbing of lubricating jelly on my leg with the ultrasound. Apparently it’s not quite like the ultrasound given to pregnant mothers as I asked the physiotherapist, so this time I definitely didn’t ask if I was getting a boy or a girl.

Earlier today, I visited the London Marathon Expo. It's a huge exhibition where exhibitors exhibit their products and services in relation to the London Marathon, from sports drinks to sportswear to watches and all sorts of crazy gizmos. It is being held at the ExCeL Centre, by Custom House station on the Docklands Light Railway. Just done some research, and apparently, ExCeL stands for Exhibition Centre, London. You heard it here first. The Expo is open for four days between Wednesday and Saturday, but today was the only day in which I was actually free to visit. There, I officially register in the race and collect my chip and my running number and kit bag, all in preparation for the big day on Sunday.
The building was huge. Absolutely enormous. The exhibition itself was also enormous. So many stands, so many products being sold. It was all rather overwhelming.

The first thing I did when arriving was get my name printed on my running vest so that people can see my name as I run along and call out my name, either to motivate or heckle me. It now has my name on it, in big, bold, black lettering, on both the front and the back and I’ll be wearing it on Sunday with pride. Pride and nervousness. And plenty of sweat.

I helped myself to lots of freebies – mainly energy bars and energy sweets, bits of cake and so on. So much so, I didn’t need to make myself any dinner when I got home at 7.30pm because I was full up!

I learned plenty at the exhibition. From the man at the Lucozade stand, you cannot really expect to complete a marathon on water alone. You need carbohydrate and sugar to keep you going. He would say that, though. He’s trying to sell a product. I suppose he has a point though. I’ve run 21 miles just on water and although I did manage to keep myself going, I’m not sure I could have managed 26. By the time I finished that 21-mile run, I was almost delirious.
So that’s one thing learned – take energy foods/drink with me, whether in the form of sweets or gel or whatever works. I was warned by my uncle to be careful with some of these, and never try anything during the marathon that you haven’t already tried in training. Especially when it comes to energy drinks and gels. There is this phenomenon known as the “runner’s tummy” or “runner’s trots.” All that running has an effect on the abdomen, making it more likely that you’ll need to use the toilet. If you’re running for two, three four, five, six, seven, et cetera hours continuously, that can have quite an effect, and consuming something that you are not used to can exacerbate it. My uncle also advised bringing toilet paper with me “in case you need the toilet and there’s no toilet paper there.” So after my uncle’s warning, I am now paranoid that if I’m not careful, I will end up shitting myself in front of a crowd and TV audience of millions.

Let's Get Physio

Visited the physiotherapist this morning to see if there was anything that she could do for me, in the final stretch leading up to the marathon. I have been prodded, poked, probed, twisted, bent double and been subjected to a barrage of questions. Upon inspection, there doesn’t seem to be any real damage and the foot itself is fine. The physiotherapist recommended a few stretches that I shall do to help me. Then she rubbed some lubricating jelly-like substance onto my lower leg and gave me an ultrasound. I was half-tempted to ask if I was going to have a boy or a girl. Following that, she stuck some patches onto my leg and plugged electrodes to them and sent an electric current through me for about fifteen minutes. Overall, I think it helped, and I am going back there on Tuesday evening. I think I’m going to be all right now.

I turned up at my secondary school on Wednesday. I attended that school between the years of 1995 and 2002, so it had been a fair while since I was last on the premises! Some of the pupils there were taking part in a sponsored run in the streets surrounding the school, all to benefit my marathon fundraising. The whole thing had been carefully planned and coordinated as if it were a military operation. I was asked to come along in order to give the proceedings a bit more authenticity. It is, after all, better for the pupils doing the running to see who they are doing it for. By meeting them and explaining why I was running the marathon for the RNID, it gave them a sense of perspective. I think. I hope. It was a lovely day for a run, and the kids really got into the spirit of things, even the ones, who I was told weren’t particularly known for making much movement!

At the end of an hour’s running (or walking as some chose to do), I awarded a prize to the person that had run the most laps of the school perimeter (seven). I also awarded a prize to the best costume – the decision was easy. It was a blonde lad who had decided to put on a nice pink bra. I figured that anybody who had the sheer gall to run around the local streets sporting a bright pink brassiere deserves a prize for his efforts.

The local paper never did turn up. I guess they didn’t consider the story remotely newsworthy. A shame really. It kind of belittled the sterling effort put in by the kids who really did work hard. I was not expecting much money to be raised from the afternoon, but I was told that between everybody, an astonishing £250-£300 was raised. Fantastic, really, and very much appreciated.

So you’re thinking: “enough about the bloody children and their running. We want to know about you!” OK. Since my last post, I’ve done a bit more running and a bit more resting, and I think it’s fair to say that my foot is very nearly healed. There’s no question of me pulling out of the marathon. Definitely not. Most certainly not. I will cross that finish line by any means necessary, fair or unfair. Perhaps this injury was a blessing in disguise. Before I became injured, I was beginning to become complacent, and rather getting bored of the long runs every weekend. Now this has made me more determined than ever. It’s fuelled a great anger and burning desire to complete the race. As I said in one of my first posts, this is going to be my first marathon and as such, I don’t have a finishing time in mind. I just want to complete the bloody thing. As my running technique improved, I did start to get a finishing time in my head – but that can wait for another year. This is my first marathon and I don’t have a time to beat; that can come next year when I attempt to beat whatever my time will be this year.

Running Wounds All Heels

Apologies for the sporadic updates. I've spent the last week or so not training, allowing my foot to get better. It is in fact feeling much better now as I went out for a short run earlier and managed to run for three miles. I did not intend to cover a further distance as I didn't want to overdo it just as soon as I'd recovered. I could still feel my foot playing up a little, but it was not painful in the least so I think it's more or less better. I'm thinking that if I can run three miles on it now, I should certainly be able to run 26 miles on it in two weeks' time.
That reminds me. The marathon is now but a mere fortnight away. What worries me now is not just my foot but my fitness. Having not run for over a week until today, I could tell that I was clearly not as fit as I was prior to hurting my foot. Which is to be expected really. So I shall have to build up my fitness a bit more over the next two weeks but without putting any additional pressure on my foot.

The fundraising is going very well now. I've raised more than half of my £2000 target. I'm nearly 70% of the way there. Technically speaking, I am actually 68.6% of the way there. Many of the recent donors have been people that I work with and people from the religious community. I'm grateful for whatever money I can get from whoever wants to donate, and the address is http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/martinpampel for whoever wants to make a donation.

I will be visiting my old secondary school later this week because some of the pupils there are doing some fundraising of their own to help me out, thanks to one of the teachers at the school who I am still in touch with now. I think the kids are doing a sponsored run around the school perimeter, which should be interesting. There might be local press in attendance. Hope I don't get interviewed as I will have to think very carefully about what I say because I'm more gaffe-prone than Prince Philip and Boris Johnson combined.

Anyway, looking forward to the marathon now. I think I have a very good chance of crossing that finish line, however long it takes me. All I can do is my best.