Virtual London Marathon 2020: My review and experience

So, on 4th October 2020 I ran my first marathon. WHAT. Still baffles me, to be honest.

It was bleak, incredibly painful and so long. But also one of the most amazing things and something I’m immensely proud of doing.

After the London Marathon was turned virtual for 2020, we runners (I had a charity place with Neuroblastoma UK) had the option to either defer our place to another year, pull out altogether or run it virtually – 26.2 miles at any time on 4th October in our own way, wherever we want and however we wanted.

I chose to enter the Dorney Lake Marathon, which was being held on the same day with various different Covid-19 guidelines in place to allow it to be able to go ahead. I was really grateful for the organised event, as I really didn’t back myself to be able to run 26 miles on my own.

The night before, I was a bit giddy with excitement and fear. I laid all my things out, had some delicious pasta and wine with my housemate and got an early night. I had tapered well, I was in theory the fittest I could possibly be to complete the distance, I had a marathon playlist all ready to go. The only thing was the rain that had been continuously falling for the last couple of days. Every hour during that night I woke up and all I could hear was rain outside the window.

Sunday morning: still raining. Right, waterproofs, layers, new cap, change of clothes for afterwards. Everything in the car. We move.

I was a bit nervous of the atmosphere, if I’m honest, The race organisers (Active Training World) had briefed us all previously that due to Covid, no spectators were allowed. At all. Any that rocked up would be told to leave. Let’s face it, I was never running a marathon for the fun of it – I was doing it because I wanted to complete the London Marathon, the iconic most atmospheric event in the world! My marathon plans had really taken a nose dive as I drove down the lane towards Dorney Lake in Windsor, on my own, in the rain, with no one else with me.

Anyway. The sob story could continue on that front, but we had a marathon to run. I fumbled in the cold and rain trying to get my race number on and struggled to do any kind of properly effective warm up as it was so cold and windy and the grass was soaking. Few squats, hip openers and shoulder shrugs will have to do.

We set off in our time waves, six people at a time, all 2m apart. Everyone starting their garmins, apps and timers at the same time, game face on. God, I was scared.

But, off we went!

Now, I won’t take you through a mile by mile account of the race as a) that’s quite dull for you reading and b) I don’t really remember each mile.

I do remember the first half going by relatively ok though. I was running at a fairly comfortable pace, nice and slow to begin with, resisting the urge to pick things up too soon to avoid losing energy that I’d need so desperately later on. With that in mind I allowed myself a minute walk break if I needed it and also when I was taking a gel. At 13 miles, I clocked the time and pace and thought that I might ambitiously be on track for a fairly decent time. Great.

From around mile 15 I started to feel a little tired. It’s a weird point of the event, as you’ve done a pretty good distance by now and I’d been on my feet for way over two hours, but there is still 9 miles to go. That’s a long way. The next half an hour or so were where you start to dig a little deeper to keep going. The gels are also getting a bit gross at this point, so that’s not helpful.

A couple of calls from my big brother psyched me up here as did some fun surprise songs on the marathon playlist that my boyfriend had added.

From about mile 20 onwards, that thing about hitting the wall is true. Like, your body just says ‘ahem, what’s going on?’ and doesnt want to keep moving. From around mile 12, my lower back had been hurting. This was weird because I’d never had back pain when running before. In hindsight I think this was due to the weather on the day – running in the cold rain and against the wind doesn’t bode for a relaxed running form. I was probably a bit too hunched up. I also had more layers on and a waterproof jacket I wasn’t used to wearing, so perhaps there was just a lot ‘on me’.

Anyway – around mile 20 my left knee kicked in. Suddenly, and then with every pace. So the pain seemed to alternate between my back and my knee from here till the end. At mile 22, my phone rang – my housemate! She chatted away and cheered me on for about 15 mins and when I hung up, another friend rang…..and another! All so chirpy and supportive of me, it really made a difference. (Thanks girls!)

After I spoke to them, three miles to go – the hardest 5k I’ve ever got through. The Bare Neccessities from the Jungle Book had already come on the playlist at that point, which provided a few minutes of sweet respite.

I was quite hobbly at this stage, so I wouldn’t really call what I was doing running, as opposed to more of a shuffle. Anyway, through some form of miracle the shuffle got me to mile 26. They do that annoying thing where they put the markers on….800m! Woo! Turns out 800m is quite a long way when you’re in pain and trying to crawl through the end of a marathon. So is 400m. But as I passed that sign, I saw a very small group of people manically waving. I waved back, although I didnt know if it was for me or not (pretty bad eyesight on me, you see). Turns out it was! My mum, dad and brother had arrived to meet me at the finish line. I knew they were coming, but actually seeing them after nearly five hours of running was amazing. I picked up the pace in a very bad ‘sprint’ attempt (just shuffled a bit quicker, to be honest with you) and made it to the end. Embarassingly I misjudged the finish line (don’t ask) and some guy had to tell me I hadnt finished yet. FFS. 10 seconds later – ah, there we go.

I stumble over the end and didn’t know what to do with myself! No crowds, no one there, just a few other runners who were mingling around. A woman who had alread finished asked me if I was ok, as I clearly didnt look it!

I looked out for my family who were headed towards me, filming me (thanks guys) but as soon as I saw them, I welled up with tears as I was suddenly just so overwhelmed. Evidence below. I was soooo happy to see them and thrilled they’d driven to meet me just to see me at the end. It would have been a pretty bleak day to go through all of that on your own and then just get in your own car and drive home….!!

After the hugs and hobbling and medal collecting, it was still pouring with rain and the last thing anyone (mostly me) wanted to do was stand outside any more, so we all got back to the cars. I did a quick strip and change into some dry clothes in my car and my lovely mum informed me she was driving me home in my car as my legs were not in good shape to drive anyone back to London. We waved off my dad and brother and we headed back.

Tip: I really thought I would just drive myself home after the race had ended, but it was SO grateful for my mum doing it. Everything hurt so much that I really recommend having someone do the driving post marathon!

When we got back to my flat, we had some tea, I did some delayed stretching (it took me about three hours after finishing to do this, probably a bit late) and I FINALLY got in the shower. After my mum left, my housemate got home and she had bought me the sweetest card and a little pamper bag of gifts – a face mask, candle, chocs, piece of cake from our fave local restaurant etc. Lovely! My now boyfriend also made the very long journey from Cornwall (where he was on holiday) to London to congratulate me with another card, candle and dinner.

All in all, my close friends and family really made the day something special, despite it being the furthest from what I’d imagined at the start of the year. All the messages and kind words from friends over Whatsapp and Instagram were completely overwhelming, as were the extra donations to my fundraising page.

I’ll never forget my first marathon experience!

Did you take part in the virtual London Marathon this year? Where/what did you do? Organised event or solo?

Ele x