Steve Way – Marathon Runner

So it’s the day after the big one and once again I can reflect on another great day in London. One of these days I’m going to have to settle for a bad run at VLM but until then it continues to be one of the best days for me every year!

So after a very un-eventful taper period for me (very little stressing at all!) the big day had arrived and oddly for a change I was actually quite confident. This was actually a bit odd as to be honest, a man who hasn’t even managed a half marathon this year in the halfway split he wants to go through in his marathon really has no right to be that confident

My 12min 5am jog all went to plan and stuck to my usual breakfast routine of 4 slices of white bread, strawberry jam and a banana.
Off to the champs start and met up with quite a few of the boys that I expected to be running with and confirmed pacing strategy of around 5:15-5:20 miles. Schoolboy error from last year was also prevented with a quadruple tie of both shoelaces

So off we went with the sun out and a tail wind behind us. Felt good right from the start and soon found myself in a big group with all the faces I expected to be with in the “69 min halfway group”
I was actually quite surprised to see the first mile only come in at 5:20 as it’s normally a bit faster but was feeling very comfortable with a nice low HR (153bpm) and knew things would pick up over the next 2 faster miles which they did ( 5:13 and 5:01 for the downhill mile 3)
So through the first 5k in 16:08 feeling aerobically very relaxed, more so than previous marathons and in a nice group to work with …… what more could you want at this stage!

We started to hit a few sections after this with some headwind which meant some additional focus was required and I tried to do my bit to keep the group going at a good pace with some stints at the front. Paolo Natali, John Gilbert and James Smith were also doing some work at the front and we were working well together, enabling us to maintain pace with some consistent 5k splits through to halfway (16:26,16:21,16:18)
The group had started to break up by now and by the time we got over Tower Bridge it was basically just me, Paolo and John but I wasn’t too worried as these 2 guys looked strong and I could see us working well together. We were also starting to close in on some groups of Brits ahead which gave us something to focus on.

Halfway came in 68:40 – a seasons best for the half marathon ….. I was pleased we had a few extra seconds in the bank compared to the plan as I could tell that some of the headwind in the second half was going to slow us down a little. Aerobically I was still feeling quite comfortable at this stage with a HR still lower than I would expect for the pace (must have been all that beetroot juice!). I was however aware that my legs were already starting to grumble a little which was slightly concerning as it was a bit early for that sort of behaviour!

25-30k came in at 16:33 which was a bit slower than previous splits but nothing to worry about to much. We went under the 20 mile marker pretty much dead on 1:45 and from there on it all gets a bit blurry!
The legs were really starting to get painful at this stage, my strong aerobic engine was still up for it but the “wheels” were starting to wobble and I was really having to focus on just keeping them going at a good pace and ignoring the pain. By this stage it was just John Gilbert and I and although we were slowing a little we seemed to be both in the same zone of just pushing on to get it over with as soon as possible. The final two 5ks were 16:44 and 17:02.
I knew at this stage that the PB was in the bag but was also was aware that sub 2:19 might still be on.
From the 800m to go sign I knew it was going to be very close but to be honest there was not a lot I could do about it. Aerobically I could have up’ed the effort but the fatigue and pain in the legs just meant that they didn’t respond to any requests “to go a little faster”
I was however able to blow a little kiss to Sarah as we turned the corner for the final straight to reconfirm that I’m still a soppy bastard and she is still the most supportive wife EVER!
All that was left to do was to kick in that stunning sprint to dip under 2:19……… thank god the BBC put on their usual shit coverage and cut away just before I finished otherwise you would have seen my splendid arm sprinting action combined with my legs not actually getting any faster at all

Still ecstatic to cross the line with a new PB of 2:19:04, 25th overall and 5th Brit.
It has been 659 days since my last true PB so it’s a relief to know I’m not over the hill just yet!

My one good race of the year then, might as well do it at the London Marathon I say! The pub was awesome as always and the sun stayed out so we could spend the afternoon drinking beer and talking about marathon running – perfect!

Unfortunately I won’t be able to upload my run from my nice shiny new Garmin 910XT until next week when we get back from our holiday.

Don’t try this at home kids – and I wonder why I don’t recover quickly from marathons!

……… thank god “I wasn’t SHIT”