I originally secured a place in the 2020 London Marathon in the summer of 2019. From that point on, I trained continually until I finally took part in October 2022!
I did however run the Virtual London Marathon in 2020 and 2021. With the event being cancelled, I was fortunate to be one of the many Guinness World Record breakers in the largest virtual event in history!
With the entry rolling over to the following year and a fresh intake of charity runners, I opted to postpone until 2022… In case it got cancelled again! Training since 2019 was after all taking its toll. Again, I took part in the virtual event in 2021 so that the training wouldn’t go to waste.
Finally, in October 2022, the event was upon me!
An incredible event that was very well organised. I didn’t set out to grab a PB, I wanted to soak it all in as it was likely my first and last opportunity with the demand for the event!
I did soak it all on while still challenging myself… To the point where I ended up achieving a PB without realising! Nothing overly impressive – a shade under 5 hours. It was such a cool event because of the density of participants. Usually, on other events, there’s a huge wave of people at the start but this crowd disperses as the miles are clocked up. Not the London Marathon! There were crowds of runners everywhere… All the time! It gave you an extra buzz, in addition to the amazing spectators cheering you on, again, everywhere!
It was a crazy juxtaposition to the ultramarathons I mention in my other blog where you might not see a soul for hours (or miles)!
So pleased I got to take part… Eventually!
