Alice’s race report!

VLM 2011

So, 17^th April has finally been and gone. Following my “good fortune” in acquiring a Club place in the Christmas draw I really had to pull my finger out to get some training done.

As with all good days out, it started with a bus journey and a fight. It’s amazing what people will fight about at 7:30 on a Sunday morning. This time it was Nolan arguing with the bus driver that he was entitled to free travel if he flashed the driver (his number, I hope). Anyway, he managed to convince the driver to let him on for free and we then told Nolan it was only DLR and London Underground that were free, but no one came to arrest him and we all arrived at Blackheath.

Sophie (& sis in law) Anika, Nolan & Alice...smiling for now!

We had so much time to kill, that us four ladies decided to waste 40mins queuing in the world’s slowest moving toilet queue. Once that excitement was over, we made our way to our separate starting points. I did a few warm up exercises and chants to freak out the competition before stashing my kit bag and squishing into zone 5. T-shirts were being thrown to all sides as people discarded their extra layers of clothing and then we were off. Then we stopped, then we were off. Once I’d actually passed under the start banner (just over 3mins: not bad), we stopped again. Then started again, then stopped again. Each time to a collective moan from the mass of runners. But then we did get going properly and that was it. I remember there was quite a bit of cheering even at the start and I had to swallow a sob. All the way round there were so many people offering cheers and encouragement, orange quarters and sweets. I’ve heard people talk about how amazing the crowds are, but I wasn’t prepared for just how amazing. For example, at about mile 24 I remember realising how loud the crowds actually were – it was like a pop concert and I found myself looking around to see if there was some celebrity nearby, but there wasn’t; and then I realised it was just collective cheering for all of us runners. Amazing.

Anyway, back to the run, it started off alright and I felt quite comfortable, but it soon got hot. I wasn’t sure if I was taking on enough/too much water but sipped a bit of water every other station most of the way around. I took on a few swigs of Lucozade too (although I had to chuck the cherry flavour after only one sip – yuk). Up ‘til about mile 10, the mile markers seemed to go by fairly quickly, which was nice and although I had heard people shouting my name (which was on my shirt) at about mile 11 I also got a collective scream of “Go on Miss Langton!” – a nice boost. I’ve no idea who they were but I’m sure they will reveal themselves next week. Then I got a shout of “I’d know that backside anywhere!” and turned around to see Mr Winfield bouncing along beside me. He tried to have a discussion about pace, but I don’t think my answers made much sense and I waved him on. I decided to have a loo break after mile 11 or 12 and eat a bag of sports jelly beans. Yum. Then I started running again and realised I was at Tower Bridge. Already. It’s all quite easy this Marathon thing. So I bounded further on, thinking I’d best start looking good as there may be people I knew in the crowd over the next couple of miles. Although, it was a bit of a blow to see a few of the faster men coming through on the opposite carriage way having done an extra 7 miles. And then I saw the Beckenham flag looming in the distance. I actually felt quite excited about the prospect of seeing people I knew, so I gave a big cheery wave and what I thought was a smile – but it could have been a grimace. Docklands was hard work – no shade and lots of looping around endless road systems. It was a bit unpleasant to see the lines of men peeing against the walls of the tunnels and it didn’t smell too nice, either. I was really getting too hot and tired at this point and wanted to give up, but knew I had to go on, so I did, just a bit slower than I would have liked. But mile 21 was coming up, so I had to start looking good again. If anyone in that Beckenham crowd was going to photograph me, I wanted to look reasonably OK. But they played a trick and Steve F was not by the flag so got me before I prepared my fresh happy face (you wouldn’t recognise it anyway).

Rara catches Alice out!

I badly wanted to walk at this point, but firstly, I was hugely grateful that I was not in with the runners on the opposite side of the road, who must have been feeling what I’d felt 7 miles earlier and, then, at mile 22 my Mum and Dad started screaming from the side of the road. My brother had got bored of watching about 5mins before I arrived but the two of them made plenty of noise and their new crowd friends joined in too (apparently they were all looking out for each other’s runners). And then I could see we were near the Tower of London – again, as it turns out – but the crowds were so dense as you passed through Tower Bridge that you couldn’t see it.

And although I knew I was almost there, my legs did not want to go any further. I don’t know if it was before or after I saw the Beckenham cheering squad at Blackfriars that I started walking, but walk I did. I tried to run between each water station and then walk through and drink before trying to run to the next one. It hurt. My heart was pounding so hard and I felt so hot. I found myself looking enviously at the people being stretchered away by the medics, but then pulled myself together. By this point the crowd were at their loudest and most amazing. I started to see the iconic sights that people say the London Marathon has and for the first time I became a bit more conscious of where I was and what was happening. So I started to soak it up and run a bit faster (well, it felt like it was faster…) and I was not going to stop again until I got the end. It was amazing to turn the corner by Big Ben and to run down towards the Palace, and then to round that corner and see the finish line in sight. I could see the banners announcing “600m to go”, “400m to go”, but it seemed to be so far away. I could see the clocks turning to 4:00:00 and knew that I had not started dead on zero, so I could still get a sub 4hr, even if I had hoped for sub 3:50. So I did. I thought I would burst into tears when I crossed the line, but I think I was in a state of shock. I swayed around a bit before going to get my tag off etc. Then I saw Smalls and screamed at him. About 3 times. I don’t know why he didn’t hear – everyone else around him did. So I grabbed him and we had a sweaty hug and hobbled towards the exit, getting a photo taken on the way.

And that was it – it was all finished. Would I do it again? I’m not sure…it was pretty amazing, but I have never done anything that was both so mentally and physically tough at the same time. I don’t know how those faster runners do it. Maybe it was the heat that made it extra hard, but people have run them in hotter temps so I’m not sure. I’m aching today, but I’ll get over it, and then I’ll probably forget how hard it was and decide I want to better my time, and then I’ll sign on again. A huge well done to everyone who did it. And a massive thank you to all the supporters – you really do make a difference.

Alice Langton 3:57 - Marathon Runner!

Well done Alice, great write up and a fantastic marathon debut!