I once ran the London Marathon

I agree with all the advice on here already, but I just thought I would share my experience at the start of the race.

At the start, there were posts with various times on them, and the instructions were to line up by the post reflecting the time you expected to finish in.
From my training, I reckoned I would finish in around 4 hours, so I dutifully lined up alongside the 4 hour post.
This turned out to be a big mistake, as I found myself at the very back of the field, the only people lined up behind me were 6 Vikings carrying a longboat!
So I had 25,000 people in front of me when the starting gun went off, and it was 10 minutes before I even got to the start line. I could only walk for the first mile or so, and then a jog/shuffle for the next mile. I was frustrated, so once some space opened up around me I compounded the mistake by trying to make up for lost time. Another big mistake. After 15 miles I could hardly put one foot in front of the other. I finished in a disappointing four and a half hours. Even the Vikings passed me.
My advice, then, is ignore the timed posts and start as near to the front as you can get.

Posted By: Fenwood Lad on January 25th 2024 at 23:18:08

Message Thread

Running wrathers please! (NCFC) - Curnster, Jan 25, 20:26:29
- I once ran the London Marathon (NCFC) - Fenwood Lad, Jan 25, 23:18:08
- 3-4 months training following a decent programme and you will be fine (NCFC) - Jim, Jan 25, 21:47:40
  - Oh and work out your comfortable pace a stick to it (NCFC) - Jim, Jan 25, 21:50:34
- I’ve run double marathons without preparation and with a broken ankle (NCFC) - Jumbo1, Jan 25, 21:20:31
- I'm doing London this year too (NCFC) - 51eve, Jan 25, 20:50:57
  - .... (NCFC) - 51eve, Jan 25, 20:53:02
    - Mis-read your post, thought you said London 2024 (NCFC) - 51eve, Jan 25, 21:22:27
- Well done you’ve got loads of time … (NCFC) - loz, Jan 25, 20:39:50
  - My Garry has a lovely gait that I analysed (n/m) (NCFC) - Jumbo1, Jan 25, 21:29:01
- I've run some marathons back in the day (NCFC) - Old Man, Jan 25, 20:37:05
  - 👍 (n/m) (NCFC) - Jumbo1, Jan 26, 09:08:02
  - top post (NCFC) - Tombs, Jan 25, 21:07:03
  - This is great advice. (n/m) (NCFC) - 51eve, Jan 25, 20:54:48
  - Oh for long runs (NCFC) - Old Man, Jan 25, 20:40:12
    - Finally (NCFC) - Old Man, Jan 25, 20:42:08
      - Vaseline between toes is a must as well … (NCFC) - loz, Jan 25, 20:45:13

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