Well, the second marathon of
the Grand Slam – and the biggest, most famous, is now completed! London Marathon done on the 13th
April. Here’s my race recap, while it’s
all still fresh in my mind. Part one is
the expo, part two to follow soon!
I love the London Marathon,
and was absolutely thrilled to get a last-minute charity place meaning I could
run for a second year in a row. It would
be my second London, and seventh marathon in total. While I love all my marathons, there’s little
that London can’t offer, and the fact that the whole city comes out to enjoy
the day and it’s all broadcast live on BBC1 means just about everyone you speak
to is aware of it, even if they don’t normally follow running. This made the week in between Brighton and
London rather surreal. I had some very
confused people (mainly of the non-running ilk!) ask me how on earth I’d managed to already run
the marathon when it hadn’t taken place yet, or which marathon was I doing as
they weren’t sure, how far was Brighton compared to London, and all the usual
questions like that!! I like to think
the running a marathon outside the capital is a bit like having your birthday –
your friends and family know and will celebrate, but the general population has
no idea. Running London is like
Christmas – everyone’s heard of it and has a vague idea of when it takes place,
and you can get away with saying “I’m running the marathon” and they’ll know
what you’re talking about. (I try NOT to
use that phrase though, as I think it plays down other marathons!). I think the only other races you can class
alongside with London in that way would be Boston, New York and the Great North
Run.
So Saturday was all about the
Expo. I love the Expo, even though it’s
crowded and I’d probably wear myself out walking around all day and spend too
much money. I went very early on
Saturday morning (missing parkrun!) and allowed myself little peeps at the
roads around Tower Bridge and in Greenwich, which were already being prepared
for the race – barriers going up and Lucozade stations being erected. It was a lovely spring morning and London
really did look good. At Tower Gateway,
I began seeing lots of runners (easy to tell!), some even leaving the expo and
heading home with their bright red baggage bags. The DLR to the ExCel exhibition centre was
packed with runners, and the driver knew it!
At every stop when welcoming passengers on board, it was clearly aimed
at the runners. The best line was “I’d
like to wish you all the best tomorrow, but it’s not too late to change your
mind!” – a lot of us tried to suppress nervous laughs here and clearly some
people thought she was right! I felt
sorry for anyone who was not a runner and only wanted to get from A to B as their
train had totally been taken over. There
were even posters everywhere warning people about how busy it would get this
weekend. It’s good to hear/see things
like this though as you start to realise the scale of this huge event and how
the capital really does come to a halt for
the day just to let a bunch of runners trot round the capital for the day.
I got to the expo at about
10am and went to collect my number.
Finally, my race number in my hand, it was official! Next came the shopping. I didn’t enjoy the expo quite as much as last
year, perhaps because back then it was all new, but there didn’t seem to be as
many discounts this year. Probably a
good thing, as it stopped me spending too much.
I did wander round the huge Adidas zone for a while though, trying on
loads of VMLM gear. Eventually I decided
on a pair of bright orange running shorts and a cotton souvenir tee-shirt –
blue with the numbers “2014” made up of the names of different landmarks along
the course, and a graphic of the Thames in the background. I’d already bought some of the gear earlier
in the year when the new London Marathon Store opened and they had a big sale
on - so didn’t want to go overboard again at the expo! So now I am the proud (skint) owner of the
fleece, blue long sleeved running top, blue singlet, orange shorts and cotton
tee shirt. I also tried on some other
gear as well including an awesome pair of striped tights, rather loud but
amazing all the same, but discovered the material was a bit thick and they had
non-flat seams running right down the inside of the leg, which would annoy me
after a while so I decided against them.
Sadly there was no decent celebration jacket this year – last year I
bought a lovely windproof jacket in black and yellow, but this time they only
had the more basic versions, in either blue with reflective stripes, or bright orange
(which they’d run out of) or the track jacket (zipped tracksuit top). The orange, and track designs were very
expensive at £60 and they were not as nice as last year’s so I passed up on
these. I was also a bit disappointed that
they didn’t have the final-day sale on the 2014 range.
After the first shopping
spree, I wandered round the rest of the expo for a few hours. I tried not to buy too much, but inevitably
did.. A box of energy gels from High5, two
new medal displays to go up on the wall, some cartons of coconut water from
Vita Coco (which I had to lug home in my backpack!), a London Marathon keyring
and two tops from Do Running. Collected
some freebies – some #boostlondon Adidas shoelaces, lots of samples of food and
snacks, a water bottle, a London Marathon lanyard and some magazines. I also picked up some pacing bands, for 5.30
and 5.45 finishing times, to wear the next day. One of the best stands in the expo was the
Running Imp and Bespoke Medals stand.
They had a wall entirely filled with medals! It was amazing! I stood there are ages looking at them, and
jotted down the races of the races that gave out the biggest and best
medals. I was excited to see the new
Kent Roadrunner Marathon medal ready to go – I’ll be earning myself one of
these in May – and it was very impressive and one of the biggest there. My legs were still tight from Brighton, so I
tried to queue up for a massage, but the queue was very long and would mean
another hour (at least) of waiting around, so after listening to the talks on the
stage for a bit I headed home. I was
quite hungry at this point too – I’d bought food to eat there and had quite a
few snacks but I was thinking I would buy a bowl of pasta from the expo’s pasta
party. So I was surprised there was no
pasta party this year, just a noodle bar and coffee shop. Maybe they didn’t have enough takers last
year – I seen to remember it was expensive, at £7 for a bowl of pasta, a bottle
of water and an apple. I did eat the breakfast
bar in my pre-race goody bag though (not quite got the idea of a PRE-race goody
bag, but oh well!). There wasn’t that
much in it, but that was just as well as I didn’t want to have to carry home a
big box of dried pasta and a bottle of energy drink as my backpack was heavy
enough already.
Once home, there wasn’t much
to do apart from have dinner and rest. I
had a simple baked potato with cheese, and a soya chocolate milkshake and
watched EastEnders for a while. Then sorted
out all my gear for the next day – which was an hour or two of panic! Finally a bath, and an early night, although
I didn’t get to sleep for ages as my mind was still buzzing and I kept
remembering random things I needed to do or find (such as a sachet of recovery
powder, or to check my Garmin was on charge), so must have got out of bed three
or four times! Eventually I fell asleep,
knowing in less than 12 hours I’d be running the London Marathon!
Collecting my number
The Adidas #boostlondon zone
Photos of all the runners with messages
The Bespoke Medal stand
Race gear, ready to go!
