London Marathon 2014

On Sunday April 13^th 2014 along with over 35,000 other athletes including another Kilmarnock duo, I toed the line at Blackheath for the start of the Virgin London Marathon.

This was my 10^th Marathon in total ( 2^nd time running London) and my pre race build up had been pretty mixed. Setting personal bests in all distances in 2013 was obviously a massive boost for me but I always expected my form to dip a bit, and as January became February and the dark windy nights had a lot of rain thrown into the mix, training on my own at this time did become harder and I definitely had the feeling I wasn’t running as well as 6 months ago.

Another major worry was a lack of racing. I run much better when I have a spell of consistent racing as it keeps me sharp, and although you can race too much I had a bad feeling that I didn’t have the correct balance.

In mid March I ran in the New York Half Marathon, and although steady enough my time was a bit down on what I was hoping for and a bit slower than all 3 of my Half’s last year. I did however finish fairly high up the field, especially in my age category. Crucially I had a race under my belt, and most important of all I had a cracking week in the States with best friends to recharge everything at a perfect time.

The fortnight prior to London saw a decent run at the Livingston Road Relays (ran on heavy legs after a long run the previous day), followed by a good Park Run with a week to go and this made me feel a bit more confident than previously as I was improving with each race.

A trip to the good physio George to tape up my knee (patteller tendonitis), then a train trip down South saw me arrive in the Capital on the Friday and all registered up at the fantastic EXPO a couple of days before the race. All this meant that on the Saturday I could relax at my friend’s apartment (after a gentle jog), get plenty carbs and fluids in me, and watch football/golf before an early night with the alarm set for 6am.

For the first time I had a Championship Start, achieved by virtue of my run in Warsaw 6 months previously. This entails having a great start, our own tent, plenty of room to chat to other competitors, and having a decent bit of road in which to have a good warm up. Arriving early I met up with English runners Claire Martin (making her marathon debut) and Wayne Dashper, before the Scottish contingent arrived so although I had travelled down solo to the race in no way was I on my own. The banter was good and eased the nerves before race time.

Lining up, I had a fair idea how to approach the race assuming the knee held up. Going to plan I took the first 5k steadily, gradually picking up the pace and by 10k I had started to pass a few runners and bang on what I had hoped I would cover the distance in.

One of the tricky parts in London is not to get carried away, especially where the crowds get enormous and around Cutty Sark at about 8 miles is one of those places. By this time I had caught up with Motherwell’s Chris MacDonald and for the next few miles we ran alongside each other and this seemed to be working well for both of us as I knew our Marathon times were similar and we got into a routine of sharing water and conserving energy at the drink stations.

10 miles was in just under 62 mins, and after the bedlam of Tower Bridge we hit Halfway in 80.40. This was perfect I felt, not too fast but steady enough to stay on course for a decent time.

Conditions I have to say were fantastic for distance running, although the minor wind we did have was in our faces in the last 10 miles. At 18 miles I started to feel a bit queasy after taking fluids, so at this point I cut down on my fluid intake a bit as I felt I had possibly consumed too much, and concentrated on my gel and jelly baby intake.

30-40 kilometres was the part where (like most people) I started to lose a bit of time although not dramatically so and still on course for what would be a tight and unexpected pb. At 25 miles and turning onto Birdcage Walk towards the finish at the Palace, I knew a pb was going to be seriously tight, especially with markers declaring 800, 600 and 200 metres to go. Passing a man who had stopped in his tracks in the home straight I dipped under the finishing clock in what looked to be a tad under 2 hours 44 minutes.

My official time was confirmed as 2.44.00 on the button, a personal best by a whole second from Warsaw! Although slightly annoyed not to have been given a couple of seconds faster I was clutching at straws as I was delighted with my run, time and finishing position of 327^th overall. I normally am good at predicting how I will run, and a month ago I reckoned 2.50 ish was a good guess. The week prior to the race I did say to a couple of people that I thought I may actually have a decent marathon and privately predicted around 2.46-2.48 and would have been happy with that. To run a (marginal!) personal best I was proud of, and it has given me a big boost for the rest of the year.

To my delight my running partner for the day Christopher followed me home by mere seconds and I was delighted to see he had dipped under the 2.45 barrier as well, and both of us justifying our Championship starts. The news got better speaking to a few of the Scottish guys at the finishing area with Crispin Walsh (2.36), Bruce Carse (2.39) achieving big pb’s, and Russell Whittington just behind (2.41) in his 2^nd quickest marathon to date, a year after the birth of his son. Too many others to mention but a top debut by Grant Baillie (East Kilbride) and great runs from our ever improving good buddies at Ayr Seaforth  definitely were among the performances worth mentioning.

I also was over the moon to see Claire had clocked 2.50 in a cracking debut, Wayne ran 2.39, and another of the English girls Julie Briscoe had a blinder in 2.39 for another lifetime best. Hopefully in the future I can be a bit closer to the 2.40 guys so massive positives were taken all round.

In the Killie stakes however, I was definitely put in the shade.

Tony Rodden is a guy whose results I have been keeping an eye on. Running well under 90 minutes for a Half for the first time recently was a massive pb, and I had noticed he clocked 18 minutes at a recent Parkrun – yet another improvement.

Boasting a pb of 3.30 something, Tony was practically the only guy I heard of who ran a negative split on Sunday (the second half quicker than the first). Running 3.08 suggest that he can certainly dip under 3 hours in the future, and at this early stage could be a major front runner for most improved at the Club.

Janice Millar was the 3^rd of the Kilmarnock trio. Having never ran till a year or two ago, Janice has built her fitness up and deservedly gained a Club place due to her efforts in the Club Championship last year. Her dedication to the sport saw her recently take up a voluntary role of bringing absolute beginners to Kilmarnock Harriers, her group has rapidly grown arms and legs, and now has a large number of local people coming along to the Club for the first time.

Running for charity, Janice showed the type of person she is by constantly stopping and helping people who were struggling in the race, and looking after runners who she felt may have needed medical assistance. Completing the run herself in a time of a bit over 6 hours was an excellent achievement for someone with no running background and although she now says “never again”……..we shall see.

Great day, great event……….and I’ll be back next year all being well.

Blog by Scott Martin (17-4-2014).