London Landmarks Half Marathon.
Report – Tomas Horbury.
The day started crisp and the sun was shinning brightly for the masses.
Masses there were, 13,000 people lined Pall Mall for the start of the second London Landmarks Half Marathon. There was the usual over excitable warm up people with the usual excitable people warming up, where as the hard core runners warmed up round the corner – myself, well I just had a cup of Rosie Lee.
The usual mad dash start was missing as we were segregated in the times we had guessed we would finish, I guessed wrong and started at the back with the fancy dress costumes, some bloke thought I was in fancy dress and kept asking if I was tinky winky or La La…
So with strava set and the starter klaxon bellowing we were off, past Trafalgar Square onto The Strand up Kingsway, sharp 180 degrees and head back towards the river. As we approached Waterloo Bridge, we are met by two groups of drummers having a “Drum Off” – the noise was deafening but it really got you going!
We headed back into London Town, past St Paul’s Cathedral, and the Tower of London and headed back towards The Embankment.
As we headed towards what can only be described as the single most boring part of the run, Blackfriars, we headed towards the drum and bass of the tunnel, this was amazing as the crowds were dancing and the runners were dancing.
We continued down The Embankment towards Parliament, where at mile 12 I hit a wall, not a real one obviously, but a mental and physical one. Thankfully my wife and kids were at the right place at the right time to get me going again. As we turned the final 180 degrees, we headed towards Downing Street and at the end it was great to be greeted by thousands of onlookers, all cheering all clapping as we crossed the line!
2h16m47sec it took me to do the London Landmarks Half Marathon and it was one of the best 2h 16m 47sec of my life!
Will I be back next year? Hell yes! Will I be quicker? Who knows, but I will give it a go!! |