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I guess most people will be leaving soon and may not have internet access - good luck to all!
I'll be in a yellow and blue whizz kidz top, probably with yellow headband and orange shades!¬! Say hello as you run past
Hi all just in case some of you do not get this until after the race, GOOD LUCK!!!!! And keep positive at all times even if things don't seem to go according to plan, and you have done plenty of 20-22milers so the race starts after that, so pop in some gels and see you at the finish line.
I can't believe I am still so excitted!!! Just finished putting my Ocky name on front of orange top and Southend AC at the back of it, next pin number down.
Good luck to all- remember to look up at as you cross the finish line rather than looking down at your Garmin- it makes a better finishing photo.
We've all done the work over the months and the stuff we can't change like the weather, Pen numbers and any route diversions are out of our control and so not worth wasting energy on fretting about.
Isn't is odd that despite clever kit like Garmins, gait analysis, technical clothing etc, we still rely on the humble safety pin to attach our numbers?
Thanks Old Shadow, nearly forgot to pack my safety pins.
See you in London!!
Yes Im very excited now too!
I'll be wearing a dark blue adidas T-shirt with yellow stripes with IAN across the front...will hopefully see some of you there!
See you guys there...best of luck and thanks in advance for all your help and advice over the last few months!! I hope all of you are reporting back in with your PB's and goals achieved!! Well done for getting to the start line...the slog has been done now enjoy the pay off down the mall!!!
Enjoy and remember you've all earnt your place on the line over the last few months!!
yes this thread has been absolutely brilliant...some wonderful people here, and you all managed to give me an alcohol addiction I never thought I had
well done everyone - the training is finally over and payback time is here!
Well just finished preparing everything, just need to be Sunday morning now.
Putting my feet up tomorrow all day and might try having a long sauna just to relax even more.
Done it!!! The first 3 miles were close to 9mins a mile very frustrated!! But got in at 3hrs 27 mins and 8 secs..!!!! The heat was huge for me especially at Canary Wharf...was on track for 3hrs 20 mins at halfway but hey whoever said that the first half of the marathon is at 20miles was NOT LYING!!
Hope you all achieved your individual goals today..
Humph finished 3:32, so not sub 3:30 aiming for, but pretty close
shall aim for that in Edinburgh at end of May. I WILL get there again!!!
Well done Carlo
Triple did you get held up at the start? I was bottlenecked for the first 3 miles and my first 5 k was at 25 mins!! I don't think i've ever jogged 5k in 25mins with fresh legs!!
This was a hot one today so lets not forget that..well over the forecast and close to 20 deg (if not on the mark!!) Hope Edinburgh gives you that chance, its well in your grasp!!!
Good stuff Carlo, congratulations.
That sounds similar Smiffie, I managed a 3:31:05 finish, I'm not downbeat though, it was a good race for me. Pacing was fine, went through halfway in 1:43:11 feeling ok, left knee started to seize up soon after and an old hamsting injury started cramping from 17 miles, pace slowed about 50secs per mile from here due to this but I just couldn't run any quicker without cramping. Stopped for a stretch at about 23 miles and was able to pick it up a bit for the final 2 miles (probably because the nurofen I'd popped at 17 miles was kicking in!)
I managed to give the crowd a bit of excitement by tripping over at 21 miles, just goes to show you need to keep your concentration all the way through!
RL, Nice to see you on course, hope you are feeling better now than you were and it wasn't too bad to finish.
Will look forward to more stories tomorrow.
Jaffa....good finish given the cramp..it was the heat which killed most of us out there..nice idea with the nurofen...I popped mine afterwards....but it was hard at around 17/18 for most..and even though i felt like crawling at some point...the legs kept going.....nearly missed the start because of all the hassle with trains out of london bridge....platform alterations when trains arriving...great move guys especialky when there's over 300 people on the platform!!
The best moment was seeing my mum at the end and ran (ok stiffly walked over and hugged her) perfect end for me!! Which makes me a big softie at the age of 33!!
Well done for finishing guys!! Knew a guy who blew out at 19 who was hoping for sub 3...and elite womens race at 2 drop outs at 20..so it does take a lot of luck and some guts to get past the tape!!
Hi guys, had a nightmare today. Was bang on course til 30k, then lost the plot. I actually lost all feeling in my arms and hands bizarrely, and was in a lot of pain. Ended in 3:45, which i'm still happy with. I hate running in the heat. Oh well, on to the next one.
Well done to everyone for finishing, t ws tough out there today.
Well done Jaffa, great time given weather, injuries, tripping over etc.
And Carlo too at getting your sub 3.30. The heat TS will have cost you the two minutes so Edinburgh looks poss especially with those first four miles down hill that you dont have to go back up!
I managed to get a good start - the front of red start pen 4 was through the start in 2 mins and no hold ups. But had to go to the loo before 2 miles so had catching up to do. I too agree with the first half is at 20 miles - the heat got to me about then I think and slowed quite a bit. At 24 miles thought i was not going to make it and had to force myself to speed up.
Anyway, finished in 3hrs 28m 51s, first time under 3.30 and my pb by about 13 mins. But it has taken me 15 marathons to get herein the four years I have been running. Chuffed anyway as it is good for age for over-50s for some marathons.
My best moment apart from seeing my parents and my son cheering me on at a couple of places was finding my bag eventually. They misfiled it in the baggage truck and stood for 30 mins in the direct sun while they found it!
Have started to ache everywhere. People tell me that I should run slowly for a couple of miles tomorrow. Not sure if will be able to, but need to do something as I have a 10k race in our club run series in 8 days time on Bank holiday monday.
Anyway, it has given me a bit of a buzz and dont mind so much now the thought of the Strassbourg marathon I am doing in 8 weeks time.
Looked out for you at the start Nifty and Ian but didnt see you. Hope you all did okay.
Well done all
great stuff david congratulations.
I'm supposed to be racing 5m next Sunday but I'm not worried about running tomorrow, gentle spin on bike / swim tuesday / thursday and maybe a run out on Friday will do me , if I don't feel up to making it to the start line on sunday it's not a bad thing
David I would see how you feel...perhaps a swim, especially in light of the PB!!! Well done on turning out 13mins off your best...truly brilliant show!! My colleague "superman" was interviewed during the race and this was his 250th marathon!! Fantastic bloke who had a very serious illness at xmas and he was determined to get the big one under his belt as his 250th!!
Jaffa...sound words and can't really add any more to that!!
What a fantastic day!
The support was awesome all the way round. The wall of noise on Tower bridge was deafening
I did 3:22:32 so I'm well pleased. Everything worked out well- I aimed for a 4:45 kilometer pace and managed that most of the time, the gels and water/ Lucozade worked out well, the weather was OK and the organisation was brilliant- what more can I say. I can see why folks want to do it again.
I got round the pen problem by walking up the the grass on the right side once the tapes were removed. Well done Carlo, Jaffa and Sniffle
Awesome run SF!!! Well done on negociating the tape...I got held up by the number of folks who made a trip to the loo 200m's in!!! Biggest laugh of the day? Us in the blues booing the greens at 1600m!!!
Also meeting my running partner at tower bridge ...he started up in a higher pen..so was happy to get running round with him after all the months training together!!!
Great run SF
Shiva, if it is any conselation my partner too had exactly the same experience. Everything on track to 19 miles (abt 30k) and then went pear shaped and finished in 3hrs 37 instead of planned 3hrs 25. He always finds it difficult when it is hot and 3hrs 45 not bad at all in the conditions.
Amazing meeting your running partner carlo. I had about 6 or 7 people I hoped I might meet who I had trained with or knew well and didnt meet any of them - they all had blue starts.
Old Shadow, Carlo and everyone else well done. You guys should be proud of your achievement.
Unfortunately I had a bit of a disaster. Everything was going well upto 14 miles then I got severe stomach cramps which I couldn't shake off. My goal of 3:30 became a goal of finishing the race, I was in agony. Finished in 4:06 which is an achievement in itself. I ended up layed out in the Doctors hut, after a thorougher check up he said I a dose of "runners trotts" apparantly quite common. Because your blood is going to others parts of the body (legs, arms) due to exercise it forgets about your gut causing pain.
Really disappointed, but to be honest I just didn't feel right yesterday. But I DID IT!!! I must not forget that. Next year perhaps I'll go in the sub 4:00 thread!!!
Thanks guys for your support over last four months it has been a pleasure. Well done to each and everyone of you. Take Care.
Hi all, well done to those who achieved a sub 3:30 and everyone that finished.
Jaffa, great to see you, it really lifted me up.
Well I did it in 3:51 which is remarkably great considering. After a very good start which felt quick but comfortable, at around mile 8 my stomach started hurting, by mile 16, I has to stop at the toilets where I managed to throw-up the entire contents of my stomach. I bumped into a friend from my club just as I was calling my family to collect me and she persuaded me to just jog a bit. Legs were wobbly and very slowing and with lots of swearing everytime that I felt my stomach tightening I completed it. This has got to be the hardest marathon that I have ever done. The good news is that I never hit the wall, and managed to lose half a stone yesterday. After I finished could not do any re-fueling as I kept throwing up (3 more times) so today still have bad stomach pains, ache maininly on my back from tightening so much the stomach while running, but can have the comforting thought that I know that I can achieve sub 3:30 if only I can get my pains sorted.
Once again well done to you all.
Disappointment for me too. 3.47 - worst effort date by quite a margin and will now have to do another one to get the sub 3.30! According to my Garmin, I did 26.8 miles and I did have a quick glance at 26.2 and saw that it was just under 3.45 so I can pretend I'm still just about good for age
It felt hard from about 9 miles and my quads had just about seized up by 18 miles so quite relieved just to have finished! If I ever do London again I will definitely make of an effort to stay on the blue line!
Did anyone else get sick of hearing it was perfect conditions? It was only Sue Barker who seemed to realise that it was quite hot for marathon running!
Well done to everyone!
RL and Niighty- congratulations on pushing on to the end despite your problems. Finishing after throwing up all those precious calories is impressive. Remember that over 60% of runners take mosre than 4 hrs to complete, and most of the population could't ever contemplate running 26.2miles anyway.
FH- my Garmin read 26.79 miles which I presume is due to all the weaving needed. Also if you look at where the Garmin says you ran through Canary wharf, the track looks like a drunk after a heavy Friday night. Don't know what the Garmin would have thought of the 2 tunnels either. It did hot hotter at the end but I tried to keep to the shadows which probably added to my distance.
Is everyone else finding stairs a bit of a challenge this morning?
hi all
Yeh really pleased with my run but a tinge of disappointment as I clocked 3:33:23. Overall an amazing event as always, with superb support and organisation etc.
I was doing 7m20/30s for the first 18/19, but in the heat I just blew a gasket and the final 6/7 miles were just agony/torture!
well done carlo, David and OS, fantastic efforts and really pleased for you
Rioja - well done to you too for struggling through. I know you've had a lot of stomach problems and I cant imagine how hard it was
smiffie - sounds like we were in the same boat!
would be great to keep in touch with everyone!
Thanks all for your comments.
OS, I am aching everywhere not just going up and down the stairs, but great time for you, you must be really pleased.
Ian, don't be dissapointed, that is a great time and remember there is always another marathon somewhere that you can try sub 3:30. I can't mention that to my mother as she does not want me to run another marathon after yesterday, but I will be back although from my swearing yesterday you could not have guessed that.
3:43, slightly gutted. But, I simply can't run in the heat. It was the most enjoyable of the three marathons I have now completed, although last three miles wewre purgatory. I had trouble stomaching anything after 18 miles, so think I suffered because of that in last 3.
Not felt so emotional about a race ever before, during and after. Just disappointed I couldn't hang around a bit at end, had to get train home immediately as eldest was playing a cup final. They won, which meant I speant rest of day in pub, refuelling on Beck's!!!
Stairs are a killer today.
Well done everyone.....
yeh my garmin was 0.25 miles out, so I was cursing the damn thing at 26, cos I knew I still had half a mile to go!
well done guys - whats next on the agenda? presumably you're doing southend half ana?