A cracking performance in the London Marathon!

27M - incl London Marathon in 2.22.40 (33rd; 12th Brit; 5.27min/M)

I was pretty unsure of the wisdom of my all guns blazing approach to the race when I woke up this morning to be honest. But I reckon it turned out ok.

I slept pretty well and stuck with the tried and tested Yazoo chocolate milk, banana and coffee pre-race routine.

I decided not to hype myself up too much before the race... trying to save the adrenaline for later in the day. Though, to be honest, I was pissing myself anyway.

I wanted to hit 5.22min/M for the first half and went through bang on (70.22). The theoretical aim was to keep my pace steady or pick it up from there.

I felt strong at half way, and all the way to 30K. From there (about 17 miles actually), I was having to work a bit harder to keep the pace. Initially, I was not sure how hard to push. In my mind, I wanted to start hitting the miles hard from 20.

I was lucky to be running with another guy the whole way and we were talking to each other and encouraging each other, and enjoying the buzz of passing people together. When I was struggling at 17-20, I tucked in behind him and then fought just to stay within 10 or so metres of him.

From 20, I was really hurting, but managed to keep my form much better than last year. My quads and calves were killing. Whereas last year, bizarrely, it felt like I ran the last six miles mainly with my glutes.

James (the guy I ran the whole way with) and I alternated the lead and kept passing people and kept our pace even. In the end, we slipped to 5.31min/M at 30K but sustained it pretty even all the way to the end. He finished 5 or 10 seconds ahead of me after pulling away in the last 1K.

It was a different experience to last year. Last time, it felt like an out of body experience and felt pretty lonely. This year, running with James, it was a much more uplifting experience. I was pretty emotional by the end. I'm sure I wouldn't have come in so far under last year's time had he not been there.

Two things I need to figure out after this: firstly, how come I churn out marathon times so out of keeping with my performances over shorter distances? And secondly, how can I get faster.... 2.20 would be nice next time...