Time/Position: 2.57.16 (2428 from 40000)
As is often the case, I knew I was undertrained coming into this, my 12th London marathon. No training manual would advise four mountain and road races the week before! Neither would they advise just three longish road runs. So I had no intention of pushing it today, just holding a steady pace and enjoying myself. This I did, and again recorded a negative split - as I did with my 2.53 in 2021. Every single kilometre was between 4.10-4.16, with the vast majority at precisely 4.12. Weirdly, I felt a bit tired at the start, a bit tired in the middle and a bit (more) tired at the end, while never feeling I could have pushed harder. I started at Maze Hill on the green start: going back to my first London in 2001 I can't remember going off this start before. I felt it lacked the atmosphere of Blackheath, but it did mean that the first 5k was all new to me, which was nice. After this I settled in, and the weather was ideal: drizzly rain and chilly temperatures. Despite this, the crowds around the Cutty Sark had returned to pre-covid levels and the atmosphere was brilliant. As ever, this reaches a crescendo at Tower Bridge, which I thoroughly enjoyed and then felt very relieved through the Isle of Dogs as I realised I had the legs for it, despite only three long road runs in training. As it was only six months since the last London, and I contracted glandular fever shortly afterwards, I concentrated on savouring the run in along the embankment.
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