London Marathon 2015
report
"I went down to London on the Friday before the race to pick
up my number from the Expo, held at Excel in Docklands. I’d wondered about the
number of people who’d be trying to collect numbers simultaneously but the
organisation was excellent and it only took me a couple of minutes to pick up
chip & number. I then went through to browse the Expo exhibits and was
lucky to catch Wilson Kipsang & Dennis Kimetto being interviewed on stage.
Really inspirational athletes, modest but with a clear passion for the sport.
Martin Yelling was great at teasing out subtleties in their responses. He asked
both how they planned to celebrate after the race and Kipsang said he’d have “a
little rice” which drew a laugh from an audience with pies and pints on their
minds. Martin allowed a couple of people in the audience to ask questions
before he wrapped the session up. At this point quite a few folk (maybe 20+)
went into the stage and started taking selfies with Wilson & Dennis, which
felt disrespectful in a way, but the guys kept smiling.
On the race day I travelled to Blackheath, firstly on the
tube and then overground from Charring Cross – all free courtesy of Transport
for London, you just had to show your race number. The walk from Blackheath
station towards the start was interesting in terms of the atmosphere. People
were silent or chatting only quietly. Nearest I can liken it to is the walk
back from Murrayfield when Scotland have lost and people don’t really like
talking much. It wasn’t solemn exactly but certainly far from celebratory. I
got to the Green start area around 8:20am and there were already thousands
there and for the next couple of hours thousands more arrived. It was chilly
but the arrangements were excellent. We started to get into the pens around 9:30,
I was in number 5 (of 9). Around 9:50 we started discarding bin liners, old
jumpers etc and a guy with a Yorkshire accent behind me said “I’m coming back ‘ere
after, there’s some good jackets there”
I’d had the impression from TV that it takes ages to cross
the line but it wasn’t so for the Green starters. Even though I was starting
half way back I still crossed the line at 10:13, only three minutes after the
gun. I don’t generally run with headphones but had been listening to podcasts
whilst waiting for the start and just as I approached the line a text came in
from number 2 daughter wishing me luck & hoping I’d taken appropriate
chafing precautions – a nice way to start. From the start and continuous for
the rest of the route there were large crowds, all seeming to be having a good
time. Pubs on the route either had bands playing outside or PA equipment &
DJs, Springsteen’s Born to Run just before Greenwich was a particularly welcome
& uplifting sound.
I’d set myself a target pace of 9:10/m and despite the sheer
number of runners was 4 minutes ahead of target by Tower Bridge. We turned
right towards Docklands and shortly after managed to spot & wave to Valerie
(Mrs R) which perked me up no end. A couple of minutes later I spotted Paula on
her way back from Docklands. Shortly thereafter Spiderman, a couple of yards
ahead of me, waved to Spiderman running in the opposite direction, clearly one
of them was an imposter.
At 18 miles it all started going wrong and by 21 I wasn’t a
happy bunny at all. My right shoulder was dropping down and it felt I was
running a bit sideways. Even some great music and atmosphere from RunDemCrew
didn’t help and by 23 (back at Tower Bridge) I was in real trouble. The next
few miles where very, very tough.
Two-thirds the way down Birdcage Walk I heard Claire
Jenkins, Chief Executive of Grow Movement (the charity I ran for – www.growmovement.org ) shout to me &
I turned back to wave and nearly fell over in turning forwards again. Really
happy to have seen her as I could easily have been right on the other side of
very wide road. Very unstable and struggling at this point.
Round the corner and onto the Mall, the sign saying “385
Yards To Go” was a welcome site and I crossed the line in a bit of a blur. I’d
lost the 5 minutes I was ahead of target at the half way stage and another 6 to
finish in 4:11:20. There was great organisation in the finishers’ area and
several paramedics separately asked if I was alright (I wasn’t really). Collected my medal & goody bag and had a
sit down for a couple of minutes before heading off to The Porterhouse pub
(highly recommended, near Covent Garden) to meet Valerie & Claire.
The organisation was outstanding from start to finish, the
support from the crowds was amazing and overall a truly memorable (but painful)
experience. I’m really grateful to Haddington Running Club for the opportunity
to run."
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