The London Marathon broke a world record on Sunday for the largest number of finishers and the largest number of spectators. Like many sporting events now, the emphasis seems to be on ‘the bigger, the better’ and in terms of crowd support, giving opportunities to runners and the money raised for charity you would have to agree this is a good thing. The organisation required for such a big event must be an enormous undertaking and from a runner’s point of view seemed very impressive. From free train fares for runners on Sunday, to lorries taking kit bags from start to finish, to the wave start to spread runners out, the multiple start lines and all the water stations & volunteers, it’s an incredible operation.
The one downside is for supporters trying to see their friend/relative from multiple places on the course, as the sheer number of supporters in London can be problematic as the day progresses, as queues & busy tube stations build up, making quick transitions from one mile location to another extremely challenging.
On Sunday, the heat was an added complication to pacing strategy for runners to consider. Go too quickly and risk ‘blowing up’ but go too slowly and risk the feeling of frustration that there was a better time for the taking. For me, it was the former which made miles 18-26 extremely uncomfortable, forcing me to take 60-90 seconds extra per mile and will my legs to take that extra step. The pace I ran to start with wasn’t particularly unrealistic, but it’s likely the heat took its toll & affected me more than I’d hoped it would. Eilish McColgan suggested that this might also have been the case for many of the top British athletes and prevented them from going quite as quickly as they’d hoped. Experienced marathon runners tell me that everything has to go right on the day in order for them to achieve their target time, and for them there will be another marathon around the corner to try and strike it lucky. For many on Sunday, it would have been their only time, so judging their effort in conditions they wouldn’t have faced in training was an added hurdle to overcome. This is where the crowd play their part and having hundreds of people call your name in support and give you encouragement is fantastic. The atmosphere on the course is incredible, with choirs, DJ’s and the number of spectators making it seem like the equivalent of a 26 mile football stadium entrance. For runners it feels very personal (especially if you have your name on your vest) but then you remember these people supporting are energetically cheering on 56,639 other people as well over several hours.
All runners will have their own personal story/targets around their marathon run. There is a real community feel to running races, with the majority of runners not able to contemplate winning, so a win for them is the personal achievement, the money they are raising & the stories behind their chosen charity. As a result the warmth of the day is incredibly special to be part of with no egos and a real sense of warmth from everyone to each other. It was fantastic to be involved in a day where there was so much good being done by so many people, where they are giving themselves to run, support or volunteer whilst thinking about those less fortunate than themselves.
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