Final Thoughts and Future Challenges

We're going on tour and I am so excited about this. Pun 'cause this episode is sponsored by On, so we're going on tour. With On for the On Squad race. So we're going all over the world, starting with South America. Buenos Aires. I cannot wait. The On Squad race has already started and we are going to five different locations to take part in this sick event. Yeah, we're gonna be Finding out all about the local running culture in three different continents, which is pretty cool for us. And racing up and down in a spiral car park, which I feel like is gonna be a test in itself. Yeah, four by four relay, two men, two women on each teams. We're gonna be captaining various teams when we take on these challenges around the world. And on is on a mission to ignite the human spirit through movement, which is what we're gonna be doing by traveling all over the world and meeting all these amazing runners. And if you want to find out more about On Squad Race, then head to the link in the show notes. Welcome to the Running Channel Podcast. Now we're not in the studio today, are we? We are not. We are in the back of a London black cab, a London taxi, because we thought we would come out today, relive different sections of the course, and bring you along because you, Rick Kelsey, finally Ran a marathon and we are here to relive it with you. This is wild. Yeah, I can't wait. And if you want to see Rick's lovely facial expressions, uh and some little clips from the marathon itself. Yeah, you're gonna see clips. Yeah, then what about that bit? Yeah, and you need to tune in to our brand new podcast channel. Uh which uh has been stressing me out for the last few months, but has gone off without a hitch. 'Cause you can also see this whole thing. on YouTube so you can see exactly what we're sitting right in right now. We've got loads to talk about because it was a historic marathon for lots of reasons. Mainly because we got wrecked around it. London Marathon 2026, it did not disappoint. Let's get into it. So where are we do you rem do you actually remember this? Yeah, well we've just left Black E. At this point, we're going around this first roundabout. And obviously I'm running with my brother. So we did the we did we're warming up, beautiful day. Sunny, Black Heath, went into the pen, a few high fives in the pen, got out, thought that you know let's keep this steady. We know the first 5k are are all going a bit downhill. What do you mean? I'm quite surprised you can remember anything. Yeah and and then and well I've and then I've you know I've got the most amount of gels I've ever had in my life. So how many gels did you have in your pockets? Uh had eight plus a bar for on the line. Yeah. And the the cord on my shorts I had to tie it so tight, but then I tied it so tight that I couldn't untighten it and I needed a way. So did you have to get you have to get it out of the bottom shorts. So I had to get help to get help. I don't even want to know. Who helped you untie your short? My brother uh help me. That is something that only family can be asked to do, I think. So I've got help. I got help. Did you help you untie it? Yeah, and then he held the GoPro for me. Yeah for the next four hours. Uh I knew I was gonna carry my own gels. Right. Yeah, I did think you were gonna offload everything to Mu Matt. Oh to Muff. So we are gonna call him Buff. He has no real name. Yeah Matt, yeah, he's I mean he's he is and was another level on the day. Like he was uh He was he was pretty. I mean, as you g as you're seeing in these clips here. He or hearing if you're listening to us. Then he was Pretty phenomenal as a Pacer for the first two thirds. Uh gonna come onto that later. And you know, it was I'll let you ask a question in a second, I promise. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. But I'll just go. It was we have talked so many times over the year about important it is to adjust your aims on the day if the circumstances are different to your training. And let's be frank, to the sixty thousand people who took part in this marathon and have taken part in many marathons, sometimes the weather is completely different and it was a lot warmer. It was highs of twenty degrees and I'd not trade in anything like that. did adjust my my target on the day by ten percent. You say you adjusted it, but you still went off of the first five K at like sub four hour pace, even though you're going for four oh five. Yes, I would like to know this too. So right now, this this section of the course that we're on right now, your first five K split, you're on for three fifty six. Yeah. Yeah yeah. Because I was tracking you. Yeah, because my prediction for you, if it had been a cold day, I would have predicted that you would have run for three fifty five. Yeah, I thought you probably had it in NGO sub four. But it was always gonna be going into the last two days. No Rick. No Rick. I'm not gonna No I'm not gonna let that one go, because I do think that actually loads of people sometimes feel like that if they don't hit their The goal that they've been building up through all their training or the A goal, B goal, whatever it might be. Yeah. Yeah. But then I'm constantly saying to people that none of your friends and family, if they're real friends and family, care how fast you run. They they care that you're happy. Yeah. Uh but they're there. And and I would say like I I said to you in the The clubhouse when we celebrate together afterwards. Um to skip ahead a little bit of just how proud I was to see you do it. I also think out of anyone who took part in London on Sunday, uh of anyone who kind of had a rough time goal in mind, you were the person who I was most confident in being able to not only like adjust the goal on the day. not feel too bad about adjusting the goal on the day because you can't I feel like with London, until they move it to January. Which you know hopefully. Hopefully they do do. Early April. Well early April. And or October. Whenever. I feel like at some point surely they will move it. Or People come to understand that, you know. What you get in terms of crowds, atmosphere, party environment, iconic landmarks, root. You do sacrifice. Perfect weather conditions and just perfect race conditions as well, because it is no joke getting sixty thousand people around twenty six point two miles. And there are so many things which are you know most marathon finishes ever again, uh big marathon, so the world they set the world record right first. And if you were gonna design it perfect optimal conditions in order to run a P B you But London is about so much more than that. running fast. It's about all of the incredible charity places, it's about all the people in fancy dress, all the people coming out to support and like and you the fact that you were able to run with your brother as well, I feel like is so much more special than if You'd go. any time, even if you'd run sub two. You obviously ran it in twenty 17, the last time. That's the only math experience previously. So you both of your experiences at London, which is fairly unique in itself. But in 2017, the running channel didn't exist. No. And you weren't running in a massive t-shirt that said on the front. I was being filmed for a BBC protein documentary. Yeah. Very different. But my point. My point was that when I spoke to you afterwards, you said you couldn't believe actually it wasn't you, it was it was It was Matt. I can't even bring myself to call him Muff on the podcast, but it was Uncle Muffly is his full name. It was Muff. He he he basically said he couldn't believe that in the pen at the start and like as you were going to the start how many people were like stopping to wish you luck and and then like out on the course, like described did you do you feel like you had specific support? rather than just general and Oh my gosh, yeah. It was absolutely buzzing. I mean right from people come up to me as we entered our wave to being on the course, people coming up and saying, you know, Than so much for For inspiring my husband. It was always the husband, never them. So I don't know if it was true. It might not even be me. Thank you very much for inspiring my husband to leave the house, abandon me to the children and not do any and not do any parenting or work. Yeah. Uh that was one of the best signs I saw actually. Where the hell is my husband? Why is it taking him so long? Yeah, yeah. And we're now going past the iconic uh like Greenwich museums and I'm because I used to live in Greenwich and so I loved coming in. I used to live in the Royal Borough of Greenwich. The Royal Borough of Greenwich. That's a fact. God, Tom's chuckling here. Tom is in the cab as well. Not lying, you did used to live in the Royal Burger. We ran a marathon two days ago with being harsh, aren't we? It took me a long time to get into this taxi. Yeah. What's the time that's the London airport that's out by the East Coast? What's that one? South Enders. Yeah, exactly. So you you lived in Greenwich as much as South End of the Buenos Aires and thinking, what the heck? Right, so let's talk about this because there's a Fatty Shark is also on your medal that you're wearing, and that was like a a location that was picked out for this year to kind of stand out, and it always is. Absolutely rammed where we're driving now. Cutty Sark, if you don't know, is an iconic Shit. Well, the ship, yeah. Um which we can just get a glimpse of there. Yeah, it's an absolutely iconic ship and it was built to be the fastest ship. So I think that's why they built it out for them, but I think they built it when I was just like relatively young. So just just in my early early days of my running current. Do you know it's th this is actually the bit of the course that was the tightest and I saw the most people stack it. Did you see people fall over? Yeah, brown hair because i you you're running on a relatively wide road, kind of boulevard coming into Greenwich and then The cutie socket all shrinks into a very Then tunnel and everyone's really packed up. Yeah. So I I saw a couple of people stack it around just just around here. And then when you come out the other side Um kind of the there's a wall of noise that kind of keeps going um around this area. But you're only six or seven miles in. And you do n you w me and my brother noticed so much on the hills coming into Greenwich and also hear how that adrenaline, the pace, people naturally sp speed up. With people. We were trying to stick on five for f you know, five forty. kilometer. Roughly. And then But but we just notice so many people going past us at this point because the adrenaline kicks in and you start running faster because of the adrenaline. And how much were you paying attention to the pace versus you know, Matt looking at the pace or or just running to feel. Yeah, how much are you looking at your watch? I had I use rolling pace, which is You know, since that came in as a feature on my watch. Which will you set up for you? No, I actually said I think I said that myself. You said that yours. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. That's why you actually. I switched from lap pace to rolling pace. Actually The first one I did with rolling paste was actually the marathon. Oh gosh, nothing new on May. There was nothing else new. But I I I I played with it, but I'd never actually done a a proper run with it. But I was I was glancing at my watch a fair bit, but I was I was trying to get my pace and then just try and stick with it. So then did you 'Cause you said you adjust it I think you adjusted your expectations based on the heat of the day. But But obviously he'd sort of forgotten that that first five K was Were you aware then? 'C you're yours that the first five K was a little bit too quick. Or were you just like rolling with it and you can do it? So in denial. I think we were on track. I think I don't think we'll our first 5k was that much faster than the next 15. They w they were pretty much they were pr I was pretty much do it hitting five forties, five forty twos. for the first twenty three, twenty four, f twenty five K. Yeah, I think we need to get the stats up so that we can actually look at it properly. C S London Math and Yeah. chart of your pace. Oh yeah, it's quite entertaining. Shows me falling off a cliff. It just looks like you're in the foot hills to start with. Yeah. And then towards the end of the race you start climbing. What's really funny though is that the Y axis Y axis. is really changeable. So even if you're like within a few seconds of a minute by mile pace, it still makes it look like you've fallen off a cliff. Yeah, so honestly were pretty consistent, the first five K you've done in twenty eight oh two. that's an average pace minutes per mile of nine oh one then Ten K nine oh four. So you know, we're W Also just splitting a little bit. Yeah, a little bit. But actually, you know what? From up until Fifteen miles. You're doing pretty well. Yeah. Did it feel like that? Yeah, that's for the heat kicked in. So we're gonna come to that when we get later in the course. But right now, we've just left Cutty Stark and and what's immediately noticeable even in a taxi is that there's there's lots of sort of ups and downs. Yeah, like it's not heavily like North London, is it, man? No, it's not the mountainous hills of North London, but there there are smallers as you wanted it to be. I think I think I didn't notice that many hills to be honest with you. I I think it is a great course if you want to come and change yourself on the flat, and it proved that with the world records that were set. Um that it is a flat and it is a fast course. And you know, there is no wind on the day. You're doing it at the end of April. Rolling pace, by the way, just is just your last mile. It just basically don't think it's the last mile. It's the last minute. Last minute or two of of pace that you've been running at. Essentially it it cuts out the the change of a lap, so the change of a kilometer or the change of a mile. If you if you change it. And it stops the fluctuations of live pace. You could jump ten, twenty, thirty seconds per mile or super useful. Super useful. I've got a question. Were you nervous? Before Hunt. Yeah, you were nervous. Seem nervous when you were messaging me, so I was messaging you, good luck and so on, and I'd seen you I'd seen you on the Thursday and the Friday at the London Clubhouse that we part. We'd done a a live podcast and a few events and so on. And then the Saturday you had to yourself and I messaged you on the Saturday you basically said, Yep. good to go not checking the weather forecast anymore. Yeah, because you're just going up every day. Because you won't check it every day. Yeah. And I just I ate so many carbs that I began to look like a carb. Oh how was the lasagna? Yeah just lasagna, bagels, bagels, but I just felt it I felt Like I was just full of carbs and absolutely ready to go. But I was I was nervous on Sunday morning. Talk talk us through the the sorry, go on go on the nerves and then I want you to talk us through the like The the the evening meal and the breakfast and all that stuff. Yeah, I w I think I think most people I met on the the start line were pretty nervous. Um Does that help you get more or less nervous, doesn't you see other people being I think my nerves get heightened by being surrounded by other nervous people. Yeah. Like it was such it was such adrenaline because it was so still and it was still cool at that point. And there was just a feeling, like an expectation on the start line that that this was gonna be a big day. Proved right. Yeah. Yeah. I also feel like because we're you in so there are loads of different start lines out London. And I when I did it in 2024, where you start you're kind of packed into like a big kind of tree line road. And then you turn the corner and then you go under the the kind of starting arch. And then then you go into like quite residential roads. So how where what did the start look like? And did it did it feel like this big epic thing, or was it Actually what I quite liked, where it it felt quite understated as a start line, but that's quite good for not going off too fast. It was well, there are three different are yeah. You know, you're in south east London now. Uh there are there are there are three Different start lines. for the London Marathon. And you all merge after about three miles. But you're in the the the pens kind of get let out in one go and then you move forward. And we were a bit before our our time. Uh but you we were still in the pen for probably Half an hour before we actually cross the line. Just in the sun. Just in the sun? Do we eating or drinking? Uh I had I had a bar with me. Yeah. Um The last solid thing that I ate for for four hours. And and were you are you fully in your race kit at this point? Are you are you like, do you have to take it? I didn't need to take a a jumper, it was already that warm. Yeah. We I jump jumper was off at that point. So you basically just stood ready to go totally in your race gear? Gels on you. Bar eating the bar. Yeah and hey you and you're gonna see you're gonna see my brother kind of like um He he was basically given kind of a a marathon commentary of what was going on around. Oh really? Just like as you were going through. Absolutely loving it. So good. At some point my brother's running backwards like doing loops. And then my my brother was going through London like it was, you know, one big magical mystery tour, and he was about to stomp off and do a tower tour of the Tower of London. It's like, Oh look, there's the Tower of London. I was like, Yeah, do you want to pop in, have a walk around and catch me up? Because this was his absolute dream, wasn't it? And ha did it live up to expectations. He he was just absolutely over the moon. Uh, he was just walking around chatting to people, saying, How you getting on? Shoving the GoPro in their face. And The chat and the ability to just talk to random people with a microphone or a camera runs in the family now. Yeah, I asked him afterwards like I was like, How was that? Did it live up to the expectations? And he was like It was amazing. I'd rather have done it on my own, but it was amazing. No, I'm joking. I'm joking. I could do it again by myself. Yeah. So much better. It's hard to get him back next year. But did it what was the strategy between you? You know what? This is a case of what many people have had I reckon when they do a marathon. You you you go out with an aim and you've got to be changing that aim. as you go, if circumstances change and look at look at the splits, the average time and splits of this year's marathon, so many people ran a a a longer second half positive split. Because except the elites who loved it. Well, the elite had the benefits of starting at least half an hour earlier than you. Yeah. And finishing obviously after less than two hours. So like it's uh you know th it wasn't that hot for those guys. And and also, you know, there's a big difference there probably finishing in like sixteen degrees maybe. Compared to maybe eighteen. Yeah. And and that's a big difference where they're only having to do twenty minutes as it's getting slightly hotter. Yeah. And and also Those guys are used to you know, the guys at the front are used to training. um in Africa a lot of the time where not only the altitude but also it's it's hot a lot of the time. So um Yes, it's terrifying to think that imagine the whole route had been like twelve, ten, twelve degrees the hot like run like an hour and a half. Ah yeah. Shiving out. At this point I'm just smiling. Like I'm I'm I'm literally lov the f the first half of this course, I'm I'm li I'm smiling. I'm I'm loving it. I think it's so nice to just see like different parts of London as well. We actually we just went past they were uh did you see they were all in um London Marathon events, high vis. Oh I did taking down. Oh, because it's still taking down the barriers and stuff, yeah. Yeah. Did you did it feel like Built up to it for a long time. Um you've probably built up to it for two weeks less than normal people with your fourteen week training plan. But they're so happy I did fourteen weeks. But you wanna see my straba go off a cliff right now and flat line now. It's gonna flat line. No. It's gonna it's gonna look like I've gone on a really long holiday. So we're what the hell Tuesday. Tuesday. It's Tuesday, so we're barely forty eight hours after you finishing. When do you think you will run again? Well, a lot of world records were broken at the London Marathon last week. But there was also a world record broken in my house in North London for the longest time it's taken a man to get down one flight of stairs the day of the state. So is it like you know they say that weird like urban urban myth, but like the myth of like you can take a cow upstairs but then it can't come back down. Is that you? Is that you? Yeah. I'm the Cow. Speaking speaking about your household, we um we had a l I had a lovely moment just before you came to celebrate with us uh afterwards, 'cause we're all waiting to see you in the clubhouse. Um And uh your lovely wife. Came in. Chantal. Chantal, yeah. And uh I was talking to a group of people in in the clubhouse, and then one of them saw her, I gave her a hug and said, Oh hi, Chantel and the f without missing a beat, this guy just looked and went, Oh, great. Nice to see you. Are you the one that has to do all of the parenting then? At which point O'Todler screamed and she had to go outside. It was that you couldn't have written it. But yeah, was it after all of that build up, the fourteen week build up and and obviously the months and months before that where we were talking to you about and how you'd agreed to run a marathon and it was a big running joke on the podcast. Yeah. Was there an element of like, Finally this is here and I'm doing it? and getting out of my system or so w I guess how much were you thinking about the fact that you've been building up to it for ages. How much are you just in the moment soaking it up? And how much are you thinking, Oh my God, I've still got thirty K to go? I think yeah, to answer that you have to kinda say how comfortable you were. And I I did feel pretty comfortable for the first Twenty five K? And No, and you weren't that I know what kind of cramp was gonna hit me. Yeah and airas of cramp that I didn't think existed. I mean, I knew you could get cramp in your calf, didn't know you'd get it both calves at the same time. I knew you could get cramp in your quads, didn't know it would come at both quads at the same time. I didn't know your quads could go numb from cramp cramp. And then I also didn't know you could get cramp in your rib cage. I like the air that we talked about this, didn't we? Intercostal muscle. Intercostal cramp. And you know, at this point at this point Muff and I were just looking at each other going, all right, 405 hasn't happened, but let's happen. Let's adapt. And then we'll add 10% to that. You know, and let's just see how we go. So I j basically I I had to I mean we're coming at the tower bridge now, we're still feeling all right here, but we we had to adapt. Well yeah talking about adapting, I'm keen to know the the psychology. I think we've talked about Sarah, like you You've said that you get in your own head, although you've smashed it in Rotterdam recently, 'cause you've you've worked out how to uh deal with your own head. Um I'm in my own head in the math and going like Oh my I'm doing the opposite of like, oh great, that's seven K gone. I'm going, Oh my God, that's thirty five K to go. Yeah. Oh my goodness, that's now thirty K to go. What is happening here? This is so long. Wh How are you feeling? Like we're we are coming up to Tower Bridge now, like one of the most iconic moments on any marathon in the world. But also quite a challenging one, I think, because at Tower Bridge that's the point where you go over the landmark. You go over the bridge, over the river. And you see people directly in front of you who are what ten miles, eleven miles ahead of you? Yeah. Mark. Yeah. Mark and running down a house. Oh, I watched that on the tracker because we we did have an inkling that like roughly doing the timings, you should be sure you should have been coming over Tower Bridge as he was kind of running back past it. And it was just aft you'd like crossed it and had come back. Did you see him? On the other side of the road. Yeah. No, but I think that's probably I think that's probably m one of my part of the course that I least like just 'cause you know that they've already done that. And you just look at some of their faces and you go, Oh, they don't look well. And you're feeling all hype, oh, is that right, Minute's coming in? I I had the exact same thing in Rotterdam and I I honestly think that like switchback should be banned in marathons. Especially when it's just good for it's good for viewers. Well worse than switchbacks maybe. So when we did Malaga Marathon and I think where I'm doing Milton Keene's half marathon next week. the half and the math and take place at the same time. And the people running the marathon course just have just watch the half marathon finishes PL off. You're right. Yeah. It's exactly the same. Yeah. I remember seeing that in Malaga, thinking I'd never do a marathon. And here we are and you have done. I think it's too fresh, but We've talked about something like Marathon Demedoc, kind of the that's the wine marathon. Um I don't know how you could drink booze and do a marathon. Yeah. It was it's hard enough already. But but you I just don't I honestly I just don't but you might enjoy it. How about we make what about if we set a target? So if it was a walking. So I don't know what we should set the target, so if We get a certain number of likes on this video on YouTube. No, stop now. Uh if you smash the like button. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And drop a comment that just says Medoc. I don't know how then Rick could Rick will Rick will run the marathon to Medoc. Let's do that. Or you can comment on Spotify now as well, I think. Or where wherever you get your podcast, drop a little comment and Give a pledge, 'cause it's gonna take a lot of convincing here. So please give us your pledge as to why you would like to see Rick. run another marathon ideas. You didn't seriously hold you guys to marathon dementia. Two thousand two thousand likes on YouTube. Yeah. The only chance that my body is doing that is is in a wooden box. I think in France the wines the very fancy wine comes in these nice wooden boxes. I'll just watch someone else do it that way. We could get you a little sandwich board to wear would that count as a wooden box? So smash the like button if you're watching on YouTube. Great. If you're listening to this on audio Make sure you go and head to watch it on YouTube, just to hit the like button. So So that you can have some this is like audience interaction, isn't it? We've got to give the people what they want, right? Power Bridge. Right, we're approaching Tower Bridger. How did you feel at this point? Oh I'm getting goosebumps just like this. It is iconic, isn't it? Yeah. It's it's the most recognizable landmark in any world math. Um My surgeon saw me. I don't know if you guys know about this. No. Yeah, so as in pre uh on the race day, or Yeah on race day. So my my surgeon, a guy called David Houahan Byrne, just completely out of the blue. Emailed me. Uh on the day after We finished the the race and just said, Oh, I saw you out there a couple of times And I was like, This is the nicest email that I've had in absolutely ages. So this is the guy who basically rebuilds people who can't be rebuilt. Um and he just saying it for time. If anyone was gonna fix your knee, it was gonna be him. Yeah, and he sent an email and he said, Um Hi Rick, just a quick email to say well done today. I saw you a couple of times on the marathon route. I was there supporting my daughter. crowd is about three deep, so it's really difficult to get your attention. It looks like you're running really well. Pretty impressed and delighted at how well you're doing with that new knee. Keep it up. Nicest thing. That's awesome. That's amazing. Well thank you David. That's such a lovely guy. David's a lovely guy. So nice. I think that shows as well, like What I love, do you do you know actually, I realise for the first time this year, do you know you can only track up to thirty people on the the London Marathon now. You'd exhausted all thirty people allowance. Yeah, and I was having to I I'm to culp it I'm not ashamed to say the first people I took off were the elite, because I was like, Well I can look at the leadboard because And I was tracking, but I do feel like on Race day itself, what's really cool is 'cause me and Tom were based around Canary Wharf and so we were look we were looking out for you and we were looking out for Mark. Um trying to trying to spot you guys. But also it was really interesting listening to the crowds that were out and just listening to different people and kind of who they were looking for. And you know, for some people it is like a really close friend or a loved one or like close relative. For a lot of people It was I'm really excited 'cause um I'm tracking Cynthia Arivo and I'm excited to see her come past or running. She was running. Yeah. Yeah, annoyingly she's faster than me, three twenty one. Oh, Gordon Ramsey shouted up me on the three. Did he? His daughter is running. Do you know how Cynthia Revo managed to go so fast? Go on, because defying gravity. Very good. Thanks. Very good. She uh she ran in like a long sleeve top as well. But she absolutely flew. A long sleeve top. Wow, what a shot this is. Did you have much time to actually take it in? as you were running over it. 'Cause I remember Towerbridge being incredibly overwhelming. Can people are people are supporting here, right on the bridge, right? Yeah, but but there are people on ladders. People on lip they literally bring step ladders like all all the way along here. And you can't actually you can't see the water, you can't see anything. Like the Tower of London is just after Tower Bridge. But from the br when you're running across it, you can't see a thing. Is it then I don't know how 'cause then we you come over to Tower Bridge and then you turn we just talked about it, you see the people coming back in the other direction, you've nearly finished, and you turn right away from the finish. Does it then is it then sort of a almost not an anti climax, but is it Do you need that breather or does it stay as noisy or like does it You do get you do get a little breather and then the course thins out a little bit and you go down on a street that just sits just behind the river? And it's a little bit thinner. Um the crowds are still dense. But you do get a bit of a breather when you come round here as it curls round on the north bank, heading towards Canary Wharf. I think that's what's quite hard though, is because quite often Tower Bridges is build as halfway. It's actually round about twelve miles. Yeah, it's a little bit more. And then afterwards when you do hit halfway, it feels like ages after Tower Bridge and it's quiet. And I feel like that's when loads of people start to feel a bit tired or cut like start to hit the wall. And I just remember heading towards Canary Wharf and being like, Oh my gosh, this is a long way. So anything anything going on with your body at this point? Like you know chafing. Any any extra pains? It was about you know, if we're mile twelve now, it was about Mile sixteen, so I'm all right. Um Until a couple of miles down the road, pain wise. Let's talk about that then, because the route we're taking Sacking off Canary Wolf. And we're heading straight for we're doing what we reckon probably forty or fifty thousand people on Sunday wish. I reckon six or turn left there, I tell you. So at the way back, we're now we've gone from twelve miles to kind of twenty to twenty three miles. Yeah. Talk us through You know, twenty miles onwards. How was Rick Kelsey's legs feeling? Uh yeah. Uh I mean I uh after sixteen, I just started to get And I just had to stop and pull over and try and Stretch them out. Um and this She did a Sifan Hassan London Marathon twenty twenty four. She won it and she and she stopped and stretched off. Stretch off. Oh there was a fall. I lose track of which one she fell in and uh it's really but she Yeah, she's she's overcome a whole bunch of stuff. So good. The drama of watching that on the TV just amazing. Interestingly. And I'm gonna bring in something that I'm gonna be trying. in my half marathon. Oh bee pickle juice. Oh pick oh is it pickle juice. No not bee juice, pickle juice. And uh I'm gonna make you guys try it. I tried it on my long run on Sunday in preparation for it just to make sure I wasn't gonna throw it up if I was the missing. I hate pickles. Don't forget this episode is sponsored by On and their squad race, which we're excited to be travelling around the world to go to various different events together. Yeah, I'm really interested to see how I'm gonna fare going up and down, because I mean you're used to racing flat around a trap. How are you gonna deal with a spiral car park? It's up and down the spiral, four person relay, two men, two women. We'll be running in the on Cloud Monster 3 Hyper, which we're really excited about. So stay tuned to the running channel to find out how we get on with our adventures at the On Squad Race. Yeah. Well make you just try it. Do you know what the side shocked your body a little bit? It's effectively a shock, yeah. So it's like the acet acetic acid, I think. So it's effectively a Um I saw a lot of people with a jar of pickles and a sign saying Cramp come here. Yeah. But you didn't you didn't trust them. You didn't want to go into the crap. I didn't trust them. No. I do have cramp. I don't want to go over there. No. I was too me and my brother were just trying to distract our brains so much by trying to count how many weather spoons we could spot. Oh yes. A chain of pubs that are all over the UK. Yeah. Probably serve some of the cheapest pints in the UK. Yeah, exactly. How many did you get to? We got to six. But then the pain was so much I couldn't see. So yeah, uh now it becomes you've you've gone through the the euphoria of the fact that you've set off on your first marathon since knee surgery and and you've got this huge crowd cheering you on. And then now it's it's like attritional, right? Like we're in the last such pain cave. Yeah. So I mean such a pain cave. And I I w I was just trying to chunk up miles thinking my big aim from everything after 26 because I was in so much pain with Crumb. was to get to thirty seven. That was absolutely my target 'cause I thought thirty seven, park run to go, I'll deal with the pain. Inste this is w instead of stopping to stretch out the cramp. and then walking into a run again. Yeah. I'll I'll just get to thirty seven and then I'll then I'll just jog it in. No matter how it is, I'll just keep the leg straight and jog it in if I have to. Yeah. Uh so at this point everything just s seems to be going so slowly. But I saw some guys from the running channel club around about here, actually. So we're just by um Did you see them? It just well w I guess we're approaching the embankment. Yeah, approaching the embankment and um And they had the uh they had a Gavy Gavy Gavy sign. Yes, and we actually have that assign, I think. Yeah, we have that assigned for you. And there was just there was just a box show and it was double sided. So an hour and a half before you went to they'd held it up for m for Mark. Yeah. Flipped it over, waited for you. Is it really? Gavin Gaving Gavin. There's a load of guys from the Runner Channel um club and they were just screaming here and it was so good. And then there was there's another guy who was who's on a relatively quiet part of the course uh in Surrey Keys, who was pushing a Buggy. Hello to you, if this is you. Thank you to anyone who supported me on the day. Um, who's just pushing his buggy with his toddler in the buggy, and all of a sudden just shout Rick! Gabayes brilliant support. I I love it because you were you had a very bright T shirt on and also you um as as you're about to see in any of the clips, anyone watching on YouTube the day before the math and you got it printed with your name. I've seen people do this before, but it was the most Rick thing ever when you said the photo through the WhatsApp creep was so big. So big also your brother got his name printed on his top, and when I came to meet you guys afterwards and he was like Not that many people called out my name. And it was because you got it printed in black on his very dark blue T shirt. Well well he he he got it printed in black. He should have got it printed in white. You know, high fiving people just like, Whee My brother's got a cramp, hilarious. Oh yeah, so How easy do you think he found it? I think he found it pretty cut. I don't think he found it easy, but he found it cut. He found it the pace was comfortable. I think if he wanted to, he could have run um sub three. Yeah, oh really? Yeah. Sub three? Yeah, I think so. I did think he looked very very afterwards, he looked much fresher than you. No offense when it came to see it. Did you recognize me? I mean you hadn't aged at all, you'll be pleased to know. Were there any parts where it was like annoying how fresh he was? Because that's what Tom always gets really annoyed at me for if we run together. Like I have to, you know, slightly break for him to tolerate me alongside it. He he Definitely was the reason that I finished it. as quickly as I did. I don't think I would have run it as quickly without his support saying, you know, keep going here, when we hit the next kilometer sign, stretch it out and then we go again. You know, he he's a guy who picked me up. Great. running buddy. I actually think because you know I don't really run with someone. Actually having a buddy. Even if you just join onto them on the day of the marathon is very useful. Were you using other people as well? 'Cause I quite enjoy doing that where you just like in order to focus on some other people. Wasted energy, mate. No, not Chad. What's it called? Uh crushing their spirit. Crushing their spirit. When you overtake them and go past. Did you do any of that? Uh crushing spirit taken or you having your spirits crushed by everybody else. I was having my my spirits crushed by the Pacer flags. Oh, there goes three fifty five, four, four oh five, four ten. Oh four fifteen. There we go. There you go. Did you get overtaken by any good fancy dress as well? Yeah, I got overtaken by a fridge this year, fantastic. It was Jesus Christ on the cross nine years ago, the fridge did me this year. And he's still uh still running marathons. Because did you hear what his next plan was? So this guy called Jordan, please go check out because he's running for an absolutely incredible cause. Um he Run London. then immediately flew over to Ireland and he's now running I think it's a further thirty two marathons on consecutive days. Um to help raise awareness for dementia. Amazing. Yeah, 'cause he's he's been diagnosed or been assessed and has the same gene of one of his parents who also died very young with that. So he kind of knows what's coming for himself and is trying to raise awareness in order to help get a cure. That's really, really moving. Yeah, really moving. Um It was the there were so many moving stories actually, just people on the course as you go around, you know, people asking people what they're running for, why they're doing it, and you know, people having little mini conversations. I'd like to say that I tried to join in on some of those conversations, but you know Oh, yeah. Yeah, how much talking are you doing? Not much. Oh, this point here is people hanging off the side, kind of cheering you. And you come up to this point and you come onto the Victoria embankment. Yeah and Have we just come through the the the famous tunnel. Yes, that's famous. It g i it goes dark and then you come out uh into the bright sunshine. Maybe we shouldn't talk about this, but if uh I have one iconic moment in my mind for that tunnel. Do you know what I'm thinking of. So I'm pretty sure that when Paula set one of Paula Radcliffe sent one one of her, like friends. Can I say is it Paula Radcliffe? Yeah, when she set one of her incredible records back in the two thousands. There was a point, I think, a slightly awkward point, which is talked about a lot. When I think you know, like She she really needs to go to the toilet. Oh, was it in the tunnel? I think I think it's I think it was that that that's how I remember it anyway. And I've because I wasn't I'm not not mentioning this to like recall an embarrassing story or embarrass anybody. It's more the opposite. I remember looking at the splits afterwards. And you noticed it. Yeah, exactly. Someone could run at that speed and set a record and win the race and still have to like have to stop because you're you're caught short in some way. And then the cameras I think had to whip away because the commentator was like, Oh right, okay. Um I remember as being actually in the tunnels coming, yeah. I did see a couple of uh shampoo bottles or body washes people dressed up as running through the tunnel in the Yeah. And then just up here, obviously we're coming towards Big Ben now. Um, this is where I knew that my family were somewhere, my mum my daughter and my wife were standing somewhere on the right hand side and we were kind of like Using that as a right, when we see those That's your last push then. Go and give 'em a hug and then a last push. Keep going. And that's the on the Stravagraph, this is where my pacing kinda levels out a little. Yeah. Yeah, you pull it back at the end of the state. It stops dis it stops decreasing. Yeah, you stop the decline. I didn't realise the rods. I didn't realise how far this last section is. 'Cause actually the embankment is quite a long way. Yeah, you can see Big Ben from where we are. I'm guessing on the day you can't see it 'cause you've just got so many crowds in front of you. But it is quite a long a long way. But this is where all the charities come out. This is where Did you manage to see them? This is my favorite bit of the course. And actually it Even though it was hurting here. Absolutely loved it running along here. On these pictures if you watch it on YouTube. Don't maybe look like I'm loving it. But but so you so were you running the whole time looking for your family? Uh at this point, 'cause I knew they were near embankment. So yeah, I I was I was looking out for them here. Um but my gosh, I was for I just had taken my eighth jaw and I was relieved because I was like Oh, all the weight's gone. The bulk ceremony. The bulgets are in the world. Yeah, yeah, there's nothing left. Yeah, that's a good feature. Yeah. Oh, by the way, uh Sarah and I talked in last week's show about whether or not It was advisable for people to take the phones on a marathon. Yeah. I didn't take it. You didn't? No. You didn't want to carry the extra weight, did you? No, 'cause Gary Palmer Fitness, who He was doing our VOT Max testing at the TLC Clubhouse, yeah. VOT Max the size of your engine. Um I he he said to me uh he told me how much uh my phone weighed. And he thought He said. Why would you wanna carry that? How much does your phone weigh? I can't remember, but it was a lot. It probably it probably is comparative to like carrying another five grams. Did he say eight hundred grams? Would that have mess? I think that's heavy for a phone, but he's definitely on the back of his. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. Um But yeah, I didn't and it I I loved it and I'd actually you know, people want it for the what do you want the phone for? You want it for the the finish line? Yeah, exactly. You don't need it the rest of the time. No. And then you get out of your bag. I I want to know at this point, we're like literally what, a mile or so to go now? Two miles to go. Do you Did you have any I can't imagine you did, but did you have any inkling that History been made up ahead of you. No. No. I'm just a world. I mean I I know Sebastian Sarway can now look back and go, I run in the same race as Rick Kelsey. Not the other way around. But I remember people used to do that when uh Kip Choggy broke the world record in Berlin. I think someone went out. I think Anna ran Berlin. Uh and I also ran Berlin when a world record was broken. And people were screwing. Oh, and he's running that will give it a miss. But people were running out in Berlin with little bits of cardboard saying like world record. Yeah. So I'm surprised. There was talk about Valencia being super fast, uh and obviously it did end up being for people like Alex E actually from a British perspective. Yeah. Um but I was running this amazing guy, Adam. Who w bumped into him at ten K and and we told this story at the time where he then effectively pace me for the whole rest of the marathon, even though he hadn't intended on even finishing the whole marathon. Yeah. But he was running along next to me or in front of me at various points, getting his phone out of his pocket, because he was running with his phone. Just to check. And checking the elite splits. Oh my But does it does it feel now in hindsight they're going back? Just you see all of the clips of of Sebastian Suay running down this point in particular. And this is where he started. He's you know, he's really put the hammer down and and You get this sensation of like people who filmed it on bikes from the the s from the pavement or whatever it might be. And you see the Him running and the bike and the filming, there's like the crowd. And you see the heads just whipping past the camera because of how fast he's going. Do you do do you feel like you would Lucky to be running. as part of that historic race. You know h history literally made the fact that, you know, two men went sub two hours and the top three. existing world records in the London Marathon. You know, and for Jacob Kipplemo, he pro if you had told him two days in advance, and I'm I spoke to him this week, you know, if I if you had told him Oh, you know what, you're gonna Break. The world record, but still finish. Third. thought what planet are you on? Yeah. Because of just how fast this course was. And not just to go under Sub two hours, but to go one hour Uh fifty nine thirty. I mean it's just incredible. It's very neat, isn't it? I've watched that in the finish line so many times because it's so lovely just watching the clock tick to thirty. Yeah. Like I I don't think it would have been it's not as nice. Thirty one. Twenty nine. Thirty, lovely. Like the reality is one fifty nine thirty is so superhuman you sort of can't Really relate to it, right? And you're out there, what was your finish t final finish time, rate? Four hours and eighteen minutes. And do you know this? Can you remember the seconds? No. I think it's unnecessary uh clock up your brain. Sarah might look it up. Sarah might look it up for you. Um while she is looking up, I wondered Do when you s when you hear about those times and you hear about people hitting these lofty goals Do does it I don't know we were joking before. Uh semi joking. Hit the like button if you're watching on YouTube because when we get to two thousand, Rick's gonna do the marathon D Meta. But does it um does it Does it insp like inspire you to do something else, whether it's a marathon or not? Do those times like make you go Fast could I be at X. Or you just totally dissociated from it? Um We just not want to run again ever. I don't want to run again ever. I've realised that the half marathon distance is my distance. No, it's my maximum distance. Yeah, you've i if you can do a marathon, I mean what an amazing place to do Marathon. when you if you can do one of the majors and if you can do London, if you can run in your home city, you know, it's just an absolute amazing feeling. And there were parts There are parts that you will see me that I am smiling and absolutely loving it, taking it in. My gosh, it is hard. It's hard graft to train, it's hard graft to do it. And right now in the days after, it's hard to get in and out of a car. Or get up and down off a toilet. Yeah, it's so hard. Yeah, I think as well, like. The fact just because like fifty nine thousand people took on the London Marathon, it doesn't make it any easier to to complete it. And I think that's only one million people applied. Yeah, whilst it is super it's amazing that so many people take it on and it's amazing that it it's getting so much faster. Like I think I saw um Hugo Fry talking about the fact that in twenty twenty one he ran It was like around two fifty-five, it became like a thousand and something. But this year, if you'd run that time, you would have been two thousand and something. Yeah. Which just shows. How much faster the world is getting. However We w we all always need to come back to the fact that the average five K time is getting slower. And that's amazing because so many more people are Taking part in running. But a marathon is hard. And like if you've just run a marathon doesn't matter where it is throughout this spring marathon season, please be kind to yourself. Recover. Don't necessarily sign up to another one straight away if you're you know, disappointed with the result or you want to go again, because it they do take an absolute toll on your body. I agree. And Rick Kelsey is the master of looking after himself. Oh yeah, so his Strava will absolutely flat line now. That's it. Come back in twenty twenty seven when Rick will go on his first run. There's a lot of stri There's a lot of activities that you can strive and how can you Strava hot tubs? That would be brilliant. And you could be striver passive dancing. I'd break some records on that. Strava in passive heat training. Yeah. You see Arish McColgan's feet, by the way? No, I didn't know. Yeah, Arnish McColgan just posted some um pictures of her feet. She had a blood blister. And it was absolutely killing it, which is why she was in so much pain. And there was blood coming through her toe. So one of her shoes shoes looks red. And then afterwards there's just blood absolutely everywhere. Oh my god. I I I I had one that probably should have given a trigger warning for that. Yeah, yeah. I I I I had one that I didn't actually feel during the race, but then afterwards on the finish line. Oh that is lovely. Yeah. Right, well speaking of Ailish, should we talk about the men's and women's British elite field? 'Cause uh you know, aside from you running, there were some great performances. Yeah, I mean Yeah, I mean Rose Harvey was also did really well. Um she ran two So I think that's the top Brit the first three Brits. Um all of whom Um Probably On average, just behind. Thirty seconds a minute or so behind their their personal bests. Which does shows it was it was it was still tough condition for the elite as well. And the fact that the marathon is just is not fair. It is unforgiving. Every single time you attempt it, it it holds no prisoners. It does not care. whether you have a good day or a bad day. It and that's what kind of makes the good days even more special. Um There were lots of P Bs for the men's British Elite Field. So Mohammed Mohammed two oh six, P B, Patrick Deva two oh six, P B Yeah there was only four seconds between those guys. Yeah. Really? That's Patrick Dever who's been upgraded from fourth to third at the New York Marathon. Um from last year. And then Wayne Gebralassi, two oh six, new P B B. And then Jack Rowe, who made his debut. He was a DNF at last year's marathon. Um That's interesting. Does it count as a debut if you start and don't finish the first time? Mmm. I'm gonna go with yeah. I think we should give him the benefit of the doubt, but but I but I feel like you've got first. Look if you got t you'd still be your debut football match if you got taken off at half time, wouldn't it? Yeah. But then you've actually played football. Yeah, true. But I guess you have actually marathon. Yeah. Well, anyway, first marathon finished twenty six point two miles completed for Jack Row, who paced Tom to a five KP early in the year. And has been on the podcast. It's been on the podcast. Yeah, we've definitely done a a chat with him for sure. Yeah, he ran two oh seven forty seven, which is phenomenal. These times are just bonkers, aren't they, when you say them out loud. Yeah, they are a little bit mad. I also think what's really interesting is just how deep the men's and women's fields are i in the UK. And considering like how few people get taken to championships and Olympics. What's depressing to think about it this way, though, and I don't mean any disservice to these British athletes 'cause the times they're running over unreal. Yeah. But when you get put into a race With Sebastian Sway running one fifty nine thirty. Yeah. And then you run even Muhammad Mahabad running two six fourteen. He's nearly seven minutes behind. So he's three you know, it's a mile and a half. Yeah. Near yeah, over a mile and a half. Well, that's a No, let's not put him down. He's still running marathon. No, no, no, I'm trying No, it is incredible that I'm trying to put the the winning time. You're running a time here which is You know, well inside. Um Olympic and world championship qualify times. Yeah. Does make you one of the the best in the world and one of the fastest in Britain of all time. Yeah. But the fact that you could be and it's a bit like this was similar the same when Paula Radcliffe set her record, she was probably a mile and a half up the road from from the next person that finished. And it just it's yeah, that that the time the times very uh equate to a quite a lot of distance quite quickly in the marathons. Do you what though with marathons, sometimes so like for example, with Rotterdam, I am now saying to myself, I'm only like ish half an hour behind you. Excuse me, just sneeze. So I was getting PTSD coming down Bird Cage Walk. I know it's closer to forty minutes, but if you rounded down, I'm closer to half now, but I don't know how rounding works with it, but this bit here is where you have the three hundred and eighty five yards to go and where everyone just goes, Well what on earth yards? So how are you feeling in this section? 'Cause you get to so you go You go go up there. You go up and allow to drive that way. Yeah. Oh look there are some horses coming past. Um Wow we're we're truly at Buckingham Palace now, aren't we? We've got police horses to our right, a little school group in front of us. We're only at Buckingham Palace. Buckingham. Yeah. Buckingham? Yeah. I mean at this point here. You are just searching for the finish line. Did you feel like a little surge of energy there? I was I I I wasn't as in as much pain here as I was five Um five K earlier. Why five K is such a long way still, you can you just got you got hope in your heart and you're smiling, and you can see the end. Was there any point where you thought I'm not sure what's going on? Yeah, because the because it was so hot, I'm not sure. I i if there were at times it felt like I didn't there weren't enough water stations. I I don't know if that was just me or it was just the day, but Me and my brother were just constantly looking for water stations, even though they are every couple m month. Did you miss some, do you think and and last year. training, you know, we I didn't train taking on that much water. I water I took on train to taking on some American. Yeah. But um I I felt like there could have been a couple more. Certainly in the last ten K. Did you go in any of the hoses? 'Cause they didn't have sponges, they just had hoses. Just your shoes. You didn't want to get wear shoes. But then a the second half I was just like, Yeah, whatever. I don't care what's wet. Douse me and it's ause me, do whatever you can. It was when I when I got into the second half, I started just pouring water over my sister's palace. Well, this is pretty iconic. Was this your favourite moment? Oh yeah I mean this was the royal family. This was yeah, I mean you downloading it. I was buzzing at this point. And then you come around and what you don't realise is that It's not That far up the mall that you've got to run. 'cause you've run enough already. Yeah. So y y you only go About three hundred metres at the mall. And spunk is how unrecognizable this is without all of the branding now. It is. It is and the signage and have flags out as well. Yeah. Uh yeah. The flags flags were all out. Uh And then you you see the the finish line and then you're just reaching for it and my gosh. Crossing that finish line. Did I feel relief? Did you feel emotional crossing over? Yeah, I think I really did feel emotional, actually. I thought, you know, that was that was the whole of this year. And it also felt like Yeah, to do it in your own city. in a year that I might be leaving. London. Good. And I just thought, you know. Great time I've had in there, and what a great race that was. And it's just the one day where it just feels so positive, and everyone's giving such good vibes, it just makes you think. We're in the greatest city on earth. And you're leaving. And you're moving. Yeah, exactly. Woo, got it back. I think that's a lovely way to to wrap it up. Like uh I'm gonna say my little bit and then I don't know whether Sarah wants to say say something, but We take the Mickey a lot. on the podcast out of each other. That's kinda the point. That's our reason for being. But You have had this incredible journey of like running and then r really serious injury, really serious surgery, and then building back to it and then being convinced to build up to this. And I wasn't sure we'd ever see you do it. And as your friend and podcast host and all the rest of it, I was absolutely Yeah, I was I was so proud and emotional on your behalf to see you do it. And I'm I'm I'm chuffed that we can share this with uh you know that I'm happy that people listen to this and can hear, hear it and hopefully be a little bit uplifted by it. I was surprised that then it's How many times did you see him? I saw him like four or five times probably. No, how many times? Didn't see him once. Did you not? Didn't see not see him at all. I thought you saw him twice. And it but he did just say something really nice. No, no, no. Let's have this. I'd like this on record, on audible record. How many times did you see Rick Kelsey in the London Marathon twenty twenty six? Zero. How many times did you see Andy Badley at Valencia Marathon twenty twenty four? One. Twenty three. Once. Once, yes, it's one now. You did just give a gun. No, I didn't. No, I didn't. I tried and then the timings didn't work and I couldn't get across to where I needed today. Oh, Sarah. Don't put it on a town, I think. That is an excellent moment to finish on. I'm absolutely positive with that. But no, genuinely, well done. Twenty six point two miles is absolutely no joke, and we will now take the mick out of you slightly less. Yes. But for any you know, it's got a time limit on it. You're gonna have to do this marathon de Medoc thingy soon, or I'm in retirement, so you can onto me and I'll just sit back and smile. Do let us know. Email in podcast at the running channel dot com. What would you like to see Rick? take on next. We've had lots of lovely comments about how many people kind of relate to Rick and um really get your ethos when it comes to running. So take on retirement. What are you taking on next? What other races are you doing? What other challenges would you like to see us do? Maybe maybe it's time now you've got your half marathon out of the way next week. Good luck by the way. Yeah thanks. I'm out of my marathon, Rick's out of his marathon. Maybe we should have a head Head challenge between the three of us. Okay, what could that be? I would love some ideas, please let us know. And we will see you next time. Thanks so much. Bye bye. This episode was sponsored by On and we are heading out to five of their different squad races. We are so excited to be taking on four by four relays, getting competitive against each other in loads of different locations around the world, going up and down different spiral car parks. It's gonna be epic. We'll be in the Cloud Monster 3 Hyper Super Trainer. I'm just really excited, Andy. I can tell. I'm looking forward to meeting amazing people all over the world, particularly to experience the run culture in each of those cities and see how that might be different to the way that we all experience running. So that's what I'm excited to bring to the running channel. We're gonna take you, the running channel listeners, with us on that journey. And we can't wait. So we're incredibly. Stay tuned, head to on.com to find out more.