Though my entire lower body still feels like it’s made of wood today, running the marathon was up there as one of the most enjoyable experiences of my life. Even though I’d put in a lot of training I was still a little apprehensive of the magnitude of the task ahead...particularly at about 9am, when it was cold and wet and part of a crowd of 20,000 people clad only in vests trying to shelter under three trees. Thankfully though, considering the 22 degrees being forecasted earlier in the week, the conditions turned out to be pretty ideal.

The sheer volume of people meant that I wasn’t able to run at the pace I wanted to in the first half of the marathon and by the 10 mile point I’d abandoned all pacing and clockwatching (I was initially hoping for a 3:50 finish). Things only really opened up around mile 15, but the great thing about having ran the first half of the race slower than I’d planned was that I was able to actually up the pace and run much faster than I’d planned for about the last 10 miles. I didn’t hit any kind of wall, and I think the slow start made this possible and made the whole experience all the more enjoyable...having reserves of energy meant that I was really able to enjoy the amazing atmosphere and the incredible crowd. If I ever do another marathon (which I was thinking that I would even as I crossed the line) I’ll get my name on my vest again. It really makes a massive difference, and running down Embankment and onto Pall Mall was a really emotional experience that was made all the better for the amount of people cheering me on by name.

In the end I finished in 3:52, which I was over the moon with as at the halfway point I was only concerned with coming in under 4 hours. And though I ache today, this is accompanied by a massive feeling of pride and of having been a small part of an incredible spectacle that involves so many people putting themselves through so much pain!

 

Thanks for all the support everyone!

Darren

 

I've been making excuses for several years now about how difficult it is to get a place in the London marathon, but this year I finally have a place, so there's no excuses...just months of cold winter training to get through.

The charity I'm running for - Vision - raises funds for the benefit of blind, visually impaired and dyslexic children and my company has offered to match the total donations I manage to raise, so all donations will effectively be doubled...all amounts, no matter how small, will be massively appreciated.

Last year the Vision marathon team was spearheaded by Katie Price and I'm setting myself the potentially ambitious goal of beating her impressive time from last year.

There'll certainly be no excuses if I don't beat the 7 hours and 11 minute benchmark she's set.

 

So dig deep...I will be!

Darren