Yesterday I ran the TCS 2025 London Marathon. If you follow my blog, you know that I have been training for this event for a while. Yesterday, on the 27th of April 2025, was finally the day. This is my short summary of the event.
Training recap
I started my training right at the beginning of this year. I shared my updates in a couple of the previous posts for the last 3 months: January, February and March.
The last couple of weeks didn’t go as planned. I developed some kind of pain in my left thigh and had to skip my last long run. I also reduced the mileage in the tapering phase, resulting in around 100 km of running in April.
Compared to my previous months, this is a significant drop in mileage. I was definitely feeling not 100% ready for this race. On the other hand, during the last week I managed to get some rest, so my plan was just to take it easy, run at a comfortable pace, and enjoy the event from start to finish line.
Race day
I got my kit ready the day before and took a classic top-down photo of the outfit.
On race day, I set my alarm for 7:00 AM to get ready and have breakfast. I had a classic oatmeal with raisins and a yogurt. Also a small cup of coffee to wake up. I managed to get some “bowel movement” before leaving home, which was great because this was one of my concerns before the day ;-)
On the way to the start
The start area was located in Greenwich Park, and everything was organized quite well. There were more than 50,000+ runners participating in the event, so the logistics definitely had to be well thought out.
My start time was scheduled for around 10:45 AM, in Wave 11, so I got to the start area around 9:30 AM. There was a bit of a walk from the nearest train station to get there, but the weather was nice and sunny, so I didn’t mind it at all.
You could sense the excitement buzzing in the air!
After bag drop-off and the obligatory toilet queue, I was ready. There was a bit of a wait for my wave to start, but I think the timing was quite right and it didn’t feel too long.
The sky was clear and the sun was shining. It was quite warm already, so I was expecting it would be a hot day, perhaps even too hot for running a marathon at a good pace.
The first half
Around 10:45 AM, my wave started and I was off running. The first few kilometers felt good; I was running at a comfortable pace, around 6:30 min/km, definitely faster than I had planned. As usual, in the beginning we tend to run faster than we should, with the adrenaline and excitement carrying us away.
I managed to run the first 10 km in around 1:05, which I knew was too fast, but I decided to keep it up for a while since I was in the zone and it felt okay.
The warm weather was noticeable. I was sweating a lot and getting thirsty quite quickly. The water stations were positioned every 5 km. At every station, I would grab a bottle, drink half of it, and pour the rest over my head and neck. It was a good way to cool down a bit. I also had one gel at around the 10 km mark.
I maintained this overconfident pace until around the 20 km mark, when I started to feel the heat and fatigue kicking in more seriously. I met my partner just before the Tower Bridge, and that gave me a nice boost of energy and motivation to keep going.
The second half
For the second half of the race, I had to slow down quite a bit. I was already starting to feel the fatigue in my legs, and it was way too hot for my liking.
Occasional sprinklers on the route were a great relief:
The route led through Canary Wharf and felt a bit of a drag at this point. I started taking a lot of walking breaks, slowing down significantly. Initially, I was hoping to finish under 5 hours, but at some point, I realized that this was not going to happen.
The last few miles were definitely the hardest. I was out of energy, and my legs felt heavy and painful. But after passing the 40 km mark, I knew that I was almost there. I just had to keep going.
It was a memorable experience to run through the finish line, with the crowd of cheering folks and the iconic London landmarks in the background.
With the last few hundred meters to go, I tried to enjoy the moment as much as I could and not focus on the pain. As one of the signs on the route said:
Pain is just a French word for bread
With a few hundred steps to go, I was happy to see the finish line in the distance. I put on my best smile and crossed the finish line.
Results
I finished with a time of 5:18:48, which may not be the best time, but I am happy with it as my goals were simply to finish and enjoy the event.
Will I do it again? If you ask me now, I would say not really. The race atmosphere was great, and I feel happy to have done it. But I don’t think I would like to run the same race again. There are many other races to explore, and if I go back to the marathon distance, I will probably choose a different one.
Still, I am glad I did it. It was a great experience, and I feel proud of myself for finishing it. I’m very grateful for the patience and support from my partner and the words of encouragement from my friends and family!
Thanks for reading and following my journey!
