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Sub 3:30 - VLM 2010
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All the best for tomorrow.
I’m typing this as you VLM runners are about to start. It looks like the weather is perfect, so by the time you read this I hope you will all have reached your goals and are not feeling to sore!
3.23.34 here, delighted and knackered!
More to folllow when I recover
Unfortunately my toes let me down (existing problem)
Really very painful so at 16 it was drop out or just try and finish/run it all. I ended up with 3.34 so not so bad but means I will now have to come back next year to break the illusive 3.30.... the annoying thing is, I could go out for a run now! But think Ill have a glass of wine instead!!
Huge well done to those of you that succeeded!
Obviously following your words of wisdom there Bambi, great effort to stick at it.
I also remembered your / Lance's quote as I started to struggle with small cramp from 18miles, ran through it till about 22 miles then had to stop and stretch about every mile till the finish..........had banked enough time early on though so definitely pleased with a 3:27:36.
Awesome performances from Dan & Marty, top stuff.
I've done about 4 runs in the past 6 weeks due to the hip injury but thought I'd have a go. Managed 3hr50 which I was ecstatic about. Not the 3:30 I set out for 3 months ago but I loved every single minute of it today. Going through Canary wharf send shivers down my spine, what a truly inspirational crowd out there today.
We had a couple of pints after and then headed back over the footbridge to Waterloo and there were still runners going and the crowd still cheering them on. Found that quite moving to watch. I hope people enjoyed it as much as i did today. Will be back next year and also got a ballot place in NYC in November.
Dave, good seeing you again, Oompa, hope you got round ok?
Still beaming,
Pete
Guys,
Fantastic times from everyone... a massive congratulations after all the hard work put in.
As for myself, all was going well until 17, when a combination of the knee/ heat/ lack of endurance meant that i crawled home for here in 3h 52m 21s.
However, trying not to be too hard on myself due to the injuries and it being my first marathon.
Amazing day, amazing crowd, amazingly painful knee and blood blisters!!!
CK, glad you got round also.
Next year 3.30 will be mine!!!
Hi guys,
Well done everyone, despite injuries some fantastic times all round. I finished in 3 34 45 so although not sub 3.30, am extremely chuffed. Hurting right now but will aim for sub 3.30 next year.............maybe.
Finally saw my family at mile 23 1/2 and that was a fantastic moment that kept me going to the end.
P.s OOMPA didn't realise this was your first marathon too. Found the orange sense people at the end and asked after you but they just looked at me as if I was mad!
Melissa,
That was probably because i was running for Muscular Dystrophy Campaign... still an orange vest though!
I hit the wall as early as mile 18, managed to keep going until mile 24 when I walked the length of the tunnel, drinking two lucozades without touching the sides, had some jelly beans and realised quite how dehydrated I was; looking back had not drank anything near enough on the course.
After a 9min mile start and conservative miles afterwards, I never had more than a minute in the bank so by about mile 21 I knew was going to miss out. Ran the last two miles in about 9:20 pace and finished in 3:33:22.
It was an incredibly tough experience; for some reason, it didn't occur to me that there was likely to be a point where I needed to walk for a bit. In retrospect, contrary to all advise, I think I should have gone a bit faster at the beginning as it does seem a bit naive expecting to do 26 8 min miles without slowing down (considerably) towards the end. I will try it again though.
Pete, likewise, great to see you again, hope to bump into you again at some local races.
Morning all
First of all congratulations to all those who ran well and to those who got what they wanted and made the most out of an injury ravaged campaign.
Disappointing news from me... but i'll start with the good bit before I sound like a complete moaner... atmosphere was amazing and an amazing experience with all the crowds and support. I think for a massive race, well organised as well. For me... was only sub 3:30 for the first 10 miles or so and slipped back a few minutes behind schedule by mile 19 but still respectable. Then calves cramped up - felt it coming from about mile 15. From here on in couldn't run for more than 400m without stopping and ran-walked the last 7 miles until the end, taking a horrendous amount of time to complete the course (I even stopped at the St John's Ambulance for a quick massage to see if it helped - sadly it didn't).
tbh - not really satisfied with the outcome after the time/training/thought i've put in over the last 4 months or so and determined to not let this marathon lark beat me. Not feeling as tired as I should be as well - didn't really test out the endurance to the full as was limited by injury. Suppose it's my first marathon after all, so something to learn from.
My race was a complete disaster from a running point of view. My injury flared up around mile 10/11 so I decided to ease off a little bit but by mile 16 my right leg completely seized up. I ended up walk/running for ten miles stopping occasionally for a quick massage just after the mile 17 marker (lamkjo, was that you I had a quick chat with as we were getting a massage?).
By mile 19 it was clear the race was over for me so I decided to just concentrate on getting over the finish line. I could only jog slowly (at what I imagine was something like 15min/mile pace)for about a minute and a half before my leg seized up again and I would have to walk it off. The last six miles were just hellish, sheer unrelenting pain. But I made it round, eventually crossing the line in 5 hours.
I'm quite philosophical about the race outcome, it was a case of having to adjust psychologically during the race, having to re frame as the race went on. It wasn't my first marathon and it won't be my last. There will be other races, other opportunities to crack 3:30. Now I'm going to have a good, long hard look at my race diary, book a massage and not think about running for a couple of weeks. I need to see a podiatrist, I've feeling that as my injury is re-occurring it has nothing to do with the types of shoe I'm wearing or the nature of my training.
Oh well... see you in 2011!
HMHK - wasn't me I managed to drag myself round to mile 19 before my major troubles began (tried to run the cramp off and tried a few things before giving the massage a go at perhaps mile 21ish). Did sympathise with a couple of other runners at a couple of points though.
I know how you feel with a lot of what you've said. I've done 20mile 'training' runs faster than I ran yesterday and felt like a fool walking in front of all the crowds - good encouragement, cheering my name but could do nothing!
Well done Oompa and CN ...great effort after what you have been through. Also to Melissa and David...and anyone else whose thread I have missed!(sorry)
HMHK and Lamkjo...sorry to hear about your races....I feel bad for complaining about mine now! After all of the training and effort it is hard to accept it when you dont do as well as hoped. But as I was thinking as I was running...there are so many people that will never run a marathon and to complete it is a fantastic achievement. As I approached the finish line I passed a girl from my club who was in quite a state. She was put in a wheelchair as she crossed the line and I spent the next 40 minutes in the St Johns tent with her.... there were people in there in a really bad way... it made me realise what it can do to people and just what a challenge it is!!
WOW - What a Day !!!
Started well the rain was a godsend and cooled everything. Got to about 10 miles and the niggle in my right knee reared it's ugly head.
Mind over matter time..... kept pushing on but slowed slightly as I didn't want my knee to stop my race!
Started getting warmer but the crowd just kept me moving forward. Missed my family at 13 miles but another chance will be at 23. The atmosphere at Canary wharf was electric.
Really warming up as I approach Tower Bridge for the 2nd time just past 23 miles and totally zoned out when I hear my 7 year old daughter's voice behind me...........Had to turn back & stop for a few minutes but I'm sure that's what kept me going for the last 3 miles.
The last mile was the longest of the race and there it was! The finish was in sight; travelling as fast as my legs would carry me.
3:47 - All things considered a great time. To finish in the top 20% in position 7593 I am well pleased.
Well done to all - really great achievements by all.
Will there be a next time???? too early to say; ask me when I can walk down stairs again.
lamkjo: You're right, that was hard, especially around Tower Hill and along the Embankment, people encouraging me but I just could not move my right leg.
All I could think was to get to the finish line and run across it. I ran from birdcage walk to the finish, hellishly painful is was.
Just have a rest for a couple of weeks and start again, I'm never going to feel like that in a race ever again. I'm actually desperate to start running again, the whole experience really has provided the motivation I need for my next marathon.
Well done to all those that finished, especially to those that got sub 3:30. Didn't do as well myself but I expected it as my training has been hampered early on with an injury. I did enjoy it though and the last 2 miles from the Embankment was amazing (again). Non stop cheering all the way to the Mall. Was aiming for sub 3:45 when I started but left leg injury started at 2 miles so thought it wise to slow the pace down so as I could make it to the finish line. Slowest ever marathon at 4:13:43 but cracking day. Said I would never do another one but.....
well done to all of those that made their goal. I'm sure everyone taking part had an amazing day no matter what the final outcome - the crowds and atmosphere where amazing.
Considering all the injuries reported on here over the course of our training I think everyone did extremerly well.
I think I briefly reported my time of 3.23.29 but here is some more detail of how it went.
I was in pen 3 of the blue start, not too far from the front, took me about a minute or so to cross the start. the 1st mile or so was pretty much as expected, slow and continually dodging left and right to move around slower runners or slower grouips of 3 or 4 running together. 1st mile was 8.20 ish I think.
My Garmin was set up to auto lap each mile and I was keeping an eye on current mile pace and last mile pace. If the last mile was a bit slow then I'd up the pace on the current one to compensate.
Once the crowds had thinned a little I was putting in fairly constant 7.45 minute miles and feeling ok.
Mile 5 or thereabouts once things started to heat up I made the mistake of rubbing my eyes, the mixture of cheap suncream and sweat made it impossible to see and extremerly painful. I must have run the next 2 or 3 miles looking like I was overcome with emotion as my eyes were streaming. I think Gordon Ramsey was around me at that stage before he bottled it but I could hardly focus so didn't pay much attention to him.
Rest of the 1st half went by without much incident, felt comfortable and passed halfway in 1.41.53. I was concentrating on running a steady pace, beating 3.30 so this was fairly good going as far as I was concerned...
Still felt good going through mile 14 and beyond, still fairly consistent miles at 7.46/7's. My problem was shortly to become apparent however, I was pacing myself purely on the readout of my Garmin.
I was also already dreading the last 3 - 4 miles as I found these so tough last year. I wanted to run a steady pace throughout.
When I went through the underpass the signal went on the Garmin as expected but then it never actually came back properly with any level of accuracy. I had also forgot my pace bands so I was then left wit having to readjust my mind to concentrate on how I was feeling and estimating my pace. I was getting mileage readouts on the Garmin of anything from 9.30's to 5 minute miles.
I found the crowds around canary wharf unbelievable, so loud at points - really great stuff and spurred me on.
Heading back down the highway I still felt ok, in hindsight I should have probably pushed on more but still was scared of blowing up in the last bit on Embankment.
Embankment finally came and I still felt relatively ok, I pushed on a little, or at least I tried and passed many more runners than passed me. I was at Parliament Square before too long. I found some spare energy from here and was passing loads of runners in the final stretch with a reasonably impressive sprint finish.
I felt totally exhausted but then was able to chat to the guy taking the tag off my shoe and didn’t feel anywhere near as bad as I did the year before. This has left me feeling that I didn't put enough in, or did it too late.
splits were as follows
START TIME 09:46:03 5K 00:24:24 10K 00:48:36 15K 01:12:43 20K 01:36:46 HALF 01:41:53 25K 02:00:53 30K 02:24:52 35K 02:49:23 40K 03:13:43Dan,
Fantastic running mate... don't beat yourself up about what you could've done.
John
Brilliant run Jaffa for going sub 3:30! Well done also to Bambi, Creaking Knees, Oompa, Melissa, David and Jayos for going close or sub 4. Sorry to hear about your problems Lamkjo, HMHK and Gadget man but well done on getting round.
Nice write up Dan and congratulations again on a fantastic time.
I’ve only a few days to go until my sub 3:30 attempt at Belfast on Monday and I can’t wait to get going! Although, I’m a bit worried about my right knee which seized up while walking the other day and then felt numb while running. Sods law, I haven’t had the slightest injury until the week before the bloody marathon!
All the best on Monday Badbark!
I am going to take a few more days rest then get back to running again. Immediate targets at 1:30 half and 40 min 10k. I will do 3:30 marathon but maybe not for some time....
Cheer David and funnily enough I have those exact same goals for this year too! Good luck Sir!
My race didn't really go to plan. started from blue start pen 4 so only took a couple of minutes to cross the start line. I expected the crowds to ease a bit after 2 or 3 miles but they just never. The result being that I never got into any sort of consistent rhythm. At around 16 miles I had to walk and from there to the finish it was run/walk all the way.
Finished in 4:01:04. Really disappointed with that and am already considering when I could attempt my next marathon when I will definately do much better.
I like the sound of those goals too David, but not having actually run a proper half for quite some time I'm not sure how realistic they are right now. We shall see as soon as I find an appropriate one to enter.
I'm off for my 1st post marathon run fairly shortly - just as the rain starts. Brilliant!