Thank you for helping me to reach my target for the first ever Virgin London Marathon. I'm now raising money for Charity by running the 30th Great North Run on September 19th 2010, please sponsor me at: http://www.justgiving.com/edgeipk-GreatNorthRun2010
Here's how the day unfolded (please see photo's on the side too):
As some of you know this was my second marathon and the experience again was truely special.
First time round I over-trained and picked up an injury only a few weeks before the race, but managed to run and finish in 4hrs 55mins. So this time round I trained less and was much more careful about my preparations although the harsh winter naturally scuppered my training plan, although I did manage 3 runs in the snow ! This year I had some running/training partners: Mike Williams and my brother Vimal Mistry.
Arriving at BlackHeath for the start point, it rained from the moment we got off the train. Having again dyed my hair red, colour started running down my face from the outset. At the point I thought "so much for the heatwave !". The start was crowded and as soon as the horn went, my brother shot off....to the side for a last minute pee-break, followed shortly by me.
When we re-joined and crossed the start we could see swarms of people jogging down the hill. The start was slow and it too about 2miles before finally getting into a more natural running rythm, but often it was difficult to maintain a constant pace because of the other runners. Shortly after the 2nd mile I heard lots of people shouting for Richard, and I thought "Richards a popular bloke". I turned around and it was Branson !
Next I passed Princess Beatrice and Branson's kids who were all part of a record breaking "linked runners" team. Along the way I felt very safe because I ran with Spiderman, Batman, and Superman, apparently Superwomen and the hulk were there too !
There were some great costumes out there; Giraffe, Lucozade bottle, BanannaMan, fairies, devils.
Reaching the halfway mark at 13.1m I was on target to complete in less than 4hours but the sun was now out and the heat was harsh. It's a great point in the race when you go over Tower Bridge, the sound of people cheering is immense, and the bridge is lined up with most of the charities supporting their runners. I was egged on my wife who was in the crowd which gave me a lift and I continued a good pace until the 20mile mark.
After 20miles my legs began to get heavy, the heat was getting to me and I'm not sure I hit the infamous "Wall", but certainly knew that last 6miles was going to be much harder. As I slowed a person in a wrinkly outfit ran passed me, as I caught up I realised this was actually an old woman running a very good race !
I started to realise what it means to "dig deep", but on my 26th miles I really went for it and it was one of my fastest laps at 8m47s. As I approached the last 600metres, I felt my calf muscle pull and cramp in the the arch of my foot. Immediately I thought of last years race when I saw many runners not make it pass this very last stretch. Having realised I wasn't going to reach my sub-4hour target I decided the safest thing was to walk/jog/walk to the finish.
I finised in 4hrs 5mins 10secs, tired, elated and sore (a full breakdown of my times per mile are below). Thankfully I had a shower, massage and hot meal to look forward to, however at that point a beer didn't even cross my mind.
Apart from the personal experience this truely is an amazing fund raising event. It's great to see so many people in charity running vests, so much support and so much assistance throughout the race: people handing out drinks, clearing empty bottles, holding back traffic and on-lookers and providing first aid to those that needed. The support along 26miles is amazing, at some points the crowds were 10 or so people deep !
But what really makes all this happen is your generosity to sponsor people running, and for that I am truley grateful thank you !
Kind regards.................Dharmesh
Runner no. 6141 Category 40-44
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10K 00:53:13, 15K 01:20:21, 20K 01:47:52, HALF 01:53:52, 25K 02:15:56, 30K 02:46:44, 35K 03:18:16, 40K 03:51:47
Place in all runners 12212, Place in all males 9906, Place in age category 1857, finish time 04:05:10
Mile Time
1 9.31
2 8.22
3 8.10
4 8.01
5 8.14
6 8.28
7 8.38
8 8.26
9 8.44
10 8.30
11 9.01
12 8.36
13 8.55
14 8.55
15 8.52
16 9.48
17 9.37
18 9.43
19 10.30
20 9.24
21 9.55
22 10.43
23 10.47
24 9.59
25 10.35
26 8.47
last bit 5.43
