FACTS ABOUT THE LONDON MARATHON

Photo: Prisca Leptoo, Kenya (2:20) Olimpic at London 2012

The British champion Scott Overall wondered before the Virgin London Marathon: Who’s concerned? Don’t worry, embrace the challenge and get ready for the crazy weather and an even crazier crowd cheering on the way.

In fact, London's nutty weather  on the day of the race, varied between 10 and 15 degrees centigrade in the early morning of Sunday April21st, and at 12m, it got to the 18°C with a thermal sensation of 15°C.

This legendary marathon –one of the 5 Majors- was held on Sunday April 21st, exactly one week after the Boston Marathon (Monday April 15th) where  two Chechen terrorists were allegedly the perpetrators of the  bomb explosions which killed 3 people and injured more than 130, all of them part of the crowds which were watching the marathon.

A minute of silence was requested for the victims of the Boston bombing... it might have been the most felt moment of the race. 35,000 runners quiet and meditating on the pain that our fellow athletes had felt a few days before at the Mecca of all athletic events.

The next most famous marathons after Boston and London are: Madrid 42k (April 28th), followed by Moscow on August the 10th (women’s) and August 17th for men, Berlin is on September 29th, Chicago on October the 13th and New York on November 3rd.

Prince Harry, together with eight members of Parlament delivered the medals to the winners in London and some of the congressmen also ran it; couple of them for the second time.

You need to have a plan and a target time to run a marathon, whether if it’s London or anywhere else in the world; also think about running for a cause as many of the London runners.You must also begin the Tapering process which means to reduce training loads two or three days before the race.

My time at this race was not the planned (3:42 vs. my PR 3:34 in Boston 2010). But I had a blast in one of the most beautiful cities of the world. I also loved the people and their culture. Actually, I do not agree with Obelix, who  said: “These Britons are crazy” when he complained about their  bad food, warm beer and the fact that they serve “tea with a cloud of milk”.