Late London report

London marathon race report

NB I wrote this ages ago but forgot to post it... D'Oh.

I had a GFA place for London from my time from Barcelona last year but because of two bouts of flu and a ridiculous workload I decided to withdraw on the grounds of insufficient training. I was just getting back into IM training when the Boston bombs went off. I was really upset. The next day I went for a  run that was meant to be 16km but ended up as 24 and had a good think, got home, rang the VLM to see if I could reverse my withdrawal, and they said yes. I set up a site to raise money for two funds that will help the victims of the bombings and went into a rather short five day taper. By race morning I had over £1600 raised so couldn’t back out.

I arrived at Greenwich Park at about 8 AM on a lovely crisp morning. Had a coffee, sat around, eventually went into the Fast GFA start enclosure. Went to the loo three times, more for something to do than anything else. Felt like a bit of a fraud because I didn’t think I was in shape for much more than a slow jog round. Had a chat with Martin.

Eventually 10 o’clock was approaching and we got lined up. The 30 seconds silence for Boston was amazing – not a sound from the assembled 37000 people, just the traffic noises in the distance. Then race start and I was over the line in about 1 minute and 15 seconds. I had no plan at all so I just set off at a pace that seemed comfortable, and after a Km was surprised to find that I was going at 4:09 pace. Immediately Sensible Rob leapt up to shout at me: “Whoah, steady on, better drop that pace”. Less Sensible Rob countered with “this feels fine, you aren’t pushing it too hard, this is OK, just stay steady and see how it goes, you might be in better shape than you thought”. I ignored Sensible Rob. 5km rolled past in 20:17 or so and I was surprised to still be feeling fresh so I decided to keep the pace up until 10km. I came upon Mr Gilkes and we had a chat, and then I headed off. The 5-10km split was only a few seconds slower and I was still feeling good as we zoomed round the Cutty Sark. My goodness there were a lot of spectators.

Going through Rotherhithe Sensible Rob was getting really worked up. “You’ve hardly trained, you’re in no state to run like this, this is a rookie mistake and you should know better. You’re going to blow hard and early and have a really horrible day. Just knock off the pace, take it easy and enjoy yourself”. Less Sensible Rob, however, noted that I still felt surprisingly good so I decided to see if I could keep the pace up until halfway. I slowed a bit on the climb to Tower Bridge but that was all, over the top turn right and there was halfway with 1:27 on the watch. I was feeling OK but had lost a bit of the earlier spark and now it was decision time. Sensible Rob was on his knees with tears running down his face begging me… take your foot off the gas, run easy, it’s what you’re here to do. Alternatively, whispered Less Sensible Rob in my ear with a grin, you could go for it, keep the pace up and see if you could manage a decent time. Sensible Rob slapped me round the face: I might, just might, pull something off, but given that my preparation had been designed so cunningly as to include not just hardly any training but also hardly any taper the more likely outcome would be a crash and burn somewhere around twenty miles. Less Sensible Rob pointed out that I hadn’t put myself under any pressure to run any specific time and if I did blow I could just jog or even walk it home and still finish in a not – too-embarrassing time.

All through docklands, then, I just kept a solid, reasonable pace going. I dropped to 4:15s and some 4:20s from the early 4:07s and it was hard going. I wasn’t feeling good and my legs were sore but I didn’t feel bad enough to knock off the pace. I passed Mitch as he pulled over to stretch and then surprised Richard G who was standing around with his back to the runners doing I don’t know what. I didn’t really have much feel for where I was or what was going on all the way through docklands, I was just focussed on running my pace. Finally through 20 miles and I started doing the maths in my head. Just keep it this side of 4:30 a km and you’ll be under three. Now I was on the long run for home I started feeling better than I had for a while and the splits kept on coming out where I wanted them. There are some minor climbs over bridges and the like and I was struggling on the ups but rolling nicely on the downs. 4:07 4:22 4:23 4:18… Sensible Rob was still vainly trying to persuade me to slow down but the noise of the crowd kept on drowning his voice. Finally got to Blackfriars and things were looking really good. I chucked a half drunk bottle of water at Sensible Rob and left him sitting sadly in the gutter.

I slapped down a 4:02 km on the ramp down to the Blackfriars underpass and enjoyed the heavy concentration of cheese that had been assembled there – apparently it was called the “Lucozade Sport Tunnel of Yes” and featured illuminated balloons with messages written on them and, I was delighted to hear, a PA playing “Don’t stop me now”. Out of the underpass and into the light and it was just the drag down the Embankment and right into Birdcage Walk. I was feeling sore, exhausted and sick, so about as good as I ever have at this point in a marathon. The splits were down to the 4:20s again but that was fine. Finally got to the right turn at Big Ben and the never-ending run down Birdcage Walk. I was making an effort but having trouble going at any speed and my pace was yo-yoing up and down as I came round the corner onto the Mall. The clock on the finish was reading 2:59:20 and just like in Barcelona a year ago I ended up sprinting (or at least running as fast as I could) to try to get my gun time under three as well as my chip time. I think I managed it but it was all a bit of a blur. I forgot to turn off my watch but given that I had taken more than a minute to cross the start I knew my time must be 2:58.xx. Cue stumbling around the finish grinning like a loved-up clubber thanking all the volunteers I could find.

After the race I walked back to Waterloo. I had to take my shoes off because my feet hurt so much and I walked across Hungerford Bridge in the sun, barefoot on the warm paving slabs, above the runners streaming West along the Embankment. What a beautiful day.

Notes:

1)    Clearly training isn’t necessary. Last year I trained properly for Barcelona and finished about a minute slower.

2)    Turns out that sprint for the line was a good idea. I had a total chip failure and currently have no results at all recorded. I rang the marathon office and they found me on the finish line video but I suspect I’ll end up being given the time from the clock since they have no way of knowing how long it took me to get over the start line, so my official time is likely to be 2:59:58 or so.

3)    Now up to £1712  raised for the victims of the Boston Bombs. Thanks everyone who chipped in.