One year after Jonas was at the start of the London Marathon 2021, this time we both went to the start of the biggest British and most famous marathon in the English capital. From Greenwich, the route led past numerous course highlights to the finish line on the boulevard The Mall, where we finished after 42.195 intense kilometers. While my fifth marathon was a small anniversary for me, a big one awaited Jonas. For the 25th time Jonas started over the full marathon distance.

It was surprisingly warm on the morning of our anniversary marathon. Instead of rain and somewhat cooler temperatures, dry 15 degrees Celsius and sunshine awaited. Not bad, but also not perfect or a bit too warm for us on this day. In addition, the wind was unfortunately again unfavorable, so that we had to run about three quarters of the race distance against the wind. Nevertheless, we both went into the race bravely and offensively. Why? The first five kilometers of the London marathon course are downhill and therefore the fastest of the entire course.

Unfortunately, we had to reduce the pace a bit on the second half, so that our personal best times, which we had been aiming for on the first half, were no longer attainable. With great effort we fought our way to the finish. Jonas reached the finish after 2:32:55 hours, I after 2:57:46 hours. We missed our best times by about three and a half and two and a half minutes respectively. Definitely good performances, although we would have liked to run a little faster on this big stage. In the end, besides the finish times, many memories of great moments remain. Running around the Cutty Shark or over Tower Bridge were real goosebump moments, for which all the training was worth it. However, the organizers could definitely make the finish or especially the curve before the home stretch more atmospheric.