25/4/10 - Virgin London Marathon

Distance: 42.2km/ 26.2miles
Altitude: 45m/ 150ft
Temp: 11°C/ 52°F
Weather: Overcast and good for running!

I am up early to get in a good breakfast (mostly muesli, a good dose of coffee and a few glasses of water), get the gear together (check, recheck etc.) and get down to the bus stop way early. It is a cool and overcast morning with some black clouds around, hopefully the forecasts are wrong and this is what we have to look forward to for the day. The bus brings me to Croydon railway station where a number of runners who like to get on the move early are gathering, and we are soon on the train to London Bridge. Here the crowds of runners are everywhere but an announcement confirms our platform and an empty train arrives in minutes to accomodate us all in relative comfort (apparently this is a big improvement on last year when trains here were already full of runners getting on at Victoria).

The atmosphere on a train almost entirely filled with participants and volunteers is one of excitement and trepidation but we are all entertained for a couple of minutes as the train moves slowly past a mother fox suckling a large family of young right by the tracks. We arrive at Blackheath right on time (i.e. plenty early, about 100 minutes to the start) and it is not hard to find the way as a crown walks up onto the heath. I have a "good for age" (GFA) place so we have our own little starting area which is still pretty empty when I arrive so it is easy to check out the toilets, pick up a cup of tea (it is still cool and the black clouds are gathering with a little drizzle starting) and grab a sports drink for sipping. Then I just lie on a comfortable piece of grass and watch the world go by... until the drizzle becomes more steady rain and I decide to drop my bag to be carried to the end before the contents get wetter. I must have looked a little odd slapping on sunscreen in the rain but you can't be too careful!

There is just about enough space for all the GFAs in the tent provided for us (if we cram in pretty tight) and I get a good spot near the door for warmth with fresh air. The rain is still steady as people begin to head over to the starting pen, but I stay in the tent till the last minute as there are only so many GFAs and none of us will be too far back (though for some reason I have code 9 on my race number, meaning predicted time over 6 hours; good for age if I was about 90 maybe). I get my timing spot on heading to the start, the rain stops right after I leave the tent and I get into the starting coral just as we move forward to the start so get an appropriate spot maybe 200 people back (GFAs are placed in front of one of the three starting areas - elite men are similarly placed at another, not sure about the third) and fairly close to the start.

In the last 10 minutes there is nothing to do but listen to runners who deal with nerves by talking, but at least it is now dry and conditions feel good right now. Then suddenly it is 9.45, the gun goes and we are off (only 19 seconds elapses between gun and me hitting the start line). The early part of the course is generally flat or downhill and there is a natural urge to go off fast, but I'm lucky being near the front to be surrounded largely be sensible runners and having plenty of space around me to get into my own groove. The mantra "slow down, take it easy" is never far from my mind and the pace feels easy, even as the first 5km marker passes in 19.45 (a 5km race time I was happy to get 5 years ago). Here we get a glimpse of the Thames as we drop into the level river valley (the course is pretty much flat from here) before a rather nondescript 5km before Greenwich. This section gives me time to spot a couple of costumes around me who I'll see on and off for most of the course, a hobbit (or maybe Robin Hood) who is probably glad of the cool given the layers in the outfit and a mosquito who I see being interviewed later on the TV. I also learn the advantage of writing your name on the costume when shouts of "Go Tim" from the ample crown indicate I'm about to be overtaken by a namesake, I manage to keep with him for a while to share the accolades.

Greenwich is always one of the signature parts of the race on the TV but this year the whole area is being redeveloped I guess and is surrounded by wooden walls. Oh well, another 5km completed in 19:48. The next section is not very memorable, though a pipe band raise my mood briefly, and the race settles into keeping a steady effort and conserving energy for later. The weather is improving too but while the sun shows through several times the temperatures stay pleasantly cool. My times for the next two splits are 20:14 and 20:42 so a similar effort is gradually slowing my pace but I'm well on target.

20km on the London Marathon means 2 things, nearly half way and the best known part of the course, Tower Bridge. Here the crowds are thick but amazingly I spot Tracy and our friends Tessa and Cameron and run over to acknowledge them, just a shame the camera didn't capture a good picture. After the bridge we turn right and approach what was once (in the early days when I watched on the TV) a tough and boring part of the course on the Isle of Dogs. What was once empty and desolate warehousing however has been developed with a lot of housing and the crowds are as thick here as elsewhere.

This is also the part of the race where things get tough, the body starts to hurt more but I still try to keep the effort the same even if "running comfortable" gets a whole lot less comfortable. One thing I find makes keeping the pace easier than some races, usually I'm very poor at drinking on the run but here the bottles (I try to alternate water and isotonic drinks at each 5km drinks station) are really user friendly. My 5km splits at 25km and 30km are 20:36 and 21:20, still a good pace though I start to notice more people passing me. Not to worry, they are either disciplined runners who can do a negative split (second half faster than first) and are just better than me, or I'll see them going backwards later. I'm still deliberately trying to take it easy, even if "easy" is not quite the word.

The London Marathon route features a line on the road delineating the measured racing line which constitutes the exact 26 miles and 385 yards, and I find one way to occupy my mind is to stick as close as possible to it, which is generally easy as the roads are not too densely populated at this point in the field. It also helps when navigating the twists and turns around West India Docks. There are a few sections of the course around here where the road narrows and runners have to negotiate traffic calming speed bumps, easy for us but a bit of a liability once the densely packed runners arrive.

By now we are heading back west and while this is where the race gets really tough and memories are few it is also where I start to allow my effort to increase, with the thought that it's only 10km home and I've run 5 10km races in the buildup. The 5km split to 35km is my slowest, 21.50 but I know by now I should be in for a good time and in a way it's encouraging to reach the point where runners just past halfway are streaming towards us on the opposite side of the road... we have a lot easier day ahead of us! A couple of other random memories from this part of the race were finally getting ahead of Bilbo/Robin Hood after trailing his costume for the whole race and singing briefly along to the song "Dirty Old Town" as I passed one of the last of many bands on the route. I also tried to spot my support crew who should be with the London Hash House Harriers passing out beer to runners between mile 22 and 23, but they miss me and I miss them somehow. Damn I was looking forward to that beer...

At some point here the course runs through a tunnel and with the field thinning right out and none of the cheering crowds it is quite surreal and silent. By now I am overtaking quite a few people and just concentrating on making forward progress and keeping up the effort. The high point here is hitting The Embankment, suddenly you can see the Thames and the sights of central London and the end is nigh! My 40km split is quicker than 35km at 21.36 and suddenly I feel good for the run in, though like in New York the course loops right road near the end to you don't actually see the finish until the last few hundred yards/metres.

And what a finish it is. You run towards Buckingham Palace, take a sharp bend to the right and there is the Mall lined with crowds. You would have to be really beat not to such in your gut, stand up straight and put on a finishing sprint. OK, maybe a slightly faster shuffle but it feels like a sprint. The big clocks at the finish show me that a burst of effort will get me under 2.55 and I finish clocking 2.54.54.

More soon