Water

[Deleted User]

My gripe is not about water - I got it nearly everywhere I needed and had people out on the course with bananas, jelly babies and gel for me (handy if you live in London).

I left nice and early so that I would have 45 minutes to stretch and soak up the atmosphere at the start only to get within 3 miles of the start and be told I had to walk the rest of the way - or go back to Central London and try a different route.

This was the fault of the Docklands Light Railway not FLM who did fine as far as I am concerned. It was a major drag having to walk nearly an hour to the start only to find that as the start was not delayed (obviuosly almost impossible to do) and I had to spend the first 6 miles dodging around enormous fancy dress costumes and white rhinos. THANKS DLR I needed to do just under 30 miles in 24 - 27 degrees - when you get your bonus think of my charity please www.matumaini.or.ke.

[Deleted User]

Hi all,I did not run London, but ran Paris on the 15th. It too was hot 30 at midday. They also ran out of water,people were rummaging in the gutter for discarded bottles that had a drop of water in them. I think the thing is people at the front take a few bottles each to drink and throw over themselves. When its hot I don't think they will ever have enough water be it London,Paris etc.

[Deleted User]

Read in todays Lite, that the young lad who died following the marathon died from water toxicity, which is tragic

[Deleted User]

yeah i heard that too jungle dave.

[Deleted User]

Please don't get me wrong runners, yes it was hot and it is important we stay hydrated. Please, with the greatest respect because I know you will have trained for months with a variety of water requirements, but can I add a bit of comparative perspective? Blackpool Marathon, in June has improved, yes improved, their drinks provision to every 3 miles. Having run Blackpool, this is quite a big improvement! Amsterdam will have drinks every 5k. This is quite normal. It is not the norm. to expect 300ml of water every mile and is an ambitious target to try and provide this for a massive field. I know being out for 6/7/8 hours is greater exposure to the temperature but are the risks of hospitalisation as great at that pace which may well include stretches of walking.This is not a snipe of any kind but lets live with it a little. We all did well, despite the runners instinctive self criticism. Any non runner will tell you that. It isn't always "someone's" fault. Be honest, if it was a February or November Marathon (e.g.Luton , Draycote Water, Bury 20) with wind, rain, frost or (remember it?) snow, we would be disappointed if it badly affected our enjomyent of the day. Would we really be blaming the organisers for not doing everything possible to protect us from it?
I doubt it. Marathon runners (that's us) have people's respect for endurance, grit and determination. Lets be a bit more stoic and live up to their respect, it can help with those 5 a.m. long runs!

[Deleted User]

you are dead right ken, actually
the norm is water every 3 miles

cougie

I dont know if they could do smaller bottles to be honest - if they arent making them on a large scale - then its just not economical. And I dont think that the FLM order would be big enough for them ? Plus people would still complain anyway !

[Deleted User]

There is water at every mile - it does not mean you need to take it at every mile.

By doing it mile by mile it allows people to judge and amend their water intake according to the conditions... thus you dont get a bigcrush of people needing it every 3 miles.. cos some might take at every 2nd stop, others every stop etc etc..

Problems occur when people take more than they need and waste it at every single station.

[Deleted User]

The advice given at the expo by the experts was to take water at every station, and drink up to 2/3 of each bottle. The runners nearer the front will have been misinformed about the stocks, rather than greedy or wasteful methinks?

[Deleted User]

Advice in redstart given over tannoy was to drink at every other stop.

[Deleted User]

Once again Ken is the 'voice of reason' I sympathis with those at the back of the filed who appear to have found most water stations empty and can understand people's concern that the odd water station ran out of water. However, unless you're a mermaid / man, running a mile or even three miles without water in 21 degree heat should not be a problem. For those who think it was, how on earth did you manage such vast fluid in-take in training - did you take a shopping trolley full of bottled water with you, or maybe all your runs needed to be next to rivers and streams to enable you to dive in every ten minutes?

[Deleted User]

i ran five miles from 11-16 with no water. it wasnt just the odd "one or two" stations.. it was miles on end.

Fiona Turton

Agree Joe.. it wasn`t the occasional station without water.. BUT .. It was possible to find botttles with 1/3 water still in on the ground and that was fine .. just felt a bit of a tramp rummaging !
There didn`t seem to be a problem with the sports drinkd for me though .. thank goodness for that as that would have been much worse . I didn`t see people taking 2 bottles and I only saw people pouring small amounts over themselves AFTER they`d drunk and were about to throw their bottle away . there`s no problem with that .

Alfie

I must admit I took water at most (not all) stations but never more than 1 bottle. I would definitely have spread them out and held onto bottles between stops if I knew there would be a shortage. Guess I didn't question the pre race message that sufficient extra water had been provided.

Would also say that it felt hotter than any long run I'd done in training and I wanted to ensure I kept cool. I probably also went off too quick in the conditions and hence heated up quicker than I should.

I do feel for those who found the water stations empty and can only apologise if I contributed to it.

[Deleted User]

Agreed entirely Fiona. I personally was alright, i wanst out to set a PB so i just dropped the pace during the miles there was no water to conserve myself.

And yeah, i had my bottle, so i just asked a bar maid in a pub to fill it up - she kindly obliged - no problem at all.

As for the lucozade,yeah there was tonnes of that stuff around, i had enough but didnt want to drink too much - i find it gets sickly in large doses.

All in all a fantastic day out, not pointing fingers at anyone - i just want those who think it was "the odd station" know that it wasnt.. it was for miles on end.

Fiona Turton

Joe .. never mind sickly .. wasn`t the road `sticky`!... around the lucozade stations .. that feeling of your shoes sticking was worse than the heat .. ! ! Yes no water at 3/4/5 or at 11-15 . and although I`m slowish but not `that` slow ..so it wasn`t just`The Slow Ones ` that had the problem

[Deleted User]

LOL yes.. the feelig of the lucozade reminded me of my first ever night club experience all those years ago.. that "sticky beer dance floor" syndrome you get in those really horrible dank night clubs.... why i ever went there i'll never know LOL!

scoop

"Sticky beer dance floor" syndrome - lol.

I didn't have (or want) water at every station. But my main gripe is the fact the FIRST water station ran out of water.

The organisers should surely realise that virtually every runner would want to take on water at the first opportunity (espesh in the weather we had to contend with on Sunday).

Having been running for about half-an-hour (and, sorry to disappoint some of the people posting on here, at a much higher temperature I'd been training at), I was quite gasping for a drink come the first water station.

But no. Instead, water had run out at that first station - yet by the time I arrive at the last one, after 25-odd miles (going at much slower pace by that point), they've got enough water to open a bloomin' aquarium.

Should have been the other way round.

Wardi

If it is any re-assurance..

I was running at 3hrs - 3:15 pace. I can assure you that I did not see one single runner at this level take more than one water bottle at any station. They simply do not need it. Indeed many of us skipped the odd station and took water at the next one. My tactic was to drink half of it and pour the rest over my head & quads.

So sorry to hear that there was a shortage later on.

[Deleted User]

I came over the line at 5.15 on the clock, so the latter stages. there was only one 1 station that had run out for us so we were lucky.

I had a running bottle with me so did not need to take at every stop and decanted the water in to it. My husband though was very dehydrated and needed to take water at each stop. my only suggestion would be to supply sports caps so the water could be sipped at over a period of time rather than the majority lost on the road. I know there are those people who don't like to hold a bottle but even if those who don't mind did surely this would make a dffference. (forgive me if this has already beeen suggested I haven't read the whole thread)

[Deleted User]

I didn't take on much water in the early stages but did have a few problems getting water at around the 8 mile point. I managed to get my hands on a lid at one station then picked up a bottle a couple of stations down the way. Needless to say I hung on to lid and just changed the bottle when I could. Luckily I trained carrying a bottle so although I had a slight twinge in my elbow it was nothing too bad but it can be awkward if you aren't used to it. Yep sure I had to think more about when and where to get my water as it was clear that every couple of stations had a limited supply but I did prefer the bottles as opposed to the cups that I had in New York. By the time you grabbed the cup you had spilt most of the water and only had a few sips left till the next stop. Bottles were better even if I had to think a bit more and carry it with me to ensure I was well hydrated.

dave wood 4

I thought that it was a great idea that 25ml bottles were used this year instead of 33ml, I too picked up a cap and used it so I only picked up a bottle every 2 miles from 8 onwards, it sufficed for sips and a little on bandana to keep neck cool. Unfortuinatly on Tuesday I spoke to my wife's workmate (3.15ish) who said that at EVERY stop he took 3 bottles, 1 to sip, 1 to pour over head and 1 to carry if needed, he could not understand why I got annoyed, in fact he implied that if you did not run fast enough you could not expect the facilities, so don't blame it all on L.M. it is down to certain people

cougie

Silly muppet - three bottles at every stop - I'm surprised he finished so fast with all that faffing.

Fiona Turton

How do you pick and `hold` 3 at once .. is he a juggler or something ..

[Deleted User]

I was a slow runner finished in 6 hours. I must be honest i didn't like carrying the bottles around (it was stressful enough carrying myself around 26.2 miles) but I did after mile 11 as there were shortages every other mile... which to be quite honest wasn't that bad! I think it's just a question of everyone being considerate isn't it... the guy who picked up 3 bottles every stop should be shot! but sensibly I did like to have a water every mile just to wet my mouth more than anything else at some points. Could the solution be take bottles if your thirstier and cups for those who just want to wet their mouth...As they open the bottles anyway for you to drink couldn't they just share a few between cups... complicated I know but it may work!