23rd – London marathon

The forecast for the day had been including rain throughout the entire day, but last night it had changed to looking positive with 10-13°C and slightly clouded with no rain. So it was a bit disappointing standing in the waiting area a few minutes before start and seeing – and feeling – it starting raining. The temperature dropped quite a bit with the rain coming down and I was just looking forward to getting started hoping to build up some warmth. While it didn’t rain for the entire run, we did experience the occasional drizzle throughout the entire thing.

A start in classic English conditions.

Photo taken by Sportograf.

In spite of the weather the support along the course was absolutely amazing. As an English runner pointed out this was completely normal English weather so there was no reason why this should keep people away. And rightly so; there was maybe 500m in total for the entire course where there weren’t anyone cheering you on, otherwise the support was immense: eager, loud and very engaged. There were layers of people on multiple stretches trying to get close to us – but as opposed to the Paris marathon this course had been fenced off so we were able to run uninterrupted. So much energy.

Circling Cutty Sark (just seen to the right of the frame).

Photo taken by Sportograf.

We started off in Greenwich and started off towards east to Woolwich where turned around and ran to and circled Cutty Sark, continued through Rotherhithe before reaching Tower Bridge. Crossing that we went east again, crisscrossed Canary Wharf before the almost same way back past the Tower Bridge, continuing west along the Themes until reaching Westminster where we turned up towards Buckingham palace which we briefly passed before turning down The Mall and crossing the finish line. To be completely honest the course wasn’t terribly interesting apart from maybe the last 5-10km but the support made up for it in spades. Running on the many streets there were often buildings on both sides, keeping the noise from the spectators concentrated, increasing the volume. But impressively, the loudest part on the course was actually on Tower Bridge despite it being completely open; the sidewalks were absolutely stuffed with people screaming. That was quite the experience.

Crossing Tower Bridge.

Photo taken by Sportograf.

At around 25-30km I realized I was starting to slow down – my estimated finish time was suddenly down to around 04:30, and regardless of how much I tried to run faster I seemed to be stuck in the slower pace. Then I tried focusing on passing other runners instead of just running faster, and suddenly I was back to an estimated finish time of 3:58, so things were back to how they were supposed to be. Reaching the last 5-7km my estimated finish time was swinging between 3:58 and 4:01 so things were getting a bit stressful towards the end. 

Nearing the end.

Photo taken by Sportograf.

Pushing through on the last few kilometers I managed to finish in 3:58:42, which I was very happy with. That put me as 17715 out of 48743 in total (top 36,34%), 12993 out of 28397 men (top 45,75%) and 2314 out of 4615 M4044 (top 50,14%). So compared to my other runs this was actually quite a good result in the end despite my struggles along the way, and a result I am now very happy with.

Going through the roundabout in front of Buckingham Palace.

Photo taken by Sportograf.