The 2020 London Marathon will be special for many reasons.
The race was suppose to be run on April 26th but because of the pandemic it was postponed until October 4th.
To add safe guards because of the pandemic, for all involved, it was run without spectators and on a 19.6 lap route with each lap being about 1 1/3 miles.
The women ran first in heavy rain, Sara “Bei” Hall was back at 10th early on before starting to pass runners.
Hall passed her final person, Ruth Chepng’etich, with 150 meters to go to place second.
Watch the finish
Hall’s 2:22:01 time is now the American record for a women’s only race.
The world record for a women’s only race is 2:17:01 by Mary Jepkosgei Keitany, Kenya 2017 London Marathon.
How Sara picked them off.
Time place
5k 16:30 not in top 10 but only 4 seconds behind leader.
10k 33:22 10th, 57 seconds behind 2nd place.
15k 50:01 10th, 90 seconds behind 2nd place.
20k 1:06:45 9th, 2:10 behind 2nd place.
Half 1:10:27 9th, 2:15 behind 2nd place.
25k 1:23:34 7th, 2:17 behind 2nd place.
30k 1:40:30 5th, 2:11 behind 2nd place.
35k 1:57:27 4th, 1:41 behind 2nd place, 27 seconds behind 3rd.
40k 2:14:38 3rd, 40 seconds behind 2nd place.
Finish 2:22:01 2nd
Hall's 5k splits
5k 16:30
10k 16:52
15k 16:39
20k 16:44
25k 16:49
30k 16:56
35k 16:57
40k 17:09
At the 25k mark Hall was the farthest behind the leader she had gotten at 2:17 behind 1st & 2nd who were running together.
Hall’s 5k split from 25k to 30k was 16:56 were she actually gained 5 seconds on the leader.
Sara’s mile pace for the marathon was 5:25.0
Sara did the final 2,195 meters in 7:23 which is a 5:24.7 pace.
Sara wrote
Thankfulness keeps you moving forward
The first 2/3 of this race was the worst possible scenario – completely alone in tough conditions and complete silence.
No spectators and the monotony of one mile loops, and running slower than I wanted to, there were moments I started to slip into feeling sorry for myself.
But when I did, I tried to shift to “I am so grateful to get to do a race right now”
I focused on being grateful my legs still felt strong.
I told myself that eventually, people in the lead group would start coming back to me and whatever else I could to keep myself positive and fighting.
How many moments- PODIUMS- do we miss because we let discouragement about our situation win?
