Marathon Q&A and Final Thoughts

Thank you very much for listening to this episode of Alice and John. Alice James here and I am with two extremely brave boys who have had to breathe enormous pain and discomfort come into the studio because uh we usually record on a Friday which would have given Oh, two very brave boys. Five days of recovery. Yeah. But um because of plans that actually ended up not happening, things were scapbered. We're recording a uh recording early recording on Tuesday, AMIA, 48 hours after the marathon ended. Gotta be honest, John and Dave are in fine fatal. They're in great spirits. Who do you reckon could do more squats than me and Dave right now? I actually think you. I'm quietly confident. Because Tom's had seven massages. He's had massages and he's used his theragun. Have you just had the masseuse move in with you? One of the massages I had on site. Oh, did you do that? Yeah, actually. And one of the messages was someone who's been Massaging me for some time to help me cope with various injuries. And what was interesting. Had you book that before the Mala first. Yes. Yeah, I thought that. Of course, of course you had. But um I'd never been to watch before. I really loved it. I had an amazing. We're not gonna do the squat competition. We can do the squat competition, but what what I want to say is that the reason I think they wanted to race me down the streets. The reason I think John would win the squat competition is at the end of the marathon. John looked tired. Dave was grey. She were grey. You looked ill. John just looked tired. Yeah, I was done. I was absolutely. That's a remarkable achievement for me, considering I'd been running for an extra hour and 28 minutes. Yeah. I really put in a shift. Dave didn't fancy it. He thought I want an easy day. Yeah. So I will do it in three hours twelve. I'll bang it out in three hours twelve. I'll have a complimentary fish finger sandwich. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. John on the other hand, you thought, I want I love time on my feet actually. Yeah. I love people and I love London. And I love running. But yeah, at the end of it, you're like, oh I'm a bit sore, yeah, I got I'm tired. Dave, you look like you'd come to a terrible place. To the extent I was talking to a friend of Shaw Annie McGraw about this. She immediately joined the ballot for next year. I said I am I've never I haven't joined the ballot and I'm removing myself from the ballot. Even though I'm not in it. I'm distancing myself from the ballot. I I never want to do that. Yeah. I wanna th I'm th I've thrown the ballot in the bin. Like if you get called up into the army, but if you've got a a slight bone spurs, Donald Trump style. Conscient object to the London Mary. Yeah, yeah. Give me a white feather. It doesn't bother me. So do you want to do a squad competition? I was race him down the street. I'd like to see it. So that's what gonna happen now is it's we're in a studio. We do it afterwards. It's still light in the evening. Yes please John. I think it'd be quite funny. I'd like to see a dusk run through Farringdon. I'll do your squat challenge if you do my race challenge. Yeah, alright, but I do have to be gone by eight. He's got another massage. Tell me one of his 9 p.m. massages. How do you screw this challenge? How stupid is it, Dave? Yeah, because I can't do it. I tried to jog for a train today. It looked, it was pathetic. Ellis it's gotta be it's gotta be horizontal. It's gotta be to be. Yeah, yeah, you've gotta break the horizontal. Right, where do you need us, Michael? Uh Ellis, can you give us commentary for the listener please? Because this is you know we are primarily audio still. Joining us here at the record hall Farrington. So we're gonna do like first attempt. Uh Yeah, right. Alright, yeah, fine, I don't care. What are you doing? Uh let's do first to a hundred. Let's do um Yeah, it's just a set. Okay. You've got to check that we're going below the horizontal. With pleasure. Okay. Just fight. Oh. So who's you gonna mark set goes? Yeah, yeah. As they take their positions our two extremely courageous runners. Both of them conquered the TCS London Marathon on Sunday the 26th, but this is the real challenge. John Robbins looking horribly confident to my left. This is the real This is the real quiz. Dave Masterman already staring at his shoes doesn't want it. I don't want this. Okay, on your marks. Go. Robbie's resplendent! Incredible from the Thorn Beborn Marathon Runner! Mm-hmm. Masterman is down! Aldrich is down, McMahon is down, Dal Glee just stands there! It's Farragun and two massages and two hot baths and on the night I got home I sat on everything from my freezer. I took everything out of my freezer and I I put towels down on my bed. And I could just lay on all my frozen items. Did you? Yeah. Oh I've actually just done my I've actually just done my backing. I'm sorry, Dave. But that was in the race. Enjoyed that. So a lot of people get postmarking blues. Have you got the postmark and blues? Yeah. Massively. 'Cause it's such a focus for so long. Yeah. It's been like Edinburgh, isn't it? I used to get terrible post Edinburgh Brothers. Uh yeah, I mean I think it was sort of a very mixed experience and I was struggling to know how to uh communicate that without sort of sounding ungrateful because it's obviously incredibly difficult to even get a place. Yeah. It is a once in a lifetime experience. And I don't think anyone would want the London Marathon any other way. No, but now you want your life to end. Because it is unreal. Um Port was incredible. Uh The whole scale of it is so overwhelming. Yes, I've never been before. I was staggered by it, actually. But I think It's bigger than Glastonbury. I think something a lot of Participants may be experienced but don't necessarily feel they can talk too much about is If you're someone who has been doing all your training alone. suddenly there's a million people watching. It's really mad. Yeah. And it's very loud. It's It's sort of like An extremely full on ADHD experience. Yes. Hello. So There's there's just too much stimulation. Cowbells. Lot of cowbells. Lot of Vu Vuzellas. Yeah. But it's not I mean obviously you want that huge energy. But stuff like there are water bottles everywhere. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So you're constantly dodging them. The the The spread? Yeah, the the Drink station sort of move position. So well they're on one side, then they're on the other. So many people around you. And you can't escape. Yeah. The only escape is by finishing. Yeah. Which is twenty six miles away. So if I was in a bar. It was like being in a very loud bar for four and a half hours. Yeah. If I was in a bar, I would be going to the toilet every 20 minutes to just sit. And you wouldn't be running. Or I would go outside or in a treadmill in a nightclipper. Or I would say to my friend. Have a lovely time. Um but I'm gonna head off now. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You know, things are getting a bit a little bit layery. But they got they got Larry in Greenwich and it doesn't stop being Larry until yeah, the the finish line. Yeah. So and So I left the uh my Airbnb at Eight AM. And I was next alone. At about Three o'clock? Yeah. Which for you is a lot, isn't it? Well I would take it. Especially by past nearly a million people. Yeah. Um So yeah, it's it's big. It's it's not suited to my brain. But I'm glad I I'm glad I did it. And I had like Um certain I didn't actually regret the way I went about it pacewise. Because if you look at my split, or if there's any running nerds listening. So I went off at uh four hour pace. Yeah. I knew my target was this. That was my target. I knew that wasn't gonna happen. Yeah. But because I was close enough, I thought, well Just see how it is. And you're only gonna do it once. You're only gonna do it once. I I did a two hour half marathon. Yeah. But I was following your split, so at that stage I was like, oh my God. Well at that stage done ball. At that stage I was like, Oh my God. Maybe. thing impossible is going to happen. Yeah and maybe I'll feel just as good for the second half as I will for the first half. Um but it was hot. Yes. I'd never run in that hot. I mean it's only like eighteen degrees, but it's still hotter than I'd run. But I was hot. Yeah. And I wasn't running. And You've done all your training in terrible weather. Like I played football. in that weather the day before and was too hot. And remember as I walk as I walked back to the car, I thought I need to run them out of there. And that's what John and Dave are doing now. And I think what happened was that I I'd only ever run twenty seven kilometers before. And that's about when my I really started to slip. Um And in your head you think, oh well, I was running at like 540Ks. And I'm now down to six. That's fine. I'll just run at six. Yeah. And then you're like, oh, I've slipped down to 630 Ks. I'll just run at 630 though. That's nice release space. I'll keep it at this. And then you're getting close to seven. You think, okay. The goal is not to go past seven minute case. And then it's like eight. And you're like pretty sure I can walk faster than I'm currently running. So then you start to and then uh the big Personal disappointment. And obviously it's not about me, but I am me. Your A levels. Was like, okay, you are gonna have to walk now. Yeah. And if I had paste I I understand that. If I'd paste it more. Canily. Uh I I I think I could maybe have run a little closer to the end and maybe done it a tad quicker. Which would have been better for the optics. The difficulty is when you're getting towards the end. already exceptional atmosphere is now building even more. Yeah. People are drunker. Yes. The crowds are on both sides of you, so you can't move to one side to get a bit of sort of Yeah, it really ramps up. And as it's ramping up. And everyone is encouraging you even more, you are done. Yeah. And because of the like part of the race I was in, I'm just street people are streaming past me. So I feel like in the way. I feel a bit self conscious. And I think just that's a psychological struggle. Yes, of course. Um But I'm also aware like this is a this is an unrepeatable once in a lifetime amazing event that is full of The most inspirational stories, the most incredible causes. The constant I passed the guy in the fridge. Oh my God. Every single News reports I've seen about that fridge has made me cry. Yeah. But he is an absolutely Him him and his brother. Well the whole family are extraordinary people. Yeah. But when you are run in fact, I think I passed a different guy with a fridge, maybe, or did I not? Oh well. They w they're two brothers, aren't they? I saw I think they both run the mouth for dementia, early on for dementia. Because you're there for well, four hours, forty eight minutes, you're seeing hundreds of those little stories. Yes, that's what I found overwhelming is a constant explosions in the crowd when the person is running past and embracing and So I was waiting for you at so we were in Shandwells, that's mile thirteen and twenty one. So we could we could see you twice. So I I saw George Lewis twice, I saw you twice. I only saw you you, David, mile twenty one. I missed you at my thirteen, but What the one thing I noticed just before you came for the second time, John, was um If you look at everyone's vests, muscular dystrophy, it's multi-neuron disease, multiple sclerosis. Breast Cancer, the British Art Foundation. Oh you know, homelessness charity, St. Christopher's Hospice. All of these All of these incredible causes. And then it hits you how much money's been raised. Everyone's got a story. Everyone's story special. So I w we were standing 'cause we were in the uh Only official run to win and hate yourself fanzone. That's someone who was lucky enough to be in the only official run to win and hate yourself fan zone brought you by Superdrug. There was um just just before you just before you passed this at twenty two, 'cause the thing with Shadow is that There's an underpass and the the the route loops through Shadowbell so you can see people twice. Yeah. But you know, there's there's that underpass. We'll never have more than one person in it, usually. It took forty-five minutes to get through the underpass because it's so busy because Shadow's a pinch point and it's a good spot to watch the manufacturer It was just young woman, she was I would say in her ear twenties. I was standing next to her mum which I didn't realise. I don't know what the I don't know what the story was, but when she saw her mother they both um embrace and burst into tears. Now I'm crying. And now and people are like Johnson as well. I'm like John's on a good journey as well. And it's just that. For for the whole day. I was absolutely spent when I got old. Yeah. It's a crazy thing. People tell you a story their stories as well, 'cause they're desperate to. Genuinely extraordinary occasion. The one thing I would just say in terms of if anyone is thing you're doing it next year or doing one for the first time. Try and train with a million people watching. Well, yeah, I mean if you but if you are someone who finds loud noises and obviously lots of different noises and close contact difficult, you need to find a way to experience it a little bit. So do try and do some runs, some official runs near you. With other people. Even that won't get close, but you'll at least be used to it. Yeah. So like maybe park do park runs regularly or do a big half marathon. Something I really wish I had I consume so much marathon content and tips and stuff on YouTube and Instagram over the past year. What I would say wasn't really a feature of that. is run to your heart rate, not to your pace. Yes. Because I went to the Lou at I can check on my splits because it's my only I lost about twenty seven seconds or something. I went to the Lou in at um Well I didn't go to the loo. I left the house at upper state. And I then didn't have a wee until 4 p.m. It's like sympathy dehydration. 'Cause I was just so overwhelmed by the whole thing. I didn't eat anything. You cried out out all your liquid. Cr my liquid. So I went to the loo in the ninth kilometer. So I thought, get it out of the way. I just need a Wii. Yeah. 26 seconds it took. I thought great. That's not too bad. Pit stop. Pit stop. Yeah. I was straight back in. And it was just taking me a while to get back up. I sort of didn't know what my speed was. So I went from what I'd been told is just have your lap pace and your average pace on your watch. So you're not constantly dragged into what speed you're at at that second. But I just flicked down to get back up to my previous pace and my heart rate was 178 beats a minute. That's fast. And I was like Oh, you're at the top of zone five. Yeah. That's princess. After nine kilometers. Yeah. And when you get into What's that then? What caused that? Heat. Adrenaline. How you've slept, what you've eaten. Yeah. So What I wish I had remembered is that When you get into that zone, a clock starts ticking to when your body will shut down. Of course. Yeah. And it's about 45 minutes to an hour. Regardless of your pace. Right, because running running a certain one pace on a hot day and the same pace on a cold day, your heart's gonna be totally different. Yeah. So I wish I'd been like from the start, just keep it in the middle. And you'll be able to carry on running. because you start burning more energy than you can get inside you. So really from nine kilometers, I was a dead man walking. I was a dead man running. And almost bang on an hour and a half after that, I couldn't go. So that's I guess my experience of it. It was hard to eat though, so I was hungry for quite a lot of it. Well yeah. So thanks. And I had to stand on my tiptoes to my my carbs were sore. Try only eating five hundred milliliters of pure salt without it was My stomach is still very confused as to what's been going on. Yeah. Nothing but gel for four and a half hours and then fish and chips. What about you, Dave? Well I think we had a s interesting, we had a similar experience, I think. Our graph is very similar to different times. I mean I I'm not looking at mine. Deep down I'm I am a little bit I'm disappointed with how my day panned, but at the same time I don't really think I could have done anything differently, which was I was thinking about this because I don't know anyone. who's been so disciplined with their training because you've got a full time job and three children. You couldn't have done any more. I couldn't have done any more, but I didn't do enough is the key. I didn't do it. You couldn't do any more I could So that's it. Unless that's where it showed Unless you quit your job. Yeah. That's the answer, Dave, is that you have a judge got a running coach. But I think here's where it's really difficult because uh so many people when afterwards are saying, you know, well done, you should be so proud, this is amazing. And that is true. Yes, and I am proud and it was well done. It is amazing. And I'm so grateful. But at the same time, another thing can be true. Yeah. Which is that in order to train for six months, you have to have targets. Or the training becomes you can't just can't do it. Yeah. You have to you have to be able to monitor yourself. give you a reason to get out of the front door to go, well can I go this far? Can I go this fast. I need today, I need to go slow. What does slow mean? So inevitably you start the race with a target. Because it the race is the target. It's all targets. Yeah. So when you've when you sort of in inverted commas fail, and obviously not a single person gets to the start line has failed. There is a personal competition going on. Of course. And your You're missing out on it in front of a million people. But now my my friend Alice who now runs for Wales Vets, she run the Manchester Malathon at very quick time. She's a brilliant. She put a thing on Instagram. She said the thing with mar uh the marathon. So much can go wrong in the training. And so much can go wrong on the day. It's all an amazing achievement because you're you're put you're pushing your body to such incredible limits just in training. Dave we can have a four in the morning doing running thirty two K and doing a school run. That's an absolutely mad thing to do. Yes. So when you're doing that in the winter. We can a when you know, when it's only And it's only the the the postman and the s the the the guy doing the milk ground is awake. Running the what is almost a marathon. And then doing your normal day and and It's crazy and it's fine if you're gonna be, you know, if you're a Kenyan marathon runner and that's how you live. That's one thing. But everyone else. They're trying to fit their real lives around it. So it's just there's just so much stuff can go wrong. I think if I wish I'd m as much effort into that mindset as to the whole like, how do you maintain a pace when you're tired? How do you run with pain and all of that. Um because I realised before I checked my Garmin app, I'd run a thousand kilometers that Yeah. And like in a way that's That's what I was thinking of when it got difficult is like Really, the extra 42 doesn't matter. Yeah. It's the fact that there were a hundred occasions where you really wanted to just have breakfast and go on the internet. Or where you had to fit in a run in London between two podcast records. Or where you had to go to the gym when you were injured. on the way back home and he really would just wanted dinner. Yeah. And he didn't do that. You did these thousand kilometers. Um, and the only time I got really emotional was when I got to five kilometers left. And I thought, oh, that's just the woods and back. And I started to cry because that's a run I've done fifty times. Of course. Yeah. And I was like You can do this because it's the woods and back. Yeah, yeah. As and that took me out of London and the noise. But I I'd was so ready for like, okay, when this mental battle happens, you use this mantra. When this thing happens, you use this destruction technique. I couldn't think long enough. Because there's so much going on. And I'm mentally weak. But I couldn't actually get in my head. So you couldn't have uh an internal monologue because of the noise of a million people watching you. You know when Paula said Paula Radcliffe, my personal friends. Yeah, you mate. Uh she was counting to a hundred in multiples because she knew that thirteen hundreds is a mile. I could I got 20 was the max I could count to. That's amazing. I didn't realise that. And I'm I've progressed counting. Yeah. I'm one of the great counters. But that was as far as I could go before I would lose track or something would happen, or I'd have to dodge something, or Someone smoking cannabis by the side of the that hits you. The the thing I found I found lots of things very moving. When I f when I arrived at Shadwell, the elites had passed. So then you wait a bit and then it's just the good recreational runners. And then you know the really good recreational then runners, then is everyone else. But everyone's doing the same thing on the same course. So you you run the same course on the same day as the fastest marathon runner in history. Yeah, and I thought he went off a bit fast. That's the thing, you know, n normal people don't get to run on the same um you know track as you say, Bolt. Yeah, I'll never play cricket at Lords. Yeah, I'll never bat at Lords. I'll never drive at Silverstone. That's exactly right. In the build up as we were stretching and stuff. It's exactly that. It's You're doing the same thing as professional athletes. You're going through the same and that doesn't happen. You don't just suddenly golf you can do that. You can play on the same but not the same time. You come in a pro app. Okay. Yeah, I've Like I've had a kick about at a couple of professional real stadiums, but the players weren't there. No. It was it was it was me and a and a security guy call Andy. But it's the same course. It's the at the same time. The same literally the same race. And I'm absolutely flawed by the amount of people who donated to both our charities. We both yeah, it's incredible. Fantastic. Like I think Between us over a hundred grand now. Yeah. That's mad. And all the people who came down. You know, you I can't really talk about it too long, I'll Upset in a good way. But it just it means the world to me. I had like friends there who I didn't even told me Robin was there. Yeah. And I suddenly hear John. It's Robin and Bruce. My sister came down like from Elsewhere in the country. Yeah. I stood on a dog by mistake. In in the official run to an anates of funds and brought to you by Super Drug. And the chance of spotting someone is so rare. Like so hard. Yeah. Because I had my name on my top, so everyone's shouting John. Yeah. Which is nice. And at times I'm thinking, I wish I hadn't put my name on this. I just want to hide. Or I wish I had a very odd name. Yeah, a really long name that people gave up on. But a rude name. I saw my sister and my brother in law. I saw other friends who I didn't know were going to be there. Yeah. I missed a couple of people who I did know were going to be there. And then going past the fan zone was great, but there was about three kilometers before where I was like. Why that? this so late in the race. I'm not going to be able to run past them. Well I was walking because I walked quite a bit towards the end as well. I was dumb. Um And I knew it was coming up, so I just made sure I was running as I went past the fans and then I started walking again afterwards because I w I wanted to look strong. There are some official photos of me towards the end. They do this amazing thing where they've just got photographers everywhere, which I'd wish I'd known, because I'm on my phone. Like a content. Like a tower. Like a chest. You're not turtle. Check in my DMs. Um Um Uh What was I saying? p photograph. Oh yeah, there are photos of me with both feet on the floor at the same time, which is a bad side with a s stride length of about a hundred fifty centimeters. My friend Steph said that he's whenever the f he goes a fish photographers in. The photographs in marathons is that there's two feet on the floor and you're like one of London's statues. And the actual the the the elites both of their feet are off the floor. Yeah. Yeah. Um Well It was an amazing day. There will be more content to follow, won't there? There'll be lots of bits and bobs knocking about. I say I was on my phone. I was filming content for the Ellison Johns Cinematic Universe. You were. I also filmed a lot of content in and around my prep. We filmed some content. Afterwards, there's content from the fans. Yeah. We did loads for new balance. What did you do in the What did you do in the fanzone content wise? I j I comedy connected with some random people. Great. That was great fun. to an awful lot of Welsh people. just was trying to come to connect take them. They were like, sorry, may I'm My sister's running. I'm not really running, but where are you from? What school did you go to? When I was filming content for the Alison Johnson Cinematic Universe the night before I was sort of um I wouldn't say dismissive. But I was s I was quite f um flippant about it. Having not gone been to watch before, I haven't realised How emotional a day it is for everyone who's watching. Because I got on the train. As we w so so I was I caught the train to Shadwell and the station I got on at Everyone was gonna like a cup of fight. But everyone had made science. And also everyone's on the same team. And everyone's on the same team as well. It's a cup final with ten times the capacity of any state in the country. And it's a cup final with everyone's supporting the same thing and you can't lose. Yeah. It's true, yeah. I could never experience. Anything like it. And everyone had their homage signs. I thought I did did occur to me to make a homemade sign. I was sat down against a wall at the end. Wishing wishing the world would end. Looking very grave. Guess who comes and sits next to me? I'll tell you this, Ellis. There may have been a whiff of tropical fruits about him. Not Davey. Davy comes and sits down right next to me. And we have a chat. And we shoot the breeze for about 15 minutes. Did he recognize you? No, but I did say, and he said, Oh, doing well, that podcast doing well, which immediately made me think he's never listened. Because he was very complimentary about it. Because he would have he would have gone, uh oh, oh. Right. The one with me eating Mr. Withy's all the time. So there would have been a nod, there would have been a glint in the eye. There wasn't that, so I think he's aware, but at the same time. So you couldn't see his eyes from his wraparound shades, could you, Dave? So he'd run them out. He wasn't there as in in his in a B B C capacity. He'd run them out for his head buried in a neckabok of glory. The guy. Is nearly six I think the guy is sixteen then. But I mean, you know Mosby Ripples are not a charity. He did it in three hours, twelve. War sixty. That seems pretty. Uh, especially on his diet. A lot of carbon. I don't see how that's possible. She was twelve. It's amazing. That's absolutely remarkable. So I'd love to chat with him. Nice guy. Shot the breeze and just talked, you know, taught running tips and how he fits it in all in and stuff on how his BBC ten year was. Wow. What was your favorite stretch of the the route? It flexes. It cut cut his ark. Really? Because you still feel great and you think this is how you will run for the full race. So there's so much hope. And there's so much excitement 'cause you think I'm gonna book my D two thirty. Can I can I I'm gonna do a two hour. The winner his cadence doesn't change at all. No. And then he's he's exactly the same. Four, three well one hours fifty nine minutes and two seconds. It's incredible. So yeah, cutty side for me. What about you, John? Um, I enjoyed Cutty Sack. Greenwich is difficult because it's nine kilometers and then you're just on the other side of the field that you started from. And I did I did say at one point, how are we still in Yeah. And a few people around me laughed. Um I'm sort of the Greenwich Malaphon, isn't it? I really like the bit between Greenwich and Tower Bridge where you're going through more residential areas and there's like family sat on their front gardens. Yeah, London to Brighton the British Art Foundation bike rides like that. It's people in their gardens having cups of tea cheering you on. It's really nice. And the Rainbow Road is I found very emotional. Just because do st you're going through so many different parts of London. And you're just experiencing all these little stretches of different things and it just just sort of feel very, very positive. Like the day after the Brexit referendum and I walked through the them setting up the Pride March and start to cry. Yeah because I was like, oh maybe things aren't completely I mean. It's not worked out particularly well. for the economy. But you know, you you feel you got your country back. You do feel that like All of those cliches about London, you know, London is open, London is welcome, but they are actually true at times. It did fear like that on Sunday. Yeah. It really did. Oh yeah. Tower Bridge. I I was watching you on the little map, crossing Tower Bridge and Tower Bridge. I love Tower Bridge. Because it is proper. Postcard London, like what Americans think London is. Yeah. So the fact that everyone gets to run across it. But then you have to go through this bit where it's like you're lost for six kilometres. Wowing Isle of Dogs. Yeah. Yeah. Horrible business. But it's I didn't mind it in terms of But the many punters there. Yeah, they were loads. There are more now than there used to be. But you're like where they're going, because you keep going weaving around in circles. You think when does this end? Yeah, it's endless. That is that is an endless part of it. Um yeah. There's one point where I just I was um I was kind of Ging myself about saying, Come on, you've got this. You're doing all right. And the guy next to me went, Yeah, cheers, mate, thank you. I was talking to him. So that Sorry I was just talking to myself. But then we had a lovely chat for ten minutes. Yeah. When I could still talk whilst I was running. I think it would be very different experience if you're running with a friend. Or someone else from the same charity or just someone from someone to talk to. Well I started with George Lewis. Did you? Me and George started together. Yeah, when I s I I missed the first time y you run through Shadwell, I missed you, but I did see George. Yeah. So when I saw George, I thought. Yeah. I'm to see him now, but I didn't know what you were dressed in. Yeah, I think I made a mistake. I didn't really share what I was wearing. I should have asked you what colour your top was. Anyway, lovely stuff. Yeah, so thank you everyone, everyone who came down, everyone who sent us messages, and everyone who donated. And for those of you who thanks to Superdruk for sponsoring the run to the We need to reach out to Superdrug at this point. They're missing a trick here. Because the amount of free publicity they've the free promo they've got. The free promo. Is there a Cara out today, Michael? Is that the plan? No, there's a Maracara. There's a special Maracara. Yeah, with some stills of the action. Yeah, absolutely. Um, and then as we said, the content will be up on the Ellison John Cinematic Universe. We have a couple of emails about the Marathon Dave. Yeah. Um This is from uh The Marikara, just to explain, is is a collection of pictures on Instagram that you can follow um on our Ellison John social. Yes, Izzy doesn't know what a carousel is. Certainly doesn't know what a car is, and didn't realise that Marathon's referred to as Mars. I said I can't wait for the Marikara. And she said, I don't know what any of that mean. So search at Ellis and John and you'll find it. Uh this is from Beth. Beth says, dearest brave runners, John and Dave, and brave support to Ellis, well done, boys. Now that's out of the way. I just want to email to pass on my thanks to your incredible team. who's created an amazingly positive vibe in the run to win and hate yourself fans like. Despite what it looked like, despite what looked like some tricky coordination having to deal with us listeners getting in their way. They were so lovely to chat to. and made what can be a tricky and tiring day of watching people run a marathon very exciting and smooth. Yeah, it's also worth saying it's very overwhelming for supporters, too. Because you are rammed in. Yeah. And you're trying to move around. Yeah, but they do this nice thing where like if it's your person coming up on the app, people sort of let you get to the house. Which doesn't happen any other sporting event. No. So sorry, I really like Gar Bales, so for the free kick, can I go to the front? Um I got a little emotional when John first went by at Thirteen Miles, by which point a larger crowd of us had gathered and the cheers when everyone spotted him were some of the loudest I heard all day. Such a brilliant thing to be a small part of. It was also so nice to meet lots of other listeners. So thank you for putting that day together and letting us come along to cheer you. The London Marathon is such a special event and today was no different. Congratulations to all involved. Here's to the Hackney half. Um so we should have a round of applause for all the um significant productions crew. Michael, Jenny, Joe and Gareth. A lot of coordination, a lot of logistics. Yes. But guys were easy to find because he's six foot five. He's massive. So he's massive. Um, Alice, do you want to read the next one 'cause it really made me laugh. Hello, my fuzzy little bumblebees. I went to London at the weekend under the guise of supporting my wife Richelieu in the marathon. Actually there to cheer on John and Dave. I miss Dave at the seven mile point because he's dead dead nipa. And I didn't recognise him without glasses and wearing a headband. And the trucking up show that John and my wife were almost neck and neck. Wow. We spotted Rachel in the distance running towards us and started cheering. She came over to the ballet and stopped to talk of me and our children. John must have passed us while she was chatting, I mean considerate and selfish of her, because the tracker now showed he was already beyond us. There was still hope. We crossed the Thames and found a good spot in Mudchute at the 17 mile point. We miss Dave again because he's dead dead nipp. Rachel and John were still only seconds apart on the tracker. Rachel can interview first. Again, she stopped for a chat. Don't stop, you're doing brilliantly, I said trying to sound motivational rather than disinterested. How are you all? How's your day going, sheep, great, yeah, yeah, keep going well done, I love it. Rachel told me later that my eyes were darting around all over the place, and then I seemed very distracted and reluctant to chat. In my defense, we were there to cheer on, not discuss how our days were going. I've seen Rachel almost every day for the last 25 years. I didn't want to miss the chance to see one of the youngest broadcasters because of some small talk with my wife. She just eventually eventually got the message and continued on her way. Seconds later, Johnny J.R. came into view. Yes, girl. Paul was forgiven from it later when she saw my excitement in the Attach video. She too is a big fan. It's been a giant. It's been a joy to follow your running journey for the last few years. To see you running a malathon and smiling at the same time is a real honor. Huge congratulations. And thanks for all the years of top quality content. Big love, George. And a lovely still. I don't know if that's a still from a video. I mean even then. both feet in contact with the ground at the same time. It is your toes though. Yeah. And everyone else is around you are also both on the ground. Yeah. It looks like everyone's understands like a criticism, but it's not it does look like everyone's shuffling. Also my salt tablets are about to fall out of that. I lost two. Oh, there's some that like right at the start you see just like gel apocalypse on the floor and someone's obviously dropped all their gels. The cleanup must be massive. Unreal. I mean there's sixty thousand runners just below. They must prepare. bottle of water at each station for every runner. Well there's water everywhere. So there's gotta be six hundred thousand to a million bottles of water. And bear in mind Ninety percent of them end up on the road. Yeah. I mean, the amount of people that must roll their heels and roll their ankles. I mean for that. So yes, there we go. There we go. And the VIP experience, I have to say, was pretty nice, wasn't it? Talk to me about the toilets. Because My friend Steph from Distant Pod saw a woman put on the street to doing the Berlin Marathon. So I've always been intrigued by the toilet sit. Well the toilets in the media center. Were I didn't need any um advanced toilets at all because I'd woken up at half four. Oh so I'd Coffied, teed, bageled, porridge. Toileted, toileted, toileted, toileted in the comfort of my own Airbnb. Perfect. I was I get lots of nerve weeze, though. That's my situation. But Luckily the urinals were was al almost unused. There was just a cube for the cubicles. Yes. Um so they were fine. And they had food on and I met Jasmine Paris. He's a hero of mine. What's the food like? I suppose it's all carbs, is it? It's like overnight oats and croissants and omelets. I'm not sure I would have gone for an omelet just before. Um and just like drinks and stuff. It is exciting. I think you should do another. No? Yeah. No thank you. No thank you. I'm not gonna take you up already. Limit Lake. Right then, more emails. This is one this is a complete Uh gear change, a topic change, but one that um I think especially suits John. Do you realist Dave and really mostly John. I'm an Irishman living in London. I would like to be part of the curry scene. Welcome. In Ireland. I didn't know this. It may or may not surprise you. Going for a curry is far less common and evening out than it is in the UK. I did not know that. Well I had the one of the worst curries I've ever had in Ireland on John's Irish Odyssey when I took eight cans of magnes into a curry house on an industrial estate. You did during one of your many low ebbs. Yeah. I know that all three of you possess the bona fides to provide me with my Go. Will any restaurant suffice? So I go big chain a look favorite, and this is in bold. Do I order? As a self employed, single available man. I'm often in John's position of finding myself hunkling for sustenance relatively early in the evening. to head to a restaurant solar, but I'm afraid you're getting it wrong. Done. go to restaurants on my own all the time. I love it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I should prefer it. It's especially early. It's pretty empty. Um I would like to head to a restaurant store, but I'm afraid of getting it wrong. You can't get it wrong. It's brilliant. Stick a book or the paper or a magazine or your phone it's great. I hope to hear from you soon. As until then I will have to continue eating dry Basmati directly from the back. Best than the Irishman. No. Now I'm assuming that Dan doesn't eat sp very spicy foods. Why are you assuming that? He's he's not used to curry. In Ireland may or not, but he doesn't know how to order curry, so where where would it What would his spice experience be? Well, he might be bigger than the English mustard seems He might be a wasabi head. He might down bottles of Frank's red hot sauce every night. So he's g we're gonna start. Yeah, I see. But I would say um by just Google reviews. As in on Google Maps, search Indian restaurant in the area you want to go. And anything above four and a half is great. Yeah, but do remember if you're really into the curry scene, you've got to go in full kit. Full curry kit. What's that then? Um local Sunday League team that's sponsored by the Curry House. Oh nice. Okay. And shorts and socks and boots. Yeah with boots. Um a nonza shenpas. I would say look London Brick Lane is the place everyone talks about in London. I would avoid Brick Lane. It's quite full on. And they they try and get you in off the str they're quite pushy, I think. Yeah, yeah, and I think I'm not sure you can necessarily trust the Google reviews because it's the sort of place where you basically have to leave a five star review or they won't let you out of the restaurant. Um but you can check out like R magazines do good guides of like the the decent ones on Brick Lane if you want to go there. Yeah. And there's, you know, time out do sort of like a takeaway awards and all that kind of stuff. But I would say The menu at the restaurant is a bit overwhelming. So maybe Google it before you go. There's always like menus on the website or on photos of them. So have in your head, I would go for a side, a main, and maybe a rogue choice. So you've got a little selection. If you're going alone, I would go rice or naan, not both. Don't fill up with uh Carbs. If you're going with a friend, share rice, share an arm. Definitely, yeah. Papa Dums do have mango. I don't have poppedoms because it fills me up. I love a poppa dog. I love a I love a pop. But then approach it by that name. Approach it via your protein. So you're trying to get your spice level and your protein to converge. To marriage. Yeah. So for me, it's prawn. Right. And it's spicy prawn. So that's already taking most of the menu out of the equation. They will often be able to advise you. So I would say, if I were you, I want a mild chicken dish. I want a medium spicy lamb dish. What would you recommend? I like Huel. Have you got anything that tastes like that? Just bear in mind that Corma is like the go-to miles bum. But it is so sweet. It is. It's a very different landscape. It is. It's a good one to try with kids, though, because it's so sweet. But it's actually does sometimes taste like Pudding is so sweet. Don't don't be afraid to over order. And you know. Share. Have a bit of this. Have a bit of that. Oh we know. House specials. Um But you can't really get it wrong unless you go for a naga and something with like five chilies next to it on the menu. And they'll often they will tell you if if by mistake you've ordered the spicest thing on the menu, they will say, Yeah. Are you Are you sure? But I would ask the waiter's advice. Um read reviews and see what people recommend. Irish say it's not part of the Irish scene. Yeah. Maybe go with an Irish person who's moved to to England before you. If you were to bring your own place. Yeah, people always take loads of cans of like Stella and Whatever. really juicy sweetish I don't mean sweetish, but like Off dry white wines go really well with curry. Okay. That's all I was thinking about for that whole thing. But like a New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc. Uh a Riesling, but not a dry Riesling. Yeah. Leave it. Let's move on. Something peachy, something um sort of um gooseberryish. Very easy to overeat. Yeah, but only if you get rice and an on. If you're eating a whole naan bread and a whole rice, you're mad. Yeah. It is easily done. It's very easily done. Um I would go if you want just an average curry. I would go for like a bolti. The bolti on the menu is often not too spicy. It's quite rich. It's not hugely far away from the world you might be familiar with. Yeah. Um But you know, my choice, it will be a garlic chili prawn. Or uh Something like that. Are you a gel fad? No, I'm not a jal fad. I don't like jal fad. I don't like peppers. Oh, right. I don't like green peppers. Well. Yeah. Um had some great moments with Madras. This is from This is from Anders in Barrow In Furnace. Afternoon, my lovely half back pairing. Ellis has mentioned a few times recently with a cheeky Welsh giggle how people in days of yore would think nothing of smoking in the sporting arena. With this in the mind in mind, I give you the career of Puigubert. Universally accepted as the greatest French rugby league player of all time. It's very interesting French rugby league, 'cause it's really does play set a second fiddle to rugby union. Sorry, that's for a different podcast. It went downhill after very interesting, but I would like to talk to someone about it, but not you. Neither of you. He played for you like French rugby league? Gonna be all out of luck here. I think get bubble on the phone yeah. And even the listeners to your sports podcasts don't like French rugby league. They don't like French rugby league. No, but it did play second. It's just interesting stuff. Is it But but hold on. Sorry, John. Um It played second but in England Isn't it the same? Don't poke the bear, especially because he's going to say very interesting and then French rugby league again. It's turned back the tide, like it was different. It was different because fr English would be league went it went professional. It did. So it was completely it was two different codes. And certainly in the north of England, rugby league is dominant in components of rugby union. You should know that, Dave. Well, actually, Ellis, at our school, we were, I think, the best rugby union team in the whole of the region. Ellison John. That's because you're little lord. No, I'm not absolutely not. State school through and through, I'll have you know. Uh Yes, sorry, I I mustn't. But if there are any listeners to Ellis John who want to email me about French Rugby League and Michael, don't you dare filter out these emails. send them to hello at listenjon.com. Socially distant sports bar available on BBC Sounds these days, of course. Isn't that a treat? That is a treat. We can say that. Yeah, fine. Disabrence. He play fullback for Carcasson in the 1940s and 50s. He also captained the 1951 French tourists who beat Australia in Australia in a three match series. The last time uh last team to achieve this feat. To say our puig was a maverick would be an understatement. If a teammate missed a tackle, he would in turn miss his tackle, believing this saved his teammate's blushes. And after scoring a try, he was occasionally known to leave a poem behind the try-line mocking the opposition. And now get to the point of this email. At Carcassonne's ground, there is a statue of Monsieur Aubert catching the ball one-handed during a match against Wigan. Reason he caught the ball one-handed, you guessed it. The other hand was holding a cigarette. He was smoking mid-game. Thanks for the content and laughs, and as embarrowing famous. Stuff. Yeah. Very good stuff. Does anyone have any Ibuprofen? Because I've done my backing from the squats. I do, Dave. Have you? Oh no, I haven't. I wouldn't mind a little bit of just something that's gonna take the the information away. 'Cause sitting here is really John, why did you challenge me? Such a stupid challenge. You would only want it to run down the discussion. Sounds romantic though, doesn't it? Not sprinting again. Go on a romantic date and then suggest to your partner sh should we have a race? Anything that happens at dusk to me immediately sounds fantastic. I love dusk. It's the best. Um we've had a wonderful email from our Michelangelo Emily. Um because we talked about uh Emily's piece on nostalgia. Oh yeah. Um the cartoons uh that she drew, which were on the Cara last week. So you can find that on follow the Ellison John account on Instagram. But then I obviously I corrected Emily, the only flaw in the beautiful rendition um she created was that we drive We sit on the right hand side of the car. So Emily has writ drawn us another one. Yeah, of her listening to the podcast. And um us saying she's the next Michelangelo. And then um Me saying we drive on the left. That is a superb picture. Yeah, she is. That is really something. Um is it a full time job? Should be. She should put be painting the Sistine Chapel with cartoons of Ellison John and Dave. Yeah. So hi, John, Ellison Dave. I nearly fell over hearing you discuss my drawings on the pod. Absolutely honored to be featured. Thank you. Please find my official right to reply. Uh attached in the form of a new sketch. I've addressed my shame of the left hand scandal to avoid any further international incidents, keep up inspiration. Uh Cheers from Newcastle. Michael Angel crossed out to Emily. We shall now discuss two more things. Um we shall discuss uh an appearance of um Ellison John on the Eredite channel because we had a message in from Joanne, Joanne says, hi Todgers. I'm a listener to your delightful show and at the age of 38, also a devotee of Radio 4 because I'm super cool. Anyway, I was listening to an episode of Feedback the other day, hosted by Andrea Catherwood. I nearly fell off my chair. They only went and went and did a segment about your show. Yeah. Huge. The main focus of the episode was podcast visualization. And they asked two fans of the pod Um to record voice notes as to why they like the show. how they consumed it. And Joanne very kindly omits another fact there is like whether they would see value in watching it or pay for that privilege. My favorite bit. Balanced. My favorite bits. As if the BBC were gonna do a big old My favorite bit was when the two listeners, Emma and Chris, decide what they liked about the show. Wonder what you'll think of Chris's comments. I've attached a clip for you and we've got those clips now. I think I discovered them pretty much as they started on Five Live. And I hadn't listened to them when they had been on commercial radio. Before that. Yeah. And I just um I find them extremely funny and entertaining. Um and they're not too much younger than me, so a lot of their content was quite relatable. This is gonna sound a little bit But it's the lack of sort of professionality about it, the fact that it doesn't feel scripted and that you know it's a warts and all effect. Well I did D fib training about three months ago. Did you? Yeah. Did you? Oh yeah. We talked about that. And there is an element of perhaps banality about what they're doing that that's quite comforting and it makes you feel that you're sort of part of their world, I guess, to a certain extent. I'm a bit in that stuff in there. I was on the train and I had my headphones. So I was able to listen immediately. So I was listening, someone gave me a time code. So within a minute of the text arriving, I was like, great. You need this pick me up today. When is it Chris? When he described us as unprofessional and banal I howled with laughter. I was howling with laughter. He's been doing this show for 12 years. This charm improved. Well Chris loves it though. Yeah, yeah, yeah. They were both very warm and very positive. Very positive. It's just such a Chris was clear he wasn't gonna pay to watch it. And that's fine. And that's fine. Not everyone has it. That's why not everyone has to do it. Some people that's absolutely fine. I haven't got no problem with that at all. Carry on, Chris. That's why you know it's all available to all apart from new stuff. Wh because not everyone wants to sit down and watch Yeah, three years. some guys at the absolute peak of their physical position fail to do 10 squats. No, of course. That's not oh no. She made spent over double with my back going two days after a marathon. Um so thank you so much for sending that in, Joanne and thank you to him and Chris. Yes, thank you so much for sending in your your voice notes to uh We're now gonna end on some Marathon Ask Us Anything, but if you are full to the gills of marathon content, you can now stop listening. Yeah, just throw your phone out the window. Yeah, just throw your phone out the window. Just get another one. Throw it out of the window and get another one. Okay. Ask is anything, Marathon Spech? Yeah. Here we go. Oh yeah. Send me questions and answers you will surely get Watch you said, what's the name of your very first time Right then, Dave, pick your four favourite quezies. From Mark. John, did the bum cream work? Yes. I mean I didn't actually use the bum cream in the end, I just used You didn't use ass magic. No, I used the body glide. And what at what point in the bum? Uh everywhere. Yeah. And at what point did you apply H Dell Interest? Uh thirteen. Once before I left the house and once while I was being approached by uh a pro a producer to tell me Gabby Logan was ready to speak to me. It was insane. I was stood right next to him and he said, I'm sorry, I've got to do this now. Yeah, she's trying to just You know, move 'em across to where Gabby is. Yeah, get my earpiece in. That's where the application all over my ears. Yeah. Quick quick shake of the hand with Gabby Logan. Uh but that was the broadcasts with gloves on. Uh it was really nice to chat to Gabby and yes, the cream worked amazingly. Here's a another major positive. Didn't none of my injuries up. Yo how are your feet? Your feet look good. I saw your feet at the end, actually. Yeah, feet were okay. They were weird, I mean very achy, but no, I didn't lose any toenails. Yeah I didn't get any blisters. I didn't S myself. And a lot of the signs are focused on those things happening that people hold up. So in terms of like I didn't get any, all I've got is ache. So very pleased with that. Which stancy dress from a beating you hurt the most? Oh, I know the microphone guy. Dan. Ventiline inhaler? Didn't see them. Okay. Uh I mean there were many to choose from. By the end it was just lots, but that that was the first one. Gingerbread man beat me. I saw gingerbread man beat tricky. I also saw you being beaten by a guy dressed as a Russian cosmonaut. Like a sort of Yuri Gagarin. Oh, this I'm not often girl. I didn't overtake a single person for the last seven miles. There is not one person that I so long. It's it's mad. The only people I overtook were being carried away by parameter. Yeah, they were going Essentially backwards as well. They weren't going backwards. Uh Good What else have we got? Oh how much just sleep did you get the night before? You woke up early didn't you? I did wake up early but with nerves. Um I was in You were up at four, you texted me at four. Um I'd had a mega nap the afternoon before, and I was so well prepped to not panic if I didn't get much sleep because everyone says look you're not gonna get much sleep. And My sleep's been so good for so long. I was like, I've got enough in the tank. Yeah. And I slept for five hours. Oh, that's all right. So it was fine. I did try to get back to sleep, but Try doing that when you're starting to go, okay, we start off at 535. No, we'll start at 541s and then we'll run a negative split. Well run the second half quicker than the first half and you need to have a gel every four kilometers. Okay, because you need 90 carbs, 90 grams of carbs an hour. Yeah, I'll just pop off back to sleep. Try try to put the bump stuff on before you shake hands with me. Um oh well George Lewis went into a mini shame. Well, because he went to shake Sebastian Vettel's hand, but Sebastian Vettel went for the nooks. So George kind of grabbed his hand, but then Sebastian Vettel was not moving from the nooks. Okay, when Dave says no, he means a fist bump. Yeah, no one's called it no. Oh, I call it not to my kids. Yeah, we're not your kids. No Yeah, there we go. Yeah. Going straight for the nooks. If you're having to put that together in your own head. I always say turf. That's what I do. Yeah, turf because you're cool. But vessel is not moving from the nucks. No, of course not. I forgot why. Anyway, yes. Uh one question for you, Alice. Um Were you nervous on behalf of John and Dave? Yes. Yeah. It was It it was like watching my kids. Yeah. I was I found the whole day really I was back at my goal. Oh, it's full on. But to be stood in a crowd for like six hours is a lot. It was just uh I loved it, yeah. And also I n I know how hard you've all both worked. Because when we were on We were on tour in the autumn. And you were both running because I can lie. So when do you remember when you run um up? Uh uh after that. Yeah, we did the Great Storm and didn't know. Yeah. That was in like October. Yeah. Preparing for the marathon, which was in you know end of April. Well that was my big plan that the longer I took, the m the less I would have to load myself, but then unfortunately lost a couple of months to the old ankle. Yeah. But these things happen and everyone's gone through something like that on the So that's the thing and you know especially because of Dave living in Manchester and coming down here down to London for work and fitting his running around what are already very early train times and the three children and John fitting it on around his book, fitting mouth and running around writing a book. It's I've known how hard you've worked, so I just I wanted it to go well. And it did go well. It was great. Yeah it did. And that's Ask As Anything. Right, there we go folks. Thanks very much for listening. We will be back on Tuesday. Goodbye.