Virgin London Marathon 25th April 2010
2010 was the year that I suffered terribly with injury as I trained for the marathon. Glut med tendinitis had struck, and struck hard, forcing me into a complete stop. Even if I wanted too, when I tried, I simply couldn’t run more than 4-5 steps, and I would be in agony. Having missed 4 weeks training in March due to this injury, I was then also knocked off my bike! Crikey! What is God trying to tell me? But I’m a stubborn old fool, and by hook, and by crook, I managed to get myself to the start line. Once there, I had Roberto for company. We dropped our bags into the baggage truck, and started to warm up, during which, the heavens opened, and it started to pour. Roberto and I sought refuge in a changing tent for about 10 minutes, and the rain quickly passed. The storm may have been over for now, but I really was not feeling confident about the day ahead of me. Given everything in the preceding weeks, I re-evaluated my targets, and decided that I was simply going to enjoy the day, and to give it my best shot depending on how I felt.
When the race started, I managed to find my pace and stick to it, crossing the halfway marker in 1:30:27. The year previous, I was feeling great at this point, but this year I knew already that it was going to be difficult to keep this pace on track. My legs were already telling me that they were tired, and yet I knew I still had another 13.1 miles to go! How could I cope? The miles continued to tick by, but by Mile 16, the demons in my head were telling me I needed to walk. I pushed on at this stage, pushing the demons aside, and continued to run. Mile 20 became my target. Knowing that East London Runners were manning that water station, I knew there would be great support there. Seeing the ELR guys at the Mile 20 Water Station was an incredible boost, giving me a surge of energy as I raced through! ‘Keep smiling’, I told myself, ‘don’t let anyone see my pain!’
On departing from the 20 mile marker, I knew it was only 10K to go, but it was a long, and hard 10k. My pace was slowing, and my legs were really hurting by now. I was homeward bound, but this would be the hardest 10K of my life.
As I returned back past tower bridge, and the Tower of London, ahead onto the embankment, it was here that I managed to see Lance! Well, he saw me first, and screamed and yelled so loudly that eventually my ears tuned to his voice, and we caught sight of each other! Fantastic! The previous year, I ran through mile 17, and missed all my supporters, to the extent that I ran through, finished the marathon, collected my bag, called Lance, to find he, and my supporters were still waiting for me to pass mile 17. I was so happy that this year, 2010, the same did not repeat itself.
As I continued past mile 25, past Big Ben, and onto Birdcage Walk, I knew I was close to last years time, but I also knew ‘not close enough’. This year I decided to try and absorb more of the atmosphere as I passed Buckingham Palace, into the Mall, and eventually home. I didn’t beat last year’s time, but came incredibly close on 3:05:38. Having since discovered that my time qualifies me for ‘Good for age’ Entry in 2011, I’ve been on cloud nine ever since!”