My Journey to London 26.2

Lorraine Mc Nulty
Jun 15, 2016
7 min read

It all began on April 6th 2014 in Paris when I crossed the line at L’Arc de Triumph in a whopping 3hr 28min. I’ll never forget Joan running beside me on the 25th mile. “I’m gonna make sub 3:30! Effing idiots on this course stopping in my way!!” I could tell she was proud of me, I was properly proud of myself for the first time! It wasn’t until a few days later I realised that my time qualified me for an automatic ‘Good For Age’ place in London 2015. Legendary status!

The remainder of 2014 was a mix of injury, long distance commuting and important decision making in my career. Let’s just say I was happy for 2014 to end and I embraced the challenge of lots of exciting life changes in 2015. The people in my life at that time were awesome.

Alas, London 2015 did not happen. I didn’t run for 3 months at that point, in fact I hated running. I made a very sensible decision to defer my place and focus on the huge uncertainty in my life around that time. I felt defeated to do that but I told myself I was going to make London the ‘Big One’ and a fighting chance was going to have to wait until April 2016. So far away!

Summer 2015 was a mixture of gym, spinning, short unenjoyable runs, enjoyable parkruns and weekends on the beer! No real goal! A lot of DNS (Did Not Start) races which was completely out of character for me as I always follow through on anything I sign up for. The irony of it all, I was a runner in Bournemouth, a beautiful place to run on the south coast and something was missing, motivation!

Everyone, however long or short their distances, will encounter blips and down times in training. For those hampered by injury, time restraints, family or work commitments have a completely viable reason to miss out. What about those of us who have all of those factors managed? What about those of us who are struggling only with a mental battle to get out of bed and tie the laces?

Something had to give and I got the biggest break of my life when I was accepted to university to study physiotherapy. I cannot begin to explain how awesome that felt. For the first time in 5 years I had a 3 year plan and I knew where my life was headed. This is called stability. Stability allowed me to focus on other things. The other things happened to be running. Oh and I smashed my first ever triathlon with the best (and craziest) running people I know.

September 2015, I was unstoppable. I was running 40 mile weeks for weeks on weeks, 10 mile runs before 9am classes and killing myself to achieve previous times. Never compare the worst run of your life to the best run of your life, and then go out and kill yourself to achieve it. If only I knew this at Regeant’s Park in November. Worst race of my life! BANG! Illness and the darkness of winter sucked away my motivation.

Christmas 2015, I had a sit down with myself. I wanted a 3:15 London marathon. Crazy time to have in my head, my silly competitive head! The time pressure was spoiling the most important aspect of running, the enjoyment of running! Reassessment complete. Operation ‘Enjoy Running’ began in January 2016. Little did I know that this was the beginning of what has been the best season of my running life to date. Brighton Half Marathon was next on the calendar. 8 weeks training would get me a 1hr40 finish at least.

Strict diet and 20 miles per week with spin and HIIT gym sessions prepared me for BUCS Cross Country on February 6th for one of the muddiest and successful races in a very long time. The Brunel XC team was the little gem of support I needed to push the safe boundaries I found myself hiding within since that dreaded race last November.

‘Brighton Half’ week arrived! Enthused by the team captain’s passing comment before Bushy Park 5km XC series finale, “You’ll do sub 20 (minutes)”, I turned out a strong 18min53 finish. What just happened?!! I was now looking at a potential Brighton Half PB. Sub 1hr32 was a go! Until a colleague spouted out “You’ll do 1:29” two days before race day. I laughed in his face. OK so I was going for 1hr29 purely because someone believed in me once more, I sure as hell wasn’t going to believe in myself (my usual mantra)!

Brighton half smashed in 1hr27.

Unbelievable statistics.

Personal Best.

Best race of my life.

Cried at the finish line.

Beaming.

Bring on London.

8 weeks to go: London Marathon 3hr15 finish was back on the cards. Time to ramp up the mileage. 16, 18, 20 milers all sub 3hr15 marathon pace! Strava going crazy with PB’s and CR’s and took me into the final month of preparation feeling strong.

DO NOT slack off! DO NOT get injured! ENJOY running!

5 weeks to go: Alcohol ban begins. 20 miler completed.

3 weeks to go: Teetering on the edge of running burnout and exam stress, I decided to take a few days off, do yoga and chillax. Study prospered here. Also did a fun torrential rain run.

2 weeks to go: Ran my last long run and it was mentally the most challenging run of my life. Broke down crying at mile 4 for no reason, and hated every step of the remaining 9 miles. I’m not going to be able to do this! Study was pointless here.

12 days to go: The lowest day, took every ounce of mental strength to do 5 miles and attend class. Motivation = Zero.

7 Days to go: 13 miler smashed! Support from family and friends really helped me through the last week before the race as flu smothered me and stopped me getting out for the last crucial run arounds. Study did not prosper here (too excited mate).

2 days to go: Family arrived and I watched them eat burgers and chips and steak and ice cream and drink beer. I also gave away the other ½ of my ‘Twix Extra’ bar to a classmate. This is when I knew I had transformed from a standard runner, to an athlete who would sacrifice anything to get that sub 3:15.

Race Day

5:45am: Woke up fresh! What’s the weather like? Freezing. Hope mam and the girls stay warm supporting! Will I eat my porridge now or on the train? Will I have time for the toilet when I get there? I hate queues. Will I bring extra tissues? Is the tube delayed? With all these thoughts, and more, I donned the winter woolies and off I went 6:30am.

9am: Arrived at the Green Start in time to put my bag on the lorry and queue for the loooooong loo line. The buzz was building and we were called to the start line where I met 3 familiar faces and had a great chat which settled my nerves thankfully.

10:01:25: I crossed the start line. I was so freaking ready for this race.

Miles 1-6: Passed in a blur of pace steadying and avoiding tripping over gutters, water bottles and generally runners running like maniacs! I had a plan and I was sticking to it. The watch seemed to stick to 7:19 for most of the race. Is this too fast? How am I feeling? How are my legs? Is the watch even working? All good.

Miles 7-13: First half in 1:36, decent. It passed quickly and the support was amazing the whole way round. Goosebumps remained on my neck pretty much the whole time, so did the niggle on my bladder, not a chance I was wasting time to pee. Hold it in Loz! Stamped on the timing mats to make sure the people following me online knew how my run was going.

Miles 14-20: Felt mentally tough as my hips were beginning to twinge and I could see other runners struggle badly. I was focused and confident “Great work Brunel, looking strong”. Thanks very much. Pace pretty much bang on target and 4 Gu gels in my guts, I was cruising into the last 10km actually laughing while running with “Tom the Tap” and “The Tortoise and Hare”. This is such a fun race, I’ll dress up as a Guinness next time. I can’t wait for Guinness after this.

Mile 24: The mile where my family have been supporting me for all my marathons and there they were again roaring at me as I emerged from a tunnel as I made my way to Big Ben. “I’m gonna make it, sub 3:15” Funny as that’s exactly what I said in Paris exactly 2 years earlier (for 3:30).

SLXLM

Mile 25-finish: Absolutely cruised through with my fastest mile 6:40 pace! What the hell haha. I’m a gazelle. Not a twinge, ache or sweat droplet to be seen. I finally realised the moment I crossed the line that I was in fact an actual legend and wasn’t afraid to say it either. PB 3:12. Target smashed. First thing I thought of when I finished: There's a sub 3hr marathon in me for sure!...and Oh Jesus I can’t actually walk.

Since the race I have had time to look back on this whole journey to the finish line and I

can honestly say that it was the easiest race I have ever run. Very few people, if any, will understand what I mean by that. Preparation for this event was the hardest mental challenge I have ever faced and where all the work is done. I am able to deal with the physical challenges no problem. It was bloody hard work and I’m so proud that the result reflected every yoga, spin, stretch, rest day, healthy eating, HIIT session, long run, 6am run, rain run and dark shitty plods that I did.