London Marathon

Well, what can I say? Where do I start? I'm entirely overwhelmed right now. I've been close to tears a few times since 12.01 yesterday and the support I've had since the race ended has been amazing. I'll give a race report now and try and summarise how it all went. You may have noticed I didn't do a blog last week - this was intentional. I had some real issues leading up to this race and was on antibiotics and painkillers and in and out of hospitals/clinics/doctors all week. In the end. all was fine, but I didn't want to write about it, and I didn't want to write and leave stuff out. I'll write a blog describing my week later this week!

We'd been told there would be a pacemaker running 67.30 pace to halfway and he would continue to 20 miles. The group assigned to run at that pace was myself, Tom Payn, Lee Merrien, Neil Renault and Matt Pierson. We were right on the pace from the off with a 5.11 mile and I felt comfortable (as I should!) and tucked in on the pace. The 3rd mile is downhill and so we expected a quicker 3rd mile (4.58) but the key was not to get carried away and make sure we settled back to 5.10s, and we did just that. Andi Jones, Dan Robinson and Lemoncello had moved off together and I was more than happy for Andi to go with them and fancied having a go at at him in the last few miles, as I knew he would be prone to blowing up. 

At about mile 4 or 5, I noticed that Matt Pierson had dropped back and the pacer was looking round for him (as he was his training partner in Kenya, and I think really he was just there to pace Matt!) and he said he would slow a bit, but me and Tom urged him to keep this pace going, as we knew it was 67.30 ish pace and we didn't want to slow down too much. I still felt very easy and was often at the front of the group with the pacer telling me to relax. Tom and Neil were also quite prominent while Lee stayed tucked in at all times, and I had to check he was still there every now and then. At about mile 9 Tom started to drift back. I was pretty surprised by this as he seemed so comfortable and I know he was more than capable at operating at this pace. This left just 3 in the group now and we reached halfway in 67.47 which was fine by me as this was probably the exact time I would have asked for if there wasn't a pacer going through in 67.30! I knew conditions were good and it was all down to me now to run the time I had to. Heat wasn't a problem, and there was a breeze, but nothing that would damage fast times too much.

Some of the sections of the course were truly amazing with the noise and sheer masses of people shouting you on. It really was making my hairs stand up on the back of my neck and I found to hard to resist the urge to just take off and go for it every time we reached this wall of noise! As time wore on and the 3 of us remained together, I did some simple maths and worked out that with Jones, Lemoncello and Robinson ahead and Dave Webb's 2.15 in the bank, one of us was going to miss out unless we ran extremely fast indeed. 15 miles passed and I still felt comfortable and was just ticking off the miles now, waiting for when I was going to have to do something to lose the other 2. I wasn't planning to do anything drastic until 20-22 miles and was hoping they would just drop off the pace! Right now, I was focussing on staying relaxed, and picking up water to pour on me and getting a swig of my energy drink and gel when they came round. My stomach felt fine and I certainly didn't feel too hot or dehydrated.

Unexpectedly, the pacer dropped out at 16 miles, after a 5.18 mile. This meant I found my self at the front of the group and I didn't really want to be pacemaker for the last 10 miles but just ran how I felt. I didn't mean to pick up the pace but my watch says I ran a 5.06 mile and a 5.10 and by 18 miles I had a gap on the others. I still felt confident and now I knew the chance was there. I hadn't pushed on intentionally and there was still some comfort zone in my legs, but now I had to go it alone. I passed a few guys from the lead pack who were dying which at least helped me to focus on although I went straight past them and they were no use with the pace sharing. I reached 20 miles and just after this point was the first time I started to feel some real fatigue. I wasn't slowing massively but I was having to work hard for it now. I knew the gap was still good behind me and I just focussed on ticking off every mile, hanging onto the pace. Miles 21 and 22 were 5.15 and 5.16 and at mile 23 someone shouted that Andi Jones was ahead; and I looked up along the long stretch I could see him about 400m ahead. This kept me focussed and I knew he must be running much slower than me and I started to really work hard with nothing to spare anymore to catch him. By mile 24, my legs were buggered. I was definitely slowing now but still gaining on Andi. I was just willing my legs to hold it together. I knew I was well within 2.18 but catching Andi meant 3rd Brit and automatic selection for the Europeans and I also didn't want to be caught by Lee and Neil. I knew Neil was a bit behind Lee and I was trying to gauge by the crowd how far behind they were and I knew I still had a cushion as there was some gap between the cheers. Mile 25 was 5.34 and with 1.2 miles to go I just gave it all I had. I felt like I was running soooo slowly and just wanted to reach the finish! I knew the longer the race went on, the more chance I had of catching Andi, but at the same time I just wanted it to end as my legs were giving way. I reached Westminster and kept pushing for all I had. With 600m to go I thought Andi was still catchable but my legs just wouldn't respond. I got within 3 or 4 seconds of him by 200m to go but he looked behind for the first time and saw me and picked it up a bit. I tried to hammer the last 200m, but my legs were fading rapidly and I could only muster a jog to the finish. This was when I noticed that Lee was 2 seconds behind me and he'd actually made about 20 seconds on me in the last 2k, and 30 seconds in the last 7k. I finished in 2.16.46 and 11th place

Once I'd been ushered in to the elite athletes' tent, I was told that Dan Robinson had dropped out, meaning I was 3rd Brit and should be automatically selected for the European championships. This overwhelmed me and I just couldn't believe it. I was pleased with the time, although I expected I could run it all along, but executing it is a different matter. I wandered off to meet my friends and on the way, did a little cry. Although I always believed I was capable of running fast enough, I'm not sure I 100% believed it would happen and all other things would fall into place for me to get picked. I've never had a GB vest (except for university level) and to qualify for a major championships really is something I can't describe. 

My only wish is that Tom had had the race he deserved. There was obviously something up as he dropped out at 13 miles or so and I know he's gutted. All the time in Portugal we both believed we could make the team, and I'm sure we both hoped that one making the team wouldn't cause the other to miss out. But to have an issue that means he had to drop out, having been so comfortable is hard to take and I hope his time comes soon, and I'm sure it will. 

I spent the afternoon in the pub with friends and it was awesome. I had so many texts and phone calls and it was amazing. I drank 8 pints (completed Beer Man, to those who know that this is...) then saw Nick, pretty drunk but holding it together (or so I think!) and then went to bed very happy indeed. 

Splits: 5.12, 5.09, 4.58, 5.04, 5.14, 5.12, 5.07, 5.09, 5.10, 5.05, 5.11, 5.13, 5.08, 5.05, 5.12, 5.18, 5.06, 5.10, 5.14, 5.03, 5.15, 5.16, 5.18, 4.38 (lost reception under bridge!) 5.34, 5.29.

15.52, 16.09, 16.05, 16.15, 15.54, 16.01, 16.11, 16.42, 7.34