London Marathon 2:41:21

Woke up at around 6am and went back to my original hotel room to gather my gear. I woke up my Dad who was unaware I had moved rooms for the night...

Breakfast was a cup of coffee, a banana, some rice pudding. Delicious.

We were leaving at 8am to get to the start. I met up with the rest of the CoNAC runners in the hotel lobby and we had a short walk before catching 2 trains and the light railway to Greenwich.

I made my way to the blue start and started to get a bit nervous. The enormity of this event was starting to hit me. There were runners and supporters everywhere.

I headed over the Championship start area. We had our own section to get changed, drop off bags, go to the toilet, warm-up, etc. Again, the organisation was first class. At about 9:30 I dropped off my bag, had my first energy gel, had a quick toilet break, and started to line up with the other Championship runners. I was fired up and ready to go. The quads were still a little sore pre marathon bashing but I was confident the knee was going to be okay.

We were slowly edging up towards the start line. Once we arrived at the start, the elite runners were then called in front of us. I would estimate I was 3-4 rows from the start right behind Marty Dent. It was showtime.

The gun went off and we were racing. The actual race itself was a bit of a blur. I knew straight away that the knee felt good. The first thing you notice is the crowd support. Absolutely incredible. In some places it is simply a wall of sound. I had written my name on my singlet and that was one of the best decisions I made. People cheering you on as if they are your best mates. I was in awe of this.

The pace I started out at was too quick. It was difficult not to get carried away, the adrenaline was pumping. I went through 5km in 17:40 and 10km in 35:32. I felt good and my instructions were to go out hard if feeling this way. The first half of the race was over in a flash and I remember seeing the clock at the half marathon point, 1:16:20. That's only a second outside my half PB, surely I was going to pay for this.

Sure enough, the mile splits were getting slower and slower and by 16miles, the goose was cooked. I was going to have to hang on the last 10 miles. That's a long time. The legs were feeling very heavy and I could feel the elbow impressions from the massage on Friday. That said, the knee was giving me no problems.

So the sub 6 minute miles were creeping up to 6:30's. By the time I reached 20 miles in just under 2hours I knew it would be a huge effort to get the sub 2hr40. It was a case of concentrating on the next mile and when that felt like a long way, breaking it down into even smaller units of distance or time.

I was struggling and despite getting overtaken by numerous runners, some of them women, I knew that my actual running was okay. Not quick but I was not grinding away on my axles. Slowly but surely I got to 40km in 2hr32 and knew that I had no chance of running the last 2.2km in under 8 minutes. So I put the head down, gritted the teeth, and went through each long slow minute. The final section up the Embankment seemed like an eternity. A mate of mine in the crowd started running beside me, the other side of the crowd barriers. I was so exhausted that at first I hardly recognised him but when I did that certainly gave me a lift. The final turn and I could see the finishing clock. A bit of show-boating later I had crossed the line in 2:41:21 finishing 207th overall.

So am I happy? Absolutely. Okay I missed my goal time of sub 2hr 40 but to still run a 2min 34 second PB was great. It just means that I'll have to run another marathon to reach my goal time...!

Here are my mile splits:

1 0:05:44 0:05:44
2 0:05:45 0:11:29
3 0:05:34 0:17:03
4 0:05:43 0:22:46
5 0:05:44 0:28:30
6 0:05:45 0:34:15
7 0:05:52 0:40:07
8 0:05:48 0:45:55
9 0:05:55 0:51:50
10 0:05:52 0:57:42
11 0:05:57 1:03:39
12 0:05:56 1:09:35
13 0:06:04 1:15:39
14 0:06:02 1:21:41
15 0:06:11 1:27:52
16 0:06:11 1:34:03
17 0:06:30 1:40:33
18 0:06:10 1:46:43
19 0:06:30 1:53:13
20 0:06:30 1:59:43
21 0:06:35 2:06:18
22 0:06:41 2:12:59
23 0:06:31 2:19:30
24 0:06:32 2:26:02
25 0:07:06 2:33:08
26 0:06:45 2:39:53
Total 0:01:28 2:41:21

Here are the weekly kms in training for the 15 weeks up to and including the marathon:

1 76.5 kms
2 82.5 kms
3 92.9 kms
4 80.2 kms
5 94.5 kms
6 100.8 kms
7 92.0 kms
8 80.2 kms
9 105.0 kms
10 90.0 kms
11 67.2 kms
12 69.7 kms
13 91.7 kms
14 64.6 kms
15 66.2 kms

Total 1254.0 kms
Average 83.6 kms