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!"