Merrilly Ever After

Written By Lawrence Merrill

2024 London Marathon

My partner in life, Kerry Dolan, has always had great ideas. In the summer of 2023 she had a really awesome one. If right now reading this you’re thinking of something that rhymes with “Kerry” and “Larry,” please hold onto that thought for now. Kerry suggested for my last Abbott Marathon Major, the London Marathon, she’d run the marathon with me too. That would be awesome! Finishing the Six Star Abbott Marathon journey with Kerry would be a dream come true.

2024 was the year we wanted to do the London Marathon. We didn’t want to wait another year or more to run the race, which was becoming more difficult to get into each year and also our lives were getting much busier… we’ll get to that later too. We first tried entering through the lottery process. 97% of 578,000 people who entered didn’t get in, including the both of us.

Fortunately there were still other ways to get entries. Kerry and I found one option was to sign up for a marathon tour package. The package not only included race entries, but also reservations for hotels near the finish line. We thought this was a great option. With more than nine months away from the race, we purchased our packages from the Runbuk Tour group and we were all set for London! All we had to do was train for it…

So many races and adventures we’ve done together, how about we do another in London?

Kerry and I were pretty excited going into the London Marathon. Knowing that London was a flat marathon course, we both hoped to achieve personal records for ourselves. In October 2023, I ran my fastest half marathon at the Sri Chimnoy Half Marathon in Congers, New York at 1:18:08. This race result had me feeling great going into coach Danielle’s London Marathon training plan. Kerry over the past year followed her coach’s strength training plan. She had a great fitness base when her training plan changed to being more marathon specific.

Though our marathon training plans were slightly different, we did occasionally have some overlap in our training. We even signed up to do a half marathon together, the Fred Lebow Half Marathon. A month into our build for London, the Fred Lebow Half Marathon would act as a Lactate Threshold Test. A Lactate Threshold Test, or LT test for short, is a run done in training at full effort that helps a runner and their coach get a good estimate for how fast they could run at any given distance. For us, this half marathon LT test would dictate the pace times we could run for the rest of our training.

Hoping to carry momentum from a successful fall half marathon into London.

There were a lot of big life “moves” happening in the Merrill family over the winter of 2023. I moved in with Kerry on Roosevelt Island, Doug got married and moved in with his now wife Kylie in Midtown Manhattan, and even Wyatt moved too to Concord, New Hampshire. It was great for all of us brothers to be moving, but some of us unfortunately were injured from the heavy lifting and maneuvering, including me.

At first I only felt nagging leg pain in my left leg anytime I bent over, but then I started to feel the pain anytime I exercised. I thought yoga would help, but that made the pain even less tolerable. The pain soon spread to my lower back. I went to an orthopedist, who confirmed it was sciatica, but a minor case of it. The orthopedist recommended I get physical therapy and take the mileage in my training down a little bit. Happy news, I thought. I was glad I could still train.

Before our half marathon in late January, I saw Paul Kelly of Metro Sports Physical Therapy, who helped me monitor my physical progress with the sciatica pain. I noticed things had changed at physical therapy establishments since I last needed it, and in January 2024 many places including Metro Sports had apps with videos of exercises uploaded by the therapist. No longer did I have second guess the correct form, it was great! A few weeks later of physical therapy, the more serious back pain was gone. I believed I could run the Fred Lebow Half Marathon without causing more issues.

Kerry and I enjoying lots of cold “liquid sunshine” at the Fred Lebow Half Marathon.

Fred Lebow Half Marathon

The weather for the half marathon was absolutely yucky. I’ll admit before the race I was chickening out a little and telling Kerry we didn’t need to run in this. Kerry was determined though and she believed we could handle it. We then headed out to the starting line in Central Park to meet the other 10,000 plus participants in this race, many of them with the same idea as us of wearing trash bags as ponchos. With everyone there in the cold rain, including Kerry’s sister Katie who was cheering us on that morning, how could we not feel pumped up and excited to brave the elements?

I realized pretty early in the race, I wasn’t going to hit the same paces I did back in October at the Sri Chimnoy Half. Having to cope with sciatica pain for the last couple of months, my fitness level wasn’t the same as what I had the fall. The Fred Lebow course itself also didn’t make things easy. It was much hillier than the “flat-as-a-pancake” Sri Chimnoy Half. I did have a secondary goal though: to beat my old course record of 1:25:49. I set my sights on that goal and did my best to make sure I would run under that time.

Have you ever gotten to a point where you were so soaked that you didn’t feel soaked anymore? Well I certainly had at the Fred Lebow Half. Not only did I no longer feel soaking wet, but I also didn’t really notice my back pain either. Not sure if I hit a “runner’s high” or what during the race, but I was feeling pretty good running the two and half loops around Central Park and to the finish line.

I beat my old course record by 29 seconds. Though it seven minutes slower than my previous half marathon, I was glad I didn’t make my sciatica pain worse. Kerry also did great and crushed this tough race course having a near personal record! We could soon tackle the rest of the build with the confidence of having done a challenging race. There was no way London, although notoriously known for rain, would be as rainy and chilly as what we had just went through.

Cross country skiing with my special-est someone, Kerry, up in the Maine wilderness.

A few weeks after our half marathon race, Kerry and I had another overlap training session together doing something that’s not really done for marathon specific training… cross country skiing. For my birthday, we planned to go skiing up in Maine near Moosehead Lake at a place called Gorman Chairback. When I was an intern for New Hampshire Public Television, I was invited to help film a program about the Appalachian Mountain Club’s Maine winter huts. Me and the crew had such a blast skiing and filming up there. For years I hoped to return with someone really special, so I was over the moon when Kerry wanted to go too. If you want to learn more about this place, the program is still on PBS’s site here.

Though the weather conditions up at the huts this time made skiing harder than before, Kerry and I still had a nice time incorporating our marathon training up there. It all wasn’t “marathon work” up in Maine, we did get to rest and relax a bit too, having our own cabin by the lake and getting to use a sauna and eat delicious full course meals at the main lodge. Kerry also got to enjoy driving a brand new Dodge Ram Truck rental on the back roads. Never thought we’d like having a truck before this trip, it was a fun ride.

Not too long after the Maine ski trip, could Kerry and I wait to make the biggest decision of our lives. Yes I’m getting to what rhymes “Kerry” and “Larry” now. One fateful day I had the ring and showed it to Kerry. To no surprise at all, she knew exactly what I was going to ask. Without any bit of hesitation, she said… yes! Kerry and Larry would be merrily married. Though marrying Kerry would be the biggest decision I’ve ever made, I’ve always known it would be the easiest and the best decision I’ll ever make.

Spring is coming soon for me and Kerry.

Riding the happy highs of being engaged, Kerry and I headed to England ready to take on anything the marathon would throw at us. It also helped we would have a Merrill contingent there too. Momma, Dad, and Doug would fly over to support us in London, and over there we’d meet up with the first au pair we had, Su Jones, and her family.

Like our German au pair Heike, who I visited at the start of my Six Star Marathon journey at the 2018 Berlin Marathon, Mom and Dad looked at Su with such high regard and as part of the Merrill family. The first time we ever traveled overseas was in fact to England for the wedding of Su and her husband Ross. The months prior to the London Marathon, Su gave us good advice for things to do and see around London and gave our itinerary her stamp of approval. We couldn’t wait to see her and her family.

Merrill family back in 2000 when our au pair Su Jones and Ross crossed the pond to see us.

On April 18th, our first day in London, we, well mostly Kerry, navigated our way through the busy but efficient London Underground and arrived at the marathon expo. Our hotel for that night was only a quarter mile away from the expo, so we didn’t have to travel far for our bibs and race swag. After our visit at the expo we did a tune up run around Canary Wharf and shopped at some running stores.

Falling asleep and waking up early April 19th due to the jet lag, we left the expo and made our way to Victoria where Runbuk’s hotel, the Clermont, was. Momma, Dad, and Doug would meet and stay with us at the same hotel later on Saturday. We had no workouts that day in our marathon training plans, so we decided to make the most of this extra time and sightsee around this very central location of London.

Victoria is very close to some of England’s most famous buildings and landmarks. We visited the British Royal family’s Buckingham Palace during the changing of the guard, Piccadilly Circus, Borough Market, London Bridge, Kensington Palace, and other shops and department stores along the way. It was lots of exploring in one day for sure, but we were able to relax some later in the day with afternoon tea and a pizza dinner.

Doug, Dad, and Momma in London bringing a lot of Merrill love and support.

Compared to some other countries Kerry and I have traveled to, England was very easy to adjust to. The city of London too also felt very similar to New York in culture, language, and offerings. I mean our hotel was near Broadway shows Hamilton and Wicked and next to a restaurant called Brooklyn Burger. London wasn’t much of a stretch from New York. We did though appreciate some differences with London’s subway system being more reliable and London grocery stores being cheaper than the ones in New York.

Saturday was the day before the marathon. It was vital this day to conserve energy. I learned this lesson at the Tokyo Marathon last year when taking lots of steps walking around Tokyo Disneyland the day before burnt me out early in the marathon. I didn’t want me and Kerry to make the same mistake in London. Saturday we would just relax with family around Victoria, and only walk if completely necessary. 

Happy to have narrowly avoided doing too much walking through British Parliament.

I though we wouldn’t have to walk a lot visiting the Houses of Parliament and the Churchill War Rooms. I was mistaken, it turned out they both had a bit more walking than I was comfortable with. Sorry Kerry. We did find a solution to all the walking though. While not losing focus on all the fascinating history around us we developed a good sense of finding benches around every corner. There were thankfully quite a few benches around these places.

Overall we had a nice pre-race/history day with the family. Momma and Dad were especially joyous to see us. It was the first time they saw Kerry and I in person since we got engaged. They love us very much, and have been so happy to have Kerry part of the Merrill family even long before our engagement. 

Taking the train to the start wearing Christmas sweaters.

Kerry and I traveled to the starting area at Greenwich Park together boarding a train only 200 yards from our hotel at Victoria Station. When we reached park however, we had to go different corrals. This meant going to different starting lines that were about a mile away from each other. Because this year’s London Marathon had over 50,000 runners, it wasn’t possible for everyone to start at the same place. There were actually three different starting lines, which later all converged by the 5KM mark. We gave each other last minute lovings and pep talks, and walked to our respective corrals. From now to the finish it would be time for the both of us to be self reliant. Well maybe I’m just speaking for myself.

My streak of sunny days for marathons continued at the 2024 London Marathon. Weather conditions were partly cloudy and with cool temperature between 40 and 50°F. It didn’t feel too bad waiting in the corral area wearing the old holiday sweater and pants over my race gear. I probably wouldn’t have had anything warm to wear without Kerry having the idea to bring the throwable clothes. 

Since our first date when on a hot summer day she brought water for the both of us, Kerry has always thought very far ahead in caring for others. In the endurance racing scheme of things, I can’t count how many times she has kindly assisted and reminded me to do things before a race. And to do all of this many times while also preparing for her own race is even more remarkable. I really believed once we were off to the races, it would be all downhill from here for the both of us, in a good way! 

All downhill from the top of this hill in Greenwich Park.

The Race 

And the beginning of the course was downhill, literally! From the top of Greenwich Park all runners ran down towards Woolwich Dockyard. Though the streets around this part of the course were narrow, the bottle necking didn’t stop me in my tracks as it had at the Tokyo Marathon last year. Though jumbled, the corral I was in was running at a quick pace. I guess it helped that the “sub three hour marathon” pacers started in the corral with me.

Wanting to run a slightly faster pace than the “sub three hour marathon” pacers, I tried to find an open path that I could weave through and pass them. I was able get ahead of them and could run a faster pace of 6:30 to 6:40 per mile, but it was still a fast moving log jam. With a race this big, there were thousands of runners ahead of me.

This was the largest race I’d ever run before. While running this crowded race, I thought back to a much less crowded race experience. It was actually me and Kerry’s first race together, the 2021 NYC Marathon. That marathon had many COVID measures, which made the race half the size at 25,000 runners. In comparison to the London Marathon, that 2021 marathon felt like we had the streets to ourselves. Our NYC Marathon experience was very special. Would it be topped by the London Marathon? We’ll just have to wait and see. For good luck at the London Marathon, I wore the same running shorts Kerry gave me for the NYC Marathon.

Running the race with the same shorts Kerry gave me for the 2021 NYC Marathon.

Though crowded, this marathon had a lot of great energy. I could tell within the first 5KM how much enthusiasm the runners and crowds watching the London Marathon had for this race. Some runners at the London Marathon, who ran for charities, made part of their fundraising to try and beat a Guinness World Record in a unique costume. Personally, I got boosts seeing a runner dressed as a minion from Despicable Me and another runner as Scooby Doo. Whether human, minion, or dog, everyone in London that day was cheering for each other along the 26 miles.

The most significant adjustment Kerry and I had to make during this marathon wasn’t the crowds, but the fueling. There weren’t many aid stations with electrolyte drinks on the course. Maybe it was for the best because the drink was Lucozade, UK’s Gatorade equivalent. Although Lucozade has electrolytes, it also has carbonation and sweeteners instead of sugar and calories. Not my cup of “marathon tea” to be honest. We learned later the British have strict laws on sugar in food and drinks. To make sure we were getting enough electrolytes, Kerry and I brought Base Salts with us and used them every mile. They worked really well, no cramps for either of us. I also used some Marten Gels every six miles, and Kerry also had maple syrup and Scratch chews for fueling in between aid stations.

Another interesting adjustment in fueling was the marathon used water bottles at aid stations instead of cups. Sometimes runners would through the bottles to the side only for it to bounce back into you. By the third aid station most runners got the hint from some British runners, who were more experienced with this, to pour out the water first and then chuck it.

I was feeling much more calm and in a rhythm with the crowds and the fueling for the beginning half of this marathon. I was able to keep a consistent 6:35 per mile pace. Occasionally after every mile or so, I would do a “diagnostics check” with my legs and energy level to make sure I wasn’t overworked and under fueled. I would also mentally access my sciatica pain. Thankfully I wasn’t feeling the slightest bit of it while running!

When I passed through the iconic Tower Bridge, I felt a rush of happy adrenaline. How awesome was it run over this castle-like bridge and fellow Londoners cheering you on? It was like the city gates were open to us. I’m glad Kerry would be experiencing this too. I hoped she was having a fun marathon, just as I was having.

After crossing over the Thames River via Tower Bridge, I entered the second half of the marathon feeling strong. At Mile 15 while entering the Isle of Dogs area, I thought I no longer had to take in more of the Base salt. My thought process was if I couldn’t taste the salt anymore then I didn’t need it anymore… I was mistaken. Like the Tokyo Marathon the year before, my quads were getting a little sore. I could see the pace on my watch going down to the 6:50 a mile. A few miles later I started taking the salt again.

I tried making my fight against tiredness a game for myself. The one rule for the game: stay under a 7:00 per mile until out of the Isle of Dogs at Mile 21. After I reached Mile 21, I was still tired but I was also happy to see my pace still in the 6:50 per mile range. I was tempted to drop the pace some, but then I could hear people cheering, “Larry!” I looked over to the spectators and there I could see my family and Su Jones! I was thrilled to see them. I decided to keep going at 6:50 a mile and it turned out I could still run this pace. I was able to run this pace another three miles.

Me waving to the family.

My pace began to drop to 7:00 a mile after I entered the tunnel called Blackfriars Underpass. I believe being in the dark and hearing only echoes of other runners’ footsteps had a psychological impact in my pace slowing down. I figured once I was out of the tunnel, I’d be able to kick the pace up again. When I came out of the tunnel however, I could see the next big turn in the race, Big Ben, was very far. Anytime I looked up to see Big Ben, the tower looked the same size. The tired mind was slowing down time for me. It really wasn’t until I made the turn at Big Ben that I felt I was making progress and was indeed on the home stretch.

From Big Ben to the finish area in St. James Park, the time passed by very fast. It wasn’t that I was running much faster, there was just so much excitement in the air. Here on this final stretch, thousands of runners and spectators from all “runs of life” were celebrating being less than a mile away from the finish. Throughout the marathon, I noticed other runners I wearing the Abbott Marathon Six Star finisher bib. I wore the same bib and so sometimes when I passed them by, we would give each other congrats.  In the final stretch, I was feeling really excited to be finishing my Six Star marathon journey.

The final Big Ben stretch.

After completing my first Abbott Marathon Star in Berlin six years ago, I thought it was too hard logistically to do anymore international marathons and ruled out in my mind ever completing all Six Stars. However in 2022 with only Tokyo and London left, Kerry convinced me I could finish the Six Star journey. Kerry had helped me in spades and shared the burden of bearing through all sorts of trials and tribulations before Tokyo and London. We endured long and cold training runs, Covid scares, back pain flare ups, unpredictable NJ Transit, wicked long flights, “packed like sardines” train travel, irregular sleeping patterns, and fueling and nutrition in sugar-free lands. Just a couple of more minutes left of bearing the Six Star Journey now, I thought to myself passing the Victoria Memorial in front of Buckingham Palace. I was inspired to “Kerry Kick” the last 200 meters to the finish. I crossed the finish line at 2:57:35. Six Star Journey complete? Not yet…

Six years, six stars, six photos.

I wished I could’ve met up with Kerry at the finish line. Instead I got very cold, was shivering uncontrollably, and had to go to medical tent to regain my body heat. A nice Irish nurse named Eileen helped me out and reassured me and my family I was going to be just fine. After a couple of bags of British candy, biscuits, and cups of hot water, I was getting warm enough to not be shivering as much. And not long afterwards, Kerry finished her marathon achieving a personal record by over a half hour at 4:07:06. Kerry came to see me in the medical tent. I was so happy to see her, and in much better shape than me. Eileen the nurse then handed me to Kerry and told her, “You have a good man here.” Kerry and I left the tent joined the family to celebrate. We did it! Six Star Journey officially complete!

Like the London Marathon motto, “we finished together.”

Personal record has meant something new for me this year. It no longer means topping our fastest times or most thrilling adventures. It’s more about finding things that make you and your family joyful. There’s that saying, “Want to go fast, go alone. Want to go far go together.” As obvious as it sounds, it’s true. With some friendly encouragement from your loved ones, you go even further together. Thank you for your great ideas Kerry, know we’ll be goin’ very far!

Momentos of our personal records.

 
Lawrence Merrill
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