My long term goal had been to run a sub 2:30 Marathon. It was my first time under 2:30 at London. I had run between 2:32 and 2:35 seven or eight times but I had never quite closed the deal.
I did something a little different in the last year in that I chose to race a less. London was the big focus for me.
The weather was beautiful on the day. The whole thing was amazing and the Travelling Fit staff were super helpful for everyone in our group. The way they looked after us and made sure everything was in order in terms of making sure the stress was taken out of all logistics. Everything just worked out perfectly on the day. I don’t like to talk myself up at all so when everyone from the Travelling Fit group were chatting in the days leading up to the race I learned that almost everyone was chasing personal best times and I quietly said that anything under 3 hours would be good.
On the day of the London Marathon it didn’t matter if you were up the front or at the back of the field – you felt like an absolute legend on that start line.
I ran through the halfway mark in 1:13:56 which is right on track for a sub 2:30 Marathon. I knew that the Marathon really starts at around the 30km mark. I felt so good then that I wanted to push harder but another part of me (the smarter part clearly) reminded me to hold back. I only realised I was going to run under 2:30 for sure with about 2km to go. When I ran past Buckingham Palace, I knew I had it in the bag. It was such an emotional moment for me.
It was magic to be a part of the Travelling Fit group. I felt like it took the pressure off me to perform well. I felt very comfortable amongst everyone even though there were people of all different abilities, some shooting for sub 3 hours and others just trying to get to the finish.
It’s what I enjoyed the most – that there was such a great vibe amongst the group and there was no pressure on me to perform. We all just wanted to have a great time and soak up the atmosphere together.
We almost became family after the race. When they found out the time I ran, most of them thought I was kidding!
My long term goal involves a new initiative from the Abbott’s World Marathon Majors. There is now a new age category world championship title for 40+ runners allowing the top 70-100 runners in each category from around the globe the opportunity to post the fastest times over the marathon from September 2018-September 2019. My goal is to qualify for and race the world championship event back in London 2020.
