Blimey, this time last year I was gearing up for 26.2 miles of hell (slight exageration, the 0.2 bit was ok!) at the London Marathon. I’m not running it this Sunday but I know a few hardy souls who are and a few of them for the first time. Now, I’m no Eddie Izzard, no serial marathon-running madman and I really don’t think that running one paltry marathon qualifies to give any sort of coherent advice…
…but I did get through it OK, so…
I’m doing it!
Here (for what it’s worth) are five tips for free-wheelin’ Marathon maidens ahead of Sunday’s 26 mile saunter:
- Get there early doors – Get to Greenwich in plenty of time, soak up the vibe, get the cereal bars and nanas down. I enjoyed the preamble last year, it might have been my favourite bit! No good running late and getting stressed before it’s even started, you might even have time for a warm-up!
- Don’t follow the bear – Everybody makes the point about going at a steady pace. Fair enough. I liked having a fancy GPS watch to check the pace. My main wobble was around the 8 mile mark when I was overtaken by a bloke in a hefty bear outfit. My instinct was to speed up, muttering under my breath ‘I’m not letting chuffin’ Yogi outpace me..” I did that for a while, then realised I was going to implode so let it go. What can I say, that was one fit grizzly. Lesson learned: Don’t follow the bear (or other fancy-dress clad runners).
- Feel the love – Take the headphones off and just soak up the vibe as you go round. What amazed me most last year were the massive crowds right from the very start (including the inevitable smart arses going “come on, only another 25 miles to go!). There were DJ’s, live bands, high fives at every turn, banter, banners and jelly babies raining down from packed throngs along the route. Taking it all in, being right there in the moment doesn’t make the sheer agony disappear, but definitely helps.
- Fuel up – One of my biggest problems was the sheer nausea that hit around mile 16. I’d tried lots of different refuelling options in training and all manner of gels, liquids and isotonic delicacies. On the day, what worked best for me were little packets of prezzels (salt worked better for me than a pure sugar fest) with gulps of water, followed by a selection of jelly babies for desert. It felt like I was having a bizarre mobile picnic out there, but it kind of got me through.
- Dig in – You know it’s gonna hurt… a lot! For me it was the upper thighs that started to scream at me from about mile 18. Ride out the worst bits and just keep ambling on. You’ve got this! Strangely, one of the hardest bits last year was the last 400 metres, it felt like 400 miles!!
Anyway, good luck to all those taking part. I’ll be on the other side of the fence this year, cheering you on, chucking jelly babies out like confetti and, for a few fleeting moments, wishing I was in amongst it running through old London Town with the lunatic human throng…