Phil Jarvis London Marathon 2019 race report
First time I’ve attempted to write a report so here goes. After messing my entry up from the 2018 race ( should of left it to Kerry as usual ) I was determined to do this year’s race so having made sure my entry was in and paid for I was looking forward to the 16 weeks of training at the beginning of the year .
Training started ok but I knew what was coming soon , kerry was going into hospital for a major heart operation which thank god she came through even though she was down twice as long as we were told .
So training certainly wasn’t going to plan with everything that was happening in our life so eventually I decided to pull out and take that pressure off , then after attempting to race Thirsk 10 mile which has got to be one of my worst races kerry asked did I still want to do London and why not what’s the worst that could happen so with 6 weeks training to do it was head down and get it done.
So the day was here and I managed to get myself to the start line without getting lost and even on time which is a miracle for me.
So in the pen with Darren times were discussed which i said i wanted to be around 7.20 to start with and Darren being around 7.00 so we wished each other good luck and see you at the end.
We set off then I noticed he was just in front so I thought we might as well run together for a while and I’d try to stay with him for as long as I could, so off we went through the first 5k marker knowing we were getting tracked so everyone would know I’d gone off to quick yet again.
As the miles ticked by we were making good time probably to good but I tried not to think about that. As we went through mile 12 heading towards tower bridge which is always great to run over with the crowds that are there but also the look of the bridge as you go along the first signs of the quick pace started to creep in which wasn’t a good sign. Darren managed to pull away so I was on my own, it was just as I was heading towards the half way point. Going around the isle of dogs section the legs were certainly feeling it more but the pace was still good enough and we managed to run together on and off a few more times which did help.
Around mile 22 it started to fall apart the pace was defiantly coming back to bite me, Darren was having his own problems and had dropped off and as I was heading onwards the legs weren’t feeling good at all. The thoughts of needing to walk started to come to mind and it happened the first walk break not long but just enough to help me recover. Off I went again trying to get going again and thinking it’s only a parkrun with a cool down that’s all however their wasn’t much left in the legs by now, around 23/24 miles I ended up stopping at the Lucozade station that had paper cups which was probably easier than trying to run and drink out of them.
Off again heading towards the end their was one more short walk but then it was head down and get it over with, seeing the 800m marker that seems forever to get to fills you with hope that the end is near, so having passed that and the 600m it was time for the final push with 400m to go. I managed to cross the line taking 1 second off my fastest time talk about cutting it fine.
To sum up London marathon it has to be the best supported race out there with virtually constant support from the crowd that certainly helps you get round and the organisation I couldn’t fault at all, also so if you haven’t done a marathon and want to this has to be the one to do in this country at least and don’t do what I did, you must train properly for it and don’t go off to quick because between the two it can end up a painful experience , respect the distance and you’ll enjoy it, Phil.
