London Marathon 2012

Hello everybody.
I completed the London Marathon 2012 in 3hours 38minutes 58seconds, beating my previous year's time (of 4hrs 47mins 47secs) by more than an hour.

I am absolutely thrilled with this, as all those months of training and torture have finally paid off. I began my training for this marathon with the aim of beating last year's finishing time, but I did not expect to beat it quite by that much. I would have been very happy to finish fifteen minutes or even half an hour faster, but nearly seventy minutes? I don't think anybody expected that, least of all me.

So, here is where I explain how the London Marathon went. I shall try to make it sound original, because in many ways it was similar to last year's marathon. Firstly, I got up very early (5am), had breakfast, met my uncle at my nearest Tube station (plus my cousin-in-law and a friend who were taking part in their first marathon) and we all travelled to Greenwich Park together. There, we went our separate ways. I made sure to get to the toilets early to perform my ablutions and relieve myself of any last-minute nerves, before the queues got too long, otherwise you would probably spend more time queuing for the loo than you would actually running the marathon.

I did a few stretches and psyched myself up.  I tied my running chip to my shoe - this would calculate precisely what my finishing time would be, so it was imperative that I tied it properly so that it would not fall from my shoe mid-race!

The race began at around 9.45am, and this time, I was closer to the front than I was in last year's race. I crossed the start line roughly ten minutes after the first runners had set off (as opposed to 20 minutes last year). This meant that while I would initially still be surrounded on all sides and slowed down by slower runners during the first few miles, this would be much less of a problem than if I had started right at the back like last year.

I felt fitter than I did last year. I knew that I was faster and that I had more stamina, so it was not particularly difficult negotiating the first fifteen or so miles. Last year, they changed the route of the marathon slightly, so I was not able to run past the Cutty Sark. This year, it was back to the typical route, and I was able, for the first time, to see the famous clipper ship in all its splendour.
In terms of landmarks, other than the Cutty Sark, there wasn't a great deal to see until reaching Tower Bridge, about 12 miles in, but I was able to keep myself motivated by listening to the crowds and being buoyed by their cheering.

Running on Tower Bridge (about 12 miles in). Compared to last year, I seem to be having less difficulty at this stage, if the look on my face is anything to go by.

I reached the halfway point (13.1 miles -- yes, half of 26.2 miles is 13.1 miles) in 1 hour and 46 minutes. Already, things are looking positive because I recalled reaching the halfway mark in 2011 shortly after two hours had passed; this year, I was at least a quarter of an hour faster! At this relatively early stage, I was not going to get ahead of myself, because last year I suffered a bad case of fatigue and my second half was noticeably slower than my first half. Luckily, this year did not see a repeat of that situation, as I was still able to keep on running (as the Spencer Davis Group sang -- errr....ask your mothers). In fact, I ran a continuous 18 miles without stopping or walking, which, if I'm not mistaken, is the most I've ever run in one go without needing to walk. And even then, I did not need to walk for long - just long enough to take a few sips of water and Lucozade, and have a few energy sweets. I'm not sure what kept me going. Maybe it was from drinking all of that Lucozade and keeping well hydrated. Maybe it was the right sort of weather conditions that meant I was able to run comfortably. Maybe it was the determination to prove my doubters wrong in order to beat my previous finishing time. Maybe it was knowing what to expect, from having done the marathon last year. Maybe it was a combination of all of these. Everything seemed to fall into place really, so it was a very good run for me. I experienced very little pain or discomfort. My running vest was a little bit too big, so there was no rubbing or chafing of the nippular area. The temperature was neither too hot nor too cold. The rain that had been forecast did not arrive until long after I had finished the race. Overall, things went smoothly. I paced myself nicely, and looking at my race results afterwards, it's clear that I was very consistent; each 5km took me roughly 25 minutes. I'd also had my hair cut earlier that week. Perhaps that helped reduce wind resistance.

However, I did have to slow down and walk a couple of times, which there is absolutely no shame in doing. I believe I had a walk at mile 18, mile 20 and mile 22, but these were very short walks, for no more than 90seconds to two minutes, and then I was off and running again. I was also very lucky not to hit the dreaded wall. Tiredness did begin to set in, and my legs did indeed ache, but none of this prevented me from carrying on, and I was still able to run comfortably. While the last six miles of the 2011 marathon were sheer torture, the equivalent six miles this year were little more than a fairly difficult physical challenge.

On the Embankment, I saw various members of my family, which gave me such a huge physical and mental boost. My dad and brother cheering me on and taking photographs. To be told by my cousin, ecstatic, that I was "doing amazing!" was great. Further on down the Embankment, I saw another of my cousins, who was cheering on the runners for the Alzheimer's Society, who he works for. This year, the Embankment didn't seem quite as long. Birdcage Walk seemed much shorter than it did last year. Perhaps they seem longer when you're tired and struggling, but this time, I eased through them. Turning past Buckingham Palace and into the Mall, I got ready for my sprint finish and overtook seemingly dozens of other runners, literally roaring as I crossed the finish line. It's a roar of relief. Relief in knowing that all the training had paid off. It's also a roar of pain. Pain because by now my legs really were aching. It's also a roar of success. Success, because I can see that I have beaten my previous time, not by fifteen minutes, not by half an hour, but by more than an hour. 3:38:58 is the magic number.

Me with my medal, shortly after finishing the marathon.

Exhausted, I gulped down some water, collected my medal, and had a few photos taken of me by the official photographers, then made my way to Horse Guards Parade, to meet the representatives from the charity Action on Hearing Loss, for whom I ran the marathon. I had a banana and drank a little more, then made my way to the portable toilets. 26 miles of running can do funny things to one's digestive system, you know.
After that, I made my way to the charity's post-race reception, where I met some of the other runners, and had a massage. I was hoping for the masseuse to be a tall, blonde, Swedish woman (not sure why exactly, and she wasn't either), but the massage was very pleasant and the masseuse was gentle and eased my general soreness and stiffness.

Meanwhile, my dad and brother are still on the Embankment, waiting for other members of the family to pass by, before they come to find me. My uncle finished in 5hrs, 9minutes, and his son-in-law, my cousin-in-law, finishes in just over 7 hours, owing to a leg injury sustained about halfway into the race, so it is quite some time before I am reunited with the rest of my family, but I don't care. I'm just feeling incredibly proud of myself (which is something that I don't normally do, as modesty forbids). Plenty of people have congratulated me and told me how proud they are of me and the time in which I completed the race; their good wishes, support and sponsorship have touched me deeply, and I know that I could not have done it all without them.

Final Stretch

The London Marathon is getting dangerously close now. All my excitement is turning into nervousness. As the big day approaches, I am making sure that I am get plenty of relaxation, eating plenty of carbohydrates (I love my pasta) and getting plenty of sleep.

Yesterday I attended the London Marathon Expo at the ExCeL Centre (whoops, that's tautology, I think the "Ce" in "ExCeL" stands for "centre" but don't quote me on that) just as I did last year. It was much the same - I came to register my place in the race, collect my running number (this year it's 33743 for those who wish to follow my progress on their diePhones or Blackcurrants or whatever gadgets the cool kids are using these days), collect my kit bag, and collect the chip that records my official finishing time. I also had my name printed on my running vest, so again, spectators on Sunday can cheer or jeer when they see me, whatever they prefer.

Running vest with my name on it.

There were hundreds of stands with different people selling different products, much of it all overpriced and rather unnecessary (certainly for the marathon as it's only a few days away and won't be of much use to me now) but each to their own, I guess.

Again, as I did last year, I helped myself to tons of freebies, and I made sure to wear a coat with deep pockets. I must have put dozens of sweets inside those pockets. They're not just any old sweets though - they are energy sweets, that help keep you going, and those will come in handy around 13 or 14 miles when fatigue begins to set in.



The fundraising has been going well. I've raised almost £1500 online so far (see http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/martinpampel) and the sweepstake that I did at work, in which my colleagues have to guess my finishing time, with £1 per guess, has raised about £110. Minus a prize of £26 from the kitty for the closest guess, that's roughly £80-£85, which is very impressive indeed, as there were about 80 participants, most of them making one guess. To be fair, a number of them had already sponsored me online, so I could not expect them to donate substantially more than they already had. Some colleagues decided to hedge their bets and make five guesses, which was great. Overall there's a lot of similar times there, obviously based on my previous finishing time of 4:47:47 and most of these guesses are roughly 1-30 minutes faster, which seems reasonable. A few have guessed completion times in the 3:30-3:50 region. I have to admire their confidence in me, but those times are somewhat unrealistic, though not exactly unattainable. I'm just grateful that they were good sports and happy to give a minute of their time and a pound of their money. A few colleagues (not so much colleagues, as I don't know their names but see them around) didn't want to participate and made a few poor excuses to try to get out of taking part, but they were very much in the minority. The rest of them were good sports.

The wheels are in motion for the charity quiz. I have got the hall booked, posters have been distributed, and the questions have been written by me and a friend. I wrote 100 questions, he wrote 100 questions, then we chose an equal number of the best ones that each of us had written for each round. It will be on the 13th May in a local hall in Manchester where I live when I'm not back in Essex to see the family, and I hope that the people that attend will have an enjoyable evening that is entertaining and informative. I have also planned a raffle. I've managed to get hold of some merchandise from work and a few complimentary tickets from businesses in town. I did try some bigger corporations in Manchester about the possibility of them being able to donate a prize that could be raffled off, but unfortunately they turned down my request. Still, if you don't ask, you don't get. I asked, and still didn't get. But hey, I tried.

Right, well, this is it. Time to consume some more pasta.

Cold War

How bloody annoying. I appear to have caught acute viral nasopharyngitis. AKA: The common cold. How utterly, incredibly annoying, so close to the marathon. The worst part of this is that I have absolutely no idea how I got the cold in the first place. Was it from training out in the cold? Was it from being in close proximity to a cold sufferer?

I'm hoping that I'll recover by Sunday, but I'm taking no chances. I've taken every possible action to try to get rid of the cold. Blowing my nose, wearing as many clothes as possible to sweat it out, overdosing on Ibuprofen and antihistamines, steam treatments, bowls of hot soup, mugs of hot Ribena, I'm even drinking tea. And I don't even like tea. It's just tepid brown water. I'd probably fail a drugs test, the amount of substances I've consumed.

Whether I have recovered by Sunday or not, I hope that it does not affect my performance. One thing that may well hinder me is the weather. I hear that rain has been forecast. I'm fairly prepared for this because the bulk of my training has been done up in Manchester, where, since I moved up there last year, I've had more rainy days than hot dinners. However, when I trained in the rain, I wore a jacket with a hood over my shirt. On Sunday I will be wearing a rather skimpy vest. I can't wear a jacket because if it's zipped up, my running number will be obscured (this is not allowed) and if it isn't zipped up, it will flap around as I run, and it will be severely distracting for me, and will get in the way of my fellow runners.
And when the race is over, if it has been raining the whole race through, I will probably have caught an even worse cold.



Training news, and I have done my last training run, so that brings the months of backbreaking pain and agony to a close. Time to rest my body parts for Sunday, as I'm not going to get any fitter than I already am. This is it now, the hard work is over. I just have to cross the start line, run twenty-six miles and cross the finish line. The end is near.



So, in terms of training and fundraising, everything is going OK. Can't complain. Well, I can, but I won't. I may have a cold but at least I'm not injured.

Where There's Willpower, There's A Way

We're well into April now and the London Marathon is just 12 days away. I've continued toning down the training, having done 12 miles on Sunday and I've currently raised over £1200 so far. I see a pattern of twelves emerging, oddly.

My further plans for fundraising are also underway and I should quite easily raise the required funds for the charity -- although it still looks unlikely I'll beat last year's amount of £3500, barring some sort of last-minute sponsorship from a generous anonymous millionaire, or unless the quiz and other fundraising activities bring in more money than expected. At least I have a fairly decent chance of beating last year's finishing time. I've put in a lot of hard work over the last six months and racked up a quite impressive 600 miles of training. As long as I stay uninjured, everything will be fine.

The physical preparation is done, now for the mental preparation. It's all in the mind, as they say. If my legs start to give up at 20 miles, hopefully sheer willpower and determination will see me through. Even if my body screams at me to stop, I will fight the desire to stop for a bit (I accept a small amount of walking might be necessary, but it's better than coming to a complete stop), and instead just focus on my goal of getting to end and beating last year's time. If I use my mind to push on through when the going gets tough, who knows what I can achieve?