Race Report: London Marathon 2026

Ryan Stocks, KADS Chair, ran the 2026 London Marathon under the club's ballot place. This is his race report.

The build up to London had gone pretty well. I was on a training plan since January. Admittedly I wanted to start in December however a calf injury prior to Derby 10 put me back a few weeks. But the plan went pretty well, I stuck to about 90% of it and missed maybe 7-10 days back in February due to a shin injury. Again, I tried to run through it at Holmebrook XC and thankfully the repercussions weren’t too bad. I was probably in the best shape I’ll ever be in going into a marathon. But as I said in a previous post, I still had no idea what was going to happen at London.

On the day I felt alright. I was pretty relaxed walking up to the start line. We stayed in Greenwich to be nearer the start and not have to worry about travel. I acquainted myself with the inside of a portaloo for 20 mins contemplating life. Then just sat around dynamic stretching, drinking, frequent visits to the urinals and just general relaxing. The time flies and before long I was in the start pen with the smell of deep heat lingering in the air. I chose to wear a cap and sunglasses so that nobody could see me falling apart. But it really helped me switch off and I’ll be using them again. I also wrote ‘D.LY/K.D’ on my arm which got a few enquiries from people near me. Don’t let yourself/Kads down. Whenever I felt I was struggling during the race just have a read of that. I said a little prayer to the running Gods and a few relatives who’ve passed and got my head in the game.

The first 15 miles or so I felt good. I was in control, bounding along and it felt effortless. Did I fall into the trap of the ‘false economy’ of feeling too good? Very likely. I made a decision at the start to follow the 3:05 pacer. But through the first 6-7 miles he was yo-yoing a bit with pace so I thought if I stayed in/around/just ahead of him I’ll be fine. And I worked it well to be fair. I took gels at the start/5/10/15 and in between mixed it up with a salt tablet or a piece of Kendal Mint Cake. I also went to as many water stations as possible. Small sips, moisten the neck, face and legs constantly. It seemed to work well and a part of me at halfway was making enquiries mentally about sub 3. But we hadn’t trained for that so I had to fight off those feelings.

Between mile 15-20 is when I started to hit a few snags. I thought I’d stood in sticky Lucozade as my trainer kept sticking to the floor. But something didn’t feel right so I took the chance to stop briefly (10-15 seconds) and peeled off a part of my trainer grip which was very disappointing given I had done about 50 miles in them and they cost a packet. *Graphic talk incoming* About mile 18 I was dying for a slash and I was really annoyed with the split time around 7:42, it felt quicker than that. I try not to pee during long runs too much as it’s caused issues previously and resulted in emitting claret urine. Yes I’ve had checks, being poked/prodded etc and had cancer tests in the last 2 years. Apparently it’s called Marching Haematuria and it is something I am keeping an eye on. But I couldn’t hold on here so at mile 20 I stopped for about 90 seconds.

​The issue after was my legs had seized up in such a small amount of time I was worried. I took a gel and just decided that given I’d had such a good run to just relax and coast it home. A part of me constantly wanted to stop and walk but I fought off the demons which I was pleased with. I had to switch into the reset every mile mode and it worked. I felt a bit more rejuvenated after the last tunnel and heading towards Big Ben I tried to feed off the crowd. All through the race I was also constantly trying to run along the blue line which to be fair never felt crowded.

Coming around the last corner and knowing 3:05 was in the bag felt great albeit there was also that bittersweet feeling. Losing 90 seconds for stops and being on track for sub 3 will always linger in the mind.  But I trained for 3:05 and I got what I trained for. Can’t have many complaints with that. I wish you guys had seen me salute the camera and kiss the badge but alas as ever I went too quick and it was missed! It did feel like a small monkey off my back that I had done what I set out to do. 

I owe a lot of thanks. Despite the fact I didn’t use them for a training plan, Micheal and Sam (KADS coaches) still gave me a lot of advice. In fact Micheal was the last person who messaged me on the day with advice and encouragement. As I always say to people get on a plan with them or any questions step into their office.

And to all the Kads who helped me along the way whether it be training, support or messages over the last few days. So much love knocking about and it was so good to be sat there in the pub on Sunday afternoon with my first pint(s) and several cocktails in 4 months reading all the messages. I can't thank you all enough. 
Finally do I feel I did the Kads place justice? Just about! Was I more Mike Bassett than Ian Beale last night in the pub? Yep!