London Marathon - 3:20:30 - A 6 minute PB & 10 minutes under the Boston Marathon qualifying time
The training
I loved my training. It was a 16-week plan getting up to 100km on some of the big weeks. I did a speed session & parkrun almost every week (that I could - sometimes life does get in the way!)
I did NO racing. All the races I did, I paced them which meant I was going at a slower pace to what I can run.
My nutrition & fuelling both in the lead up to the race and during the marathon was perfect.
I stopped using Strava. I stopped comparing myself to other people and did my training for ME and not for other people.
The marathon
I started with the 3:25 pacer but he went off too fast. I’ve done enough pacing to know! So I slowed a little.
When it comes to marathons - you don’t go off too fast!
I settled into a pace that felt comfortable and could see the pacer and the group slowly drifting ahead. I wasn’t phased. I knew to do my own thing. This was my race and I had played how it was going to go many times in my head.
After about 5k, I felt good. So I pushed on just a little bit. After another 5k, I felt good. So I pushed on.
I continued pushing on bit by bit and when I overtook the 3:25 pacer, I knew I had it. It was my day!
The whole race was unbelievable. The crowds were insane! I saw SO many people I knew and after seeing every friend, I smiled for about 2 minutes afterwards! I kept smiling when it got hard - something I’d read as a piece of advice.
And it got really hard. At mile 22 I really wanted to just finish. I had to dig deep and battle a lot with many doubtful thoughts. But I did finish and running down The Mall with thousands of people shouting and supporting you, is something very unique.
Running a marathon is no joke! The mental game is just as hard (if not harder) than the physical one.
50,000 people ran London Marathon yesterday and it was a privilege to be a part of it!
