On a beautiful but chilly morning many Harriers went to London for a lovely day out. Some marshalled, some ran. Getting the train was very easy and afforded an extra hour in bed over the coach, and there were 5 of us running catching the 7.10 to London, so I had time to give Dillon lots of excellent advice. Lucky him.
Geoff and I met Amelie at London Bridge to travel to the Tuesday interval start aka the Green gfa start wave 2. We were a bit disappointed that Maze Hill lived up to its name, but after a few loo queues and a rest on the grass we were ready to go. Geoff had decided he was aiming for 3.20 pace so I thought I’d keep up as long as I could, having had patchy training earlier in the season thanks to an achy bum cheek.
Once we’d warmed up (mile 2 approx) we settled in to a decent pace and having missed all the Harrier marshals on the blue start we started looking out for the supporters who we knew would be out and about . There were some random people we saw but also some to look out for -the first of these being the softly spoken Sam B, who gave us a cheer at 5. Before then we had been overtaken by a bone and a mountain.
I usually struggle keeping concentration after the elation of Tower Bridge (still so bloody far to go but already tired) but found it really helpful running with Geoff to keep my pace up. More Harriers and friends lined the route cheering us on and appearing just when we needed them. Once I get to 20 miles I start working out whether I can walk and still get to the end in an ok time.
The course was very busy both on and off and every so often I’d get my heels clipped, the warning that a zombiefied pace group would soon be trampling over us, but there was enough space to run at our chosen pace.
Some fabulous photos were taken and some super cheering was to be heard. As I wear Ali on me I ask friends to shout Farrall but I was also listening out for Geoffs . We also had lots of Harriers shouts. Thanks to you all.
The big group of Harriers helped us through the tough bits of 24 miles and then we were nearly there, with Gem shouting loudest on Birdcage Walk.
Special thanks to all of you that cheered and sent confidence building messages of support beforehand. It makes such a difference.
By the end we were pretty knackered and Geoff, Amelie and I staggered to the pub, having our photo taken by Adrian on the way.
It was lovely to catch up with those who had been marshalling and supporting us and still be standing after half a lager.
Some fabulous performances with lots of championship qualifications- Dillon, Alex J (pb) and Amelie (pb) and gfa John, Grant, Geoff and me, as well as other super performances- Dave W with a fabulous sub 3 and David F having a great run after various disruptions to his training.
I felt all those long lovely training runs, parkruns, the Wednesday walks and chatty runs, the Thursday bum strengthening classes, and even perhaps the Tuesday intervals with friends had paid off.
Good luck to those racing this weekend,
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Dillon Hobbs
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18-39
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02:31:10
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Alex Jeffreys
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18-39
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02:35:27
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John Law
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45-49
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02:52:55
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Dave Weston
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18-39
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02:58:45
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Ian Mulheirn
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40-44
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03:05:43
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Grant Aitkin
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55-59
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03:09:23
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Amelie Karlsson
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18-39
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03:13:35
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Gavin Cranley
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45-49
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03:13:51
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Alex Holmes
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45-49
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03:14:35
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Ali Farrall
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50-54
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03:20:50
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Geoff Turner
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60-64
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03:20:53
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Sonja King
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40-44
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03:53:53
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Rob Hill
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55-59
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04:09:34
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David French
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60-64
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04:25:12
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Paul Gardner
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55-59
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04:25:42
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Daniel Goddard
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40-44
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04:27:35
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