One week ago I crossed the London Marathon finish line. In the lead-up to the race I was in two minds: target a sub-3, or settle for a Good for Age. At 59, the M55 GFA standard is 3:12, so anything under 3:10 would hopefully secure my place for next year.
By race morning I’d made my decision: focus on the GFA. It came down to four factors:
A holiday in Madeira two weeks before the race where I’d done next to nothing. I felt stiff on my return, particularly in my left calf, and I couldn’t fully shake it.
It was a fairly warm day. I’m a bigger runner at just under 80 kg, and I knew this probably wasn’t going to be the day for a big sub-3 effort.
Starting at the back of Wave 3 in a very crowded field.
Most importantly, what would a sub-3 at 59 actually mean to me? There are far fewer runners doing this in the M60 age category and it would make for a better, more meaningful challenge to save myself this year and go for it properly next year.
So I ran London as a hard tr