Flora London Marathon
13th April 2008.
The day started very warm and I was wondering if I should have worn a vest. It took me 90 seconds to get across the start line and the first mile took me 10 minutes to complete from the congestion. At last, from mile 2 I was away and settled into my intended 7:30 to 7:45 minute mile pace. I passed the Maasai warriors at 4 miles and had a (too) fast sub-7 minute mile on the downhill to where the red and blue starts combine for the usual boos and hisses. I left Gordon Ramsay behind after 8 miles and my attention drew to the line of black cloud we were heading to. Sure enough between 11 and 15 miles I was rained on as I went over Tower Bridge and into the docklands. Thankfully, the sun dried me out again on the return towards the Embankment, but now things were starting to hurt. At 20 miles onwards, I lost my grip on the sub-8 minute miles and found myself hanging on for the last six miles. My heart rate was at 90% of my max and hadn’t been far off that most of the event, so I was pushing with everything I had to go for a PB. As such, I couldn’t take in the scenes and fantastic crowd support as I drew into the finish. I had nothing to give in the final turn past Bucks palace and I was overtaken by many runners pushing for home. However I kept it up and finished in 3hr 25. A PB over my 2001 time of 3hr 29 and 20 minutes better than a decade ago. I just managed to collect my bag and get a coat on before the second downpour came which Pete and Dave would have caught: not a good thing when you’re a pushing home for a marathon.
Official website
http://www.london-marathon.co.uk/
Photos
Tri-Anglia Results
| Pos | # | Name | Cat | Cat Pos | Gender Pos | Club | Time | PB |
| 2664 | 28155 | Rose Waterman | W25 | 27 | 119 | City of Norwich AC | 3:16:43 | yes |
| 3812 | 20457 | Mark Philo | M40 | 753 | 3523 | Tri-Anglia | 3:25:29 | yes |
| 11368 | 26130 | Wayne Crow | M40 | 1846 | 9748 | City of Norwich AC | 4:00:03 | |
| 19512 | 20651 | Peter Aldred | M30 | 2677 | 15325 | 4:30:32 | ||
| 19609 | 12633 | David Clark | M40 | 2752 | 15382 | 4:30:52 | ||
| 23370 | 37073 | Neil Loadman | M35 | 3334 | 17713 | Tri-Anglia | 4:45:50 | |
| 23450 | 37184 | Kate Quentin-Hicks | W30 | 1096 | 5689 | City of Norwich AC | 4:46:11 |
Article by Mark Philo
Page created: 19th April 2008.
