London's calling

It’s less than twenty four hours since I crossed the finish line of my final London marathon. It was big, messy, frustrating and a whole lot of fun.

I was determined to present and enjoy every minute of the experience, but that pretty much evaporated ten minutes into getting to the Excel center for the expo. It was so busy and people weren’t being mindful that I bailed straight after I got my number and t-shirt. It was well organized but was just a bit too much. What did help was bumping into our mates Charlotte and Matt. Matt was doing his first London marathon and it was great to bore him with what had had happened on my previous runs.

The day of the run I jumped on the tube and made my way to London Bridge and followed the rest of the runners to the wrong platform, but soon got to the right one and Greenwich and memories of the walk to the start line. Cause this is the first of the ‘majors’ I’d done since Tokyo in 2016 and I’d forgotten about all the hoopla and all the hanging about. I was kicking about the park for an hour and a half before the start, and it was a bit chilly, but hey ho, the atmosphere and excitement were wonderful. I’d forgotten how exhilarating it is to be part of such mass event. London is never as shinny and friendly as it is during the marathon.

Before I knew it we were off. After all the training and waited it didn’t seem quite real, but pounding on the tarmac (!) was there to prove that it was. What I hadn’t appreciated was that I was in a wave of runners who were slower than I was, so it did prove to be frustrating as I weaved around them and had to slow my pace. I was waiting for the route to open up, which it occasionally did but not for long. In the build up in Greenwich they announced that it was the largest London marathon ever, and boy it showed on the course. The Cutty Sark was a lot later in the course - mile 6 - than I remembered, and what I’d edited out from the last London I’d done in 2013 was the route which is running around generic streets. It’s an essential part of any marathon course whether it’s Tokyo or Newport, but when London does landmarks it really does. I turned a corner around mile 11 and there was Tower Bridge magnificent in the spring sunshine. One of the other great things about London is the support, it’s like no other marathon I’ve ever experienced and it does lift you. However I did hear one of the supporters say to a runner who was walking at mile 6: “Come on! You’ve got this!” to which he replied “I can assure you, I really don’t.” At different points during the route there were choirs, drag queens and brass bands all helping the weary runners carry on.

The miles tumbled and before I knew it - well not quite - I was in the last mile and a half running towards the Houses of Parliament and Big Ben and I had enough in the tank to up my pace, especially in the last stretch past Buckingham Palace. With a last, glorious sprint I crossed the finish line of my final London marathon. I did get a bit wobbly straight after and I was fine. All that was left for me was to do a quick change, slap on some deodorant and join Sian and our friends for the finest wines know nto humanity at Gordons.

The day before Sian and I had been reminiscing about my previous London marathons and we couldn’t get the dates to match up and she said “I’m sure that you’ve three before this one.” So when I got home I checked how many medals I had, and yes I’d done four London marathons in total, I’d forgotten I ran one in 2013! I was initially disappointed in my time of 3:50 but when I checked - cause of course I would - it was my second best time, so I’m okay with that. It was a great day and now Berlin 2025 is winking at me…