London Marathon, 23 Apr 2023

London Marathon - what an incredible day. I'd heard people talk about how amazing it was, but I still wasn't expecting to love it that much. I'd done a couple of marathons before, neither of which have been particularly enjoyable experiences for me. Even though I'm a much stronger runner than I was then and far better trained, the memories of those marathons were still at the front of my mind, so my feelings on the start line were a 50:50 mixture of excitement to see what my body and mind could do and pure dread.

Once I was off, those feelings evaporated though, as they always do, and I focused on enjoying the moment. And wow that moment was incredible. To be running alongside so many others and to be cheered on by the crowds of London was like nothing I'd ever experienced before. I had lots of supporters out on the course and I managed to spot people I knew 15 times, which gave me such a buzz.

The plan was to stick to an even pace of 4:40 per km, but with there being so much downhill at the start, I settled into a slightly faster pace and didn't worry about it too much. Eventually I told myself to take it easy and I held my planned pace very consistently until about 30km. A highlight for me was between kilometres 20-23 where the course doubles back on itself and I hit it at just the right moment to see the elite men running on the other side of the road. On top of that, I had 3 groups of supporters on this section, so I spent a period constantly cheering and screaming, running too fast, high on adrenaline.

My early efforts began to catch up with me after 30km and I could tell I was entering that period where it gets really mentally tough. My quads were starting to feel tight and the doubts of whether I could continue at that pace were starting to creep in. My nutrition strategy was working well though and I still had plenty of energy. Spurred on by a caffeine gel and some more spectator sightings, I pushed on. Things really started to bite somewhere between kilometres 35-37. Those kilometres went by so so slowly! I had in mind a time of 3:20, but I could see by this point that it was going to be tight. This was mentally my weakest part of the race and I wasn't quite able to push through the pain to run at the pace I needed.

With about a mile to go, the 3:20 pacers came past me - my brain quickly switched back into competitive mode and I was determined to stick with them. Just the motivation I needed, and I stuck with them, crossing the line in 3:21:53. I'm so impressed with how close I was to my target - a pretty perfectly implemented race. I cried at the woman who gave me my medal. After months of hard work and training, I'd finally cracked the marathon distance. And somehow, I had enjoyed it.

Emily Young