😍 London Marathon, the experience I've always dreamed about 😍
Hey everyone!
Today I wanted to share with you my experience running London Marathon 2019.
I've always been a London-freak ever since I can remember, so getting to run a marathon in there has been a dream come true for me.
For those that are not related to marathon-stuff, London is a particularly hard one to get into. You need to be picked in a ballot in which more than 400K runners subscribe in... and if you're lucky enough to get into the selected 10%, you are able to run it. And turns out, I was lucky enough!!! 🤩🤩🤩
Believe me, I couldn't even breathe when I saw this email:
This is where this wonderful experience began!!!
I'm not going to go deep into the organization or training details (unless you want me to, lol), but after that, it was a very interesting six month period in which I tried my best, my really best, to get to that day as strong and fast as I could.
I was scared, of course, I hadn't run a 42K in over two years and I still could remember all the pain I had to go through at that time. But still, that time was going to be different. I knew it and I compromised with it.
I arrived just four days before the Marathon, it was a very long 18-hour-flight from Argentina to London. I was jetlagged, tired and I was meeting my sister for the first time in a year!!! So it was a lot for me that day, I was extremelly happy and tired! Lol
That's my sister and I, having some coffee by Tower Bridge. I strongly recommend this, I believe it's wonderful :)
The following day, the city was getting ready for it's fantastic event. Flags were everywhere, the roads had signs and there was a special atmosphere of joy.
We went to get my running kit in ExCel, which was pretty far from where we were staying... but it's always nice to get to know some new parts of London!
Once there, I got my kit and took some photos to remember the experience. I took my BIB and all I remember is that I still couldn't believe that the Universe had given me the chance of actually living that experience that I had always dreamed of. I felt incredibly grateful, almost to the point of crying, lol.
You can see my happy face in these pictures!
And then...
The day finally came
I had everything I needed set up.
Shorts, top, Garmin, running shoes, BIB, chip... Everything was already done, I had trained my hardest, I had traveled from the other side of the world to be there... and I was up for the challenge.
The Race
As there were more than 60K people running it, the starting points were three different locations. I had to travel to Blackheath, which was somehow far, but made the course really beautiful as a I could get to know different places from Great London. I thought of this race as a 'run and very long city-tour', lol.
I was freezing, but happy as hell!! That was just a couple of minutes before getting into the starting point. My sister was there with me and then she'd meet me in different places of the running course.
I didn't take my mobile with me, so I don't have pictures of the course itself, but it was more or less this where we ran:
I had so much fun, there were a lot of people with signs at every side of the street, there was such great atmosphere and everyone was cheering the runners. I had never lived something like that! The first 25K were really smooth and easy to run.
We got to see some of London's most emblematic points, such as Cutty Sark, we ran through Tower Bridge (this was my favourite part, of course), we went through Canary Wharf and the last kms took place in Thames Steet. Great course for a great event!
From 25K till 35K everything was ok, but I started to feel a bit tired. Nothing that I couldn't handle, but the marathon was already setting in on my body.
And from 35K and on... that's where the fun part started. I tried to concentrate only on running, I didn't care much about the rest, I ignored the people on the streets, how tired I was feeling and everything. All I focused in was London's landscape and running.
It was hard, by 40K I didn't know what else to think about or how to distract myself from my own aching body... and that's when I started singing to myself:
I kept singing this song for about 2K, and it's up to today that I remember that moment whenever I hear it!
A few moment after that, I realized that I was just a couple of meters away from Buckingham Palace, where the finish line was.
I did it!
3 hours and 54 minutes later, I did it. I had completed London Marathon in a very good time and, although I was tired, I was feeling incredibly fine.
It was an experience of a lifetime for me. As I'm writing this, and after two years of that moment, I feel incredibly grateful to have been able to live something like that.
I love you, London. I love you, Marathon. Don't ever leave me, lol.
And this is the beautiful medal for finishers:
Of course, Tower Bridge needed to be on the background!
Thank you so much for reading!
