Sunday dawned with a distant alarm clock going off at a disturbingly early hour for a day off. A day off? I was about to attempt to run the 26.2 miles of the London Marathon, so hardly a day off. I have run the marathon in London twice before, but this was the first time for six years and last time I had no pretensions at running a good time as I was dressed as a dog (a sacrifice made to raise money for a dog charity). This time was different...
Me, in the green:
Following the obligatory porridge, strong caffeine and energy drink, I set off for the station where you were immediately aware of the number of Sunday morning commuters all heading for Blackheath. 35,000 of us in fact, plus lots of friends and family. It was a beautiful morning and as soon as you heard the BBC music as you approached the start, the excitement really began to build. Spotting the fancy dress costumes with exclamations of, ‘how on earth are they going to run a mile let alone 26 dressed like that?’ is a tried and tested way of settling the nerves. Of all the costumes, the stilt walker, the Royal Marine on skis with his toboggan and the Masai Warriors stood out. Of equal note are the people wearing shirts denoting them as marathon junkies – '35 marathons in the last 22 days' was the most ridiculous I saw.
The levels of organisation are incredible, only surpassed by the sheer numbers of people that lined the route. Without a doubt, this was the best supported London Marathon that I have run in and that despite the sometimes atrocious weather; from warm sunshine to hail, wardrobe malfunctions were abundant. Two moments in particular along the route almost brought me to tears for the first time in a marathon; running through Greenwich past the Cutty Sark and running past the Tower of London, the walls of noise that greeted you were enough to have to remind me to actually slow down, not usually an issue after 23 miles! Crossing the finish line remains one of those moments that I think everyone who can should experience – the months of training and sacrifice (from diet to family to sanity) suddenly all seem worthwhile.
I am very much in awe of the speed at which the elite runners complete the course but I am sure it also crosses every marathon runner’s mind, ‘how would they like to have to run for double that time?’ I crossed the line in a respectable if not spectacular 4 hours and 24 minutes, more or less what I expected from my training. At the fun-runner end of the scale that I am proud to be amongst, natural ability counts for less than effort and dedication and I always find that I get out of marathons exactly what I put into my training.
