Can we classify laryngitis as a running injury? I’ve spent rather a lot of this weekend yelling myself hoarse at runners: from the London Stadium on Saturday night to the streets of London yesterday. I even did a bit of running myself. But mainly I watched the pros do it, from a rather controversial Saturday night, to a wonderful marathon yesterday.
While the World Championship marathoners deserved huge crowds, the fact that there weren’t too many people on the streets did mean that my two girls and I got some fantastic views and were able to walk much of the loop course, from Embankment to Tower Bridge, bumping into friends, cheering as we went. We screamed ourselves hoarse for marathon legend Yuki Kawauchi (50 sub 2hr 16m marathons and counting …) and for the wonderful performances by Callum Hawkins and Aly Dixon. The girls got particularly excited every time they spotted Tracy Barlow, who they’ve met and regard now as their very own personal elite runner.
If running marathons is an emotional experience, watching other people do it is almost more so. While watching the best British men’s marathon performance in decades is wonderful, it was the tail end of the (still very fast) fields that got me. A Swedish runner who – like Aly Dixon – ran the entire thing with this look of sheer, “I can’t believe I’m here” joy on her face. The athletes who had dropped out, that we stumbled across on a quiet street, patiently but dejectedly sitting on the road waiting to be picked up. When you watch on the TV, you see the winners. When you go and watch the whole race, you see the full story.
So, over to you. What did the weekend hold for you – manage to squeeze any running between watching other people doing it? Or inspired by the elites into an epic PB? As always, share your highs and lows below the line.
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