Having begun running a decade or more ago, and having completed a few other marathons before (Beijing twice, Shanghai and Lewa), and with Easter weekend very close to London marathon weekend, I finally ran out of excuses not to do the London marathon once, since my Dad has done it about 35 times and has constantly been asking me when to do it.
There was of course one major excuse, which was not having an entrance (the odds are between 1:10 and 1:20 it seems), so I contacted one of the best charities I know in Kenya (since Huawei gives them a lot of money every year, and I've visited many of their projects and met their team), and got a place through them.
I was not the best fundraiser to start with, despite the headstart from close family donations, but I have got closer to the target thanks to various friends from the UK and China, and a few from Kenya (Kenyans usually get more pressing requests for donations, such as hospital bills, but several have contributed). There was facebook messages, whatsapp messages, wechat messages and some emails.
Despite having the marathon hanging over me for the whole week vacation beforehand, i tried to enjoy the vacation seeing some friends in London, taking the kids to theme parks with the family, seeing some theatre (Book of Mormon very funny, Pillowman very good, All My Sons decent), spending time with the family, escaping from an Escape Room (lots of fun), and going to the incredible Tottenham Hotspur Stadium to see a match (we eventually won).
And the marathon itself? Well, there were some differences to those I have done before. Of course the weather was fairly miserable, though it didn't rain. Of course i knew some of the route well; and of course there were a LOT of spectators.
In fact despite having watched several London Marathons when I used to live in the UK, I couldn't quite work out why there were so many supporters who were so crazy. Within a few miles of the start much of the course was packed, and certainly all the second half of the course was. It was helpful at first, and fun reading the various messages for specific runners or for everyone ("your running better than the government"); it was enjoyable touching hands with kids and hitting the "hit me for a boost" signs (or pictures of political leaders). The first half was generally fine, after fighting through an early stitch.
After a while all the cheering felt like I was getting close to the finishing line without actually being anywhere near the finishing line! Soon it was head down time to get through the tough third quarter which seems to go on for a very long time (26 miles is a very long way indeed), and then into the final quarter. At that point the feet were really heavy and the pace was getting slower. I decided not to fight it, and just accept it... plodding along so as not to be in any pain and start to enjoy the views, past the Tower of London, London eye and Parliament up to the Palace, and of course enjoy the noise.
What a noise. From the bands to the supporters. From the guy with a mic on his balcony cracking jokes, to the guy with a horn for honking, there was all sorts of people watching and all sorts of innovations to get spotted. Then of course the costumes: I managed to finish ahead of Big Ben (who amusingly struggled to fit under the finish line), but behind a Wonder Woman (there may have been more than one...). I saw a Womble on the train in the morning, and a Rhino (several miles behind at one of the corners). I passed a couple of Bananas, spiderman, cave woman, and all sorts of other incredible people running for charity.
Thank you to my sisters, brother-in-law, wife and daughters for coming out to support.
Thank you everyone for the support to Tusk!
p.s. I did successfully run 400m in just over a minute on a running machine at the Marathon Expo at World Record Pace, though it is truly incredible that Kipchoge can do that pace for 2 hours.
