Richard Edge and Paul Nichol were
in London taking on Mo Farah, Callum Hawkins and Eliud Kipchoge in the second fastest
marathon of all time, and rose to occasion with excellent runs.
Richard finished in
3:28:20 with Paul in 3:31:38. Amazingly the both clocked the identical half way
split of 1:41:31!
In his
first ever road marathon Richard was running for the SiMBA Simpsons Memory Box
Appeal Charity and smashed his pre race target raising £3,789 to date surpassing
his £2,000 (details here: https://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/RichardEdge6
)
Richard’s report:
Pacing was pretty much what I was going
for, until mile 20 then the wheels fell off a little. Good experience. I’ve
gone from thinking this might be my one and only road marathon to I might give
it a go next year...if I get in! I was on the TV a couple of times though I wasn’t
looking great haha! However, the experience is something I have never
experienced before. Bands at every corner, crowds of people only wanting the
best for you. Unbelievably inspiring! Tower bridge was probably my highlight,
although I did feel uncomfortable at the amount of people watching me bumbling
about the road. The start was incredibly well organised...I had spoken to
several previous who warned me about the merging of other starting groups
around mile 3/4, but due to the changes it never affected the space around us
too much. Making sure I got in front of the ‘running Big Ben’ and the running
‘4 man tent’ certainly increased my speed a few times
 |
| Richard being famous |
Paul finished a hugely
creditable 231st in the 55-59 age category. His report:
London has always been my favourite road marathon and I have always done everything possible to get a place including figuring out that we could get a club place and doing everything possible to get it.
This was my 5th London marathon and all of them have been club places. I have always been super excited for the race as it is so well organised and supported. It is always unobtrusive when compared to the other big city marathons and that adds to the attraction.
It feels like I spent most of Friday and Saturday attempting to double my body weight through carb loading. To the extent that on Saturday morning when I went to the expo I had 2 breakfasts, snacks and lunch by 2pm. The expo as usual is a zoo but because I got there really early I missed most of the hassle. There was as usual the opportunity to run at the same pace as KIpchoge on a running machine when he ran the world record in Berlin. Why anyone would want to do that the day before the race goodness only knows.
Race morning is always about getting to the start line on time and then once at the start line hanging around for the start. London is one of the most chilled starts compared to other big city marathons but you do still need to hand around for an hour or so before the race starts and there is isn’t much room for a warm up run so you need to do the best possible with stretches and running small distances.
I’d taken some advice from Scott with base and was determined to try and run at that pace as I’m prone to taking a flyer. The plan was 10k at 8 min/mile and then the next 20k any 7.5 min/mile. Things started out ok being slightly ahead of pace then picking the pace up for the next 20k my knee got tight which had not happened in training at all. However the crowds are amazing keeping your spirits up all along the way and that gave me a boost. Scott’s advice had been to go for it in the last 12K but my legs wouldn’t hold out. I was determined to still try and get under 3.30 and every now and then I would have a little boost. There were people walking at this point and it was good to still pass people even though Kermit and Snow White passed me. Big Ben had no chance though.
Hitting mile 25 was a relief and running past the proper Big Ben and then down to the Mall gives an adrenaline boost. Seeing the finish was a relief and getting over the line was great give the pain in my knee. After about an hour, getting changed and getting some food the pain had mostly gone. On the flight back up to Edinburgh I stiffened up but over the next couple of days loosened off and have managed a couple of runs as well as getting a massage planned.
It turns out that the shoes I was wearing had about 600+ miles in them so all of the structural support was probably gone and as I am a major pronates had an impact on the movement of my leg and knee. Lesson learned.
The ballot is open for next year and no one will be surprised to hear that I have applied again. Still looking for that PB
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| A slightly dazzled Paul looking like he's earned it! |
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