Shaun's Ironman Mission by Shaun

• My second London Marathon

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  May02201211:55 a.m.

  Thought I'd better get round to writing this report before it all faded into the rose-tinted mists of memory.

    The weekend started off for me by heading down from Newcastle on the Thursday night to stay with my parents in Suffolk.  I spent a nice restful Friday running round after my two year-old nephew and getting in one last short run before the big day.

    On Saturday I was at the station for 07:50 to get the train to London, and I made it in and to the Excel centre well over and hour before I'd arranged to meet people!  I always assume it's going to take a lot longer to get anywhere in London than it actually does, so I hung around outside near the steps where we'd arranged to meet at 11:00, drinking yet more coffee and barely resisting using the ice cream parked nearby (£2.60 for a 99 with a flake?  You've got to be kidding me!).  Eventually I got a call from my mates to find out they were already inside, so I went and registered, picked up all my luggage and fought my way through the crowds (and the compulsory walk through the Adidas shop - very cunning!) to find them.

    We had a wander round, met some other people and carefully avoided buying anything new for race day.  Soon, however, the sounds of my stomach attempting to digest itself, along with the associated profound hypoglycaemia, meant we had to utilise one guy's local knowledge to take us to a Genuine 100% Bona Fide pie & mash shop.  Jellied eels were indeed on the menu.  I went for double pie & double mash, although to be honest the mash barely counted as a single portion in my view...

    After leaving them in Greenwich I headed for my mate's house down at Lee Green.  Played some pool, ate some fish & chips, drank a couple of pints of cider, played some Halo, then got an early night.  All sorted for the morning.

    Up bright & early on a surprisingly warm marathon day and got a good breakfast in me, then headed up to Blackheath with my music in and getting my head in the right place.  My plan for the day was to go off at sub-3:30 pace (8:00/mile) and see how it went.  As I've said before, I have no desire to run a marathon but I wanted to do London to experience the event.  If I was training specifically for a marathon I would have got at least five 20+ mile runs in, but as this was slotted into week 19 of my Outlaw programme the furthest I had gone in training was about 16 miles, and that was only because I was a bit ahead of the programme.  So the aim was to enjoy myself.

    Dropped my bags off at the Blue Start and found the Zone 5 starting pen - the 3:00 pacer was way ahead of me (at the back of Zone 3!) but luckily as they walked us forward I ended up pretty near him.  Then the horn went and we were off!

    Well, that's a hell of a crush to begin with!  I concentrated on trying to find my pace without too much sideways movement to dodge around people and after a couple of miles it all spaced out a bit more.  By the time the green and red starts merged with ours I had plenty of room and was just enjoying myself, high-fiving all the kids on the side and applauding the various bands along the route.  Such a great atmosphere, I really enjoyed myself!

    Interesting event at 15k - I peeled off into some convenient bushes for a quick wee and was very glad I hadn't gone any further in as I heard some disturbing noises, smelt and alarming smell and realised that another runner was in the midst of suffering a massive bout of AD.  Rather him than me.  As I rejoined the runners I advised another guy who was just peeling off not to go to far in...

    Tower Bridge came and went (I spotted Denise Lewis with a microphone but didn't fancy stopping) and I passed the halfway point in 1:44:59 - dead on target!  It was around here that the leaders of the men's race were coming down the other side of the round running offensively quickly - honestly, being that quick is just plain rude.  I blame the parents.

    Over the next couple of miles my hips gradually started stiffening up as I reached the limits of my training.  It gradually slowed me down (although thankfully not until I'd seen some friends in the crowd cheering me on) and at the 17 mile mark I decided to start taking 30s walk breaks each mile.  This did the trick at first, being enough to ease out my suffering joints a bit, but a couple of miles further on I got a dead leg!  A solid spot of pain right in the middle of my left quad - this has never happened to me while running before and I still have no idea why it did so now.  Must have come off a kerb funny or something I guess.

    Anyway, this increased the length and frequency of my walk breaks so the backup target of sub-3:45 came and went.  The last mile just plain hurt (although this was all brought back into perspective as I ran pass the medical team giving CPR to that poor girl who subsequently died on Birdcage walk) and as I turned onto the Mall I crossed the with a big grin on my face in 3:56:41 - not quite the time I would have liked but still a PB by about 45 minutes.

    After the obligatory photo ops I hobbled down to the meeting place to find my mate who very kindly took me to a lovely little pub called the Sherlock Holmes down by Charing Cross and got me a pint of cider and a couple of packets of crisps.  Thus rejuvenated we got the train back to his where I chowed down on some more food, then headed to the Wetherspoons for plenty more food, then another (nicer) pub for lots more cider.  A good evening all round.

    The next morning my legs felt pretty all right so I consumed a hefty greasy spoon fry-up before heading back into central London and doing some sight-seeing before getting the traing back to Suffolk for some R&R with my family.  A great weekend had by all concerned, and I'd definitely do it again - although next time I'll actually train specifically for it as there's only so far you can blag a marathon off long bike rides!

    More of an update on everything since then when I get chance tomorrow.

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  评论 (4)

  • Johnf 'I didn't realise you were running it this year Shaun. Still a good time off the back of all that swimming and biking.' added 2nd 五月 2012

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  • Nick 'Well it's a bit belated but I shall congratulate you on the PB! It sounds like you had a great time all round.' added 2nd 五月 2012

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  • andaz 'good pb mate class,hard to do pb ironman training and all.My marathon on sunday ,you got time for marathon in outlaw i did 4:05 in uk iron well bloody hard.' added 3rd 五月 2012

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  • judith 'Well doen. A bit late catching up I'm afraid.' added 7th 五月 2012

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