Tuesday 22 April 2014

VLM 2014 moany blog!

And yes i have entered again for 2015 but having been promising myself that I would do it again even if on a Golden Bond place think I will probably go for Manchester instead if unsuccessful. So the race? I honestly can't think of any moment in the race I thought I'm enjoying this except maybe passing Mo and then Laura, Meggy and Boo at around halfway. That isn't right in London is it? The rest of the weekend was magnificent though, thoroughly enjoyed. So I will take you on a whistlestop tour through the weekend without trying to make too many excuses for my performance. As always it was depart Llanelli early Saturday morning for the expo and that went ok apart from the driving down the bus lane in Central London. Laura was not happy with my directions and wasn't helped by Meggy saying don't worry if the police stop us we will just tell them we are Welsh. Made me laugh though :-) Didn't spend anything in the expo but had loads of flapjack and the obligatory London Pride taster. Saturday evening was then spent in the charming company of Jon and his wife in Pizza Express Westfield Stratford for some carb loading. I guess it was when we got back to the hotel that I started to think all may not go to PB plan. Jon mentioned that he was in pen 3 I think and had put down for a sub 3.20 finish. Now I was pretty sure that I had put down sub 3, yes a little optimistic but I didn't want to get caught up in the congestion. When I checked my number though I was in pen 6 :-0 Nothing I could do though so got my head down for a half decent nights kip. Had a pretty uneventful journey across London in the morning apart from noticing half way to Blackheath that I had porridge all dow nmy hoody, big lumps of the stuff. I had been eating a porridge pot when I left the hotel, obviously missed my little mouth. Doh! Nice to meet some more friends before the start but disappointed that I missed others and then off to pen 6, with hindsight I should have tried to get in to a better pen, but didn't want to upset the apple cart. Was more than slightly perturbed by being behind the 4.45 pacers. In a nutshell the race was a nightmare, I am pretty convinced that I worked harder, stopping and starting ducking and diving, getting just to 8mm pace by mile 18 than I would have worked if I had been in pen 2 or 3 and managed to get into a regular 7.30mm pace for the corresponding distance. Truth is I may still have crashed and burnt then, possibly even worse than I did, I do not want to make excuses, but I would have liked to have tried. I did phone VLM but they assured me I put 4 hours down to finish and it wasn't their error so will leave it there and move on. Is a shame I was a mess at mile 22 to see Laura and kids again (didn't even nice Laura) and had such a horrible last 4 miles but must take consolation that it was a London PB and I have still managed to sub 4 in all my marathons, a feat I am aware and that many have reminded me that many would kill for. Post race drinks and food, Harrods and Hyde park the next day were amazing. I was quite drunk by all accounts and saw lots of friendly faces, new and old. It really was a pleasure. I always feel good the next day when I see all the other victims limping around when my legs always recover very quickly. I was out running aorund the Olympic Park by 7AM on the Monday. I have been inspired by the whole occasion again to be honest, some great performances happening whether they be by Mo, Steve Way (read this is you haven't already) or other elite/fast runners or anyone just doing the best they can. Despite what may seem like me moaning given everything I do believe I did the best I could and am now even more determined to improve myself as a runner. I wont go into just how I plan to do that but am already making changes. I know a lot of people say I shouldn't take it all so seriously but although I do enjoy my running I have decided that I don't want to look back in 10,15 or 20+ years and think I could have done more. Yes sacrifices will have to be made but as long as they don't affect Laura and the kids is not a problem is it?

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