Race Report: London Marathon 2025, Micheal Perry

Preface: in 2025 KADS coach Micheal Perry won the club ballot for the London Marathon 2025. Following the race he wrote this post. It describes his (very) long path towards the elusive sub-3. As a masters athlete with a full time job and a young family, his determination, effort and strategic training has been a huge inspiration for many of us here at KADS. 

​My story with the London Marathon, after over 11 years of failed ballot attempts, 7 years with the KADS ballot & one failed good-for-age attempt in a very hot Lisbon 🥵 by 11 seconds. I finally got the golden ticket. I had unfinished business with the marathon.

My plan was to put this to bed. Also, this was my last marathon for some time; (The Last Dance). I'll be handing over my house marathon shoes to Kirsty, who signed up for the Edinburgh marathon this year. We are a little crazy training for marathons at the same time with two young girls & one that doesn't sleep. I think our marriage has survived all the training or she just doesn't want to upset her coach. 🤣

Full Marathon Journey 

Started with my first in a dry sunny Manchester Marathon in April 2018. I downloaded a plan I found online and joined KADS in September 2017. I thought joining a running club would help me become a better runner 🤔.

The training went great and weekly runs on Wednesday nights with KADS helped. I was recommended to run the Ashby 20 which I signed up to. It was later cancelled due to snow but I still have the famous hoodie. So, with no long races under my belt apart from a few half-marathons. I stepped onto the start line in Manchester with no pacing strategy.

I went flying out of the blocks at Half Marathon pace trying to bag as many miles as possible and loving it. When the pain hit at 18-20 miles, I start to slow down. Hitting a wall always hurts, but I'm going to finish this as it's my first & I'm not after a time. I dragged myself back to Old Trafford Cricket Ground in a time of 3:17.

Yorkshire Marathon 

This race was in October 2019. I wanted to beat the time I had the year before. I'd been a KAD for 2 years & all my race times were improving. Again I was on the start line with no pacing strategy or game plan. The idea was to hit halfway at 1:28 - 1:30.

Boom 🤯 I did, but my first 4 miles were so fast going through York 🤦🏻‍♂️. 13 - 20 miles I was on for a sub 3 marathon 😮. I only wanted to beat my first time & get a shiny new PB. Between 23 and 26 miles: wowsers the pain! My pace dropped. I got over the line with a new PB of 3:02 😁.

Lisbon Marathon 2022

After a few years of breaks 😷 not just my own choice. Everyone I knew got a place in the London Marathon this year. I started longer running with a few lucky KADS. I started 2022 still recovering from an injury which put me out for a few months.

I had been in contact with Matt Long which I got to put a few sessions on for KADS in 2021/22. Matt offered to coach me with my return to training happening on March 22. In May, I set a new 5-mile PB; later that month, I had the race I was training for, the White Peak half marathon. The goal was a PB sub 1:25. I ended up winning this race with a nice 7-minute PB 1:18:41. I was on a high going into marathon training with only a block of 11 weeks of training for the event.

October in Lisbon in the past few years has been cloudy and even grisly rain. I didn't need to worry about the weather. 🤦🏻‍♂️ This is the marathon where everything changed. I learnt so many lessons. The training block went well, even though it was short. Flights booked, hotel booked, taxi to the start book & train to the in-laws afterwards booked 👍.

On my arrival in Lisbon, the weather was amazing 😍 it was perfect for a weekend trip sightseeing. It's totally shocking to run in 30c record-breaking weather for the time of year. We turned up to the hotel next, well let's just say that very loosely hotel 🤦🏻‍♂️ a hostel in Bangkok would have been better. It's just one night I'll go to bed early & everything will be fine. 12am wake up. The hostel/hotel was next to a nightclub. Boom, boom until 4am 🤯. Up at 6am to travel to the start which was 8am. It was already 18c 🔥.

The pacing strategy stayed with the 3-hour pacer; the problem was that 150 others had the same idea. I ran with them for half a mile which felt like an hour. In the pack, it got hotter & hotter. I had to run in front of them. Getting faster & faster 🤦🏻‍♂️ you've heard this before. I got to the halfway point at 1:26 far too fast! I had stupidly run the Robin Hood half marathon two weeks previous & I was feeling the after-effects in my legs at mile 16. Another lesson learned. I burnt out & hit the wall at 23 miles.

Another contribution to hitting the wall was my lack of fuel in the run, I had four energy gels that contained no carbs; I even finished with one still unopened. I lost a minute a mile to the finish with a time slower than 2019: 3:05:11 out of the good-for-age qualification time for London. So many mistakes in this marathon, from hotels, weather, racing before the event & pacing. ​

London Marathon 2025 

The return of the marathon & returning as a coach. There was going to be no room for mistakes this time. Now a coach and a full-time running geek 🤓.

Everything I read said to get your Vo2max as high as you can going into your marathon block. In December 2024, I did a 10k race after quite a few weeks of hard, fast running & a new PB plus a high Vo2max. Job 1 done ✅. The plan is 20 weeks, which will involve running to & from work.

In December, Kirsty signed up for the Edinburgh Marathon. So, to share training time, I would do 90% of my training on my commute to & from work, with Friday being the longest run. The beginning of the Sunday night session at the headstocks industrial estate. This would be the base of all my 5k/10k/HM speed work which is also key to a good training block. I booked in Retford half marathon as a warm-up race.

I was really pleased with the result & I would say my best overall performance in a run, beating my 5-mile PB in 2022. A new PB of 1:17:59. Training continues. I reached peak week (the final hard week before taper), and pop, there goes my calf 12 miles in on a long run. This resulted in me tapering faster than I would have liked. I took a few day's break, plus did my miles cycling & easy running until I was able to start running faster pain-free. 11 days out I was able to train as normal again. 😁.

We arrived in London in beautiful weather, deja vu (Lisbon 2022). The day had arrived, and the temperature was slowly rising; I managed to get off seconds after the elites started. I knew early on it was too hot & settled for the sub 3. I think I learnt from my mistakes in Lisbon. I knew if I pushed I'd be in a mess like a lot of the runners were. About a good 30% were struggling from 19 - 22 miles. Richard Whitehead was walking when I passed him. They were dropping like flies. I just had to block them out & focus on the sub 3. Even though my watch told me as I passed Big Ben that I'd completed the marathon 🤣. I still had 600m to go 🤦.
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But what an amazing experience London is. You all should have a chance at running the London marathon. I was lucky enough to win the KADS ballot last year & I won't be putting my name back in ever. It's only fair you all get to experience the magic that is the London Marathon. I am stepping away from fast marathons, To train on top of being a father, husband, having a full time job & a coach. There aren't enough hours in the day. Trust me I've pushed the clock 🤣. 

A big thank you to my wife for putting up with me and pushing me to get faster at the marathon. ​