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Race Report: London Marathon
FoxyMcDeadlift
Posts: 771 Member
So, today i ran my first marathon! It was a great experience and something i'd said i wanted to do in my life. Having run a few halfs, it was the logical step up. The weathers been all topsy turvey In England for the past few days, with heavy rain and a bit of sun. I oppted to run in my vest and a tshirt, and 3 quarter lycra bottoms. For fuelling, I had 4 gels which i thought i would use at 6,12,18 and 22. I set my dream goal as 3:30, realistic as 3:45 and worst case at 4+
With strategies out of the way, onto the race. It was a perfect day for a run, a bit hot, but not a heatwave, the race was massive. I've run a half with 18,000 but there was 40+ today, at times, this was pretty overwhelming, but only really at choke points, the end and the start. I started halfway in the red start, theres 3 starts at London because its huge. remembered Arcs golden rules and tried not to set out too fast, the first mile was 8:56 because there was just so many people, by the third mile i was running 8:10s. I thought this was fine as i'd later speed up to a 8:00 average. This was in the end, the fastest i went! By about miles 5, i was still wading through people as the three starts join up and from here on in, i stayed in the range of 8:25 - 8:31 for the bulk of the race.
About mile 20, i think i started to get signs of the wall. I've never run a marathon, so i dont actually know what the wall is, but my legs were burning around the hamstrings. From here on in, i took on a lot of extra Lucozade drinks, and a random banana from the crowd which i think helped. My pace slowed a bit, too a eventual 8:34 average, this was really hard, but i said to myself i just shouldnt walk, i set that as my end of the race goal. When i got to about 400ms i saw i was just about to miss a 3:45, my realistic goal, so i sprinted the last 400 metres, it was probably the slowest sprint ever. I thought at the time i ran a 3:45:10. But my chip time says 3:45:29. I finished in 7321/42649 and thoroughly enjoyed the day. I think i'll definately do another one, but im not sure when and where. The atmosphere was electric, but the race was perhaps a bit too big for me.
With strategies out of the way, onto the race. It was a perfect day for a run, a bit hot, but not a heatwave, the race was massive. I've run a half with 18,000 but there was 40+ today, at times, this was pretty overwhelming, but only really at choke points, the end and the start. I started halfway in the red start, theres 3 starts at London because its huge. remembered Arcs golden rules and tried not to set out too fast, the first mile was 8:56 because there was just so many people, by the third mile i was running 8:10s. I thought this was fine as i'd later speed up to a 8:00 average. This was in the end, the fastest i went! By about miles 5, i was still wading through people as the three starts join up and from here on in, i stayed in the range of 8:25 - 8:31 for the bulk of the race.
About mile 20, i think i started to get signs of the wall. I've never run a marathon, so i dont actually know what the wall is, but my legs were burning around the hamstrings. From here on in, i took on a lot of extra Lucozade drinks, and a random banana from the crowd which i think helped. My pace slowed a bit, too a eventual 8:34 average, this was really hard, but i said to myself i just shouldnt walk, i set that as my end of the race goal. When i got to about 400ms i saw i was just about to miss a 3:45, my realistic goal, so i sprinted the last 400 metres, it was probably the slowest sprint ever. I thought at the time i ran a 3:45:10. But my chip time says 3:45:29. I finished in 7321/42649 and thoroughly enjoyed the day. I think i'll definately do another one, but im not sure when and where. The atmosphere was electric, but the race was perhaps a bit too big for me.
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Replies
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Man, that's fantastic :-)
Congratulations, you sure did pretty well !
Time for rest now. Any pictures ?0 -
Congrats man! Thats a really good time. Way to push thru! Great job0
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Great job! Congrats on running a smart race!
In the future you'll find the right size race for your tastes. "Big City" races can be pretty awesome in terms of crowd support.0 -
Awesome job!! Congratulations on the good finish!0
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you did amazing! and thank you for the tips.0
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The crowd was brilliant! When you pass a big charity spot like Caner Research, it really lifts you! On the flip side, i ran into 3 people at the end of the race because they started walking and the starts staggered! And none of my family saw me, and my one friend who saw me i didnt see. Raz, there may be some photos, but i think they charge a lot for them. I'l look into it
I think i will stick to smaller, more intimate races in the future, but its good to say you've run one of the big 5'!0 -
Awesome time, I ran London too as my first and finished just under an hour after you.
I kept getting bashed by people who were bigger than me which hurt although the crowd was brilliant it was overwhelming at times!
Hope you aren't suffering!0 -
Awsome accomplishment! Congrats on finishing the marathon in a great ime!0
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Well done. Your experience with hitting the wall is very similar to mine from my first marathon. All previous races at shorter distances predicted that I was at the right pace the entire time, but until you hit that 20 mile mark for the first time, well...you haven't. I had nearly the same type of reaction between 20 and 21.
Now that you have this wonderful aerobic base from your first one, keep the mileage up (after a 3 week rest period, no running for a week! Then slow, easy running for the next two) so you can roll into training for the next one.
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Well done!
40,000 runners?!?!? That's the entire Ottawa Race Weekend for all of the events!0 -
Just getting to read this for the first time. Awesome recap and well done!0
This discussion has been closed.