Preparation…

JL> Having very much enjoyed taking things easy in the lead up to the big day I spent the evening before getting everything ready for my 6.30am start on Sunday. Trainers-check, socks-check, shorts, running top, HMSA charity vest-check. Race number on vest, chip timer secured to trainer-check. Then pack change of clothes bag-check. Make porridge and leave in fridge overnight-check.
Sunday morning, up with the alarm at 5.30, quick shower, running gear on and plenty of time still before being picked up at 6.30. Check bag again-baggage ticket securely attached. My chariot arrives and I leap out the door largely ignoring the nagging feeling that I’d forgotten something. Quick frisk to confirm I had my phone, watch and some money and off we go. … I was only off to run 26.2 miles and my fuel to help me do it was still in the fridge at home. So my first thank-yous were liberally handed out to those who provided me with breakfast-Guilaine for the fig rolls, Laura for the banana and especially Neil for the slice of bread pudding.

GS> Arriving to the event by coach was a luxury.  No time or energy spent walking and figuring which tube stations would be closed etc. meant I arrived feeling fresh and ready to run. The weather was kind and friends to talk to while waiting before the event started was a bonus.

LC> I knew it was going to be a good day when I got onto the train at West Ewell at 7:27, along with many other runners, everyone was chatting and in good humour, a real buzz and lots of excitement about the day ahead.

SA> There was a lovely community atmosphere from the very start and this for me, was so special. The event seems to inspire everyone with such positivity and friendliness! I met so many lovely people: on the way there, queuing for the loos in the cold at Greenwich, chatting in the masses queue way back in pen 9, holding hands with a lady at mile 22 when we both needed some moral support, being congratulated by strangers on the way home. 

ST> My plan for marathon day was to run at a comfortable pace, soak up the atmosphere and just go for a finish.

The Start…

SA> My start time was 10:27 and I spent the early miles with an assortment of rhinos and rather tunefully, karaoke man. 

ML> I settled into a pace and was feeling great. At 3miles, the start zones all converged and this is where it became tricky as I was following the 4:15 pacer in my zone but had to pass the 5h, then 4:45, then 4:30 from the other 2 zones.  It wasn't until Tower Bridge before I got my pace back. Having said that, I was having the time of my life with a stupid grin on my face at the sheer fun of being there. The Cutty Sark was amazing and running over Tower Bridge was a highlight. I couldn't believe the crowds!  Boy, when I was told that the crowd would lift me, they weren't wrong. I felt like a rockstar with everyone screaming my name!!

Ticking off the mileage…

JL> I have to say that although I’d heard lots of things about how amazing the crowd is those things didn’t do the crowd justice. When you need a boost you get one and even sometimes, when you don’t know you need it, people seem to realise and a word of encouragement gives you a lift, helps you to roll your shoulders back and keep going.  When I was not running near someone in a costume I did come to realise that when I acknowledged a “Come on John” with a smile, a thumbs up or a “thanks”, I would then get even more encouragement from the next group of spectators, as they seemed to enjoy the interaction. This was also the result after high fiving any of the many kids lining the route with arms outstretched waiting to be high fived! So it is possible to “work the crowd” and the crowd was spectacularly supportive along the entire length of the course.

ST> On the way round it was great to see all the bands and drummers and people cheering. I laughed at some of the funny signs, I liked this one. “you think you’re tired, try holding up this sign, my ###### arms are killing me.” It was a bit hot and sunny at times but when the clouds were overhead it was better. Some of the Lucozade sport drink stops were bottle carnage, you really had to be careful where you were running.

NF> The next ten miles were a mixture of running and walking and despairing at my lack of strength before gathering myself for a steady run to the finish. The realisation that my target had gone out the window a long time before meant that I had a chance to pick out some marshals as I passed through the BA zones. That was really nice. The crowd the whole way around were amazing, every year they get bigger. The number of trays of sweets and cakes being held out this year was unbelievable.

GS> The half marathon mark was the next target, again thinking to myself that I had a long way still to go.  I saw some Bedfont Lakes parkrun supporters at mile 11 which gave me a good boost and the Tower Bridge crossing was great, my head pointing upwards to take it all in.  The crowds were cheering on continuously which was brilliant at times.  The banners were interesting too, some funny messages, other a different kind of funny! The live music at different was so good and kept me upbeat.

LC> My highlights, were seeing my family at Bermondsey and then again at mile 24.  At this point I knew where they would be as I had stood on the same spot for years cheering on my brother. Mile 24 was special, as my Dad who had been left in a pub early in the morning, waited very patiently for a glimpse of me. So I was delighted that I was able to give my Dad a big hug, which completely made his day.

TM> My highlights included the uplifting noise from the crowds passing the Cutty Sark and again on Tower Bridge, seeing my family and friends several times en route, seeing our BA marshals at the different pedestrian crossings and the splendid view of Buckingham Palace and of course crossing the finish line and getting my medal.

IH> Can’t remember much after {Tower Bridge}, it was a question of trying to hold 8mm and keeping the 2 ½ minutes I’d banked in the tin for as long as I could. Then I lost concentration and the heat was playing up so I was managing down the pace I think to about 8:15/20 slowly giving back some of the minutes in the tin. By the time I saw you guys at Parliament square with 1k to go I think I had 5 min 30 to break 3:30 (tin was nearly empty).  I was falling apart so broke it into 200m stages and hung on to the 3:30 pacer who came past. Great to tell yourself when it gets hard in any race that you done this in training (like if you come across a hill, say you done a bigger hill in training).

The finish…

JL> Onto The Embankment and by this stage I was struggling a bit and lots of people were walking so there was a fair bit of weaving round walkers.  There are so many amazing landmarks which can be used positively to distract you from what your brain is trying to tell you about your legs wanting to hand in a transfer request. By Blackfriars I was focused only on reaching the BA crossing point just after Waterloo Bridge, no thought at that point of the finish. Small goals!

SA> The last mile is a killer - I have to say that Birdcage Walk goes on forever and must surely be a longer distance than we are told!! 

JL> I happily did meet Trish and two of her sisters. Another big thanks to Maureen who insisted I eat a bowl of seafood pasta. In truth, by the time she’d got halfway through the sentence “you need to eat something” there was very little left!

LC> I ran for the Willow Foundation and I cannot praise them highly enough for their support.  The Willow foundation provides, emotional/psychological  support, special memories and special days for young people with terminal illness or cancer.  It was set up by Bob Wilson (Arsenal Goal keeper) as a lasting legacy to his daughter who died at the age of 30 from cancer.
So, when I crossed the line and was feeling a bit disorientated but knew I had to get to the recovery centre (Stratford Hotel ******). So, imagine my delight when I saw a few people at the end of the mall in purple shirts ready to great me (volunteers from Willow) the lovely NIck carried my bags and walked me to the hotel. On the corner of the hotel was Bob Wilson and his wife ready to give me a big hug and thank me for running for Willow.

And afterwards…

ML> Finally, a great moment at the end of the day, when I walked into a restaurant for a restorative beverage, a number of tables broke into applause at the sight of my medal. Rockstar status solidified!

JL> My day had been pretty close to perfect so I didn’t think it could get any better. However, when I went to kiss each of my teenage daughters goodnight that evening they both, independent of the other, gave me a hug and said “goodnight Dad, I’m really proud of you”.

LC> It has been a lifelong dream to run the London Marathon and I was not disappointed. I had a few muscle aches on Monday but Tuesday back to work, cycled in and generally all back to normal now. In fact doing the Milton Keynes Half Marathon on Monday {stop press - Lesley finished the MK Half in an impressive 1:58:01}.

The 7th of April 2017 came round very quickly and I was on the plane to Ouarzazate a city south of Morocco’s High Atlas Mountains, known as a gateway to the Sahara Desert. From there we had a four and half hour coach journey into the desert to the first bivouac from where the race would start 36 hours later.

The size of the MdS means that a huge amount of effort and logistical planning is required to make it happen. With around 1200 runners and 700 volunteers and paid staff over 300 tents are needed to house everyone and provide covered space for a medical centre, communications and a canteen/kitchen to feed the staff and volunteers. At the end of each race stage the whole camp has to be taken down loaded into trucks and then unloaded and erected at the next bivouac ready for the arrival of the first runners early the same afternoon.

For the full 7 days of the event you need to carry all your food, sleeping bag, sleeping mat, stove etc and mandatory safety equipment such as signalling mirror, compass and an anti-venom pump!

Stage One (30.3k) - Despite the ease of the terrain {relative to later stages} I had a very bad day and in the final few kilometres of the stage I became rather ill with dehydration and/or heat stroke...but shortly after I crested a sand dune and could see the horseshoe shape of the next camp about 2 km across a flat desert plain – I suddenly felt a whole lot better!

Stage Two (39k) - On the first day I was taking a salt tablet every hour and I now upped this to one every half hour and then two every half hour after 2pm. I also made a conscious effort to drink a bit more – sometimes difficult when the water is so warm! And finally to avoid some of the hottest weather of the day I would rest in the shade of a tent, for half an hour or so, when reaching the first checkpoint after midday. This seemed to work and I had no further issues with the heat over the following days - even when the temperature often peaked in the high 40 degrees Celsius out in the desert when there was little wind!

Stage Three (32km) – what it lacked in distance was made up by a very varied and difficult terrain. On leaving the bivouac we had some small sand dunes to negotiate before crossing a flat plain that seemed to be a dried up lake. We then arrived at a range of rocky mountains (jebels) that we had to climb and then run along the very rocky ridge for a kilometre or so before dropping down, via a steep stretch of sand and rocks using a fixed rope, into a valley to arrive at the first { ! } checkpoint of the day.

Stage Four (86k) - the long double marathon stage, and the one that most people, including myself, dread.  There was a very generous 35 hour cut-off time for the stage so, providing I did not have an accident or succumb to the heat, I was fairly confident I would finish it and actually get some rest on the official rest day! The main worry for me was how many big blisters would I get!

There were 7 checkpoints spread over the route – one every 11 or 12km. We started at 8:15am and I stopped at the second checkpoint at about 12:30am for about 30 minutes to get some shade and eat my lunchtime snacks. I also approached the medical team as my shoulders, which had started aching on day 1 from the weight of my backpack, were killing me! They gave me a couple of paracetamol based tablets with strict instructions not to take the second until six hours after the first. They must have been strong because they actually worked quite well and soon I was able to progress at a brisk walk and even a slow jog without flinching. I carried on to checkpoint 4 where I stopped to cook and eat an evening meal of chicken korma and rice. This somehow took me an hour and twenty minutes – still I was not worried - all I wanted to do here was get to the end and receive an MdS finishers medal! Before leaving the checkpoint I also took a couple of Pro-Plus caffeine tablets (never done this before) to try and ensure I did not fall asleep on my feet during the long night ahead.

The course during the day was much easier than the previous day and during the night the route was also quite easy – quite flat and not too rocky. The worst of it was small dunes and then some quite soft sandy flat ground to cross. After 7pm we all had to have our head torches on and hang a yellow glow-stick on our backpacks or risk time penalties.

Eventually I could see the lights of the finish area and sprinted the last 100 metres to overtake a couple more people and crossed the line at 4:50am. I quickly found my tent and got into my sleeping bag to try and sleep. After less than an hour the sun began to rise.

Stage 5 (42k) - After a full day and night of rest it was the last day of racing with an exact 42.2km marathon distance stage. As with the long stage 4 this route was also quite easy with several flat firm plains to be crossed and just small sand dunes or low rocky hills in between. I made quite good progress and thought that I might climb up the rankings a bit – the trouble was that everyone else also found it easier as well so I hardly moved at all! Later that afternoon it was great to see Duncan Slater the double amputee complete the MdS after failing last year and having the determination and drive to have another go!

Stage Six - The final stage on Saturday morning did not count towards the overall finish positions but had to be done or you would be disqualified from the final rankings. It was only about 8km and all across some sandy dunes which were almost orange in colour. Hardly anyone ran – the idea was that we should all complete it roughly together.

After finishing the stage we boarded coaches and were transported back to Ouarzazate. We than had two nights in a 5 star hotel, the Berbere Palace with buffet breakfasts and evening meals where we could eat as much as we wanted to try and regain all the weight we had lost in the course of running across the Sahara. Possibly the best part of the hotel experience was having a shower and a shave for the first time in over 8 days!

And finally a note about my 18th London Marathon (and 130th marathon/ultra): It turns out that finishing a steady Marathon Des Sables the week before the London Marathon is the ideal taper! I finished Sunday’s London Marathon in 3:23:18 - my best time in over 3 years and my 8th fastest of all time. And most of the faster ones were done 20 years ago. Had a really good run - enjoyed running on tarmac again without a backpack!

Piers Keenleyside

Ormeau parkrun in Belfast this morning. It had escaped my notice that BFS parkruns start at 0930 and we duly pitched up at 0850 to find the start area deserted. Luckily a group of local runners who had just finished their session but who were not staying for the parkrun explained the non-standard timing, without which we would probably have run back to the city centre (an easy 20 mins) somewhat bemused. Benita pleased to dip under 30 mins on a far from flat course.

John Scaife

I had to be in Guildford on Saturday so I did the parkrun there as a tourist....I thought I may see Alistair H there as I believe he is often volunteering but seems he was having a week off ! Anyway, very friendly team and runners there, even if the two lap course was rather hilly for me ! I walked from the car park with a guy (probably about 30) who was doing his first ever parkrun, having only started running during the week before ....2k on the Monday, 3k on the Wednesday, and 4k on the Thursday - gave him a quick summary of what parkrun was all about but he then had the cheek to beat me by 2mins ! Afterwards he said he thoroughly enjoyed it and addicted already .....very infectious, this parkrun thing !

Joe Nolan

A busy week returning to a little more serious racing  for Paul Watt/Julie Barclay checking injury/niggles are on the mend and disappeared for good.

On Wed. 26th April visiting relations in Hampshire both entered the Lakeside 5k in Portsmouth, a monthly series of 5 thro’ the summer.  A nice flat course although it happened to be raining and Julie's regular windy conditions.  Both pleased with their times and more pleased all systems went well.

Paul was 5th over50 in 21:34 2nd fastest this year, and Julie was 3rd over50 in 22:00 her fastest since the WARR runway 5k (Chicago).

Sat. 29th both returned to their local Rushmoor parkrun that was celebrating it’s 3rd year with cakes and sausage rolls (AFTER the run). Paul was slightly up from Wednesday, running 21:16 in 28th place and Julie was 53rd slightly down in 22.17 (Julie said it was windier).

Sun. 30th  They popped along to Frimley for the Hospital 10k.  I went along as cheer leader.  The action started at 9.30 with 400 to 500 children from about 3 years old to 15ish.  They ran 2k, the enjoyment they had was nothing to compare with the enjoyment grans, granddads, mums and dads had.  A brilliant hour and 4 BA members were there to make sure the kids got their little prizes as they finished - namely Graham, Mark, John Taylor and Marian.  They were there at 8.00am till 12.00 well done.

Paul had another very good run to finish in 44:50  and Julie in 45:59 (and we don’t count any seconds) both pleased with their hard week of trying to give their niggles a good test. [These time are not official].

Julie was just beaten by Runneymede Runner Sally Stubbs for the Vets prize.  So the return run is this coming Wednesday when they both meet again at the Speedbirds 5k.

Tom Rowley

Ed: Tom will be helping set the course on Wednesday.  I don't for one moment imagine that he'll set it so that it favours Julie over Sally.  But I will run round the course beforehand just in case!