Marathon Update III

One week to go...

Nobby: Last week we heard about David's preparations for the first London Marathon. So how did it go, did he hit the wall in Wapping, or was it a cruise to Constitution Hill?

The morning of 29th March, 1981 was overcast, soon to convert to rain; refreshing (with no fear of overheating) but also perfect conditions for chaffing and sore/bleeding nipples!

7,055 runners set off from Blackheath and 6,418 crossed the finishing line at Constitution Hill; a tremendously inspiring event, prompting the commentator David Coleman to state: "This London Marathon is surely the most remarkable success". 

The Guardian: Mass setting of watches as the start cannon fires and the runners set off on the first London Marathon, 29 March 1981.  
Photograph: PA

And so it has continued to be every year since, as the number of runners has grown and grown and innumerable charities have benefited from this festival of running. In 2025 over 56,000 runners crossed the finishing line. Back in 1981, in the spirit of friendship and to mark the first ever London Marathon, Inge Simonsen and Dick Beardsley crossed the line, hand in hand, in an identical time of 2 hours, 11 minutes and 48 seconds.

Click on the link to see a video of the end of the race: The Hand of Friendship

21 year old David Pyle finished in place 1492 in a time of 3 hours 4 minutes and 25 seconds. To this day, I feel I could and should have recorded a sub 3 hour time if liquid intake had been available, especially on the Isle of Dogs which, at the time was still an industrial landscape, difficult to access and therefore devoid of crowd encouragement.

Nonetheless, to this day, I still consider this day and this event to be the overriding highlight of my sporting life. Not that I would have offered this viewpoint the day following the race as I shuffled on my bottom down the stairs from my third floor flat, lactic acid laden and unable to walk.

Nobby: An amazing achievement for someone who wasn't used to distance running. However, by the end, it sounds like you were ...

Running on Empty - Jackson Browne

More to come from David on Tuesday when he draws on his experience of distance and marathon running to share some thoughts on how to look after yourself mentally, emotionally and physically.

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Posted by David & Nobby