London Marathon 2015

Getting to London
Wow, talk about sore legs!  Before this year's London Marathon, I had never run two long races within 4 weeks and here I was facing my third marathon in 2 weeks and second in just 3 days.  Considering my so called recovery from Brighton didn't go well (I think I caused more issues by running too soon) and I finished St George's Day with sore feet and legs, I was a bit worried.  However, I had to tell myself that this was actually another training run on the way to Endure 24 with no PB target to go for.  The aim for London was to recover as best as possible and then finish in a reasonable time. I had set myself a target of a course PB, aiming to get under 4:30:00.  10 minute mile pace should do it.

I spent Friday at work, taking every opportunity to get up on my feet, then left early to go for a walk, foam roll my legs and then pick up daughter Elinor from school.  When my wife Julia and son Alfred got back from school athletics club, we went out for dinner.  I had been advised by Abby (physio) to get as much protein as possible after the St George's Day marathon to help get my legs repaired, so I pigged out on a mixed grill and tucked in to the kids' left over puddings.

Saturday was parkrunday again at Frimley Lodge and my run no. 247.  The big 250 run milestone is fast approaching.  Today's run was just a recovery effort starting at the back and volunteering as sweeper.  I had a nice chat for a lap with a woman who was coming back from a major operation, and when she dropped out I jogged ahead to catch up with Dennis Devey (Cove Joggers) and we chatted to the end of the run.  All very nice with no aches or pains.

I got my kit together in the afternoon, filling a small rucksack with the essentials of dry clothing and things to eat post-race.  The whole lot would eventually fit into the plastic sack required by London Marathon for your kit. I find this better than trying to carry the bag itself, which is awkward to sling over a shoulder.

Race Day

Taking shelter with Leon, Sarah and Sacha

Sunday morning I was up at 5:30 for breakfast of ReadyBrek (I had run out of porridge so had to steal the kids' breakfast), then set off to catch the Sandhurst Jogger's (SJ) team bus which set off at 6:30. Weather reports from earlier in the week were terrible with possible thundery showers and heavy rain for the race, but it turned out to be dry but cool.  Getting towards Blackheath there was a bit of drizzle in the air when the coach stopped to let us off and we split up into red and blue/green starters.

Relieved that the loos were so efficient (at least for the men)

I thought it would be good to run with someone for this marathon and found out SJ Leon Hicks was aiming for a sub 4:30 time, which would be ideal for me.  We headed off to find shelter from the cold and drizzle in a large marquee and sat chatting with Leon's brother Justin and other Sandhurst Joggers Sacha and Sarah Alexander. Then with about 45 minutes to go we headed off to the bag drop, then the queues for the urinals, which moved quite quickly.  With about 15 minutes to go Leon and I got into our no.5 start pen which was busy but not packed full, and at 10:10 the race started to a cheer from all the runners around us, but of course no actual running.

We're Off!

Red Start in Pen 5.  Rather optimistic placing in front of the 4:00
hour pacer

It took about 7 minutes to get across the start line, shuffling forward on the Red Start through the gates to Greenwich Park and the left turn to the start line.  I had my watch set up for a 9:30/mile pace and we were straight away running at about the right pace, keeping to 9:20/mile or slower.  I felt I was doing a lot of Garmin watching to begin with, not wanting to go out too fast, particularly as I had decided to run with Leon and didn't want to ruin his race.  We were getting passed by loads of people who were either much faster than their start pens should have them or were going out fast to bank some time ahead of their target (usually a dangerous tactic).

The first few miles from the Red Start undulate along local roads with good support, though here people are mostly just applauding, as it's a bit early to start shouting "looking good" or "keep going".  At 5 km we came to the first timing mat, where I saw Abby Fudge (my physio) who called out "How are your legs?"  So far, so good. The pace was OK and I felt like I was comfortably within myself and not dragging Leon along too fast.  I had allowed myself to go a bit quicker over the first 3 miles as there were a lot of downhill sections from the top of Greenwich Park back down to Greenwich and the Naval College.  However, once on the flat I tried to ease the pace back.

Landmarks
The turn to the Cutty Sark (6 miles) was quite congested and we went through a huge wall of noise with the crowds very densely packed and all cheering madly.  Miles 6 to 12 pass through Deptford and Bermondsey with wide roads and packed crowds. Every pub had something going on with live bands or music playing and it felt like a great party.  Our pace through 10k and 15k was still consistent and just after 12 miles we made the turn onto Tower Bridge where the crowds seemed to be even louder.  Tower Bridge is a fantastic part of the course with the iconic bridge providing a great backdrop to the river of runners crossing over.  It also comes close to the halfway point and I felt a mental lift because of it.

Who's With Me?

Emma trying to dodge a timing mat

Up until now Leon and I had been running together, grabbing a water bottle and sharing drinks and gels as they came on the course. At 13 miles we saw Sarah Alexander who was just ahead.  She must have passed us without realising and when she looked back she seemed to speed up a bit - she was on for a sub 4 hour time.  At around 14 miles I glanced back to see if Leon had picked up a water bottle to see him waving at me 5 paces behind. I think this was where Leon said he started to get knee problems and so he had slowed down a bit.  Though I was running on my own now, I still had people to look out for and managed to see SJ club runners Dick at 18 miles and Greg Ward and Janet Foran at around 19 miles.  At 22 miles I saw SJ's Vicky Horne and Tina Acock coming the other way at their 13 mile point and we stopped for a few seconds, a hug and hello.

Tina and Vicky in Canary Wharf

I was feeling OK at this point, but it had been a different story a mile before.  Tired legs, lack of energy and maybe lack of salt too was causing my left leg to seize up with tight glutes and hamstrings and worryingly, shooting pains down each leg.  I stopped to a walk for a few seconds to get a gel and a couple of salt tablets and washed them down with some water from a bottle I had picked up.  I got a few strange looks from some in the crowd for taking performance enhancing drugs mid-race and explained it was just salt before running off.

The tightness in my legs soon eased off and I was back running OK, but not completely comfortably. I still had painful hip flexors and lower abs, but this pain had been the same since 10 miles.  I had told myself that I would make sure I got to 20 miles before any jog/walking, but when I got that far, the hip pain had just been the same as ever for 10 miles, not worse and I told myself the more running I did, the sooner I would finish and it would all be better.  There, there, just keep running.

At around mile 23 there is a long stretch of tunnel to go through.  The Garmin went a bit haywire and beeped at me in the same way it does when a mile has passed, but this time just to let me know it had lost signal.  You come out of this tunnel just after 24 miles to a wall of noise from the crowds and now knowing there are less than 2 miles to go.  All sorts of "It's nearly over" mantras were coming into my head, "less than a parkrun", "just a few more minutes".  I came up to SJ's Royston Crandley who was jog/walking and he waved me on.  By now I was slowing a bit and, though I tried to pick the pace up, my legs were having none of that and got a bit wobbly when I tried.  I stuck to what I could do and tried to keep some kind of running form going for the last mile from Westminster.  Down Birdcage Walk there were signs up counting down each 200m from 800m and then you make the turn in front of Buckingham Palace and pass under the 26 mile gantry and the sign saying 385 yards to go.

In amongst the SJ medal hangers

From here, the only thing for a Sandhurst Jogger to remember is to keep right, as that's where all our
club volunteers are stationed as ushers and medal hangers.  I was heading for the right lane when, with just 10 metres to go, a very small lady grabbed me by the hand to cross the finish line with (thanks Liz MacIntyre (GBR) F55-59-unattached).  Then I was straight into the arms of Gemma Potter and Ian Watson, for a finish line hug. I nearly collapsed with relief and had to hold on to the photographer's gantry  and get passed from one hug to another before making a wobbly walk to get my medal from the SJ volunteers (and even more hugs!).  My finish time was 4:10:13, a course PB by over 25 minutes and beating my St George's Day time of 3 days ago by 24 minutes as well. A very good result and one I'll call a negative split.

Royston at the finish, looking far better than at mile 25.

Royston came in not long afterwards and we had our photo taken before taking a very slow walk to collect a goody bag and head for the baggage trucks.  I stopped near the steps up to Pall Mall to get out of my running top, put on my finisher's T shirt and get some milkshake to drink.  I then thought it would be a good idea to get changed into dry clothes, but although there were signs to changing rooms, nobody seemed to know where they were and I was directed up and down the steps to Pall Mall 3 times before I found them! After that I went to see who I could find back out at the meet and greet areas and bumped into Hannah, Kelvin, Alison and Amanda of Cove Joggers and found all to have had good runs.

By now it was 4pm and time to head back for the coach home where I found Emma Lewis, Sarah Alexander, Paula Vine, Dave Breslin and Graham Meek, all happy and smiling with their news of good runs also.  Simon Gibbon had just made it back to the bus after spending an hour with the first aiders at the finish line after struggling over the last 6 miles. He was tired but OK.  Leon made it through the finish in 4:30 and was happy with that considering the knee issues he was having.

Considering the relatively poor shape I was in just 3 days ago, I was very pleased with my run at London Marathon.  I managed to keep running at a very even pace and didn't fall away much near the end and, though it was a bit of a struggle to keep going at times, I seemed to cope with the issues I had by eating and drinking well enough. Splits for this London Marathon were:

9:23 9:16 9:19 9:16 9:28 9:32 9:31 9:16 9:24 9:24 9:17 9:18 9:24 9:26 9:35 10:31 9:29 9:32 9:51 9:18 9:43 9:45 9:26 9:20 9:08 8:47 4:42 (0.54m @ 8:42/m)

Here's a list of the Sandhurst Joggers finishers:

Thanks to the Sandhurst Joggers Finish Line Crew