We decided to make a weekend around this run so booked ourselves into the Charing Cross hotel and went to see Jersey Boys matinee and for dinner in the OXO tower on the Saturday. It was a very nice day after I had a stress about how we should get to London finally settling on the train which turned out to be the correct decision with the number of road closures over the weekend.
On Sunday morning I wake up nice and early but regretting agreeing to do the run as my bed seemed a much nicer place to stay. I eventually drag myself out of bed and get ready, attach my number to the front of my shirt and put timing chip on my shoe and left Bee tucked up in bed. When I leave the hotel I am greeted by 100s of people all wearing shorts and numbers and we all walk towards Trafalgar square and onto the bagging area. As I had no luggage to leave I carried on past the queue of at least 200 people for the toilet (later reports were of a wait of over 1 hour) I walk towards the start line. The start is at the top of the slip road from the round-a-bout by Hyde park corner down towards Piccadilly. To leave as much road open as possible the queue for the start goes down the road back along the route.
After about 1 hour wait things start to happen as a marching band go up the route and I take the opportunity to look back and realise I have about 3000 people in front of me and 25000 behind me, one side of the road was packed solid with people as far as the eye could see. It is a good job this event is not segregated into estimated time as I would have been punching well above my weight.
After a bit of an introduction by the Mayor of Westminster the event starts and the elite runners shoot off into the distance like rockets followed by the masses. This is where the organisation hits a snag with everybody having to go around the dog leg to the start via a gap 3 people wide; it reportedly takes over 1 hour to get all 2700+ over the start line, it took me about 10 minutes to do the 100 yards to the line. However, this did give me a good chance to watch the mixture of runners at the start from good athletes to people who were planning on walking such as 2 men carrying a banner (sorry could not read the message) both in jeans and one of the smoking as he crossed the start line which I must admit is something I never thought I would see in a race, and much to the amusement of people around me.
After a wait of over 1 hour I was finally off and running past a long deep queue of people all awaiting their turn, and it was very congested and with everybody at different paces it made ti very hard to run at my own steady pace but I got it going ok with a first km split of 5:50, which is good pace for 1 hour, but much faster than I have managed in training especially as all I have managed in training is 6km in 40 minutes, I needed to slow down a lot to even complete the distance (so easy to say now).
The route takes you past the Ritz and down towards Trafalgar square, a route i have driven many times and there are good but quiet crowds along the route, but this changes when we turn right towards the embankment. the crowds get very large and it is also the location for the charity cheering points and the noise is a real motivator even after 3 km. I am soon approaching my own cheering station manned by Bee who I hear above the crowds and spot her armed with the camera standing in the traffic island in the middle of the, a wave from me and so 'go on John's from her and I am on my way up the Thames.
The main reason I wanted to do this run was for the route and running down the Thames on a nice sunny morning did not disappoint. I had now found a constant pace and was overtaking more people than were going past me. Just after I see Bee I realised there were runners coming back towards me on the other side of the road which is a small knock to the confidence. I felt very good passing the 4km then the 5 as we had turned around to start the route back to Westminster having completed the 5km in 30 minutes, still much faster than I should be going but I was enjoying myself and felt good.
It was now my turn to be going against the masses of people and as much of a knock as it was 10 minutes earlier it was now a motivator. Heading towards 6.5 km I get my first glimpse of Westminster and it seemed so far away and my legs start to feel heavy and I realise the rest of the race is going to be a struggle. before the start I was talking to a man who was saying it is your head that stops you running not your legs, and despite not agreeing completely with him at this point my head did turn against me and all the good thought now turned to negative ones. I cleared my mind and focused on short goals the first was to see Bee again at the 7km mark, which came up quite quickly and there she was as full of energy as before, just a shame I did not look so good any more.
It was not long after this my legs packed up and I started walking. I could not have timed this worse being in a very well supported part of the course and as much as everybody meant the keep goings, you are almost there I was flat. After a short walk up to the 8km mark, I try to run again over Westminster bridge, but quickly get a stitch on top of legs and hips that are in agony with every bone feeling like it could pop out at any second.
I cover the next 2km in a mixture of walk and trot and save as much energy as possible to run the final 500m to the finish line. I complete the course in 1:07:34, in 1925 place, but with people taking 1 hour to get over the start line I think that position is more down to how early i got out of bed to get to the start than my abilities. My chip time said I came in 3840, but as not everybody had a chip i am not sure how good that is either.
This time was a full 6 minutes quicker than Bluewater, and I ran further than I have in the last year in one go having completed less than 5km in bluewater before walking, and what I did run was at a good pace, if I had the legs i was on for around the 1 hour mark. However, I am very sad and angry at myself for having to walk at all because I never forced myself to slow down at the start.
With a small amount of luck bee and I manage to meet just after the finish and we walk together to collect my goodie bag and medal before heading back to the hotel for a quick shower and then home, just stopping to get Sushi for the train journey. Once we get home I spent the day not moving much with a very sore right knee and aching hip having had a great weekend and looking forward to my next organised run.
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