Jamie Vassallo’s first Marathon

When I was sixteen I decided I wanted to run the London Marathon when I was 18. I thought it would be a good challenge, being one of the youngest on race day and trying to get a good time. After not running for about 9 months through injury I thought that this might be a bit ambitious! By December 2002, I was running about 4 miles, 3 times a week, and it was only out of curiosity that I went onto the Flora London Marathon Website. Here I found that the entry system had closed, yet I looked at the charities that were allocated places. I emailed Spinal Research, not really expecting anything, but on New Year’s Eve, I found out I’d got a place. I had 100 days to go until the event, and in that time, had exams, school, and university interviews to contend with.

My training started with a couple of 10 milers a week, building up the distance, I’d managed to keep my fitness up reasonably well whilst being injured, through swimming, so I didn’t find it too hard. I looked on the Internet and bought a book, ‘Marathon Training Guide’, yet in the end, I used neither. I used my knowledge of exercise and Alan Mitchell’s advice, to come up with a rough training guide. I would train four times a week, and race on Saturday. The emphasis was on endurance work. On Wednesday’s and Sunday’s I would go for my long slow runs, these started off at 2hrs, but by the beginning of March I was doing 3hrs, covering 20-21 miles. Tuesday tended to be race preparation, Thursday would be a slow jog and then Saturday I would race in the cross-country team. At the end of the season, I was ranked 25th in the Sussex/Surrey Hurst-Penney League.

The training was not without its problems. There were a few setbacks: I injured my knee, gave blood, and then caught a cold (not to mention a couple of missed Sunday runs, after Saturday night celebrations) with only 3 weeks to go! The final two and a half weeks I spent in Newcastle, which was probably a good thing for my running. I found a 10-mile course, which was horribly hilly and covered about 80-90 miles, doing 20 in one go, with 2 weeks left. I also spent a fair bit of time in the gym, cross-training, which boosted my overall fitness a bit more.

Coming down on the train, 2 days before the Marathon, I was rather nervous, and found the registration process rather daunting, especially when seeing the “7 stages of Marathon”, no. 5 being “Despair”: not very inspiring for a ‘marathon-virgin’, a term I heard a lot of people use!

I plucked up the courage and enjoyed the exhibition, managing to get an impressive collection of free T-shirts! The day before the marathon I relaxed, and ate. I felt like a goose that was getting fed to make Foie Gras. Large quantities of pasta were consumed, and although I knew it was good for me, I couldn’t but feel I was committing a cardinal sin, an Italian who had developed distaste for pasta. When the word pasta came up, I would cringe and shy away in fear!

With a sleepless night on Saturday, I was up at 7:45 rather nervous to say the least. The weather was brilliant for sunbathing, but I was sceptical as to its suitability for running. It was difficult to take in the huge scale of things, Blackheath was crammed, Greenwich Park was bursting and there I was in the middle of it.

I crossed the start line at 9:53, and immediately felt brilliant. Thousands of people lined the streets for the whole course, cheering as I went along, shouting out and clapping. There were bands playing on the roadside and pubs with their music on full-volume. It was only at about 6 miles when I realised, I was actually running the marathon, and I couldn’t believe it. 100 days ago, I was in Kuwait, now on the streets of London running. I found myself running faster than I thought, averaging about 7:30 min miles, taking a couple of gulps of water (Vittel of course), and Lucozade, then chucking the drinks on the floor and carrying on. I loved the experience. The knowledge that for every mile I ran there was £100 for charity spurred me on. The much-dreaded ‘Wall’ didn’t affect me, or I wasn’t conscious of it, my quads got a bit sore at 21/22 miles, but I didn’t feel like stopping.

The hardest part for me had to be the last mile, running along the Embankment, a nasty long stretch of road. It was here that I depended on the crowds, shouting support: “Come on Spinal Research”, “Come on Son, you can do it”, “You’re looking brilliant, just a bit further now!”

By this stage, the letters of my name had run, and so was illegible, and I certainly was not looking brilliant! It had to be the final 300m or so, when I was completely gone, that another runner came alongside and said, “let’s finish this”. So started my ‘sprint finish’. The feeling of having the medal put around my neck, made it all worthwhile, I had done it, run the London Marathon, completing it in 3hrs 19mins 22secs. A time that I would later find out to be the fastest that anyone had done whilst at Worth (including teachers)!

It took about 25 min to walk 400m, my hamstrings dead. But I was still taking in the atmosphere at the Horse Guard’s Parade. I hadn’t felt that there was much camaraderie during the run, but at the end, it was visible, everyone there had been through the same thing and people congratulated each other. I met up with my parents and three friends, and went off to the pub for a celebratory drink! Quite a few other ‘marathoners’ had the same idea, all of us wearing the official finishers’ shirt and bearing the medal for everyone in London to see. For the next 36 hours, I was drinking non-stop Lucozade and Vittel, trying to rehydrate (a process that finally stopped on Tuesday).

The next day, I wasn’t feeling too bad; my hips felt a bit stiff, but nothing major. The main problem was drinking and re-hydrating. Then on Tuesday, back to the gym!

I mentioned earlier about the 7 stages of Marathon, well the 7th is “Repeat”. Something which I intend to do. I happen to be in Sydney for my Gap Year, when they have their marathon in September, which I intend to enter. The goal... to try and get 3hrs or under. Mad? Yes, but London was an absolutely incredible experience.

Jamie Vassallo
98jvassallo@worth.org.uk

30th April 2003
U6th Gervase