u/Mewcenary

At the weekend, after about 17 weeks of training, I successfully completed the London Marathon.  My first marathon, and the first time I had ever run more than 30km in one go.

I am a regular runner, albeit more of a 5k-10k one. I have historically found longer runs boring. Having to learn how to do 'Easy' runs was a whole new thing for me. I'd previously be doing everything at Tempo pace, or doing intervals, and that's it.

I went into the marathon feeling pretty fresh following tapering down after training.  I'd had a bit of a left knee niggle (ligaments) but taper had helped that settle down pretty nicely. On marathon day itself, I realised it had completely gone.

My 'A' goal was 4:30, 'B' 4:45 and 'C', well, finish without dying or serious harm.

I was in a faster wave (4:00 !!) than my realistic finish time (I forgot to adjust my estimate) so ensured I held back and did not try chasing everyone else.  I held true to this but in retrospect I was still going at too fast a pace.  I hit the half-way point scoring my 3rd highest Half Marathon time -- which is ridiculous considering I would have to do the whole thing again!

PLUS this was after stopping briefly... not for tiredness or medical reasons, but two of my safety pins had come away from my bib (combination of sweat and water from the showers), and I had to spend a couple of minutes re-attaching everything.  Lesson learned: Get special magnetic fasteners.

Hitting the half-way point, my right calf muscle started giving me warning pings. This had happened once in training on a Long Run when I had, you guessed it, gone out at too fast a pace and it didn't end up well.  Soon it really went off and I had to walk and stretch it off.  The timing was good as a medical station ushered me in and offered me a field massage.  Initially, this made it WORSE (My Quad started cramping as well!) and I had to walk for, dunno, 20 or so minutes, maybe more, and at this point I was resigned to walking the entire second half.

Thankfully, when I desperately tried running again.... all the muscles behaved.  I mean, everything else was hurting, but I was then able to run (more slowly) the rest of the way.

I kept to my original fuelling strategy (gels, salt-sticks, on-course water) but the insidious temperature meant I took on everything else being offered: Oranges and thimbles of Lucozade in cups the main staple.  I'm glad I took additional salt-sticks as I felt these were really needed.

Seeing my family at the 40km point was a great plus, and gave me the push to trudge on to the end!

I got round. Seeing the number of runners totally collapsed (including being in the recovery position!) made me realise how brutal the conditions were.  Our homeward train was delayed when someone collapsed on the platform! Tough day.

The support was outstanding and LOUD. I had my name on my top which really helped. A particular highlight was overtaking Daddy Pig and getting a selfie.

At the end of the day, I can now say I am a Marathon runner, was involved in setting a Guiness World Record (Number of finishers in a Marathon), and I should find parkrun fairly straightforward from now on.

I have further goals: Initially I want to drop 10kg or so of weight as that will take me back down to my best 'fighting weright' for running.  Doing that during marathon training was just not going to happen as I wanted to eat ALL THE THINGS.  Then, who knows? Maybe a Half Marathon or two.  That seems far more sensible a distance.

Most importantly, I raised money for a really good cause and one that is very important to me.  My father received top level care following a bleed on the brain.  Both the immediate surgical intervention to save his life, and the long haul afterwards to bring his personality back.