Date: 03.10.2021 Time: 2:52:08 Distance: 42.2km
Only a week after Berlin Marathon it was time for the London Marathon. My legs were certainly not recovered, but after the disaster that I had endured the week before I was aiming just to enjoy the race, rather than go for a fast time.
A good breakfast of flapjack and coffee left me feeling ready to run and I was feeling reasonably good on the drive down. Nice cool weather and a low pressure race meant I was looking forward to having some fun running through the city.
In the start pen I bumped into Kieran and Darren, who I’d heard were aiming for around 2:54, which I thought would be a tough, but realistic goal for me too. So I decided to run with them
The first 30k were fun, but uneventful. Just enjoying the run and keeping tot he target pace. At around the 30k the street get a little more tight and I found myself slightly separated form Kieran and Darren. But given that I was feeling good I pushed the pace up a little bit and had a strong last 12k.
I don’t think I was overtaken by anyone in the last 12km, apparent from one guy who I re-overtook a few km later. It was a really fun feeling pushing on through the crowd and finishing a race feeling strong. It was also really nice to see what i kept getting faster during the last 12k, with my fastest Km of the whole race being my final Km.
Given that London is a race I’ve done every year since 2016 I didn’t experience anything particularly new on the course. It was a pretty stock experience both in terms of the event and how I approached it (no food or drink on the course; although I did swill some energy drink in my mouth at one point).
It was a lot of fun to get a successful race in after Berlin the week before. I ran a few mins faster in London and ran a much smarter race too. So, although a long way off my fastest time, this is a race I was very pleased with.