Hi everybody, my name is David Waite and this year I ran the London marathon whilst raising money for two charities that are very close to my heart- Children with Cancer and Heartbeat of Sport.
This year was my third year in a row that I have done the London marathon for charity and I also run other events during the season, none of them appealing to me as much as London. It’s the big one and the most well known and with the amount of runners that take part, it is always a fun event.
Having competed in the London Marathon for the past 2 years I had a plan of how I wanted to run this year’s marathon. My aim was to run 6 minutes 57 second miles over the course to achieve a time that was sub three hours. Some people try and plan their runs at different paces during different periods, but I was pretty set on completing the race at one pace.
I knew this was going to be a big task but having completed a 4 months training schedule I felt that I had a great chance to beat my previous years’ time of 3 hours 3 minutes. I was running perfectly paced miles for most of my training schedule and had an idea in my head when the biggest pain barrier was probably going to kick in.
On the morning of the event the sun was shining and running conditions, although relatively hot were perfect as there was minimal wind. Thousands were taking part and the mood amongst the runners was quite relaxed as the usual calm before the storm was taking place.
9.30 am
I arrived at the Elite pen, trying not to notice the fact that I was stood with some of the stars of the show such as Mo Farah and Wilson Kipsang, who would go on to win the race later that day. I was trying to keep focused as I also couldn’t forget the massive task I had ahead of me.
9.50 am
The nerves were really starting to settle in now. I was extremely focused on the three hour mark. After deciding that this was probably going to be my last marathon run, I really wanted to bag the perfect finishing time. I was twenty six miles from finding out if I would or not.
10.00 am
The race was off and after the usual bottlenecking of runners crossing the start line, it didn’t take long for a bit of space to be created. As soon as the initial hustle and bustle had settled down, I had to try and get very quickly into race pace and compose myself early. I always find that if you don’t settle down mentally in the very early stages, you can come apart very easily later on in the race when it really gets tough.
Half Marathon point- 01:28:59
The first thirteen miles seemed to go quite quickly and comfortably. At this point I was comfortably in my running pattern and feeling good. I was ahead of schedule with a time of 1 hour 28 minutes and when you see that, you can’t help but start to think of beating your target time. But I had to try and forget that for the time being as I knew the big barriers would soon be hitting me.
21 miles- 02:15:00 approx
HIT THE WALL! Just as I was entering the final stages of the race, that awful feeling of ultimate pain came rushing over me. And when it hits you, it’s not just a hamstring that cramps or your feet getting sore, it is everything at once. Your uncontrollably thirsty, everything from your lower back down feels like it is on fire and might just stop moving at any minute.
And on top of all the physical pain, there are the mental barriers that are racing through your mind. Your exhausted and disorientated, all you can think of doing is stopping and maybe having a little walk but in the long run that’s a lot harder. Once you stop moving, you instantly seize and I knew if I allowed that to happen, then I could kiss my target time goodbye. So it was fighting through the barrier that was my only option.
26.2 miles- FINISH 03:05:33
I was unbelievably happy to get myself across the finish line and the whole thing to be over with. Although I was bitterly disappointed not to achieve sub 3 hours, the emotions that ran through my mind when I crossed that line were amazing.
I was greeted by my girlfriend and my family who had come down with me for support which made this all worthwhile. There is nothing like finishing a gruelling few hours of hard work to see the people you love waiting for you with big smiles on their faces.
So I didn’t manage to achieve my dream marathon time and for the time being that’s how it will stay as I am not planning on taking part next year or in the near future. But I did manage to raise just short of a thousand pounds so far, which will be split between the two charities that I was running for, so I am extremely happy with that result.
I would just like to take the time to thank everybody at Heartbeat of Sport for their continued support over my marathon and I hope that the money I have raised will help the charity to continue in its successes
Runner details
Participant
Name Waite, David (GBR)
Club
Category 18-39
Runner no 32923
Finish details
Place (overall) 1843
Finish time 03:05:33
Splits
Split Time
5K 00:21:00
10K 00:42:05
15K 01:03:15
20K 01:24:27
HALF 01:28:59
25K 01:45:26
30K 02:07:10
35K 02:29:50
40K 02:54:38
Finish time 03:05:33
