London Marathon : 22nd April 2012

On my sixth attempt at trying I've finally made it into the London marathon. Yippee. It's not as if it's Boston where you have to qualify by running the famous BQ (Boston Qualifier) time for your age group at one of many approved marathon courses. But if you're not a charity runner or a club runner it's tough to get a London slot.  Lewis Birchon wrote (here) that there are only approx 12,000 ballot places available - with other places offered to regular club runners via affiliated athletic organizations and most of the rest available as charity spots. The marathon does offer a "good for age" entry system which is more accessible for "top end" amateurs.  In 2009 over 155,000 people applied and 49,995 were accepted - with approx 37,000 actually making it to the start line. The London Marathon is the largest city marathon in the world and this race will become my major training focus for the next six months. Completely randomly I hope to complete my winter / spring training in parallel with Podcast Diva Kelownagurl 8 hours distant in British Columbia. She is attempting her 1st marathon in Vancouver just a few days after London. Follow her progress here. I guarantee you will be inspired by her progress.

Starts Near Greenwich - Ends at the Mall by Buckingham Palace.

The London marathon will take place on 22 April 2012 in London's Olympic year. How special is that ? The finish, running up the Mall, will be the same for both the London marathon route and the Olympics in August.  I guess my 5 previous attempts to secure a place are because this race is simply iconic. It's absolutely our national marathon where for a few hours the streets of London are handed back to the people.
The race gets great prominence on BBC television, radio and national press coverage and is televised live in over 150 countries. In fact it has become a Sunday morning ritual each April for those (like me) who didn't secure a place to sit sadly wearing their "sorry you didn't make it" commiseration running shirt glued to the BBC coverage. The pro field are worldclass and Paula, Mara or Liz create the genuine possibility of a British winner. The amateur field TV coverage is far from NBC Ironman saccharin - it's much more understated. Most are fundraising in memory of an ill or sadly missed relative or friend. A small photo pinned to a singlet or a simple "running for Mum" logo. No less impressive or poignant. You just know that every charity runner has a story - and each "couch to marathon" journey certainly took deep inspiration.  

 London is also a very flat course which lends itself towards competitive and sometimes unpredictable times. The (rightful) world record holder Paula Radcliffe completed her history-making time here in 2003. This marathon engages most of the UK population - even those who have no interest in running and certainly no interest in multisport. London is one of the five World Marathon Majors which includes Berlin, Boston, Chicago and New York City.

These annual races together with the IAAF world championships and the Olympic games constitute a championship style competition that defines the leading marathon runners on the planet. As of writing Patrick Makau of Kenya and Lillya Shobukova of Russia top their respective leaderboards. If it stays that way after New York Patrik and Lillya will share a $1M prize purse.  (For the record the leading British female is Paula Radcliffe at 18th and Scott Overall the best placed British male in 29th place. Kenyans hold 8 of the top 10 male positions and represent 5 of the top 10 females  !)

London Marathon - It's flat !

What I thought made the London marathon so special is that it becomes a hugely impressive focal point for charity fundraising. In true UK style this means people dress up in crazy, large, hot and unfeasable costumes. Not just Elvis - but as tigers, bears, batman ; there's a now-famous rhino and a 12ft tall nurse - you name it. It makes for great spectacle and it draws the crowds. Since 1981 event has raised over £450 million for charity and the event holds the Guinness world record as the largest annual fundraising event in the world.

Well over £50 million was raised during 2011. In the UK it is almost guaranteed that someone in your family will be sponsoring someone in the London marathon. It also draws celebrities who are also often fundraising. We'll list some of these during this blogpost (thanks to RickRuns.Com).

What I didn't know makes the London marathon even more special. For example the idea of it was conceived over a pint in a pub ! John Disley and Chris Brasher were "top end" club runners who were inspired to train for and run the New York marathon in 1978 (Chris actually paced Roger Bannister for the first 800m of his breakthrough mile). Fellow club members had mentioned the atmosphere and crowd support - which was quite unlike the UK marathon scene of the late 1970's. The pair sucessfully finished the race but were inspired with a vision of a ‘city mass marathon’ for London. The capital had it all - world famous landmarks, a potentially fast course and a huge population from which to draw support. Brasher wrote an article for The Observer where he makes plain his motivation : ‘The World’s Most Human Race’. He wrote of New York ...

“To believe this story you must believe that the human race can be one joyous family, working together, laughing together, achieving the impossible. Last Sunday, 11,532 men and women from 40 countries in the world, assisted by over a million people, laughed, cheered and suffered during the greatest folk festival the world has seen.”

Brasher and Disley had the vision and set out their goals as follows :

• To improve the overall standard and status of British marathon running by providing a fast course and strong international competition.
• To show mankind that, on occasions, they can be united.
• To raise money for sporting and recreational facilities in London.
• To help boost London’s tourism.
• To prove that ‘Britain is best’ when it comes to organising major events.
• To have fun, and provide some happiness and sense of achievement in a troubled world.

The importance of the London marathon is probably hinted at by the average finishing times in the race. I wonder if you can guess what I'm going to say ? Check this out : here. As the numbers of finishers have grown from maybe 7,000 in 1981 to 35,000+ in 2011 the average time taken to finish the marathon has actually increased ! You'll see in the chart below that the number of 2h:30m runners has fallen by more than 60% over the 24 years. The average time has increased as people like me have been inspired to try and not felt excluded or alienated from the distance. That's the legacy of Brasher and Disley. Accessibly and inspiration. Quite astonishingly by 2009 over 750,000 people have now completed the London Marathon. Many of these folk would never have dreamed they were capable of such an achievement.
So yes, London boasts an elite race capabe of setting world records but it also provides a life-changing opportunity for almost anyone with a basic standard of physical health and the mental determination to see it through. Almost certainly YOU can do it too. The tone of that BBC article is "a good runner but not great" - well I know what they mean. In this blog you've seen my own relative placings from a low-key half marathon with 300 people (Balloch) who were largely dedicated club runners compared with the 11,000 of the Great Scottish Run (Glasgow) - where my position was relatively much higher with a worse time. But that's not the point - look at that last goal Brasher and Disley set for their race. What a superb aspiration. The London marathon is a celebration of what extra-ordinary achievements can be made by apparently ordinary people. If the guy in the ostrich suit can do it ... No seriously - here's a BBC quote from the 2010 London Marathon ...

"Financial analyst Ben Afforselles from Kent was fastest Leprechaun while Kevin Robins from Sevenoaks became the quickest runner dressed as an animal, in a tiger outfit. He said he was racing against a lobster who was also going for the record. "Coming up the Mall I thought he was going to run past me," the 33 year old said"

In fact 10 Guinness World Records were set in 2010 - including (I know this is the internet but this is also true) Sally Orange who was the fastest runner dressed as a fruit (4:32:28). Lloyd Scott competed in the 2002 London marathon wearing a 110 lb deep-sea diving suit. It took him five days and eight hours to complete the course, breaking the world record for the slowest marathon time. Hey Brasher and Disley got their market absolutely right - and Nailed It !

It's time you paused and thought what's stopping me from doing this ? Well maybe not exactly the London marathon - or maybe not yet - but a 5k in the spring is perfectly possible. Stever Runner tells you why in this podcast : it's really worth a listen. It will change your life if you let it.

Lets rattle through some London marathon facts before we look at who's done what.

• It's likely that 1 in 6 runners will contact St John's Ambulance crews during the race
• Only 1 in 10,000 are likely to need an A&E referral
• 60%+ of the runners will be male
• The most represented age group for both sexes is 30-39
• Males aged 40-49 are almost 30% of the overall male field
• Only 3% of runners will finish under 3H
• 30% of runners will finish under 4H 
• Estimated number of spectators: 1 million
• Largest field: 35,694 finishers in 2007
• Number of people that applied to run in 2010: 162,000
• Oldest runner: Jerzy Kolodziej 86
• Most common occupation of runners: Teacher/Education
• Number of portable toilets: 1,250
• Number of volunteers: 6000
• Number of ambulances: 50
• Bottles of baby oil: 200
• Amount of vaseline available: 100lbs
• Number of foil blankets: 40,000
• Bottles of water: 750,000
• Pubs on the course: 81
• Rubbish bags filled after race: 3,450
• Fastest time in a Santa outfit: 2:55:50
• Fastest time in an animal costume: 3:42:27 [ostrich]  
• Fastest time dressed as a vegetable: 3:34:55 [carrot]  
• Fastest time dressed as a fruit: 4:32:28 [orange] Hey, we know that - Sally Orange !
• Most linked runners to complete a marathon: 29
• Most money raised by one individual: £1,841,138

If these guys can (and George W actually did - although not in London) then you can too ....

• Matthew Paris, former politician and journalist, London Marathon, 2:32
• Ronan Keating, Boyzone, London Marathon, 4:20
• Cheryl Baker, Bicks Fizz, London Marathon, 5:19:46
• Nell McAndrew, Model, London Marathon, 3:08:25
• Iwan Thomas, 400m Champion, London Marathon, 4:24:52
• William Baldwin, Actor, New York City Marathon, 3:24:29
• Will Young, Singer, London Marathon, 4:02:35
• Muzzy Izzit, footballer, London Marathon, 3.22:36
• Henry Holland, Fashion Designer, London Marathon, 3:28:50
• Dwight Yorke, Footballer, London Marathon, 3:31:56
• Gordon Ramsay, Celeb Chief, London Marathon, 4:05
• Anthony Edwards, Actor (ER - bald Dr), Chicago Marathon 3:55:40 New york 4:08:20
• Princess Beatrice, as part of a "human caterpillar", London Marathon, 5:15:57
• Will Ferrell, Actor, Boston Marathon, 3:56:12
• Michel Roux, Cleb Chef, London Marathon, 3:59:39
• Chris Newton, Olympic cyclist, London Marathon, 2:58:52
• Oprah Winfrey, Marine Corps Marathon 4:29:20

Oprah (on the left)

• P. Diddy, New York City Marathon, 4:14:54
• Richard Branson, London Marathon, 5:02:24
• Amanda Holden, TV type person, 4:18:22
• Lance Armstrong, Rode a bike apparently, New York City Marathon, 2:46:42
• David Lee Roth, Van Halen, New York City Marathon 6:04:43
• Björn Ulvaeus, ABBA, Stockholm Marathon. 3:23:54
• George W. Bush, 43rd President of the United States, Houston Marathon 3:44:52
• Michael Dukakis, Former Governor of Massachusetts, Boston MarathonI 3:31:00
• Al Gore, Vice President of the United States at the time, Marine Corps Marathon 4:58:25
• Sarah Palin, Former Alaska Governer, Anchorage Marathon 3:59:36
• Alanis Morissette,Singer, New York City Marathon 4:28:45
• Eddie Izzard, comedian,ran 43 marathons in 51 days best was 5:00:30
• Dexter Holland, The Offspring, Los Angeles Marathon 5:09
• Mike Malinin, Goo Goo Dolls, Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon 5:07:53 Chronicle Marathon 3:23:56
• Chris Boardman, former professional cyclist, London Marathon 3:19:27
• James Cracknell, Former British Olympic rower, London Marathon 2:59
• Alastair Campbell, Communications Director to Tony Blair, London Marathon 3:53:45
• Joe Strummer, The Clash, London Marathon, 3:20

So having taken October off completely I'm rediscovering my legs one workout at a time. The goal is for 4 runs this week at very low intensity (did I ever do anything else ?). Then building up to 6 days by the end of November. All nice and easy. Getting the chondroitin, Glucosamine and Elderberry in each day and starting on that core work (yeah right !) . The first benchmark will come in the New Year with a 10k. Join the journey, stay tuned to the blog .....if you dare. Twitter updates between posts: @daretotrilife

Ok, you're right - this wasn't a good idea ...

Tilly : not keen on hill repeats - me either !