London Marathon, 21 Apr 2024
London Marathon is the race everyone talks about. Everyone says the atmosphere is incredible; a completely unmissable race. Originally rejected from the ballot I thought I would be unable to enter the marathon, however after running 3 hours 20 at Berlin marathon in September I got a good for age place for London.
My recovery after Berlin was horrendous and I was injured for months. Therefore, even though I was very happy to have a place for London I wasn’t really planning on running a marathon so soon as it’s a lot of stress of the body.
For the months coming up to London I didn’t really think about it and was just planning on jogging around and enjoying the experience. Eventually the day came. I went to London the day before the race, went to the expo and fuelled on pasta, chipotle and many weetabix. As expected, I slept terribly the night before, but that never really has a bad effect as long as you’ve slept fine during the week prior. Carb loading continued as I had porridge and some of a bagel for breakfast; I was full of nervous excitement. The trip to the start line was slightly stressful. We decided to get an Uber to limit stress, however the Uber driver seemed to be unaware that there was a race on and most the roads were closed. We then proceeded to leave the Uber and follow the masses on the tube. I was in the green pen to start which is a very small pen. I dropped off my bag and then it was time to go.
To be honest I was underwhelmed with the start, I didn’t realise that London marathon has multiple start points and I wasn’t at the main start line. It was cool however when you got to about 5k and all the groups converged together. Of course as soon as I set off I started going at PB pace, I find it impossible to not race a race, I’m too competitive! I saw the 3:20 pacer and right from the start I knew I wasn’t leaving him. I felt really good at 10k and loved Cutty Sark. The support on the course was great as everyone says, people line the street the whole way. One thing I would do differently next time would be to get my name on my top as people call your name. I saw people playing music, holding signs, handing out loads of fruit and sweets. I also really liked the bottled water London has as it’s much easier to drink than cups. It started getting harder from about 15k onwards. I took 6 gels altogether, one every 6k.
The real challenge was at around that 30k point. I know everyone says it but the real race doesn’t start until the last 10k, it was tough. The pacers really didn’t help much either as I would be way ahead of them for a while and then they would catch up to me even though I would be running at sub 3:20 pace, plus there were different pacers from different waves which made it confusing. Seeing supporters out on course made a massive difference, my family were there supporting, alongside other friends, as well as people at home tracking me. I pushed to the end and finished in 3:17, a new PB! I was super happy that I was back to fitness after a long period of injury and regaining strength. I felt absolutely destroyed after crossing the line and the walk to meet my family felt longer than the marathon! I made sure to start recovery properly this time and get some food down me straight away, followed by a big pizza after that. I couldn’t sit down my legs were so sore! I had decided to run the marathon in tempo shoes, rather than more cushioned shoes which took an impact on my legs. Overall, I am happy with how the marathon went, I held almost exactly even pacing the entire time and never gave up. Time to give long distances a break for a while now and gain more speed!
Elisabeth Oldridge