I only went and bloody did it!  I targeted a sub 3 hour marathon at the beginning of this, and with 2.55.40 I’ve managed it.  I’m extremely proud, if a little sore.

The day couldn’t have gone better, my hotel was a 20 minute walk from the Fast Good for age start (very happy to be there, means the traffic isn’t an excuse for me) so I got down nice and early after my traditional marathon day breakfast (2 chicken and mushroom pasties) got hydrated, and just chilled, weather was nice, and from chatting to a couple of other runners, everyone else was positive too.

When we started,  the pace was good,  sub 6.30 which to be honest is a little fast for me,  but I felt comfortable,  and wasn’t pushing too hard,  so kept at it,  this gave me some time later on when I was starting to burn out.

The atmosphere for the first half of the run was superb, all the pubs with music, lots of tribal drumming, cheering and support, it’s this stuff that get me through the 26 odd miles. I think around canary wharf (17ish miles) I was starting to flag,  the crowd was superb,  but I started to get really down,  my GPS had gone screwy (I guess with all the tall buildings) so I had no pace reference,  but I pushed on,  seeing my parents & girlfriend really helped.

I had managed to keep hydrated and fuelled (energy drink stops) but this gave me the side effect of needing the toilet for about 10 miles.

So finally I got to the end,  and by then I had no idea if I would make it,  my pace did drop off,  but not too much,  my 2^nd half was ballpark 1.30,  so the saving from the first half remained,  and I got 5 minutes inside my target.

It was a fantastic day, and I felt OK afterward, if a little tired, with all the people at the end, it was a little busy, so we headed off to the airport early. A big thank you to my girlfriend (Vicky) and my parents as I know I can be a pain when training, and there support is utterly necessary.

I’ll put some photos up when I’ve got them sorted,  so that might be a week or two.

Congratulations to everyone, I understand over 36,000 finished, that bloody impressive.