London Marathon , Sunday, 23th April, 2006.

The best thing about a marathon is the guilt free eating afterwards. Fish and chips with beer, curry with beer, cake, more beer, wine, more chips and more beer. I've earnt it haven't I? Well maybe the first couple, but I think I could end up justifying these food binges for a bit too long? Anyway, enough about my eating fetishes, this is supposed to be a race report.

I was back for my third attempt at London, my favourite road race, purely for the phenomenal atmosphere. To get cheered on / deafened by a quarter of a million spectators, and watch Bob the Builder, Mr Tickle and an 8 foot daffodil in a tussle to the finish line is not something you can quite understand until you've actually done it. And if you've not done it, then you should!

The usual pre race nerves meant several visits to the toilet (sorry, too much information), and I nearly didn't make the last toilet stop as I bumped into Ben Connell - 35000+ runners, and you happen to be standing 6 feet away from an ex MTC member - very bizarre! For those who know Ben, he's doing really well, getting married in October, moving back home to Melbourne about the same time and aiming for his 3rd IM this year too - and so, 10 minutes before the start it was a mad panic to get to the loo, do the necessary, and to the start on time, but it meant I didn't have chance to worry any more about the race!

At 9.45, Seb Coe set us all off with a spring in our step and a wave at the camera (Hello Mum!). My pre-race plan was firmly in my head, hoping to average 6 minute miles to bring me home in 2h37m. And amazingly it seemed to be going so well. A clean start, and pretty even splits saw me through the first 10k in 36m05s, 40 seconds up on my target time, but it felt good. The 2nd 10k soon came and went in 36m23s, with a 1-16-26 half marathon split, I was grinning from ear to ear. 36m38s for the third 10k had me dreaming of a silly finish time. Then the 20 mile mark came at 1h57m. Still wearing that stupid grin!

That grin then slowly but surely turned into a grimace over the next 3 miles. Was it 'the wall'? Setting off too quick? Not enough long runs? Who knows, the crucial thing was that it felt like someone had my quads in a vice, and I was slowing down. Time to dig in boyo! It got worse, and there was nothing I could do. If I didn't know Mel was going to be somewhere in the last 2 miles, I think I would have started walking at this point (in 4 marathon attempts, I'd never walked or even wanted to walk, so it was bad!), but I was still on for a PB so I had to keep going. The line was getting ever nearer, but my times had slipped from 5-55 per mile to close to 7 minute miles in just 5 miles. Two things motivated me at this point. First of all, being passed by someone with blood running down the inside of his legs (he'll learn the benefits of Vaseline soon enough I'm sure) - if he can still run, so can I. Secondly was passing someone with, erm, let's just call it number two's down the backs of his legs - I guess your pride goes out of the window in a marathon - so I was getting as far away from him as possible!

The 4th 10k was 39-26, I'd lost 2-3 minutes, but just 2k to go now. I kept telling myself it was only 5 laps of a track, but the legs didn't care. Bird Cage walk was a welcome sight, and the crowd was deafening, I must have been in 'the zone' (or was I just completely knackered and incapable of hearing my name being shouted by 6 people in unison) as I totally missed Mel and some friends, who were all cheering me on (the video they took proved they saw me, and also how I blatantly wasn't paying attention to Nick T's 90 cadence sessions at this point), then I was staring longingly at Buck P, round the corner to the best sight in the world and a 'sprint' (?!?) finish down The Mall. 2h 37m 50s, and a short waddle come stumble down the chute to pick up a well earned medal and goody bag (can anyone answer this question though - when you've run a marathon, why do they make the goody bag so goddam heavy???). So, I'd knocked 5= minutes off my PB, and I was 150th male - I was buzzing big style! The stupid grin was back!

So it's now 3 days after the race, my legs are still aching all over, I still can't walk down stairs, I can still feel the pain of those last couple of miles, but I still love the London Marathon. Now I'd love to reminisce and wax lyrical some more about the whole London marathon experience, but I've a pressing engagement with a chip shop.

MTC finishers	Posn(gender)	Posn (overall)	Time
Jonathan Dabbs	150	162	2h 37m 50s
Ben Connell	835	881	2h 56m 27s
Daniel Jenkin	2193	2398	3h 13m 10s
Paul Cassels	2520	2767	3h 16m 8s
Cathy Atkinson	854	8842	3h 38m 32s (new club record)
Jude Wall	1739	10521	3h 56m 14s

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