Back in January’s edition of Switched On, we ran (pun possibly intended…) a piece on Charlie Ramsay, Alex Crabb and Dan Spence who were partnering with London Youth to run the London Marathon.
April 28th has now been and gone so I again spoke with the trio to find out how they got on.
How did you find the whole marathon experience?
CR: I enjoyed the whole process, from having a goal, training and diet (not so much) plan, and seeing the improvement as weeks went by. The actual day itself, I would describe as a five hour long street party, with a huge uplifting crowd and all in all a great experience! I would recommend to anyone.
AC: I didn’t think I would enjoy it, but I loved the whole process and the big day a lot more than I thought I would. At times I found the training at tough but towards the end I really started to enjoy it and the atmosphere on the day was amazing!
DS: The whole day was an amazing experience. The build up to it, the people who were taking part, and the crowd who kept us going throughout.
Talk us through your race, how did you get on?
CR: I made a really good start and up to around the halfway mark, where my knee gave way. The rest from there was pain and suffering, although the encouragement from crowd, family and friends made it all worthwhile and definitely helped me across the finish line.
AC: I started my race really strongly and was running at a good solid pace confidently, however around 7 miles in I felt a slight pain on the side of my left knee but continued to push through. By the time I got to 8 miles it got a lot worse and the pain went from my knee all the way to my groin and hip, I stopped to stretch it and then started to run again which sadly made it feel 10 times worse! I felt pretty upset as I knew I wasn’t going to be able to complete this run now to the best of my ability. I jogged and walked until mile 11 when I saw my family watching on, at this point I will admit I broke down in tears but I wanted to complete the race no matter what! At mile 17 I saw them again where they had bought me a knee support and spray which helped a tiny bit but my knee was in pieces and the other now cramping up as it was carrying the majority of my weight. I ran through the pain and ended up completing in 6 hours. I had my knee checked out the day after and I had badly damaged my IT band which is still in recovery but getting better.
DS: At the start I was excited to get going, no nerves really. After mile 1 Charlie left myself and Alex… we both stayed together running at a decent pace. Alex pulled a muscle in his knee around mile 8, so I stayed with him as he was in a lot of pain. We walked, ran for a lot of it… until we got to mile 17, where he met up with a mate, so I left him and went for it to make up some time. The crowd were amazing shouting our names, kept me going!
How did you feel crossing the line?
CR: A huge sense of relief!
AC: The feeling was amazing, I felt so proud of myself, overwhelmed and happy I had got through it. Getting the medal at the end was the best feeling after the last straight run to the big red finish line.
DS: Happiness / pleasure / relief / excitement / where’s the food at!
Would you do it again?
CR: I have signed up to the ballot for next year, but there’s a part of me that hopes I don’t get a place…
AC: I have already entered as I loved the whole day and want to do it with no injury and get a good time.
DS: After the actual event I would have said no… looking back on it now… I probably would yeah.
Any plans for any other events going forward?
CR: There is talk in TPI of doing the Tough mudder run, so possibly this.
AC: I want to get a place for marathon again train for much longer and really aim for a good time
DS: Not at the moment. I will keep up the running though.
So all in all, despite a few injuries, the guys battled through and completed in 6 hours or under which is a great achievement. I’m fairly certain the guy running in the full metal diving suit would beat me! Congratulations to all three and anyone else who ran, raising an amazing amount of money in the process.
