Diary of a London Marathon Runner - part 5: The big day arrives and it's a journey I'll always treasure

You can read part one of my blog here; part two here; part three here and part four here.

London Marathon 2023 run! Marathon day started with a 5am alarm, to allow me to get clothed, do some light stretching and have a coffee, before I then headed to Three Bridges with my wife, sister and her other half to get a 6.30am bus kindly organised by St Catherine’s Hospice to take us to the start of the marathon in Greenwich.

Just before getting off the bus at around 7.30am, I scoffed my porridge, knowing that would give me three hours to digest breakfast before running at 10.30am. We then had a St Catherine's team photo before I parted ways from my family and headed to the blue start zone with runners Rob and Peter. I was really grateful to have Rob and Peter there for company, as we stood around for the next 2.5 hours for the run to get underway!

Luckily for us, the rain held off for the majority of the waiting time, and when the rain did come the poncho that St Catherine's provided came in very handy! With about 45 minutes to go, I dropped off my bag at the designated drop zone, used the facilities for the final time and did a few stretches before heading to gate seven.

I was in the same group as the 3.55 runners as I was a bit too slow to amend my initial overly ambitious estimated finish time back to 4.30, with cutoff for estimates about the middle of March! The rain started to get a bit heavier about five minues before I was due to run, so I keen to get going ASAP!

Before I knew it we were off! It all felt very surreal, with people lining the streets from the off. The Cutty Sark at mile six was the first area we got to where it was super busy, and the noise from the crowd was phenomenal! I was lucky enough to see my wife, sister and her boyfriend amongst the huge number of Cutty Sark supporters too!

On average, I was fortunate enough to see those that had come to support me about every four miles, with the longest distance without seeing anyone being about seven miles. I’m so incredibly grateful for everyone that came to support me, as every time I saw them it really upped my spirits, and gave me that much needed boost to keep running. At mile 22, I saw my wife again, where she had met up with my best mates, and I shared big group hug with them all. I wish I could have held them for longer, but I was in big danger of ceasing up at that point so got going quickly again. My legs from mile 20 felt like lead!

My brother and his fiancée sprung up unexpectedly at mile 23 to give me another great uplift before I then went past the London Eye, Big Ben and finally Buckingham Palace before reaching the finish line in 4.12.56! This was much quicker than expected, and the only time I stopped running was to give my friends and family a quick hug! My 1st goal was just to complete the marathon, my 2nd to run the whole way and my 3rd to beat 4.30 hours so I’m over the moon to have achieved all those goals!

The atmosphere at the Marathon was incomparable to anything I’d witnessed before with thousands of people cheering me and fellow runners on. There was loads of live music stands and people with megaphones getting everyone going! My favourite part of the course had to be going over Tower Bridge at the halfway mark, as it’s such a spectacular feature of the city.

Most importantly, all the people who sponsored me have managed to raise over £4,300 for St Catherine's, and counting! It feels amazing to give back in some way to this amazing charity, whilst ticking off running the London Marathon from the bucket list. I’m gutted my London Marathon journey is over but it’s a journey I’ll always treasure, and been such a great way to harness the energy of, and remember, my dad.

If you’d like to sponsor me, you can do so on the following link: https://2023tcslondonmarathon.enthuse.com/pf/chris-francis