By Mike Norton

I was thrilled to bits when my name was drawn out of the hat for the Club place for the London Marathon. The LM has been on my bucket list of course for a number of years. I didn’t really have enough time to train to get a time I wanted so I just decided to enjoy the day and look to get a sub 5 hrs.

I went up on the Friday by coach (Ilchester to Hammersmith £35 return) to pick up my number from the Excel centre. I spent a couple of hours there and met Paula Radcliffe (she was lovely) and listened to a couple of the talks. I spent the day sightseeing in London on the Saturday with my Aunty who came up to watch me and had an early night after sorting out my travel arrangements for Sunday. I was staying in Crystal Palace so it was about 50 minutes on the bus to Blackheath (Free travel to all London Marathon runners) my start point was Greenwich park so I had about 15 minute walk to get there. I chatted on the bus to a couple of first time marathon runners so I enjoyed putting them at easy and giving them lots of tips as they were pretty nervous.

I got to the start with plenty of time to spare and dropped my bag off on the right trailer and chilled out. The weather was a little chilly first thing but we didn’t get the early morning rain which was forecasted. My wave went off about 10.15 from
Greenwich. I remembered to put the tracker on my App so my family friends could track me if they wanted. I paced myself well in the first 6 miles and averaged about 10.25 minute miles the first big London attraction you see is the Cutty Sark and the crowds were absolutely packed in there and the atmosphere electric.

The next major attraction you pass is the Tower of London at about 13 miles and then of course the iconic Tower Bridge just over the Bridge I spotted my Aunty and Cousin in the crowd which meant a lot to me. However, they were on the other side of the road at this point you pass the faster runners on the other side running toward Westminster. The course then takes you around Canary Wharf and back to Tower Bridge where I saw my little support group again and this time I was on the right side of the road and stopped this time for a hug and brief chat. I was pretty tired by now but was managing to keep the pace around 11.25 minute miles and it was quite warm at this stage. It was my turn to look on the other side and see the slower runners!

You can see Big Ben from quite a long way out and to actually get to Westminster does lift your spirts I then passed Horse guards parade and onto Buckingham Palace and the emotion starts to kick in a bit and then turn down the Mall and then a sprint finish just to beat the Smurf ahead of me and it

was done 4 hrs 57 minutes.
The bag retrieval was very well organised and then back to the Hotel organised by Bowel Cancer UK to whom I was raising money for a massage and some food! I thoroughly enjoyed my London Marathon experience, especially the atmosphere of the crowd there were just so many people cheering you on and rooting for you to keep going. Definitely an experience I will remember for a long time!