The Flora London Marathon

How do I write this without sounding disappointed with a new PB and club record?

3:22:22

Yet again I miss the 3:15 target, but this time the problem wasn't so much me. It was hot. Very hot!

It was lovely weather for the spectators though. I hope they didn't get too badly sunburnt. For once, I managed to spot a load of my supporters - I think that's the first time I've managed to spot anyone at all. Thanks to: Karen, Rory, Lars, Sara, Steve, Catherine, Rob, Ian, Carol, Pete. Did I miss anyone? Thanks folks - you really helped.

The target was 3:15 or 7:25/mile and in cooler weather the plan would have been to run 7:15/mile - something my training, and the much cooler Worthing 20 indicated I could do. From the outset though I realised how much the warm weather was affecting my pace. It was warm from the gun and I saw my pace dropping away after only a few miles, as I tried to keep my heart rate down. I think it's worth me explaining heart rate and running in the heat in a later posting, but you simply run at the same heart rate as you would in cool conditions. A heart rate monitor is a useful tool in the heat.

I may have been hot, but I had a much easier time than a friend of mine, whom I met a short distance in. I grabbed the hand of Tony The Tiger as I passed him - I wasn't sure how much he could see or hear - he was wearing the full, and heavy, Leicester Tigers mascot costume. He was raising money for Matt Hampson - a rugby player for Leicester Tigers who was paralysed in a scrum. Tony is a very quick (sub-3) marathon runner but he was going to have a tough run today. He eventually finished in 4:22 - far tougher than he'd ever imagined. Well done Tony.

By 8 miles I'd resigned myself to a 3:20 target: any faster and I'd risk blowing up big-style. It was at this point that I met Gordon Ramsay and enquired how he was doing. He said he'd be happy with 4:00 hours. I explained we'd been running at 3:20 pace and wished him luck. I was a lot faster than him at this point so he'd clearly gone off way too fast. He finished in 4:20 - oops!

At each water station I grabbed a bottle, took a gulp, and then doused myself with the remainder. It helped, and with occasional shade there were glimmers of hope that my pace might improve, but it was still getting hotter and hotter. I only ever took one bottle at each station. I gather some must have been taking 2 bottles though as, despite Dave Bedford's bullish claims that "there's more chance of drowning out there than running out of water", some stations did indeed run out of water for the tail-enders. Lynne, who took over 6 hours (hats off to you Lynne!) resorted to picking up discarded bottles off the road - not good.

I passed half way in 1:39:07, feeling OK but knowing that 3:15 was impossible and that I had a tough run ahead.

It was nice to see the elite men come past on the other side of the road. I spotted Martin Lel (the eventual winner) and Felix Limo (last year's winner) and there was Paul Tergat! I'd finally seen one of running's greats in the flesh. Where was 'The Greatest' though? Where was Haile Gebrselassie? I later found out he'd withdrawn with stitch affecting his breathing. It's a tough game this marathon running.

We got some relief from the heat as we passed through Canary Wharf - we even got a breeze which felt lovely, particularly when doused with water. What a contrast as we emerged from the shade back into the intense sunlight though. I could feel the heat reflecting up off the tarmac and my face was glowing, almost throbbing. How much further?

I passed Karen's friend Jane whom I'd met at the start. She too had been going for 3:15, but unlike me had stuck with her game plan. She was starting to suffer big style with the fast early pace. I would complete the remaining miles nearly a minute/mile faster than her!

I was now working out worst case scenarios in my head as we passed each mile marker - what would my finish time be if I can only manage 8:00/mile from here? I realised I'd missed 3:20, but was still hopeful of being well inside my 3:24 PB.

As we passed the Tower of London I got a boost with the familiar site of a Victory AC vest. As I approached I recognised Paul. As we neared Blackfriars I said hello and woke him up - I think his concentration was waning a bit. He took off into the distance. I thought he might have done me a favour as I now had a target to run me in, but I couldn't quite keep up with him. I kept him in sight along the embankment, but by Big Ben I'd lost him.

I gritted my teeth and gave what I had left up Birdcage Walk and into the world's best marathon finish area. Smile for the camera, job done.

I remembered Geoff Wightman's comments on last week's Boston Marathon and the torrential gale-force headwinds: it's bad but at least it's biblically bad, so we have something to talk about afterwards. I don't think the heat was quite biblically hot, but I'd set a PB and new club record in the hottest London Marathon ever. That's something I suppose!


Well done all the Victory people! Commiserations to Neil for a personal worst and a visit to the medical tent for dehydration. Congrats to James for a sub-3 PB - impressive stuff. Congrats too for PBs to Graham and Bob. Congrats for maiden finishes to Lesley, Alan and Paul (if you ignore his 2 Ironman marathons!!). Congrats to Paul B, Alex, Nick and Richard for simply finishing. Well done team.