London Marathon - Paul's Race Report

Once again I must applaud the BBC weather department! God only knows how, with all that expensive, state-of-the-art equipment, with less than 12 hours to go, they can get the forecast so badly wrong! Every single one of them should be sacked, or maybe even shot! We were promised a cool day with the possibility of rain. I left my sunglasses at the hotel but luckily took my cap to the start. The DLR was absolutely packed on the way to the start but luckily I got chatting to a fellow 1st time marathoner and I think we took one another’s minds off the pending 26.2 miles.Due to the congestion on the DLR we were pretty late to the start. As it turned out I was in the last “pen” so decided I would wait til everyone else had started before I crossed the line, with the intention that I would start in clear air and find my rhythm. This tactic worked quite well and I settled at a nice pace through the first 11/12 miles running pretty much 10 minute miles the whole way, give or take a few seconds. Just before mile 12 I saw my friends Hitan and Kat, I must admit it was nice to see some familiar faces and I was feeling comfortable despite the heat. Then heading into docklands rocked me, firstly seeing the runners at 20/21 miles on the other side of the road. But mainly because the streets became so narrow and congested. I was really fighting the urge to barge my way thro, I did try to find some space but it was extra work which I could have done without. I also started missing mile markers, concentrating on finding the gaps to nip thro. I completely missed half way, and had to ask someone if we had even been thro it! I didn’t see another mile marker until mile 16 and by this point I had lost a couple of minutes and was getting increasingly frustrated. Around mile 18 I saw another friend, who managed to get a couple of decent pics of me (cheers Chris) and to my surprise at mile 18 I was still making good progress toward my ultimate goal. However soon after this the heat hit me like a smack in the face and I slowed a little. My cap felt like a lead weight on my head and I knew I had to lose it. Round about mile 20 I saw Hitan again and flung my cap at him, making a mental note that it also doubles as a decent frisbee! The cap had been annoying me for at least two miles, taking it off gave me a mental boost and I thought I could feel my 2nd wind coming.But then disaster struck, just within sight of the 21 mile marker and my right calf just gave way beneath me. I stumbled and very nearly fell, luckily I was close enough to grab the railings. The runner behind me made sure I was ok before he sped off, so thank you to him but I really thought I was gonna be walking the last 5 miles. As it turned out after about 5 minutes it loosened off. I tried running again and to my surprise it felt OK, but the 5 minute walk had not only cost me valuable time but also allowed all my other muscles to start aching. I really struggled from this point on, I don’t think ive ever been so thirsty in my life as I was at mile 22, I grabbed the water and downed it pretty much in one gulp. At this point I also knew the 4hrs 30 had gone. I walked most of mile 23, but got a much needed hug from my friend Ben, which spurred me on again. My calf and knee were playing up all the way along the Embankment (neither of which had happened in training) and my determination was wavering knowing id already missed my target time.After mile 23 I mainly ran, but sometimes walked, my right leg certainly didn’t wanna be running anymore. But I knew my parents were gonna be on the last Barnardo’s cheering station at 24.5 so I made sure I was running as I passed them and they looked as relieved to see me as I was them! I managed to run the last mile or so and Im not sure how, but as soon as I saw the finish line I hit a sprint! So after all my final time was 4hrs 42.From start to finish I had my mp3 player blaring, something which had pushed me thro a lot of my lonely training runs, but despite this I must admit the atmosphere was fantastic, and the crowd amazing from beginning to end. The temperature was far from ideal for a 26.2 mile run but without doubt the worst element for me was the “traffic” particularly around Docklands when I was finding it increasingly difficult to keep my cool and not knock people out of the way. For this reason alone, if I was to ever run a marathon again I don’t think it I would choose London. That said, this time last year I wasn’t sure I’d ever be able to run again, but as I sit here now, 12 months on, I am the proud owner of a London Marathon finisher’s medal….