The climax of my racing calender has been reached (groans & moans included)! Sunday was the London Marathon and both me & Emma joined 360000 others for great day out. Whilst the novelty value has slightly gone doing it a second time, the experience is still quite unique and should be marked as one of those significant moments in our lives. Just the size of it and the mass of support and the sense of occasion make this an event you should try to be part of some time.
Pre race we headed off to the Expo to collect our numbers and check out the running stuff. We had the kids with us and they had a ball running around getting free food and drink, playing on XBoxes and alike and joining in with the festival of running. We took the opportunity to meet the Adidas sports scientists and get our gait analysis done on their computer gadgets. Emma has the weirdest gait ever so it produced some useful information to apply after the marathon. Mine showed my right leg to be near perfect, but my left verging on severe over pronation. Further on, Emma and her cousin Rhona were sold some running socks by some more scientist types. I am not sure what they were supposed to add to their running but as both of them went on to get slower than usual times they can blame the socks! I opted for a high viz vest so I don't end up as roadkill whilst training in the summer. We also got our goody bag which includes a tempting can of beer.
Other race prep included wandering up Oxford Street where the kids were in shopping heaven and I was in hell, especially in that Hamley's Toy Shop which was overpriced and full of little brats and custody dads of the high income variety. I did enjoy the Nike Town store. It's beautifully laid out, almost like an art gallery but well stocked with everything Nike. So I tried on a pair of racing flats in size 12 as they are not readily available on the high street in that size. In fact they were too small and magnified my pronation issue severely. Whilst in there we bumped into some of the Ethiopian elite runners. The women were tiny. Saturday we headed to the Natural History Museum where we soon got bored and fed up of queueing, so we trekked over to the Diana Memorial Play Park at Kensington Gardens to meet out Cath and co for a picnic (Tesco's £2 meal deal).
THE RACE DAY - Having been caught in a rush last year we went down to Blackheath early on the 7.45a.m. from Charing Cross. If you can start that journey at Charing Cross then you should, as all the other stops enroute are packed and on later trains you just would not be able to get on. We arrived with over 90 minutes to spare but it was cool and dry so we just chilaxed! Eventually we went our seperate ways. Rhona to the Blue star with the Championship women, me to the Red 'Good for Age' pen and Emma to the Green Start which doubled up as the celebrity pen. Here she mingled with the stars and started her first 3 miles running with Will Young. My pen looked more like a scene from a prisoner of war camp. Lots of undernourished men caged in with hardly an ounce of fat on them. Chatting to one or two of them I realised that most were going to be sub 3 hour runners and I would be wise to stay behind them at the start. I did quite a bit of stretching here as my hamstrings were suffering from a spasm in my lower back. By the time the start came they were delicate but okay and I decided that as long as I didn't sprint they should warm up. Apart from dodging a few tossers who jumped in front of me, the start went well and over the line in 1 minute and 7.07 for the first mile. My target time was 3:05 and anything quicker would be a bonus, but the pace was quick and my first 7 miles were averaging a 3:00 pace. Then my GPS stopped working so I had to resort to the clock and my pace band which was a 3 hour pace (they didn't have a 3:05). I kept a good pace and slowed down a bit but not a lot and drank something at most of the water stops.
I was running for The Christie cancer charity and wore their vest with my name. I know some people find having their name called off putting, but I found it helpful towards the end of the race. At mile 20 I was tired and it was hot. The sun blazing made those showers a must. But as I went in, the cold/hot ccombo sent my hamstring in to a cramp. I'd been expecting it so I knew that the only thing to do is stop and stretch and go. It worked and so only 30 seconds max lost there. With 3 miles left I had not really been focussed on my pace, when I realised I was within 20 minutes of a sub 3 hour. Foolishly I decided to up it a gear and tried to crack it. Needless to say I quickly cramped up again, and again. The crowd gasped as I pulled up, but then really shout and scream encouragement to keep going, and when I did they were really giving it some. The last mile is just awful as people are collapsing all around, just minutes from finishing. I knew my family would be waiting just outside Buckingham Palace so I needed to stay in one piece to give them a wave and to look good for the finish. They were all there and it gave me a boost to finish well. 385 yards to go and the clock was turning 3:06 but with my 1 minute line crossing to factor in I was right on track for a 3:05. In fact 3:05.10 to be precise! Exactly 2 minutes off my PB.
Crossing the line is surreal. The volume of noise from the crowd is loud, but as you pass through those famous red finishing funnels it suddenly stops and you are stood amongst other runners looking dazed. It's how I'd imagine the scene to be after a bomb goes off. People in shock, disorientated, some collapsed, others in tears, some with bodily functions out of control and others just glad to be alive. It took me a 4 minutes to bring myself to move, because that's when Rhona came in looking slightly fed up with here 3:09. Not that she should be because she was still 11th in her age group despite not getting a pB.
We headed to the Horse Guards Parade to meet up with the The Christies lot and everyone else. Emma was still running but soon finished with a 3:53. Slightly slower than her pB but conditions were tough. She did enjoy it though and will have to do another marathon quicker to get a guaranteed good for age place next time. Will I do it again? I hope so but there are others I'd like to try too. Meanwhile my legs are in agony and it could be a couple of weeks before I run again.
