So I ran the route of the London Marathon in reverse, starting at Westminster and finishing in Blackheath, at 00:01 on the day of the Marathon (Sunday April 2026). It was my first ever marathon, and the longest time and furthest distance I’d ever run, surpassing the Winter Tanners from earlier in the year. I had a great time, and would highly recommend doing this at least once!

Coming into this, I wasn’t really worried about covering the distance, and I wasn’t aiming for any time since it was my first marathon. I was mainly worried about the logistics, and in particular how I would survive running at night and then the next day.

I used Gemini to guide my training coming in, and then my nutrition and sleep strategy for the Saturday and Sunday. On its suggestion I had breakfast on Saturday but skipped climbing, then had a low fibre, high-carb lunch and a nap, followed by some bagels at around 7pm. I was also eating any carbs I could see through the day. I drove up to Blackheath for around 10.15, met up with some mates and headed into town.

The briefing in Trafalgar Square was massive, I was completely taken aback by quite how many people were there to run. We filled the square. There was a guy with a megaphone saying some stuff, but I appreciated the minimal organisation. We then went down to Birdcage Walk where we would start and I think there must have been more than 2000 people there. It felt similarly busy to the Surrey Half Marathon I had done a few weeks earlier, and that had around 2500 people.

We saw Big Ben tick past midnight and started running and all just went on the road through Parliament Square and round past Westminster Bridge. The roads weren’t closed but there were so many runners we just shut it all down.

I was running with Rob, who was taking on a completely epic / mental weekend. On Thursday he went up to Yorkshire with some dad friends, and had a load of beers when they arrived. Then did 40km hiking over the Yorkshire 3 peaks, followed by a serious pub session. Saturday morning was some e-bike recovery before getting the train back to London and then doing the marathon. So he was running slower than usual, which was fine by me.

Going along the embankment was fun, lots of encouragement from party-goers and lots of sights to see, then Canary Wharf had a lot of turns to keep you on your toes. Isle of Dogs was a bit miserable but there was a small aid station just as we got to Tower Bridge which was actually very welcome. I was smashing the liquid carbs but really appreciated the flapjack bite and few jelly beans. I took a caffeine gel going over Tower Bridge and that started to kick in a couple of ks later and I was feeling pretty good.

My favourite part of the whole run was probably kms 24-28 through Rotherhithe. The route was next to trees, it was really quiet and there was a little group of about 10 of us just running through the dark night. My playlist served up a really fitting song which seemed familiar but I didn’t think I had heard it before.

There were a fair number of support riders out on Lime Bikes supporting friends and family, and we saw some of the same people repeatedly. Seems expensive.

After crossing Tower Bridge, it felt like we had broken the back of the run. The distance markers were counting down, as we were running in reverse and I actually preferred that. Cutty Sark looked amazing in the dark, still lit up, and from there it was only about 10k to home, which felt like a very mangeable distance.

From here the course was not very inspiring, running alongside main roads which still had some traffic around. Went past one place in Greenwich that looked like it was banging, but generally London was very quiet, seemed like the city was asleep.

Uphill at Woolwich was slightly painful, and it felt like we sped up towards the end, but still never got faster than a 6min km. Fastest 6min km ever though.

There’s no real official finish line, so we just kept running until our watches said we had made the marathon distance, making sure that we wouldn’t get short-changed by Strava. This took us to Blackheath gates, when we could finally stop. Exchanged a few words with someone who was expecting to see more finishers at the gates, but most runners had stopped earlier so we were on our own.

We took a quick photo, I started fishing out some solid carbs (Kendall Mint Cake and flapjack) from my bag and then headed back to Rob’s where I had parked the car. I had to make a call now on whether to drive the hour home, or have a nap at Rob’s and then head. It was 4.45am, and Rob was on the hook to take the kids to football at 8.30. I felt ok and thought it would be better if I wasn’t in the way so I headed home. The drive was ok, roads were empty and some singing along got me through.

This was a really fun event to do, although I’m not sure I would do it again. It’s impossible to run a fast time, and the course itself is quite uninspiring as you are running alongside main roads for the most part. I think I would rather be out on the trails. Definitely glad I did it though, and glad that I am able to do this sort of thing.

This is an event organised by the Surrey group of the Long Distance Walking Association (LDWA). It’s 20 or 30 miles over muddy trails, following a route description and / or GPX file. I wanted to do this event in 2025 but broke my toe falling down the stairs over Christmas and didn’t recover in time.

My main goal for 2025 was to hit a sub-20 5k, and I just got this by one second on December 30. This did not leave me with a lot of time to switch up training before the Tanners on January 18.

I took advice from Gemini and focussed on completing a 2.5hr rehearsal run the week before:

This went well, all my kit worked out fine (runderwear is awesome) and nutrition wasn’t an issue, so was looking forward to the event. I was trying to make sure I took enough carbs, inspired by David Roche, but wanted to err on the side of not having massive gut issues.

There were four of us running together, and I was the slowest and least experienced at long distances: the 24k I did the week earlier was the longest I had ever run. It had been raining hard all week, but the weather had cleared for Sunday and it was great running conditions. Cold, but not too cold, no wind and dry.

First 15k went off really well, a few moments where the heart rate went up on the hills, but generally good. We were passing a lot of walkers who had set off earlier, as well as slower runners who might be on the 30 mile route. Gemini had told me to finish my first flask of carbs (90g) by the first checkpoint at 15k and I did that easily.

After the checkpoint, there was a very steep hill which we needed to walk up but it felt good knowing it was basically downhill to the end after that.

The pain started for me around the 24k mark, my left knee started to really hurt. The other guys were all moving well and easily but I was starting to struggle. I thought about asking to walk for a little while, but I just kept going while I could keep going. If I could do another step, then I could do another ste after that. 9km left to run felt like a lot, but while I could do the next step I would keep going. Focussed on keeping the cadence up and trying to maintain form. My knee actually stopped hurting after about 27 or 28k, but then everything else was hurting instead.

Heart rate was ok, but my legs were struggling. I was out of carbs to drink, probably should have asked to stop for a minute to get my emergency dates out, but it was easier to just keep going and try to hang on to the group. There was a checkpoint at around 30k I think, and I took a few jelly babies – probably should have taken more food there but I was still worried about my guts. Also just too tired to be thinking clearly. The course had split at the first checkpoint, with the 30k group going in a different direction. By now we had overtaken all the walkers and stopped seeing any other runners. At this checkpoint they told us there were two others who had been in already, which was a nice incentive.

Conditions on the course were generally good, not too muddy but about 5k from the end there was a massive bog with no dry option to avoid the water coming over shoes. After running through this I thought that I had some patch of mud stuck to the back of my calf, but it was just my muscles seizing up. I also managed to pull the bite valve out of my flask as well, amazing how everything gets harder when you are more tired.

Without about 2k to go, I knew I was going to make it all the way in, but I wasn’t thinking about much apart from left foot, right foot. Taking inspiration from Murakami and thinking of myself as a pure running machine.

We made it to the finish, the first finishers of the event (which is not a race). I was very glad to stop running. I ate a load of food, first sweets and then a Sunday pub roast. Had to stop driving on the way home to stretch out my hamstring and avoid an accident.

A great event, would love to do it again. Great organisation, great value as well. Really whetted my appetite for longer runs, but so good to be on the trails. Moving through nature as a group.

https://www.runthroughtrails.com/beat-box-hill

When a friend asked if I was still running and suggested that we do this race, I wasn’t really that keen to start with. A very hilly and tough half-marathon which wasn’t in my training plan and didn’t really fit into any of my goals, did I really need to do this? But I enjoyed it immensely and am really grateful that they did suggest it. I’ll be looking to do more similar events in future. I’m also very grateful that I took up running and did that first half marathon back in 2022, opening up the possibility of doing events like this.

All my previous races have been on the road, with minimal elevation. I’ve gone into those races planning to set a PR, and have set pace targets to achieve that goal. I’m running looking at my watch, constantly calculating if I’m on target or not, assessing how I’m feeling, wondering if I need to push or back-off. This was completely different.

Around 700m of climbing on muddy trails meant PRs were not ever in question, and really I just wanted to enjoy the run. I couldn’t stop myself setting some sort of goal and had in my mind a 2:15 target, but there was no way to know if I was ahead or behind that target until the last few kilometres so it was academic really.

The weather was really almost perfect. It had been raining earlier in the week but the course wasn’t too muddy at all and there was just a touch of mist in the air. It was cool, not too windy and generally perfect conditions for autumn. Maybe there were good views on the course, I was head down most of the time!

I ran most of the way just on heartbeat and feel, trying to make sure I was under 170 for the first hour. I know from experience that I can red-line for about 40min so needed to stay out of the top zones until later in the race. There was one section around the middle which felt pretty flat and I pulled my pace back then to try to make sure I didn’t blow up. I didn’t try to push the hills, since from my research I understood that it would be a lot more fatigue for not much extra time. I did try to push the downhills a bit more though. I know how much better it feels to finish strong, so I was wary of going too hard too soon.

The race started at the top of Box Hill, with a bunch start. The starting section was quite narrow and also downhill which was a bit frustrating. I didn’t want to start too fast, but I did want to make the most of the downhill and let gravity help me out. After a while though things spread out and we got to the first section of uphill steps in any case. There were several sections of steps and nothing to do on these but walk.

I saw one person on a steep slippery section but generally the course was in good condition. It was mostly well marked as well apart from one section where I started following the 50k course before the marshall turned me around. I was cursing that extra 300m!

The aid stations looked great, but I was carrying 1 litre of DIY energy drink plus a few gels so I didn’t stop at any of them. Would rather reduce the weight I was carrying.

Our course numbers had a basic elevation profile printed on them, and I was trying to look down at that to work out whereabouts I was on the course and how many hills I had to go. I never managed to work it out though and just had to take whatever the course gave me. Walk the steps, and the steep hills but run as much as possible, then open out on the flat and push the downhill as much as safe. Such a difference from a flat road half where you’re constantly looking at the clock and thinking where you are compared to the pace targets. This felt more like a training run really.

So I was feeling really good about the run, legs felt reasonably strong but then I started to get cramps in my calves and shins. This was really annoying and there was nothing much to do except stop and stretch or walk until they went. There was a horrible section of steps towards the end that I went up ok, but the cramp was worse on the flat or downhill. It was frustrating that just when I wanted to open out my legs and stretch for home, I had to walk or do something to get rid of the cramps.

I even had to stop a couple of times when in sight of the finish, just to get my legs to bend properly. But I managed to get across finally in 2:11, so within my target time.

So the lesson for next time is to take more electrolytes before and during the run. Overall though, it was a really fun race. I found not having to worry about the time very liberating. It was one of the hardest races I’ve done though. I saw some blood in my urine later in the day (“runner’s bladder” apparently), and my wife was ill so I was on childcare duty in the afternoon and took the kids into town. I probably should have respected the effort a bit more as I didn’t sleep well and was in bits the next day as we flew away on holiday.

All in all a great experience though. Next time just take more electrolytes, and respect the recovery a little more!

Race Information

• Name: Guildford 10k
• Date: 8 October 2023
• Distance: 10k
• Location: Guildford, Surrey
• Website: https://www.guildford10k.com/
• Time: 44:32

Goals

Splits

Training

This is my local race, the course goes down past the end of my road and I was really looking forward to it. I had been entered in it since 2021 I think, but due to COVID, the organisers going bust and other issues it hadn’t been run for several years. I ran the Reigate Half Marathon (https://www.thesearesomethings.com/running/reigate-half-2023/) a few weeks earlier and my plan was to take a week off to recover from that, then do a week of faster stuff and a limited taper to the 10k. It actually took me almost 3 weeks to recover from the half, so that plan had gone out of the window and I did very little running between the events.

Instead I had done some low-impact circuit work, and also gone for long bike rides at the weekend, to try to keep some condition but make sure that my foot and knee issues would let me actually complete the race and enjoy it.

Pre-race

It was great being able to take a gentle 30min stroll down to the start eating a banana and drinking some water, drop my bag off and get ready with little stress. Being 10k I wasn’t too worried about fuelling myself or any logistical issues, so I felt really relaxed at the start. It was an 8am start which actually suited me well considering I normally run early morning. I had also made sure to tape my nipples this time.

The race pack had been sent out earlier so I didn’t have to worry about doing my number or anything either.

I decided to take a different approach to my last two races, and I had come across a quote in Build Your Running Body, along the lines of “it is amazing what you can achieve if you reach the half-way point strong”. The course is out and back, and slightly uphill on the way out. I decided therefore to aim to get to the half-way point at 23 minutes and then see what I could do in the second half. This would make it tough to get under 44minutes considering my 5k PB is 21:07, but maybe I would be ahead of time and the downhill could help me here. I also knew from the half-marathon that I could spend about 45min with my heart rate in the 180s which should be long enough to get me home.

Race

They called us to the start by expected finish time and I was surprised to see how close the 44minute group was to the start. Unsurprisingly, the 10k is more accessible than the half-marathons I was used to, and so I was one of the more serious runners there. I had a gel on the start line, teed up my music (no need for podcasts or audiobooks) and got ready to go. The start of the course is the most uphill so I wasn’t too worried to be behind target in the first k and I saw my lap paces coming in line with what I wanted. I made a conscious effort in the first few k to tell myself that I was enjoying the race and feeling good and I think this positive attitude really helped. My road is about 2.2k into the race so I looked forward to running past the family. I tried to keep the HR under 180, backing off when I saw it getting a bit high. Was great thinking that it was all single digit km to go though.

I took a caffeine bullet at about 4k, I could probably have taken it earlier but I was just feeling really good so held off. I got to the turning point at 23:16, a little behind where I would ideally be, but I was feeling strong so was ready to amaze myself.

It was great coming downhill for the second half of the race. I saw the family again with 2.2k to go and inadvertently knocked over my son while giving him a high-five which gave me something else to think about. Maybe the 7th kilometer was a bit harder and I had to dig a bit deeper, but I was overtaking people and feeling positive. The tunes were good and I was talking to myself most of the way.

The last km is really downhill, and I came through as quick as I could, trying to catch the person in front. I was surprised to see the finish line come up sooner than I expected but I didn’t have much left at the end

Post-race

I felt good post race, again a nice change to not be so spent. I was a bit disappointed with my time as I thought I had a 44:27 PB and so I hadn’t made it, but turns out my PB was 44:57 so I had knocked 30s off it. Caught up with the other 10.8s who were running and went for a PB rumbler and breakfast before walking back home.

Lessons for next time

• Run the race that you have in you that day, listen to your body and be prepared to change plan
• Get to half-way feeling strong and then see what you’ve got – makes for a much more enjoyable race even if you could maybe run a quicker time
• 10k is a fun distance, should maybe do more of them
• 3 weeks is probably the minimum I need between events
• Make sure the Strava beacon thing is working correctly

A great event which I will definitely do next year, assuming they manage to put it on again.

Race Information

• Name: Run Reigate Half
• Date: Sept 17 2023
• Distance: 21.1km
• Location: Reigate, Surrey UK
• Website: https://www.runseries.co.uk/run-reigate
• Time: 1:49:10

Goals

Splits

Training

I used a half-marathon plan from Ben Parkes for this event and the training generally went pretty well and I enjoyed the plan and the mix of runs. It had me running further than I ever had before, and doing more volume than I had before but I wasn’t injured and I was able to achieve all the specified paces for the effort sessions. Due to the summer holidays and planned trips, I did miss the last three long runs. I’m ok with that decision, as I chose to prioritise being on holiday with my young family rather than going out for 2hr runs. But I can’t help that think this affected by race performance

So the training went well, up until the last couple of weeks. 10 days before the event (Thursday) I did a double session of run in the morning and 30min strength workout in the evening (as per the plan). I probably pushed the strength work too hard as I was back home so could do Nordic hamstring curls and weighted squats which I hadn’t been able to do while on holiday. Then I was still tight when I went to run on Saturday morning, meaning that I had bad form and that evening was dealing with what felt like some plantar fascitis in my left foot and ITB issues in my right knee. Maybe unrelated, but I also seemed to have got ill – sleeping HR was elevated and I was very snotty and congested. The week of the race I just did two 30 min runs and by Sunday I was hopeful that I had enough miles in the bank from earlier in my training to get me round and to achieve my goals.

Pre-race

I didn’t sleep that well, and then the taxi that I had booked to get me to the station was late so not an ideal pre-race. I got the train on time though and then headed to the event. On the train I ate a banana and a chia flapjack bar and drank a flask of coffee. I normally run fasted first thing in the morning, this event was a bit later but I didn’t want to have too much food inside me. I arrived at the event in plenty of time, picked up my race number and used the toilets before the queues built up.

I had quite a lot of time to kill so tried to relax as much as possible before it was time to head over to the start pen. I’d been weighing up what pacing strategy to follow, in the end I decided to just go with the 1:40 pacers and let them worry about all the pacing. I hoped this would allow me to settle into the run more. The alternative was to try to start slower and run negative splits and also slow on the hills more but I decided that having a group would be more helpful based on my last experience (https://www.reddit.com/r/running/comments/11r5u5y/surrey_half_race_report_learning_lessons/).

The course was hillier than my last half-marathon, but I’d trained more for this one (with the exception of the last couple of weeks) so I hoped that a PR was still a plausible goal.

Race

I felt great at the start, there was music playing and a really good atmosphere. There was a bit of a false start which was weird but then we were underway. The course started with a bit of a hill and the pacers went up it pretty fast, maybe faster than I would have done on my own. I decided to stick with them though rather than changing plan. In hindsight I should maybe have gone slower up and faster down the hills but who knows.

Everything was going pretty well, I tried to not look at my watch too much and just sat behind the pacers hoping they would pull me round. I had a gel at about 33min in, and tried to take water from the water stations. It was quite hot and humid and I was sweating a lot. The water was in paper cups which were difficult to drink from and so I ended up mostly pouring them over myself but my gels were isotonic so I wasn’t too worried.

After about 14km it became clear that I wasn’t going to be able to stick with the pacers much longer. My legs were really heavy and I wasn’t going to be to keep that pace to the end. The last time this had happened I really pushed myself into the pain cave to get round, this time I decided that I would drop the pace right off and treat this as a training race before a 10k that I have in a few weeks. Today wasn’t going to be my day for whatever reason, and so I decided to back off. I tell myself this, but realistically I’m not sure I could have done anything else and my HR was still 180+ for most of the last 7k. I saw the 1:45 pacers go past me but I was really suffering.

Throwing water over myself and the warm conditions meant that my shirt was sodden. This would have bad consequences for my left nipple.

There was one brutal hill right in the last 2k and I pushed hard up this, with some encouragement from the crowd. I was looking forward to cruising down the other side but got cramp in my left hamstring which I’ve not had on a run before. I don’t think the 3 gels and bits of water from the stations was enough for the conditions today.

My right nipple had also bled through my (white) shirt by now. Again not something I’d had before or was expecting, but think it was down to just how wet my shirt was from all the sweat and the water. So a few funny comments from spectators, and shocked looks from children but by this point I just wanted to get to the finish. I tried to smile for the cameras as I came across the finish, but this is the face of a broken man:

Post-race

I couldn’t stop sweating for about 20min after the race. Very tired, despite “backing off” for the last 7k and giving up on the PB. I stretched off, had a couple of beers and headed off. It was a great event, really well organised and a good course. Would be really fun to reach that final hill with something in the tank and then fly up and down it into the finish.

My legs were sore for days afterwards, quads were really sore for about a week. The run also really aggravated the plantar fascitis and ITB issue that I’d picked up the week before the race. Was actually struggling to get down stairs

Lessons for next time:

• Running with DOMS is a bad idea and will impact you long-term. Go easy on the weights if you haven’t done them for a while
• Park the ego, go with the slower pacer group or do own thing and finish stronger for a more enjoyable race
• When it’s hot I need to take my own water + electrolytes and actually drink what’s given out on the course
• Tape / Vaseline / Bodyglide nipples!!

This was a great event though which I’m keen to do again to lay to rest some demons. I’m not sure it’s a PR-friendly course with that big hill at the end, but I imagine there can be an awesome runner’s high coming down the other side if you have paced yourself appropriately