Hardly a heavyweight 81kg when 10kg over racing weight. Here is his write up;
The morning after the day before... and what for me was my greatest ever running performance when the brutal conditions of of the 2018 London Marathon were taken into account.
3 years ago I was fortunate enough to win the vet 50 race at the 2015 London Marathon.
That day I ran 2hrs 31mins 56secs.
In November, 6 months ago I suffered a horrible injury when I cracked my left knee cap. I thought my running career was over.
On January 1st 2018, I was able to jog just 1m at around about 10 minute mile pace. By the end of that 1st week I was running 2 x 3miles per day at approximately 8 min pace.
I was 10 kg over weight by now and up to 81kg. Never the less, I gave myself the green light to begin an attempt of a build up for the 2018 London Marathon.
I hit a simple diet of cutting out absolutely anything and everything that would not aid my athletic performance.
I was introduced to Andy Hobdell (GB marathon coach), and simply by spending a couple of hours with him I was inspired and thought I could actually get back into shape.
My mileage and pace increased over the weeks. The more I trained and dieted, the more my desire to succeed increased.
The weight started to drop and my pace and mileage increased.
I managed a decent 10 week base and then started to introduce specific marathon paced sessions in mid March.
My final long run was 20 days before the race and was 25 miles at 6.25 pace.
3 days later a major session for me was 8 x 2miles (60 secs) around my local track in Warrington.
I averaged 5.40 pace for the session.
I was beginning to get excited.
9 days out was time for my final hard session. 15 miles at race pace, I ran the workout at 5.43 pace and felt strong.
As race day approached my training was drastically cut and just like everybody else in a marathon build up I began to feel lethargic and unfit.
I jumped onto the scales, I was 71kg. I had lost 10kg through sheer hard work and diet.
It assured me that I would be in my best possible condition on race day.
As we all know by now, the conditions yesterday were brutal.
I felt awful from 4miles to 12miles, I was waiting for a bad patch to come, but I didn’t expect it so early in the race, however as i turned onto Tower Bridge I suddenly felt better. Half way was reached in 76.30. I was tired and hot, but my focus was becoming intense. Through 16miles, just 10 miles to go I started to work through the field, I was on a knife edge, but at no point ever did I think about backing off or throwing the towel in. I tried to increase my effort, my legs responded and I dug deeper than ever before.
I crossed the line overwhelmed with exhaustion but my desire to succeed drove me to the finish line yesterday.
My position was 84th overall, but more importantly I had completed what I had set out to do, and what I had dreamed about for the past few months.
I was 1st vet 50 in the 2018 London Marathon.
My time of 2hrs 36mins 35secs is nothing special, but when the conditions are taken into account I believe it to be my best ever athletic performance. ???
I am nothing special, just a normal 53 yr old man from Warrington in the North West of England.
However, I am proof that if you want to succeed then really it is all down to you and how much you want it.
Remember guys, 12 months and next years race will soon be here and it could be you writing this post then.
Believe in yourself, surround yourself with positive people and get it done.
GG