#vlm2014

Firstly before I pull apart my performance on race day I would like to take this opportunity to thank the literally hundreds of people that have been following my training over the last 18 weeks.  Some have followed this blog others have been getting updates on facebook and a large number have been tracking me on Strava.  Also thanks goes out to all the guys I have dragged out on runs with me from Orpington Road runners to friends.  There is too many to list, but you all know who you are.  The amount of encouraging comments, posts and messages from everyone has been fantastic.  I really couldn't have gotten through all my training if it hadn't been for you guys. Thank you. Also a massive thank you to everyone that donated on my charity page, found here - www.justgiving.com/pha-uk-2014, the total to date is amazing and it continues to go up.  If you haven't donated already and feel you can than I would very much appreciate it.  As you will see from reading my Justgiving page you I have been raising much needed funds for a small charity called PHA-UK which helped my sister in the last few years of her life.  Here is a short video which I put together for my sisters funeral back in 2008 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hGj8Cu4ydDc.  The last thank you goes to my Wife, Lisa, who has been fantastic and really supportive throughout the whole training period, and I wouldn't have got across the start line let alone the finish line if it wasnt for her.

I have held off posting this as I wanted to really let the experience sink in and I may well have rushed into making a decision about where it went wrong. The last few weeks of training went well. I was nursing myself to the start line, not that any thing was wrong I just didn't want to blow all the training at the end.  I rested more, went on shorter runs and tried to let my body repair from the demanding plan I had followed. As the race approached I felt rested and ready.

Race day!

The alarm went off at 6. Decent night sleep, struggled to drop off but slept pretty solid. The thing with London is its pretty late in the morning, 10, and a lot of that time was traveling or sitting in Greenwich so I didn't feel I need to scoff any food instantly. Over the course of the hour I got ready, ate the usual of porridge and toast. Avoided drinking too much after downing my couple of glasses of water straight away, so I didn't need to wee on the train like a little boy! The 7:28 train was buzzing from orpington. The Orpington Road Runners had a small group and we all split up at London Bridge and went to either Blackheath or Maze Hill.

The red starters all headed to Maze Hill and we had a glorious walk up through the park, see picture below. Once in to the red start zone, we set about sorting our selfs out, last minute banana, water and other fuel. My sun tan lotion seemed very popular with our group and surrounding runners. Should have charged :-) we had time for a quick picture and then head off to dump our bags on the correct lorry.

It was at this point we all went our separate ways and headed to the pens along the main area  in Greenwich park. It turned out that pen 2, my pen, was situated outside the main gates. As I was heading to the pen I walked straight past an interview between the oldest competitors and the BBC. I managed to get half a second of fame. See pictures below.

Standing in Pen 2 you realise there are some good runners here. It was at this point when I first felt nervous. I was standing on the shoulder of the 3:15 pacer, brilliant, I will stick with him I thought. I Looked around and saw Dave King, friend and fellow Orpington Road Runner, who was on the other side of the Pen, we shared a knowing nod. Last minute water sipping and stripping off of jumpers, jackets and bin liners.  The elite runners were announced with a massive cheer for Mo! I remember thinking it was starting to get warm... And then we was off!

As we set off I checked the watch had started, all good, the aim then was 7:30 per mile to at least mile 20 and then reassess or carry on if all felt ok. The miles ticked by quite quickly. Dave soon flew past me before dashing off for a wee! He then passed me again for the fun of it and asked if I was happy with the pace. I seemed to be, which was good. The 3:15 pacer was firmly in my sights either slightly behind or in front. It was at this point when I noticed the miles were quicker than I would have liked, only by 10 seconds or so, but still this was in the back of my mind. Passed through 10 miles in 1:13 which was around 7:20 pace. Happy and cruising, getting carried along by runners around me. It was at this point where an amazing thing happened. I was giving high fives to a few kids that happened to be quite close, so no real effort on my part, when I was greeted with a slippery wet hand from the forth older person in a St John ambulance uniform...... Turns out he was handing out vaseline. My bad!

I was snapped at mile 7, looking happy even though you can just see my back.

This 7:20 pace carried on for 15 miles and I went through the half in 1:37, bang on track. Shortly before the half way point my Dad got a picture of me, looking pretty happy. I then got a glimpse of Mo running along the other side leaving the isle of dogs.

I had let the 3:15 pacer go as it started to become an effort to keep hold of him. I dialled back the pace to high 7 minute miling for 16 and 17 it then dawned on me I was struggling! I took a gel.. my first one. 17 miles in. Not good. Lots of things went through my mind, first thing being I am still 9 miles out! Secondly and new target was getting to mile 20 and seeing the wife and kids.

Time still went pretty quickly, but it was certainly an effort to keep the legs turning over. Made it mile 20. A quick loo break before getting to the family and take on of electrolytes. I made a massive mistake here by stopping for too long. I think it was almost 5 minutes. Killer. Gave them all a hug and kiss and set off with the 3:30 pacer and my new finishing target....

From Poplar high street to the finish was roughly 10k. This proved to be one of the toughest parts of a run every! It was literally a mile at a time, a water station at a time. I soon caught up with a Dartford roadrunner who was also struggling.  I got a boost from this, if only for a few minutes. We had a walk and chat and then tried to run a bit further, I ended up leaving him behind just before  mile 22 and just in time to see the parents. My Dad got another snap of me looking a little less happy.

Another lengthy stop of a minute of 2 and I was off again. I pretty much kept the legs moving for the final 4 miles with a few stretching and walking sections. The final half a mile was pretty much a blur. Pain, frustration and tiredness was all I could focus on. Mentally I was defeated. I did actually manage to cross the line with a 3:30 pacer, except he was burnt out too. A look up to my sister as a I crossed the line and I was done. Finished. 3:43:03. Gutted!

After getting a heavy medal and even heavier goody bag I went and found the Orpington Road Runner bag lorry and chatted with them briefly, I couldn't hide my frustration. I then preceded to sit down and eat the entire contents of the bag. I soon felt better.  Next on the list was a wander up to Piccadilly and the Strava post Marathon party!

The Strava guys were a great distraction and the beer certainly helped too. I chatted with them about the race and where I think I went wrong, we has some laughs and traded running stories.  I also met another group of Strava runners and had a good chat with them too.  It was great to finally meet team Strava after such a long time of giving Kudos, commenting and tracking their runs.

I gave a short interview which can be found here - http://blog.strava.com/the-runners-of-london-7536/ and my Strava data can be found here - http://app.strava.com/activities/129950850.

I DID IIIIT!! Or rather, WE did! I'm saying we because it turns out that I needed the support of everyone watching, wishing me on and thinking of me more than I'd ever anticipated. This was mainly because I realised on Sunday that 26.2 miles is a BLOODY LONG WAY!!! 

This was just after finishing - people have said I look really chilled here but I was actually in an incredible amount of pain just standing up!!

My family and friends were really great at calming my nerves in the days leading up to the marathon, so luckily I went into it on Sunday with a pretty clear head, AND for maybe the first time ever before a big race, I didn't cry before starting!! 

Obviously, at the start line I made some friends, mainly because we had all pushed our way to the front of zone 8 (out of 9 zones) only to find we were behind the 4 hour 30 pacer, slower than I was hoping to run!! It was pretty cool to chat to people before, meaning the time we were in the pen before starting flew over and before I knew it, we were off!! 

The first few miles were a breeze to be honest, it was really busy so there was a lot of dodging around people (something parkrun has prepared me for actually!) but there was so many enthusiastic supporters that the first three went so quickly! It takes me about 2 and a half miles to get into my stride anyway, so I knew not to worry about anything until then, and then, as I predicted, I settled into a pretty comfortable 9 minute mile pace! Easy to keep up right? Well yeah, for the first half....

I finished the first half in 2 hours and 11 seconds, but the race was definitely a tale of two halves for me! I did massively slow down in the second half, as you can see in my results stats (see link below) but this was where my training, and the support from my 'fan club' paid off! Every 5k I ran was slower, but I somehow managed to keep running, even though my head (after about 17/18 miles) was telling me to stop! If you look at my stats here you can see!

http://results-2014.virginmoneylondonmarathon.com/2014/?content=detail&fpid=search&pid=search&idp=9999990F5ECC83000013DC5D&lang=EN_CAP&event=MAS

What worked for me was breaking the marathon down into chunks: after 15 miles (when I realised I was really slowing down) I promised myself that 18 would come soon, and I would be rewarded by seeing some supporters - and at mile 19 I was!! My best friends from work were there in matching red 'Shelter' t-shirts very loudly cheering me on! From there, I knew I'd see some of my friends from uni between 22 and 23 miles (as I'd seen them just before half way and the route doubles back) and again they spurred me on with their smiles and cheers! This last bit was definitely the toughest though, I gave up any high fiving, and for once, didn't smile with every step!! I'd seen my family with their huuuuge banner (a whole bedsheet!!!) made by my cousins at mile 9, and they were there again going wild for me between 23 and 24 miles! 

My banner - I couldn't miss it!

This last bit was painfully (and it was painful!) slow for me - every time I saw someone I knew, or someone shouted my name though, it spurred me on to keep running. My friend Hannah was with the Anthony Nolan supporters just before mile 25 so I had the treat of all of them shouting for me, and opposite Westminister the accountants were loudly cheering for me again, which got me to the finish line! Turns out my Dad, Patrick and Alice were about 20m before them watching, but I didn't see them and they didn't see me! We know this for sure because those three feature in the background of one of my official photos!! 

The last mile was tough obviously, especially as it was so warm so I was pretty disorientated and confused by all of the crowds screaming at me (I didn't feel like Mo, at all) and I had planned to sprint down The Mall but there was not a bit of energy left in my legs so I just kept it steady! It was very emotional finishing, and I definitely had a good cry when I received my medal. Immediately after if you'd asked me if I'd do it again I would probably say no way, but after a couple of days to contemplate my success, yeah of course I'll run a marathon again and I'm definitely entering the London ballot next Tuesday!

I love a good list, so here's a marathon highlights list!!

Time: 4 hours 18 minutes 11 seconds

Place: 15997 of 35776 runners, 3993rd woman out of 13228.

Best Bit: The crowd cheering me on

Worst Bit: Realising at 22 miles that the 4.2 miles to the finish was going to take me a long, long time!

Most embarrassing moment: Being passed by a man dressed as a London Pride beer bottle just before the finish!

Most surreal thing: A women looking me right in the eye and saying "you got this Parker" because my last name was on my vest.

Most emotional moment: Crossing the finish line, then feeling like an Olympian when I got my medal

Best costume I passed: Either the famous fridge man, or the woman running with a giant breast strapped to her back!

Biggest myth debunked: 'The Wall' - physically, I didn't hit it, because I trained hard, practised my hydration and nutrition intake and reacted to the conditions on the day. Also, the idea that you have to be made a certain way to run a marathon!! If you look at the shape and size of people who ran London, outside of the elite few at the front, there is a huge spectrum of big and small, tall and short - I am certainly not built to run marathons with my short stumpy legs and child sized feet but with training I did it!

Money raised for charity (so far): £1073!

If you still want to donate, my pages are:

www.justgiving.com/EleanorParkerICS and www.justgiving.com/Eleanor-Parkermarathon

Medal up close - representing Raleigh and ICS! 

Finally, here's a photo of just some of my supporters on the day - this is my family at the end, we met at the Meningitis Research Foundation part of Horse Guards parade and had this photo taken. Thanks to MRF for the amazing aftercare they gave me on Sunday, in the form of cuddles, a seat, food and congratulations!! And thanks to ICS for their supportive emails in the lead up.

This photo only shows a few of my supporters, but I cannot thank everyone enough. I've said it again and again but I couldn't have done it without you all! The kind messages, the hugs, the phenomenal cheering, the reading of my increasingly length blogs, the sponsorship which was the main reason I undertook this crazy challenge, and all of the general love I have received!!

As is ever the way these days, I find myself writing the report from a strange place.

I knew I had done nowhere near enough training to do what I wanted to do.  Especially, I hadn't put the long runs in to get me the legs I needed.  I had done some work though and I wondered whether there might be a chance.

However, drinking just before the start left me needing a piss right at the off so I dived off the start block (Blue) to wee up against a sign.  This meant I was now some way behind the 3:30 paces but I figured it would give me a good slow target to aim at to help bank some early time.

How wrong I was.

It seems that blue start is far worse than red which I had last time.  We had a number of pinch points which meant the first mile was 8:40.  Some 40 seconds down on the target time and giving me an uphill battle.  the second mile was little better at 8:19.

I had to put in more effort than I wanted but it started to become an ask.  In fact it was worse than the figures showed as the amount of weaving I was doing meant my miles were coming up way short of the course miles.  I got to 5k and was a minute behind schedule.

I got to 10k and was still a minute behind.

At this time someone I know from the Arc2Arch run shouted my name and squirted a bottle at me as I turned.  She was annoyed she started a way back from where she wanted to be but was in better shape than me.  I tried to stay with her and we chatted a bit and tended to leap frog as we weaved our way through the crowd.

20K came and I was still a minute down.

At this point I knew I was pushing harder than I wanted.  It was also much hotter than I had expected, and I knew that the marathon is always a suddenly hot day.  I adopted a different than usual race strategy of keeping a water bottle and just sipping a tiny amount whenever my mouth went dry.

So a decision was made.  I knew I would not get the 3:30 I wanted today so I would kick back and enjoy myself.  Before long it was the right hand turn onto Tower Bridge Street.  Now the course had been far busier with support than I recall, possibly due to Mo.  But Tower Bridge is always amazing.

I ran hard right and made sure to stop and pose for my friend Taff who was taking photos there all day.  I then cruised round and after turning right noticed that the leaders were coming past on the switchback.  And I knew who would be close behind.

I darted left and when he came into view I shouted as loud as I could at Mo to keep going.  I then eased back and could tell this from the fact my mile splits barely changed...

Beats me too!

However, by now my left foot was playing up.  Every stride was agony and it got no better.  And this was a shame because, barring the discomfort and distraction caused by my cyborg appendage, I was in a very good mental place.  The miles which are often the worst for me (14-19 - where you have run for ages and still have ages to go) I viewed positively.  But the pain and sapping took their toll.  Before long I Was running off my foot so putting all my right side out.

And so I came to stop and walk, something I desperately did not want to do this time, especially as my first (and only other) London became a walk run affair from mile 11.

So I decided I could make a little further before stopping.

And I kept going.

I had seen a couple of people from work and a few from my club cheering, but missed Laura at mile 21.

On the switchback I noticed that the 5 hour people were going past.  Knowing that my Ems was taking it very easy and determined just to get around, I hung left again and looked out.  This also allowed me to hide from the crowd as I was a little upset that I could not be as happy to them as I would like.

Suddenly I heard my name shouted from in front and there was my fine lady.  I ran into her arms and stopped for a hug and kiss.  I then sobbed as I told her just how much pain I was in with my foot.  we chatted and I Was such a gent I did not ask her at all about her race was going and how she was despite knowing she was injured and ill.

Yeah, I'm a great guy!

But onwards I went and, by this time I was 22 miles in and before long I had another special shout and saw my parents crammed at the front of the barriers just before you head into embankment.  Again I stopped to hug them and got the most amazing lift when my dad screamed how proud of me he was.  

Having hundreds of strangers shouting your name and egging you on is one thing.

As a man(boy), having your own dad shout it at you in front of hundreds of people is something way above that.  I kissed them, mentioned I was in a world of pain and was then shooed on by them.  And so I went.

Weirdly, after seeing them my foot finally eased up.  That or the rest of my legs started to hurt so much I couldn't notice it any more.  Still grinning and choking up at the support of friends, unknowns and family I headed to embankment and the constant wall of noise cheering me in.  I am proud to say I still did not stop save for a piece of show boating where the two cameramen were at a division in the road in Birdcage Walk.

And after what felt like the longest 4 miles, I turned into the Mall and saw the finish line.  I would make it.

And I did.  In 3:43:10.  56 minutes quicker than my last London, but 9 minutes off my PB and 13 behind the target.

I know I did not deserve the time I wanted as I had not trained for it.  It was a fight just to get me to the finish line.  However, it is over and I can move on.  Exactly how I feel changes by the day.  I meant it when I wrote on twitter that at least now I can slope off and hide in ultras where times are immaterial to me.  I have said before that London is not a great PB course unless you are very fast due to crowds.  But crowds do not excuse a miles 21-23 paces of 9:09, 9:55 and 9:12.  That's just a lack of training, effort and effort in training.

Don't get me wrong, I loved it, and 3:43 is no mean feat.  But I hate the injuries I pick up on my left ankle these days when I push hard, and the thought that all my best times are behind me fills me with dread.  And at the same time, the disappointment grows with each failure to the point I almost feel like giving up on ever getting a better time.

**Watch in HD**

"If you do not run, you must cheer!"

This is a compilation of short videos I made at Mile 21 of the London Marathon with the mighty Run Dem Crew as we cheered on some of our friends, but for the majority, complete strangers.

If you ever wondered what running means to me and why I prioritise spending my time running over many other things in my life, look no further than this video.

Running a marathon is a phenomenal accomplishment and I have respect for every single person who has managed to concur 26.2 miles - it's something that I hope to add to my achievements as I run my first marathon in Copenhagen the 18th May 2014.