Lee´s Marathon Survival Guide - The Big Day Finally Arrived!

I could not have done it without the support of so many people...........

Added:Fri, 14th May 10

It took a while to get here and I’d be lying if I said it was not painful the Virgin London Marathon 2010 finally arrived.! Am I nervous? Yes a little! Will I be in pain? Oh yes, I’m sure I will be!

Expo London

The weekend started off with a trip to the Expo in London where I had a Radio and TV interview. I was also lined up to have a Body Composition Analysis test and a fitness assessment.

The interviews went smoothly and I was taken over to the Timex stand where I was introduced to the guys from Timex and Tanita.

I was then asked to take my shoes off and stand on a Body Composition Machine and hold some metal sensors. The machine then read my weight, water consumption, BMI, body fat and lean muscle among many other things.

After this I walked over to a treadmill that is self powered!!! This was a strange experience as basically you power the machine by running. If you stop, it stops!

The guys hooked me up with a mask that read my breathing rate and they asked me to jog at My Marathon pace for approximately 5 mins.

I looked and sounded a little like Darth Vader but I was interested in the findings of my fitness levels after all the training - well more like lack of training!

I have to say I was very pleased and a little surprised with the overall result. My body fat is great, muscle mass positive, BMI (Body Mass Index) where it should be and my aerobic fitness is actually very good and the guy said if I wasn’t carrying injuries my body could manage a 3hr40m Marathon – WOW!!!

I suppose it was a shame I had the injuries but I have to say Physicool bandages have really helped me maintain my injuries through all of this and I would personally recommend them to anyone. I did spend a few hours at the Physicool Stand helping to promote the product and of course have my injury bandaged while I was there.

The Expo itself was a great day out for Marathon Runners and you could practically get everything you need from clothing, nutrition, running shoes and lots of gizmos and gadgets to help you through the big day and any future events you may take part in.

Marathon Day

I woke up the morning of the marathon practically on Blackheath - to be precise 4 minutes away from the Celebrity Start Line. This really helped to settle my nerves and I have our very own Professor Mark Watson-Gandy to thank for this. He very kindly allowed me to stay with him and his family the night before the big event.

Nutrition

Professor Watson Gandy´s wife laid out a fantastic breakfast. I had half a grapefruit, a bagle with jam and a bowl of porridge oats to give me the much needed slow release energy that I woud be calling on a few hours later.

To top this off I had some Sci-MX Enduro Fuel mixed with water, which again acted as a slow release carb fuel.

The CelebrityStart

I arrived at the Celebrity Tent with plenty of time to spare. I did a warm up, had some pictures taken and chatted to some other Celebrities – some that I had not seen for a while : Michelle Heaton, Ben Shepard, Dick & Dom, Natalie Imbruglia, Footballer Gary Speed, and Jenny Falkoner - to name a few.

It was clear to me at this point that we are all as excited and nervous as each other - no matter how much training we had all done.

So we set off to the start line - most of us not really knowing what to expect. We all counted tdown the remaining 20 seconds and we were off.

My physiotherapist had said to jog about 6 miles (which is when I usually start to feel the pain in my hip) and then walk a few miles to ease it off and slowly build into a jog again.

So as I’m running and basically being overtaken by a lot of people I’m thinking “Just hold out as long as you can, Lee”

Injury Pain

I started running with a few celebrity friends but soon came to realise that everybody’s pace was different and I had to be focused on my own personal plan. My personal plan changed pretty early on as I started to feel the pain slowly creeping in at the 4 mile marker! This was something that had concerned me over my training period as within the last month of my training the injuries seemed to get a little worse! So I decided there and then to slow my pace and see how long I could keep going before stopping. Completing the Marathon had become more important than doing it in a fast time……

At this point, I found myself running alongside an actress who you may or may not know - Kerry Howard - who has starred in Reggie Perrin. She was running with her brother and other friends and Celebrites so I joined them for a few miles.

Before the race, a lot of people had asked me if I was running with anybody. I had been training alone so much that I thought I would run it alone with my trusty ipod and music (sorry no STEPS songs!). I soon changed my mind as the miles became more and more daunting, I found I needed a bit of banter and encouragement - otherwise it seemed that there would be a very lonely run for 26 miles. Even with the amazing atmosphere and crowd it was definitely helpful running alongside people and being able to say “Hi” as well as having a sort of pace partner.

The Wall

There were times I was feeling the burn and my legs were starting to feel like they didn’t belong to me. Around the 17 mile marker I hit what people call “The Wall”. We came to a point where we ran under a tunnel with a bend to the right where everyone became a little cramped in the space. This was the big turning point for me as I felt my body wanted to stop and my mental attitude really had to kick in. This was also were I lost my now running partner.

I believe I beat the wall by giving myself a new goal – to keep the legs moving without speeding up too quickly and eventually get back to my running partner. This took me the next mile but once accomplished I felt like I had a new lease of life and was back in my comfortable stride.

So the headphones were on, the pace was right and it was now time to start to actually look around, enjoy the sites and soak up the atmosphere.

Real Pain!

By now, I had been running for around 4hrs and had passed the 22mile marker. Then, I really felt my knee. The pain became very intense and continued through to the 24mile marker. I honestly thought I was going to have to stop and walk the rest as I couldn’t really control the lift and bend action of my stride. Again my mind had a fight with my body and my mind won. It is amazing how powerful it is!

Knowing I only had 2miles to go there was no way I was walking now. I had started jogging and I was going to finish jogging.

The Longest mile

Without question, for me the longest mile was the 25th leading into the 26th. You have to keep telling yourself your not quite there yet, don’t slow down! You feel like you have almost finished and the end is just round the corner but that corner seems to last forever. To make things worse, the course then had markers telling you 600 yards, 400 yards, 200 yards. It was like running in slow motion. I would rather they not be there. For me it was a tease, and just made things drag out.

Finish Line in sight

As I came round the final bend in front of Buckingham palace I could see the finish with the clock. This gave me that extra kick that I needed but it was like the world´s worst sprint to the finish anyone has ever seen (even though I felt I was running like a 100M athlete…. Ha! Ha!)

My Time

Myself and Kerry finished together as we had been pretty much running together most of the race so it felt like the right thing to do.

I’m happy and proud to say that I completed the 2010 Virgin London Marathon in 4 hrs 39 mins after only running a Half Marathon before it – and I did it with injuries.