The start of the weekend was a visit to The Excel Centre on Friday to pick up the race number. As usual there was plenty of freebies and official Virgin London Marathon merchandise. I picked up some shorts, gels and Marathon socks (not sure how they differ to normal running socks).
The weather forecast for the Sunday was for a record temperature for London marathon and it did not disappoint. Sunday morning was glorious not a cloud in site! I was starting at the blue start at Blackheath this year. I had a good starting position in Pen 1. The first couple of miles was jostling for space. It was pretty apparent by about mile 5 it was getting warmer. I saw the first casualty by mile 10 laid by the road side, a reminder to know my limits. The noise at mile 12 for London Bridge was immense, I probably upped the pace for at least 400metres due to the adrenaline! I went through halfway in 1hr 37mins. At this point I was feeling ok, but my pace did start to drop. Then after mile 17 the wheels just suddenly came off and I found myself walking. I tried to rally but to no avail, so it was a walk/run strategy to the finish. It was not my day in terms of running achievement, but the crowd and atmosphere was superb and a great experience. This left me determined to return for another go at London, but probably a different marathon for a Pb effort. Nevertheless this is a great event which I can throughly recommend to all of you.
