Having experienced almost back-to-back knee injuries in 2024/25, I felt I’d really lost so much more than just fitness and was struggling to believe I could ever get back to running my ‘old times’.
As a scientist I’ve always loved exploring the physiology behind running performance. Having a LT test was something I’d been meaning to try, so on 10th February, I walked into Blizard for my test. When I left an hour and a half later, I felt like something had clicked back and Dave had helped me to believe that I could get back to my old self. The plan towards London began.
Race day on Sunday was an absolute dream. Sunny skies, warm enough but not ‘2025 warm’, no wind, crowd support than only London knows how to bring. I arrived at the start pen to find fellow Blizard regular training group members Keri and Elle, all of us dressed in our rainbow Puma project 3 kit. It was nice to share the nerves, (unusually minimal?!) toilet queues and shakeout jog together.
Once running, I tried to settle into my pace, the aim was to get as close to my 2:43:17 PB as possible, but my absolute A+ goal was to have it dip into the next minute down. I was a bit surprised for the pace to be a bit slower for the effort I wanted to hold at the start, but I just accepted and went with it. By 3-4k I started to feel better and warmed up into a rhythm. Halfway in 1:21:44, ideally I would have wanted a lower 1:21 and started to think I would never make sub 2:43… but I was having so much fun, anyway. Seeing Dave at mile 15 gave me an added boost.
In the later stages of the race I couldn’t believe it when I started passing the guys in front and seeing the lap pace dipping into sub 3:50/min k’s. I was feeling stronger and stronger, probably helped by the tailwind we were treated to! At about 22.5 miles a tannoy told us that the World Record had gone, and the first sub-2 marathon had been run- I literally threw my arms in the air and cheered, it was all the inspiration I needed at that point! Crossing under the finish arch, pressing stop, realising I had done it; these are the feelings I wish I could bottle.
I started the year barely scraping a sub-80 at Brass Monkey Half Marathon, so to be running a 2:42 marathon with a 55 second negative split has been the biggest and best shock!
Thank you so much, Dave! You helped me get back to where I want to be and I’m excited for what’s next.
