VLM 2011 (4 Marathons in 24hrs)

Well, I did it, 4 Marathons in 24hrs (22hrs08mins and a few seconds to be exact) along the London Marathon route. I would first like to say a massive thanks to everyone who has helped in the lead up to and during this challenge, to name but a few:

Debs - PR / Tweeting / Facebook supremo and girl about town
Shooting Star CHASE - For their support and PR, oh and the massage straight after the final marathon
Work Colleagues, Friends and Family - For there generosity in sponsoring me
Charlotte (my wife) - For putting up with the months of training and racing (I promise to start doing some of the jobs around the house that have been on hold),
and last but by no means least Rob and Jerry:
Rob (support crew/buddy runner) - Thanks for keeping me company on parts of my my journey, can't believe you ran over 27miles in total after such a bad injury in November (if Susie is reading this I mean 2.7miles!!!!) and lugging my gear around in the car to various points, and making sure Jerry and I were eating and drinking enough, and for all your positive comments
Jerry (buddy runner/mule) - Not many friends who you can rely on to step up and run a double marathon (52.4miles) with you and only 2 weeks after running over 100km on a track!! He kept me running more than walking and also carried my extra supplies and got me back to the official start in plenty of time for marathon no 4, the official London Marathon. Oh yes, and thanks for not singing.

The Start (Marathon 1) - As per usual, some last minute faffing about by me meant we were running late so by the time we got to The Mall we were 10-15mins behind schedule.  There was a small group at The Mall to send me off and wish me luck - Rob (running friend and support crew) who was also there to grab my bag of kit for the later 'turnrounds', Russell (my work colleague) who was planning to run 6 or 7 miles of the first Marathon with me, and also a small group of people who were either from or running for Shooting Star. After a quick photo shoot, first with The Sun (not Page 3!) and then a couple of PR photos for Shooting Star CHASE  I was ready to get going. I gave a quick goodbye to my 'send off committee' and headed off with Russ.  The first 2miles were so busy with 'tourists' that we were weaving in and out of pedestrians before it started to thin out and we could run at a nice easy pace. 

I was chief navigator (never a good plan) but we made good progress with only a couple of errors/detours, 7miles came and went and Russ said he would carry on for a bit more.  Before long we were going past 12miles, and were joined by Rob, we then ran to half way where Russ said goodbye and wished me luck.  A great effort from him as he ran double what he had planned, which was really great. Rob then kept me company for a few more miles, before he left me to it for the run to Greenwich Park and the Red start. This was fairly uneventful although I did notice a couple of hills which would feel a lot steeper/longer come the later miles.

The Rob and Jerry welcoming committee were waiting for me - it was great to see Jerry as I hadn't seen him since February. A quick change into my Marathon 2 of 4 vest (after some faffing about with an extra t-shirt - sorry Rob), some nibbles, drink to re-fill my camelbak, a  change of socks and taping a small blister and we were off after about a 15min turnaround.

Marathon 2
Rob, Jerry and I set off from Greenwich Park.  With the three of us running together, it was like last year when we were running a few races together, Jerry and Rob kept the pace just under 10min miles which I know sounds slow but pacing is key in ultra distance and I needed to run about 75% and walk 25% of the next 52miles to get back to the official race in time.  So going too quick is a very bad idea. Once Rob had advised us of the amount of miles he had run to-day he/we agreed it was time for him to get back to the car so he could do one last support crew meet up before Jerry and I made our way into the night for the remainder of our run.

Jerry and I didn't talk much for a bit as I was having a bit of a lull around the 34mile mark which sometimes happens.  I was just hoping the terrible rough patch of 20+ miles I had during the Ridgeway last year wasn't going to happen again, thankfully it didn't, and we were soon having the odd little chat about the sights and sounds of London at night. We were also getting the odd "bit early for the marathon aren't you mate" or "it's tomorrow" from the locals/passing cars, which we smiled about.

We were soon crossing over Tower Bridge and on the home stretch, as such, back to The Mall.  Tower Bridge was to become the yuck point of the rest of the run as I was going to run past/over it 8 times during the course of this run (not good) and could see it on the way back from The Mall on the other side of the road when it would actually be another 9 miles before I crossed it.

At around 2am Rob met us with new kit, and extra supplies including some lovely flat coke, mini snickers bars and a bannana which Rob practically force fed me. We thanked Rob for his fantastic support (he was off to get some well earned sleep as he was helping some runners from his running club later in the morning) and Jerry and I trundled off into the night. Just as we got to the junction of Embankment and Birdcage Walk we saw another runner and Jerry recognised him as the bloke who was running the course twice and had been in the Daily Mail newspaper.  I just said hi, but Jerry was very quick to tell him I was doing the course 4 times. Not sure what the bloke thought of being told this but Jerry, being the mischiveous person he is, was smiling to himself. We were soon onto The Mall.  Jerry asked Virgin Security if we could get to the finish line gantry, but the answer was no, so we ran up the side to in line with the finish and the completion of Marathon 2 (54miles on the Garmin!), and Marathon 1 for Jerry.

Marathon 3
A few hundred yards into this Marathon we decided to stop at a park bench along Birdcage Walk so I could attend to my feet (one blister on toe, one big one developing on the ball of left foot) and change into running vest Marathon 3 of 4. We had a very chatty Security man come over and start talking to us, we both thought he was "interesting" as he told us of the amount of injuries he had sustained, and how he was a bit accident prone, but we had to get going and we were soon on our way again into the night.

Jerry and I were very quiet for stretches of this leg as both of us were trying to ignore the sleep monsters trying to coax us into sitting down, closing our eyes and snoozing. This is one of the main enemies of ultra distance running, and I really suffered during the night section of the Ridgeway in August, but thankfully we both kept strong and focused on plodding on and only walking when we got to hills, to be honest speed bumps were close to being classed as hills at one stage. We also had the opportunity to encounter some of the more interesting inhabitants of London during the night in some of the more, shall we say, tough parts of the capital, like the drunk lying on the floor, the rowdy clubbers falling out of late night establishments, or the two sexily dressed ladies standing on the corner of a road who had two rather scary looking men sat close by, Jerry said they were ladies of the night, not sure how he would know (haha).

As the sun began to rise so did our energy levels and our spirits  The marathon set up crews were starting to get things ready for the mass starts so we started to get a bit of banter with them, well Jerry was doing a lot of the talking!!  Jerry also managed to scrounge some water from the water stop crew, smooth talker that he is.

We also had a taxi driver ask us why we were running so early in the wrong direction, Jerry filled him in and the guy wished us the best of luck amongst a couple of swear words. Jerry then mentioned the word TEA, and that was then the mission, find somewhere to get a hot sweet tea with 2 sugars. Thankfully we didn't have to wait long as Jerry spied a cafe just as we came into Greenwich. I have to say the tea tasted great and really hit the spot.  It gave me the energy for the last 3 or 4 miles to the Red start, although we did walk the couple of  hills as by now they were not runnable in my book without using up too much energy and we were well within time thanks to Jerry's brilliant pacing throughout the night. In fact, I was surprised we ran so much during the night, but I put some of this down to being in even better condition than last August.  In fact I was probably in the best shape ever apart from the virus I picked up after Brighton Marathon the weekend before and hadn't shifted, which had been a worry all week, but thankfully it hadn't done me too much damage as here I was getting to the end of Marathon 3. 

As we ran up the road we could see the barage balloons and all of the crowds making there way to the 3 starts.  Jerry managed to get me a space blanket to use to keep warm and we made our way into the park and found a nice bit of grass to sit down near the start corral. I started to change and gave Jerry all of the bits I didn't need, we didn't say much, we didn't need to, Jerry knew and I knew we had done a great job of getting to this point, and with a handshake, and a "good luck" Jerry was off home and I was left to myself to get ready for what was going to be a very tough Marathon.

Marathon 4 (Virgin London Marathon 2011)
While I was sat on my bit of green grass, Paul (one of the people running for Shooting Star CHASE Children’s Hospice) came over and wished me luck, he said it was an incredible thing I was attempting and he thanked me for my huge effort. This really meant something to me as Paul's son attends the Hospice so I know Paul really meant what he said; I wished him luck as he was aiming to go sub 3:10. So there I was sat with my feet airing, a big blister on the ball of my left foot even with my attempts at taping it earlier, a big hot spot on the ball of the right, and one on my toe which I had taped many hours before.
So I got my little blister kit out and did my best to patch my feet up and get them ready for another 26.2miles of London's streets.  During this time I became aware that my quads were going into spasm and almost cramping up, which wasn't brilliant. I knew this longish stop wasn't the best for me but I don't think the organisers were going to bring the start forward on my behalf!

So I got some Buzz Bar down me and also a satsuma (which tasted great) and then a Gel (didn't taste so great!!), washed it down and got myself and my gear ready which was just as well as then I heard the gun go for the start - oops. Now I couldn't get into the corals as all of the fences were now in place so I walked up to the official and asked how I got in, who advised me to go back down as there were openings in the fence I could go through, no there effing were not and I wasn't going back down the way I had come. So sensing my slight loss of patience and on reading my race vest "4 Marathons in 24hrs - Marathon 4 of 4" the kind lady said, "it's ok, you can go in this way, and good luck".

It was quite funny, well to me, at how tired and underwhelmed I looked in the picture I took of myself at this point while waiting to cross the start line, as all around me were excited and energetic looking people itching to get going, oh how I wished that was how I felt. But I was on the last leg of a pretty big journey and now was the time to get stuck in and show what I was made of, not to prove anything to anyone or try and do the big 'look what I can do' thing, but to prove to myself I was capable of doing this.

As we crossed the start line I pressed the Lap button on my stopwatch for the last time and started to run, which felt ok but not great as the 35min downtime had not worked in my favour. I figured I was going to run until we hit the big hill and walk it then run all of what I could to the 5k mark, then see how things were with legs and blisters. As it turned out, the first 5k was the most consistent/quickest running I would manage for the rest of the race.

I was very surprised about the amount of people walking when I was, now I know why I was walking, but having to walk 2 miles into a marathon does not bode well in my opinion, but each has their own goal, so I didn't dwell much on this as I had my own worries.

It soon started to get very warm and I hadn't factored in sunscreen, so I knew I was going to get a bit burnt, which obviously added to my overwhelming feeling of joy and happiness! In honesty I didn't worry too much, just turned my baseball cap round the wrong way to protect my neck and used a little water over my head and neck at every couple of water stations. It was at mile 7 that I saw Rob (looking fresh as a daisy), as he had said he would be there, and he took a quick picture, told me I was looking great (liar) and gave me a little bottle of flat coke and a mini snickers bar, what a top bloke. He then told me to get my arse moving, which I duly did, albeit slowly. From here on in the blisters on the balls of my feet were very sore but so were the outside of both of my quads, walking was painful and slow, running was more painful but quicker, not a great set of options at this stage but the only two available. I plodded away, now wishing each mile marker to come quicker, but knowing where they were I didn't have the luxury of being surprised to see a certain mile marker suddenly appear on the horizon.


Getting to Tower Bridge was a good and bad thing, good in that it was pretty much halfway, bad in that I knew all of the rest of the route, and could also see all of the people on the other side of the road approx 8miles ahead, oh how I wished I was on that side of the road. I walked over Tower Bridge, trying to feel the crowd but to be honest I just wasn't feeling it the way I had hoped, I just couldn't get into the atmosphere that much, which was a shame.


At mile 16 I rang my wife to ask where she and my son were, my wife said at mile 19, so I ran a bit more than walked and focused on mile 19 as I wanted to see my wife and son. As I came upto mile 19 I walked keeping an eye out for them, but as I went further past the 19mile marker my heart sank a little as I knew I had missed them. It later transpires that my wife and son saw the bloke in the funny boobs and bum costume going through at mile 19 and I was about 10feet behind him, never mind.


I stopped at the next St John Ambulance station to get a couple of plasters to replace the taping that had come off of the BIG blister on the ball of my left foot which had burst a couple of miles earlier, an extra few minutes wasn't going to make much difference and a little extra comfort over the last 10k or so would be welcome. The St John's people were quick and efficient and asked me a few questions, one of them being "are you continuing the race", mmm I thought - shall I throw in the towel after 98miles and kick back and relax???   Yes, of course I was continuing, thanks for the plasters, but I have a 104.8 mile race to finish. 


A mile later the blister on the ball of my right foot was really painful and I was regretting not getting some plasters for this as well, so my running action at this stage was somewhat 'unique' to try and work round the very painful burst blisters and sore quads. The mile markers semed to be a loooonnnngggg way apart at this stage as I was wishing them to come and when you do that they invariably take a lot longer to reach. Thankfully I was at last on Embankment and mile 24 was in the distance, this was good, as the amount of support and noise here is immense, it has to be heard to be believed, this is what makes the London Marathon such a great event. I was getting lots of 'come on David, nearly there' and 'well done, only 2miles to go', as were most runners going through.  I was now looking for the 25mile marker and then saw one in the distance and then remembered it was the 40k marker (I laughed to myself, as I imagine a huge amount of runners would have thought it was the 25mile marker and then felt a bit peeved).


Coming into Birdcage Walk I was running, not fast, but running, but then walked for a bit and thought to myself how long this last bit is to The Mall, especially when walking. The crowds here are brilliant and I was actually enjoying this last bit (apart from the blisters, and trashed quads) and trying to savour the moment as much as possible as I was coming to the end of my challenge. I saw Calum Best very slowly go past me just as we hit The Mall, I did think 'I can beat him' but then thought 'who the hell cares' so just walked the last 200m or so to the finish line and recorded a little video as I came in, and that was it all over, job done, end of the journey. 4 marathons, 104.8miles, 22hrs08mins, and £2,200 raised for Shooting Star CHASE.


And the best bit, apart from finishing, was making my way to the meeting area and seeing my wife and son, this lifted my spirits no end. A HUGE hug for my son and a kiss from my wife, and then when I got home a massive kiss and hug from my daughter, it made it all worthwhile. I am obviously going soft in my old age.

Me, Russ, with Nick behind and Rob before the start.

Posing for phots for The Sun photographer

WIth the excellent Shooting Star CHASE before the start

The 3 amigos (l to r) Rob, me and Russ

Russ just about to finish having done 13.1 miles (top effort)

Me and Rob on Tower Bridge for the first of many times

If you run Ultras you will recognise how I am feeling

On The Mall next to the finish line at the end of Marathon No 2

End of Marathon No 2 at The Mall (just under 54miles done)

Jerry sporting his now famous Union Jack shorts, this is about 02:00am on Marathon no 2 (no 1 for Jerry)

About to start the Official London Marathon, I look really pumped!!!!




Mucking about with my son on the train to London to start my run