This Amy Runs London

What an experience!

Way back when I entered the London Marathon ballot in 2019, I didn’t think I had a chance of getting in. I couldn’t believe it when my “You’re In” magazine dropped through the letterbox! It all became pretty real about then!

Due to COVID-19, obviously the race was postponed and reduced to a virtual only event. Personally, I wanted my first marathon to be ‘in person’ so I decided to wait to run on 3rd October 2021 – and I’m so glad I did!

Me and my fiancé, Tom, booked a hotel in London for the Saturday night and planned to go down early on Saturday morning so I could collect my race number and have a look around the Expo. But on the Friday morning, I was starting to panic that we’d get stuck in traffic and wouldn’t be able to collect my race number! So, we decided pretty last minute to extend our stay and travel down to London on the Friday night.

We arrived about 11pm, checked in and headed straight to bed. In the morning, we went out for a shakeout run for 20 minutes, came back to shower, and have breakfast, then headed to the Expo. I couldn’t decide if I was nervous or excited at this point! After we’d picked up my race number, we headed out to see some London sights. FYI – doing 30,000 steps the day before a marathon isn’t the smartest idea, but we had a great time anyway!

Later that afternoon, my mum, dad and sister arrived, as did Tom’s mum and dad, so we all headed out for a meal. I did what everyone says to do and had carbs. Lots and lots of carbs! We then planned where on the route they would all be and off to bed I went.

And then marathon day was here! I barely slept on Saturday night, I was too nervous about sleeping through my alarm – which I’ve never done, so why would this be any different? I got up, had a shower to wake me up, ate some oats and then got ready. We thought it would be a good idea for Tom to come with me to the start area… I would probably still be looking for it now if I was on my own!

I entered the start area and immediately got into one of the toilet queues – I’d been drinking a lot of water all morning! I ate some sweets and then got ready to join my start wave. I was in the red start wave 3 so I wasn’t waiting too long. It surprised me as we started as I felt the red start wasn’t too obvious. A few of us turned to each other as we crossed it and said “is that the start?” But the rest of the course did not disappoint.

I started off at a steady pace but as the first few mile markers started to tick by, I noticed I was running further as I was hitting all of the markers well before I got to them. So then I realised the pacing on my watch was out as well. I tried to forget about it and just carry on at the pace I was going.

We’d planned where I would see my family the night before, so I knew I would be seeing Tom for the first time around Cutty Sark (6-7 miles in). For me, running through this area was the most emotional. I had a lump in my throat and was struggling to hold back tears. The roads were narrower so it felt like the crowd were on the course with you, and there were so many there! It was amazing! Somehow, I managed to hear Tom shout my name which gave me a huge boost.

The next point where I saw my family was around 11 miles. I actually spotted them before they spotted me! And again, it boosted me so much. I could see how proud they all were. I knew from here, it would be a while until I saw any of them again as they said they’d next be at 22 miles. I headed for Tower Bridge where the atmosphere was so fantastic!

I got to halfway on target pace, but it was from here where I started to slow a little. I started to get cramp in my calves at 16 miles, which I’ve never experienced before on any of my training runs. I’m not sure why I struggled here but when I got to 17 miles, I heard Tom’s voice again and managed to speed back up a bit. By 19 miles, I definitely had a second wind and was starting to feel good even though the sun had come out and it was getting fairly warm.

I was looking out for my family at 22 miles and saw their waving arms and big smiley faces. I can’t tell you how much of a boost it is to see familiar faces when it’s starting to get tough! The crowds are fantastic all of the way round, but seeing someone you know is extra special. I didn’t see Tom stood at mile 23 cheering me on – he said I was running on the opposite side of the road and just couldn’t hear him cheering.

By now, the mile markers and my watch were starting to bother me mentally! I went through mile 24 but on my watch, it said 25. So I knew I should be nearly there but it seemed so far. I was hoping for around 3:30 on the day, and actually went through the marathon distance at 3:32 on my watch, but still had nearly a mile to go!

I can’t tell you how happy I was to see Buckingham Palace and know that I was so close to the finish line. I started to speed up but the cramp hadn’t actually gone away so my legs started to give way slightly! As I turned the corner and saw the finish, the feeling of relief just hit me. I’d done it, I’d completed the London Marathon! I’ve watched it so many times on TV and couldn’t believe I’d actually completed it myself and in 3:38:41.

If you’re even debating entering the ballot or entering on a charity place – absolutely do it! You won’t regret it. The atmosphere is just incredible!