
2024 marathon: 4:02:00 (5:44/km)
2025 marathon: 3:53:59 (5:33/km)
I felt smoother, more confident, and way more consistent throughout the race. The drills and cues Sam taught me — especially the pendulum concept — helped me stay in a good rhythm and avoid the usual late-race fade.
"It’s an unreal feeling to me how truly changing your training has been. I have ALWAYS struggled to run. My biggest problems with running are pain in my calves, feeling laboured and out of breath. In the last 18 to 24 months I’ve also l had plantar fasciitis on and off.
Training with your drills for 2.5 weeks and I can run slowly but consistently for 30 mins without pain, without being out of breath. I’ve gone from thinking I will have to endure pain, balance possible injuries and/or just except I’m not able to run to .. being mind blown 🤯 at my progress after just a few weeks and finding running really enjoyable. I look forward to my next run so much I want to run every day. Every time I run I just keep improving.
Cardio felt solid. Legs and technique started fading after 10k, but that just showed me where to build next. Even with that, I hit my pacing goals on the flats and declines and ran some of the shorter hills, which I’m super happy about.
Overall:
19th place out of 54
2:43:18 finish
2,400 ft elevation
And honestly the most confident I’ve ever felt in a long race.