No, that’s not me running the London Marathon. That’s one of the elite male runners at mile 18. Tim and I went to London last Sunday to watch the London Marathon and cheer on our friends, Mike and Matt, who are about as “elite” as it comes as far as I’m concerned.

This was Mike’s THIRD marathon and Matt’s FIRST. Incredible. What blew my mind was how refreshed they seemed after the race. Here they are at Livebait before digging into some classic English Fish & Chips (appropriate recovery food for two guys from Tennessee).

This was my first time watching a marathon as a spectator and I would definitely do it again. Needless to say, this mass display of sheer determination was inspiring. Something like 36,000 people ran the London marathon. If each one of them trained for an average of 5 hours per week for 15 weeks, that means 2.7 million training hours went into this event. That’s a lot of work, and a lot of people getting seriously FIT. I’ve never felt the need to run a marathon before, but after watching the race, I’ve got the buzz. Training begins once I sort out my ankle. It will happen!

Throughout the event, Tim and I took the tube around to watch runners at Mile 18, Mile 20, and Mile 24(ish). The transition was fascinating. By mile 24, people were looking pretty wrecked, but most of them where still running. They are all my heros.

We also got to catch some of the elite runners at Mile 18. VERY cool. These people are FAST. Here’s a video of a pack of elite women cruising by – look at their stride!

I could barely catch the elite men they were running so fast:

And here is everybody else, just as impressive, kicking ass at Mile 20:

What a great day out, full of inspiration and good friends. Though I’m not sure that Gordon Ramsay would agree – apparently he dropped out of the race at Mile 20. What’s an event in London without a bit of celebrity drama?