By Andy Nicholls
London looks much nicer in the sunshine and, with the Docklands Light Railway strike being cancelled at the last minute, I caught the train to London the day before feeling fairly happy. Registration and getting to the race start went smoothly and then it was the small matter of running 26.2 miles.
We’d had lots of warnings about not going off too fast, hydrating enough (but not too much!) and so it was a bit of a surprise when the race started and I felt pretty good. There were many sights along the way: a lady on massive stilts, many of the Grenfell firefighters walking in full gear and even a man in a full suit of armour which made the first half pass fairly quickly.
After that, the heat must have caught up with me. I slowed down and then started to walk/run from mile 16 but the great support from family, Striders and many random strangers kept me going to finish in 4:09. Well done to Chris Southam 2:54, Nat Teece who improved on her time from last year at 3:06 and Helen Metcalfe 5:31 also fundraising for Macmillan Cancer Support.
Thanks to the Committee for awarding me the place and I hope whoever goes next year has better (i.e. worse!) weather.
