2011 Virgin London Marathon

News

Following a sometimes difficult but improved (on last years) period of increased training in preparation for this year’s Marathon , April 17th was now here and with expectation and apprehension, here I was lining up for my 2nd 26.2 mile run through the streets of the capital. All thanks and credit to Croft Ambrey Runners for giving me another chance to prove my worth and also for Ludlow Physio Brian Harrison for his help in keeping me running when my shins and hamstrings thought otherwise!

With informed advice from some of my fellow Croft members, who know more about running than I ever will, still ringing in my ears I set off from an advanced starting position quite close behind the elite runners down Shooters Hill and on towards the first mile marker keeping a very relaxed pace and trying to focus on the task in hand. Already the air temperature felt warmer than 2010 and with the met office predicting up to 18C an easy relaxed pace was going to be paramount.

With my heart set on a sub 4 hour finish I clocked up the first few miles quite easily as the pace felt like an easy warm up run but was in fact slightly faster than my pace in 2010, my halfway time, officially, was 01:52:43 which was almost 3 minutes faster. I’ve found that the hardest part of the marathon is the section around the Isle of Dogs and Docklands and this year was no exception. The narrow streets bordered by numerous high-rise office and apartment blocks always seem tougher to negotiate as breeze and fresh air always seem at a premium to me so it was here that I lost some time as my pace weakened somewhat. Nevertheless I pressed on and by 22 miles I could still see that a sub 4 hour finish was still achievable but my pace would need to be maintained. But even after drinking copious amounts of bottled water and lucozade sport I felt drained and watched my target tick by with less then half a mile left to run.

So I reached the finish with an air of relief tinged with disappointment but I did achieve a PB! In fact on comparing my times and finish results I improved in every aspect and in some cases by enormous margins.

Results: Luscott, Frank (GBR) Runner no. 24904

Place: Gender 8173 Age(50-54) 655 Overall 10217 h/w split 01:52:43 Finish 04:04:18

Thank you once again Croft Ambrey runners for giving me this opportunity and thanks also to all those of you who kindly sponsored me in my quest to raise more money for St. Michael’s Hospice, I will let you know how much I have raised when I know myself!

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