What it’s REALLY like to run in the London Marathon: How my experience brought back memories of 2012 on incredible day

By MATT GATWARD

Coming to on the bathroom floor having fainted after a pre-marathon warm up run in January could hardly be considered the best preparation for running Sunday’s 45th London event but there I was, flat on my face with a sharp pain in my right knee. Surely that was it? Marathon hopes dashed before I’d barely begun.

A scan and a chat a couple of weeks later with a knee specialist and I was assured I didn’t need surgery and that I’d be OK to go ahead and crack on with the gruelling winter training after a period of rehab.

Oh. At that point I half thought going under the knife might be preferable…

How wrong was I.

Running (or probably more accurately in my case plodding) the London Marathon is to take part in the most life-affirming and hope-renewing of sporting events.

Matt Gatward decided to run to raise money for Pancreatic Cancer UK at the London Marathon

A mass of people from all walks of life, all shapes and sizes, ages and colours all pounding the tarmac to raise money for great causes, to remember lost loved ones or for the sheer thrill and challenge of it.

There were folk in camel costumes, dressed as nuns or with fridges on their backs and a world record-setting 10 people all joined together as test tubes in a test tube rack to increase awareness of pancreatic cancer.

They raised over £100,000 to help fund an early detection test for the disease which 10,500 people are diagnosed with each year in the UK. The money could be game-changing.

The day brought back memories of London 2012 but squeezed into one day rather than spread out over a month. The camaraderie, the pride in London, the community spirit was there for all to see.

There was a sea of runners, but almost more amazingly is the ocean of support. From Blackheath to Greenwich, Tower Bridge to Canary Wharf, the Embankment to The Mall, the streets are lined with well-wishers shouting encouragement, handing out water, sweets, love and positivity. Not to mention the army of volunteers who make the whole incredible day happen.

The London Marathon is the most life-affirming and hope-renewing of sporting events

I also decided to run to raise money for Pancreatic Cancer UK – who happened to be this year’s headline charity – after the disease took my mum at the age of 80 last year.

Before she passed, just six months after her diagnosis, I promised her I’d do it (I’m not sure she believed me!) and try and raise a few quid. So, I, like over 55,000 – a new world record for the number of finishers despite the hot conditions, beating last November’s New York marathon – had an incentive to battle the temperatures and get round.

Working in sport, so many storylines are about the £350,000-a-week footballer, the distant Premier League club owners squeezing more and more money out of the increasingly ostracised hard-working fan or ticket prices going through the roof at Lord’s, Wimbledon or Silverstone.

So to learn, from talking to other runners, and to experience first hand the incredible generosity and warmth of everyday people renews one’s faith in humankind.

The London Marathon had always been on my bucket list but I’d managed to find an excuse each year. But turning 50, losing my mum and knowing it was now or never inspired me to give it a crack. And I couldn’t be happier that I did.

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What it’s REALLY like to run in the London Marathon: How my experience brought back memories of 2012 on incredible day

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