London Marathon 2023

Posted on 29th May by taralovestorun

On 23rd April I took part in TCS London Marathon 2023. It has always been my dream marathon to run London Marathon. I waited 8 years to take part in this race, what a long wait it has been! I have tried entering the London Marathon ballot 9 times but with no success as I have had 9 rejections. In 2022 I had managed to get a Good For Age place. I had wanted a Good For Age place for such a long time, I tried to get a Good For Age time for the last 5 years. I have always been close to getting sub 3:45 but I have never quite got there. When I did Manchester Marathon in 2022 everything went right for me and I achieved a time of 3:43:35 and luckily that was good enough to get a Good For Age place for London Marathon.

This was my first time doing London Marathon and my 17th marathon. I had set my alarm for 4.15, it was a very early start for me! I was travelling to London on a coach with my running club. The coach was due to pick us up at 6am. I had planned to have my usual breakfast and I wanted to have that before I left home. My breakfast was weetabix and a coffee. I also packed a cereal bar in my bag, I thought to myself if I only have weetabix 5 hours before the race then no doubt I will be really hungry by the time the race starts.

We arrived at Greenwich at around 8.30, when we got dropped off the running club took a group photo of us, I then made my way to the event village. The first thing I did was I got into the toilet queue. I didn’t know how busy the toilet queues would be but the toilet queue wasn’t too bad. My start wave was at 10:12, I had an hour and a half to kill, it felt like there was lots of time to kill. When I had been to the toilet I sat down on the grass for a while, after a little while it was starting to feel quite chilly, it was a bit breezy and then it wa starting to rain! I was walking as I wanted to keep warm and I used the toilet a few more times. After a while I took off my hoody and I put my bag drop into baggage. When I took off my hoody I was starting to feel a bit chilly. I was hoping to find somewhere to do a warm up jog but it wasn’t really possible as there was only grass to run on, I kept walking around to try and keep warm.

I made my way to my start wave around 9.55. It was really easy to find your starting wave, I thought the organisation was really good and everything was well signposted. When I was waiting in my pen I was feeling quite nervous but excited at the same time. It was my first time taking part in London Marathon and I was feeling super excited for it. I felt that my training had gone really well but unfortunately I did get an injury in training in my glute and hamstring. I came down with a cold and a cough a week before the race and I think that really knocked my confidence, I felt confident that my training had gone well but the week before the big day I was feeling really tired and I had no energy at all. I was having to rest every day before the big day but I kept saying to myself how am I going to run a marathon when I don’t have any energy.

I crossed the start line a few minutes after 10:12, at this point I was feeling really excited and when I crossed the start line I said to myself oh my god, I can’t believe I am doing London Marathon! My goals for this race was to start around 8 minute/mile and then try and hold that for 13 miles and then reduce it to 8:15 minute/mile for the next 3 miles. I didn’t know how the race would go as I had a cold leading up to the race and I had no energy leading up to the race. I said to myself if I did start to run out of energy then I would have to reduce my pace. The first 3 miles seemed to be downhill and I said to myself I had to be careful that I wouldn’t go off too fast. When I was running down hill I was doing around 7:50 minute/mile but I knew that was quicker than what I was intending. I crossed 5k in 24:49. I said to myself that I was on track but I knew I was aiming for around 25 minutes and I knew at this point I was going a bit too quick. There seemed to be a lot of speed bumps to run over in the first few miles of the race, I said to myself that I am not liking this, I think it is because speed bumps isn’t something I have experienced in a race before.

The weather conditions in the first few miles of the race wasn’t too great, it was raining and there seemed to be lots of puddles around, it meant running through the puddles or jumping over the puddles. There did seem to be a lot of congestion in my wave and I know that became hard work at times. I was also trying to stick to the blue line during the race but after a while that was frustrating as it seems one minute the blue line would be on the left side of the road and then it would be in the centre of the road and then it would be on the right side of the road. When I reached 7 miles I approached Cutty Sark, there were lots of crowds and lots of people cheering you on, I thought it was a great atmosphere.

When I reached 13 miles I saw Tower Bridge, I was looking forward to Tower Bridge as I have heard it is a great atmosphere there, it was a great atmosphere, there were lots of crowds cheering you on and it was really noisy, it was definitely really buzzy and I was buzzing at this moment. I was looking out for my sister around 13 miles, I know she said to me that she was going to be standing around 13 miles but it was really busy there and I didn’t see her anywhere. I did see my running club that were spectating at 13 miles and I also saw a few other people spectating from my running club and it was great to see them on course. I remember shortly after 13 miles that I was starting to burn out and I could feel myself running out of energy, I said to myself oh no. I did walk for about a minute around 13.5 miles and then I managed to get running again.

When I approached 16 miles I could feel myself running low on energy again. I did have an energy gel at 5.5 miles and then 10 miles and then 15 miles, the energy gels did help for a while but it was only lasting a few miles and then within 3 miles I could just feel that I was out of energy again. When I approached 16 miles it felt like it was a real struggle to the finish line, I knew that it was 10 miles to go and it felt like the finish line couldn’t come soon enough. I also had a stitch in the last 10 miles, I was having to run/walk when I had a stitch. I was trying to walk it out to try and ease the stitch, I found that did help for a while but when I got running again I could feel the stitch getting worse again.

I wasn’t feeling it in the last 10 miles, I said to myself I don’t know what to do. I said to myself do I pull out of the race, I said to myself I wouldn’t feel good about myself if I had to do that. I had to finish what I started. I have always managed to finish a marathon, I think it is better to try and finish a race even if you don’t manage to achieve the time that you wanted. The crowds were really amazing in the last 10 miles of the race, I can’t fault the crowds. It wasn’t great weather conditons for doing a marathon and there were still lots of crowds on course.

I could see Buckingham Palace, I said to myself I must be approaching the finish line now! It was a great feeling finishing at Buckingham Palace, I finished in a time of 4:02:32. When I crossed the finish line I went to collect my medal and we also got given a goody bag. When I got my goody bag I went to the truck to get my bag, it all seemed rather easy and stress-free

THOUGHTS ABOUT THE RACE

London Marathon is an amazing race, if you get the chance to do it then you should do it. It has always been my dream to do London Marathon. I felt that I gave it everything in my training block, I felt that training went really well despite I picked up an injury in my hamstring and glute. I did become ill with a cold and a cough the week before the race which was really unfortunate. I was really enjoying the race up until 13 miles, I was really loving it but after 13 miles I seemed to get burn out and from 16 miles to the finish line it felt really tough and a challenge, I wasn’t just dealing with the burn out but I also seemed to get a stitch from 16 miles and I was having to run/walk the last 10 miles and I know that isn’t something I wanted to do. I didn’t get many stitches during my long runs in training. The water stations were very regular, they were every few miles apart but I noticed at some of the water stations they were really busy. I would be running on the left side of the road and the water station would be on the right side of the road, there was a lot of congestion and sometimes it would be a struggle to get over to the water station in time and I would then have to grab water at the next water station.

I reflected on the race the next day and a few days later, when I told my friends that I had finished in 4:02 and that I was feeling disappointed with my time they said that 4:02 is an amazing time and that you should be happy with that. I told my friends that I should have done better and that I didn’t train for a 4:02 marathon. I was aiming for sub 3:45 and I was under 3:45, I reached half way in 1:50 and I knew at that point that I was on for sub 3:45. I always imagined to be feeling really happy after completing London Marathon but a few days after the race I was feeling quite sad and upset. I knew that I didn’t get the race experience that I wanted, I think its because I had waited 8 years to do London Marathon. I had high expectations of London Marathon. I know with marathons they don’t always go the way that you want them to, you try and get everything right, you can train really hard for a marathon and everything can go well in training but on the day anything can go wrong and it does mess up your race. I was running a marathon with an injury and I was recovering from a cold and a cough and I didn’t know how the race would go, part of me is suprised that I got round in 4:02 as it could have taken me much longer than that.

I would love to do London Marathon again, I am hoping next time that I would have a better race experience and I do feel that I have unfinished business there. I was trying really hard to get a PB and I was feeling really happy when I was on for a PB. London Marathon is a long course, I covered 26.56 on my watch. I thought the course had a lot of twists and turns, most marathons that I have done in the past haven’t been as twisty as what London is.