Marathon Spectator Guide

Emily's Teddy Will Be Running
His First Marathon With Alison! 

In less than two weeks it will all be over. 
There will be medals for all and a big pile of purple-accented people to be picked up and dragged home for a wash. There might even be some champagne but above all I hope there will be pride that we all did something amazing together for our charity and above all for Emily.
This post is a spectator guide for anyone who'd like to come and watch the spectacle that is The London Marathon and who wants to have the best chance of spotting members of TEAM!.




The Start
Spectators are not permitted into the start areas on race day so runners would do best to get themselves to Greenwich without an entourage and for spectators to go straight to the course.

This is TEAM! Kit -
Look For TEAM! Caps

Start Times:
Elite Women 09:00

Wheelchair Men and Women 09:20

Paralympics World Cup 09:22

Mass Start 10:00

The Finish
The finish is also a spectator no-go area and runners will have to proceed through a secure zone to collect their kit bag before heading out to the Runner Meet and Greet in Horseguards Road and Horseguards Parade. If spectators know when their member of TEAM! is due to finish, they could make arrangements to meet them here under their surname letter and help carry their battered bodies to the Diabetes UK Cool Down Party at The Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre (details below) where we'd love all of TEAM! to congregate when they have finished, along with their family, friends and supporters. Since there's a large spread of running times across TEAM! with some aiming to finish in 3-4 hours and some in 5, this will give us a chance to share a congratulatory hug as people finish and enjoy some pampering care of Diabetes UK, before everyone disappears off to put their feet up.


Diabetes UK Cool Down Party:
Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre, Mountbatten Lounge (5th floor), Broad Sanctuary, Westminster, SW1P 3EE, 12PM – 6PM. 
Diabetes UK are providing:

• Food for runners
• Massage area for runners
• Exclusive ‘Thank You’ zone for runners, friends and family to use for picture and video taking (including a fantastic view of the London skyline)
• Refreshments for friends and family
• Music of your choice
• Live BBC Marathon Coverage

The closest Tube is Westminster and to get there from the Runner Meet and Greet in Horseguards is easy - see map below:

The All-Important Bit in The Middle
Using this amazing interactive tool courtesy of the Virgin London Marathon website, you can enter your runner's prospective finishing time (see below) and work out where on the course they will be at a particular time for you to cheer them on (do bear in mind it can take 20 minutes for everyone at the Mass Start to go over the start line so the locations and timings you get could be subject to plus up to 20 minutes) and you can also use it to see where likely quiet or vibrant locations for viewing will be to help plan your day.

Diabetes UK are going to have two special Cheering Points at The Draft House pub by Tower Bridge and Big Ben. Their locations and details are in this linked document. 

The charity have asked that if anyone would like to join them there then we should give them names and details so please ask a member of TEAM! to do this on your behalf. They will have balloon arches, bang sticks and crazy hair (essential cheering tools) as well as a steel band so these two locations should be a fun place to stand as well as being easily seen by TEAM! as we all sail majestically past (dream on). 

TEAM! Running Numbers and Times to Finish:

Spectator Tips:

• If you are a TV spectator then anyone with Virgin Media, Sky, Freesat will be able to view the finishing line camera live until 4pm by using the Red Button during BBC coverage - this is also available online
• Make arrangements with your member of TEAM! before the day and don't rely on mobiles to make contact as due to the numbers of people all doing the same thing this isn't reliable
• Make sure you know TEAM! runners race numbers (see above) so you can check their whereabouts online and finish details
• Take a packet of tissues - from personal experience watching the Marathon in 2006 for the first time it can simply be overwhelming the displays of human endeavour and triumph against the odds - blubbing at strangers is normal
• Related to the point above please expect to desire to take part in 2014 and we wish you all the luck in the world with that!

Fingers and toes crossed for a perfect day, please limber up your cheering muscles and turbo-charge your hugging capabilities as there will be 14 purple people and a bear who'll need some support!


Additional Spectator Resources

Course maps and Virgin London Marathon Magazine Spectator Guide:

The First 6 Miles

Miles 7 to 22

Miles 23 to 26

Guerilla Knitting and Chocolate Carrots

The last couple of weeks have been a frenzy of preparation for the eagerly anticipated quiz-which-turned-into-two quizzes that Iain posted about last week! Because we never manage to learn that everything we do takes much, much more time that we think it will, the organising venues, questions, prizes and raffles has meant that I haven't managed to squeeze in a blog post for a while, but I must as I've got loads of pictures and news to share!
Big news to start with: my lovely friend Claire, who I've known since we both studied Biology at The University of Bath, was victorious in her conquest of the Bath Half Marathon on the 3rd March! Claire not only achieved a superb time of 1:55:52, but in support of TEAM!, she raised a fantastic £260 for Diabetes UK. I am so touched by Claire's huge effort and proud of her magnificent performance: Thank you so much Claire!! x x

At the last TEAM! meet we discussed some ideas to help make us visible to our (we hope) numerous marathon-day supporters and whilst elephant costumes would certainly tick that box, we settled on the idea of 'branded' running caps. 
After an exhaustive, several-hour search, I finally came across the perfect hat - but it was from last season's collection and no longer on general sale! 
Brooks, however, were very helpful and made a special effort to help me get hold of some and even let me sample one free of charge to make sure they'd fit the bill (see me road-testing it below). It's uncanny how Iain's TEAM! logo of white border and purple background is reflected in the Brooks hat - almost like it was made specially for us! 
As with the laces, Mum and Dad are donating the hats to TEAM! and I hope everyone will wear theirs with pride - I shall get them out to everyone in good time for dress-rehearsals when I've sorted out how to get 'TEAM!' in big letters on the front, which is easier said than done... answers on a postcard please.

A week last Sunday saw Iain and I battle the 20-miler for the third time and it doesn't seem to get any easier. There's still the niggling thoughts of 'How the hell am I going to add another 6 miles to this?' as I shuffle up to our front door at the end, and I'm not relishing the prospect of the last two 20-mile instalments. 

Iain used Cadbury's Mini Eggs as running 
carrots to coax me the last 400m :-)

I was also using this run as a decision point for the rest of my training: If my knee became swollen again after the run, then I would drop down to the FIRST Novice Plan for the rest of the training. 'Thankfully' there wasn't a great deal of swelling so I couldn't give myself that get-out and I shall hope that continuing the 'Sellotape and Clams' regimen will see me through. Incidentally on my most recent Physio visit I was told that not only are my butt and deep abdominals doing little to nothing to help my legs run, but now it has been discovered that my calf muscles are too long and not helping matters either. Quite how I can even get out the front door using only thighs and quads is beyond me but goes a long way to explain why I hate cycling up hills and why I quickly get lactic build-up when I climb stairs. I'm wondering if I'll get an extra-special marathon medal for finishing it in the most inefficient way possible?

To finish, here are some pictures from the latest 20-miler that added a new-to-me section of the Thames Path. An exciting highlight was the Guerilla Knitting cheering up the otherwise fairly Derelicte landscape of East Greenwich and Charlton, and I saw The O2 and Thames Cable Car from a new perspective:

Back to the quiz...

Bonus Points For Guessing...

...where I ran to yesterday!

Correct! It's the Cutty Sark. The Cutty Sark is almost exactly 7 miles from our front door along the flattest and most picturesque route I have found so far. The Waterlink Way is one of my regular routes for long runs, going straight out and back and adding extra distance by going further before turning back. I've now done the whole Way twice, the first time accompanied by my good (if not slightly mad) friend Rebecca visiting from Ireland. We chatted the whole way which was quite a revelation for me since I didn't think I could talk and run at the same time and those 2.5 hours flew by. The second completion was yesterday and my longest run so far at 15 miles. I wasn't feeling top notch to start and only really felt good after 6 miles. The 10-mile blister kicked in as usual and the following 5 miles were a struggle, especially the loop I had to add on to make the distance. I guess that's the way it goes sometimes but finish it I did.

Before setting out I made two further Go Go Gu (GGG) formulations to test. The first was the original, heated gently to drive off some water and the second was one mashed banana plus 12g Whole Earth crunchy peanut butter. I also tried an experimental delivery system (sounds flash huh!) consisting of a disposable piping bag with a small hole snipped off the narrow end and sealed with sellotape and folded and clipped at the wide end. My findings if anyone's interested are as follows:

• GGG #1 heated almost fits in one medium GoToob, but not quite - more work needed
• GGG #1 heated requires more chewing though drawing breath whilst eating is easier and less likely to dribble over oneself
• GGG #2 is really tasty! 
• GGG #2 has greater quantity and took nearly a mile to get down
• GGG #2 needs smooth peanut butter. Chewing nuts while going along feels like a choking hazard!
• The piping bag delivery was awesome though didn't feel terribly robust

GGG #2 is really nice and at around 150 calories I think it's a good addition to my 'natural energy gel' arsenal. I may add a smidge more peanut butter and divide the mixture in half to make two 'gel' doses next time. I also realised that I ought to try shop-bought gels for at least one run to remind myself what the comparison is like. Next test: banana and jam.