London Marathon 2013

What a weekend!


If you've never experienced the London marathon as either a spectator or competitor I heartily recommend it. The enthusiasm, diversity and sheer mass of people make it one of those things you never forget. At the head of the race are the real athletes. At the back the wierd and wonderful. In the middle the rest of us all running for some cause or someone special.Never believe anyone who says they won't have another go, as given the opportunity it is probably not true.

My journey to this years marathon began nearly two years ago when I entered the ballot for the 2012 marathon and was successful. Unfortunately with everything else going on I knew that it was a bridge too far and I decided that the best course would be to defer in the hopes that I would be able to fit it in this year. So back in September 2012 I started running again. Some time in early October I did something to my right knee and I had to stop running until January. In the past I've always liked to make sure I am running at least 20/25 miles a week before I start to train properly. So I was apprehensive in January and took the decision just to make it my goal to finish, run the whole way and enjoy the whole process. Setting a target means that there is a tendency to focus too much on that and loose perspective of the whole.

This time I have very much tried to train by feel, making sure that I do my long run in once a week and then see how I things are before I decide how much other running I would do. I've also tried to rely on cycling in between to make sure I preserve my knees as much as possible.

It's been an eventful lead up. Most of my runs have been done in sub zero temperatures. I think the lowest was -10C. Two or three have been in the middle of snow storms. My longest of 22.5 miles on Easter Saturday, was very cold with the occasional bout of snow driving into my face. Not a run to be forgotten.

By the time the big weekend came I was feeling relaxed. Maybe too relaxed. I texted the following in to Chris Evans breakfast show early on Friday "Good morning Chris. Can you say hello to all the london marathon runners who are bursting with energy and looking forward to supporting their charities. James. Running for Special Olympics GB"

Bingo! At around 7:10 as I was driving into Cambridge I hear my words and my sense of excitement increased as something inside me knew that the following three days would be very good.

Ordinarily I would have refrained from drinking for at least two or three weeks before. Not so this time. Life is too short and I had some nice red and fizz on Friday evening vowing to make saturday my day of abstience.

In my relaxed state I set off to London checking things such as shoes, shorts and running shirt before leaving. Everything seemed to be going well until the I arrived at the Excel centre when I had a sudden sinking feeling as I realised that my registration form and sun cream were still in my kitchen two hours away. I kept telling myself that it would be ok and someone would find a way round the problem. But inside there was another voice saying the opposite and my anxiety increased. What was I going to tell everyone? I'd trained for four months and failed at the last hurdle simply because I'd left my registration form at home. What a bozo! Fortunately the inner voice was wrong and the organisers had anticipated my relaxed state and were so nice and sorted things out within a few minutes.

On sunday I woke early and my journey began. We leave for the start and unusually for London there are people about. You know that we all have something in common as we are all dressed in Lycra and have running shoes on. The train from the Arsenal had a sense of excitement and at every stop more and more people alight. You can feel the mixed emotions in every corner of the train. For some it will be their first time and you know that they will feel nervous. For others like me the experience won't be new and there will be a feeling of enjoyment mixed with apprehension about the coming few hours. The trains to black Heath are packed, it's a lovely cool clear morning and the big buildings in central London recede as we approach the start.

There is a myriad of people starting to focus on the task ahead. For some like me that is a simple matter of taking off outer layers applying some Vaseline and checking laces. While for others it's much more complicated as they have colourful costumes to done. Next to me as I undress is a man trying to squeeze himself into something which looks like the FA cup. I hope for him that the cool of the morning contues.

In the lead up I have made a mental note to make sure I talk to as many people as possible and I try to stick to this, by talking to the young lad next to me in the very long queue to the loo. I find he is from Devon and running in memory of his aunt who died last year.

Finally the time comes and we all pack into one of the three release pens. There must be 15,000 people in mine, with a similar number in the other big one. We are supposed to mark the deaths in Boston with a minute's silence, but no one hears the sound so the conversations continue.

The wait is finally over and we slowly walk up to the start line and after about 10 minutes we are over and able to start running. People joke and laugh about the fact that we are nearly there. Lots run off faster than me and I know from past experience that they will pay for their over exhuberance. I make a note to keep smiling and enjoy the whole thing.

Right from the start the crowds are there and they never leave you. In places it is over whelming and for me it is this level of support that makes the London Marathon so special. It comes from hundreds of thousands of people and fellow participants. You are never alone, even when you hit those dark times towards the end there is someone there to encourage, cajole and humour you. You want the pain to stop and your inner voice tells you that all you have to do is stop running, but it's those people cheering that you know you can't let down. You silence the inner voice and keep going for a bit more until it starts nagging again and the cycle continues.

As I run I make sure I interact with as many as possible. A woman running in front of me has a heart on her back with writing inside a heaart. I say "You will have to stop running so I can read what is on your back." She ignores my request and tells me that she is running for her 12 year old son who survived open heart surgery last year. I play high fives with hundreds of children along the way as I run. A man next to me says to a couple of 20 year old twin girls with the words "For Dad" on their backs - "Your dad would be proud of you!". I start a conversation with him and he simply says that it puts things into perspective. You can't argue with that and it really brings home just how lucky we are all are to be here on this beautiful earth.

The miles pass one by one. Six, turns into ten to fifteen and then on to twenty. Once there the real work begins. It is these last six miles where everything happens. Your body runs out of fuel and the demons within start to nag you. This time when I get to the 20 mile point I am still feeling strong and I know I have a chance of getting all the way without walking. The 21 Mile marker passes. Then 22. I notice a sea of purple as I pass a bank of fellow Games Makers from the Olympic Games, there to support the other runners like me. I know that I can’t stop to have a quick chat as if I do the inner voice will take over and I will never start again. On to 23 miles and Big Ben comes into view as we pass the Tower of London and onto the embankment. My focus changes from the crowd to my inner self which is starting to take over and I try and put the nagging doubts, which are being feed into my brain by my demons, aside. It’s not easy. 24 milescomes and there is little left within me and the fight to keep going continues. I tell myself that it’s a simple matter of running from Fotheringhay to home. Something I have done hundreds of times. But my demons remind me that this time is different as I have just run 24 miles and that these last two won’t be that simple. I focus on the next step, then the next and hope that this will take methrough. 25 miles comes and Big Ben is now really “Big” and as I cross into Parliament square to the noise of a huge crowd I know that I will do it. Over the last few months I have been thinking about this last mile and reminding myself to enjoy it. I am now too tired for that and all I want is to finish. The signs change from miles to meters as the last few hundred meters are flagged. I passBuckingham Palace and 200M to go and I cross the finish line feeling very emotional and pleased that I have finished. A woman next to me breaks down in tears and I feel for her as I know that there is another storey to be told.



From here I am looking forward to a really rewarding summer when I am working as a volunteer at the Special Olympics GB summer games in Bath. After that I am hoping to cycle from Lhasa in Tibet to Kathmandu in Nepal via the north Everest Base camp which will mark a double for me.

Thank you so much for your support. It really does make a difference.

 

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As you like it

Just when you thought it was all over and the best had passed, the Olympics delivered another magical day.

I dropped Ben and Rob off at the station and cycled accross town to the park aware that I only had a few shifts left to go. Now my mind starts to wanter to what is it going to feel like to go back to work and try to take some of the positives with me.

There is a massive feeling of uplift as you walk onto the Olympic park. As I walk in I say hello to a few members of the public and have a quick chat to find out what they are going to be seeing. Then there will be all the good mornings with the security staff and anyone else. Finally you are in the park.

We are quiet agian as every thing is running smoothly which means that I get the chance to meet a friend Candi who has been lucky enough to get tickets to see the hockey and I direct them to have their photos taken with the torch that David Beckham carried.

While we are waiting for things to happen we get Gold and Bronze in the triathlon and the office starts to buzz. Then it's another Gold for the dressage and you can feel the exitement levels increase around the park as the word goes round.
I get a chance to watch the BMX athletes practice. I think this is going to be one of the events of the games. It looks amazing and very difficult. Lets hope the GB athletes do well.

And as if things haven't been good enough so far I get asked to help out in the Velodrome for the afternoon session. I think most of the others on the team know that I am a cyclist and they have been very generous in giving me some very good things to do. An afternoon supporting the press in the tribunes means that you get to watch the sport (providing there are no issues) from one of the best positions in the house. The only think lacking is the crowd. Fortunately in the Velodrome the crowd are never far away and although you are removed, there is still a fantastic atmosphere.

To be able to watch sport of the standard that I saw yesterday evening was a dream come true. Laura Trott was fantastic. For someone who is only 20 she showed a greatr deal of composure.

Victoria Pendleton looked to have an off day. Whether that was down to pressure or not I do not know. In the first heat it looked to me as if Anna Mears tried to unnerve Pendleton as they were coming towards the line and maybe it was that and the resulting relegation that meant that in the second sprint she wasn't in the right frame of mind as Anna Mears wone comfortably.

Chris Hoy was simply untouchable and the icing on the cake is that we had Matthew Pincent watching a couple of yards away.

Team pursuit

That was a one off. On the site where I first raced my bike I stood and watched four men drive a crowd in a way I have never experienced before. Music, drama and the arts can move, but not a whole crowd like those four young people did this evening. The volume,the intensity and the passion were all there in floods. Excitement and happiness oozed out of every pore of every one of us. Thursday was good, but the drama lasted only 40 odd seconds and it was over in a blink. Last night we were treated to just under four minutes of world record breaking drama.

On a side note a little thing I did which made me feel good. Before the race started I was standing in a place were an officious games maker kept on moving people on. A more than your jobs worth kind of bloke. Whilst stading there I noticed an Australian man trying to get a decent place to watch the race and the officious games maker was telling him to move on. So I offered up my place to which the Aussie said thanks. Then he followed it up saying his son was racing in the Aussie team. I've taken his photo and email address and I'm sure that this is just the start of the story as I will email him and hopefully find out more.

 

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Cycling

Thursday was the first day of competition in the velodrome and all those involved in bringing it together finally got to see that their plans worked. Apart from the disappointment in the women's team sprint everything went to plan.

For me it couldn't have started better as in the afternoon I was asked to stay up in the press area within the velodrome. The press occupy a large chunk of one side near to the finish line. Most places offer a good view, but the press have some of the best seats. The afternoon ebbed and flowed. Whenever a member of team gm took to the track the noise of the crowed increased to the extent that it was hard to hear what was going on. The afternoon built up to the finale which was the men's team sprint

It was a magical afternoon. The finale came when the men's sprint team took to the floor. It was tense and the crowed hushed as the gb took the starters orders. If you watched on tv you don't hear the fact that in the dome the cheer travels round with the riders in a mexican wave. It's intense. Within only a few seconds it's gold! And we all calm down.

I'ts probably the only time I will get to see an Olympic gold won and it was a very up lifting experience.

 

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Sport - it looks very different from here

It's a strange thing that for the most part I haven't much of a clue what is going on at the Olympic games. I have no access to television when I get back to the van which is probably a good thing as it means that I get to bed at a decent hour and don't have the temptation of more sport.

For the most part we focus on the sports we are involved in and have an intimate view of what is going on. Every now and then our focus changes when something big is happening. Today that was the first gold medals which meant that for a few minutes our office came to a halt, the volume on the TV was switched up and the cheering started as the girls got closer to the line.

 

I was hoping for a repeat when I was eating my lunch in the break out area. Unfortunately it was only a bronze for the rowing 8. You could see the mood rapidly changing from calm to really excited and back to subdued.

 

Basketball

A blog written by someone working at the Olympic games just wouldn't be complete with at least some mention of sport. It's a strange one as I am actually not getting to see that much. We are dipping in and out. The offices where I work we have live feeds from all of the action going in at any one time in all of the venues. However given that there are so many nations and people with different sporting bents represented we never have the same thing in for long. It's a constant channel hop.

On Monday evening towards the end of my shift I was asked if I wanted to watch the next basketball match. There was no way I was going to turn down an offer like that. I donned my team GB t-shirt and went to the break area where we were told to meet. A number of other people turned up and we were ushered into the arena to the best court side seats where we were privileged to watch Australia against France in the women's basketball qualifying. As we sat there a match of a very high standard unfolded.

I have never been to a proper basketball game before, but after the spectacle I saw, I am a complete convert and I can understand why it is so big in the USA. It's fast, committed and above all utterly engaging. The players give their all and for a non contact sport it is very physical. I certainly wouldn't mess with any of the girls on the court. They were tough mean and dedicated to the job.

Australia got the better of France to start with. However by half time it was still too close to call. France had a very good third quarter and looked like they would go on to win. The Australian girls never gave up and were two points adrift as the clock was rapidly counting down. In the very last throw they scored from away out to level the game. The arena went wild. The uninitiated like me assumes that they would both share the points, but no. 5 more minutes of the best sport possible. France narrowly winning in a very dramatic game. Almost as as good from a drama point of view as a five day test where the outcome is uncertain until the final session.

It is a shame that it is not possible for all the spectators to shake hands with the sports women. They certainly deserved it and I can not recall seeing sport that good so intimately. With big stadium games like football or rugby you are removed from experiencing the little things going on in the field of play. Not so with basketball.

There is so much more that could be said. The half time dancers, the compare and the crowd all came together to create an unforgettable experience for every one there.

My journey

Now that I have things more sussed I have worked out the best way to get from the campsite into the Olympic park and it is adding to the positive experience that I am having. Once I have crossed the busy A10 I can pick up the lee valley cycle path where I quickly enter into another world away from the concrete jungle and bustle of the London road network.

There are very few other people around early in the morning and not many more in the evening. Given there are so many people living within spitting distance it seems strange to me that it's not more crowded.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I've been lucky so far with the weather going into the park. A couple of mornings have been bright and clear. If I am working on an early shift then the sun is just rising as I leave the campsite at 5:30.

All the pictures have been taken whilst riding my bike and are snapshots of my view of the day. Hopefulyouths give an idea of how nice the lee valley is.

One sad piece of news is that a fellow cyclist was killed yesterday just outside the Olympic park by a bus.

NB this is work in progress and I will update it as I get time.

 

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