Well – my first London marathon. Perhaps my last, as, much to my surprise, I now find no desire to do another! So there you go, one more person got to enter the ballot today before it closed 😀
Well organised – of course – how many of you made alternative arrangements to meet up with people somewhere other than the finish in case of bombs, sorry, in case the race finish area was for any reason unavailable? Everything is thought of (and put in the magazine).
I had thought, it being such a big race, it would be hard to find/ meet up with people. I soon learned otherwise as 5 mins after arriving at Blue Start, I was spied in the loo queue (of 1! yes, it was that early…. later on I resorted to the ladies’ urinals!) by Cedric & Helen (looking v. fresh). Chloe caught me later on (literally) and then darted off through the crowds.
Ah yes, the crowds. Now I’ve done Reading (thrice) and Berlin, so I thought, oh yeah, a bit crowded. But no. This is like running through Ikea. On a Saturday. We all like a bit of company but really! Came as bit of a shock.
So the sub-4 – no way – though after the 2 1/2 minute pit stop at mile 12 (tactical mistake – having brekkie – even at 5:30 – should have stuck to the vegan m@rs bar on the start line eh?) it was going to be a bit of a bit ask. But happy with the 4:11:40 considering the circumstances.
Lovely to see you all under the NO tree. Funny how I know how fast people are and what they look like but of course, not what they sound like…! LK – I’ll see you at Abingdon I hope!
Looking to do more quality training over the summer before Eindhoven in the autumn.Although I did a fairly normal plan (based on Hal Higdon Intermediate II + bit of extra distance + sprinkling intervals later on) with a 3 week taper, my legs still felt tired, so perhaps I misjudged the volume & was not as fresh as I could have been. But I’m resting up now and apart from the tendons on the top of one foot still squawking a bit, getting to feel normal again…
10/10/10 – Bring It On!