One surprising thing about my 20s is the amount of people who start running marathons.
But first, let me give you a backstory.
This is Shervin, Tejas, and you all know Cold.
They're all creators, roommates, and my little New York City family every time I go to visit.
And they picked up running, like everyone else in their 20s to 30s.
At the end of last year, Shervin proposed we all take a group trip somewhere.
We decided we were going to go and support Shervin at the 2024 London Marathon.
And then, Tay just got the opportunity to run the marathon, and so did Colt.
So, I thought I was going to be watching this marathon with a crew.
But guess who's stuck filming this thing alone?
That's right.
Me.
Well, I'm at the airport.
I'm going to meet the guys in London.
Technically, tomorrow morning, London, here we come.
That flight's delayed.
Dude, that was quite some travel.
That was a journey.
The boys are back.
The boys are back.
Wow.
All right, update.
We are at the hotel.
I forgot my entire makeup bag.
Love that for me.
You don't need makeup because you're beautiful just the way you are.
Thank you.
Anyways, we're going to meet up with the rest of the crew.
And then where are we going?
To the expo to get our bibs.
To the expo to get their bibs.
Everyone was staying at different places.
So we finally met up and it started to sink in how big this race was actually going to be.
Since I didn't want to be all by myself, I recruited my good friend Taha to help me film.
So, while the others sorted their stuff out, we decided to do some homework on how we were going to navigate and be filmers during this 262 mile race around the entire city.
Finished, will we be able to see them?
They're all content creators, so we are also like in charge of getting shots for their videos.
After talking to one of the volunteers, we got some very valuable information for the day of, but we also realized this was going to require a bit more planning than we thought.
Oh my god.
Oh my god.
We have to plan.
We have to plan.
How are you feeling, dude?
I don't know how i'm gonna run this thing.
I'm actually so nervous.
Oh man, i'm scared.
Everyone had their own events to go to for the first night, so we ended off our day on a boat ride for a bit of sightseeing around London.
It was quite the first day here lots of nervous and exciting energy in the air, but nonetheless it was a successful day one and we still had more prep for tomorrow.
Good morning, good morning.
This morning I took a walk to Oxford Street.
I just went to the nearest Boots and picked up some stuff.
Now we're okay.
Colt went on a shakeout run this morning while I went to go shopping.
The plan today is me and Taha have to figure out a route for tomorrow so we can try to get the best vantage points to catch the guys and film them.
We also wanna make some signs.
Gotta support.
And we're gonna meet up with the rest of the crew and get the day started, day two in London.
After securing a map and some poster supplies, we explored around a bit and headed off to meet up with the rest of the group.
So far, we were on top of things in terms of supplies, but our planning was another story.
Okay, game plan.
This is the map of the race tomorrow.
I don't know.
I just moved to London, so I don't have any, like, local knowledge. and the worst guide of the time.
We knew we were only going to be able to catch them a limited amount of times, but we also had to consider there would be thousands of people on the streets trying to watch too.
What if this is closed?
So after going on about our options for viewpoints, considering what would be closed off or too crowded and our transportation, we started to lose our minds a bit and decided to reconvene later.
Okay, we'll find a way.
I always knew at some point I wanted to make signs for the race, but what I didn't expect was for us to turn the lobby of a five-star hotel into a little arts and crafts center.
It was the cutest thing ever.
The staff were supportive, strangers were joining in, and we were looking ready for tomorrow.
Bye, lovey!
Oh, he appears now just packing my gear and then i gotta head out.
Colt and the rest of the runners that are staying at the same hotel just left on a shuttle to bring them to the starting line.
Last night, the crew.
We just took some time after dinner to plan out our meeting spot and our meeting time.
We decided on a spot around mile five.
Literally, the main objective is to try to find a spot to catch them and to get a really clear shot of them running and so that they can see us and we can see them.
If we can do that once, perfect, amazing.
If we could do it twice, that would be like literally just that's the goal.
Three times, if we're lucky, which I don't know.
I have the locations of our runners almost ready.
I literally need to leave like now.
Time to go.
I'm excited.
We made it to our first viewpoint, mile five.
We got the crew here.
Let's go.
If you've never watched a marathon in a major city before, there are three things you probably should know.
First thing is, your phone will have signal, but half your messages might not send.
Still, try to tell your runners exactly where you'll be, left or right, what's around you, etc.
Due to the sheer volume of people on the streets, both parties could be easy to miss.
We didn't really know if our messages were going through, so we relied on tracking their locations and just hope they knew to look out for us.
I'm gonna try to catch him at one more.
Next stop, guys.
All right, let's do it.
The second thing you need to know about watching a marathon is, because of the amount of people, the tube and trains may have lineups and there's a chance your runners will be faster than you are.
Train number, like, I don't know if we're going to get a spot.
We're trying to catch him.
Well, too fast.
He's way too fast.
Yeah, he's actually way too fast.
Our original spot was insanely crowded, so we decided to try again and go one stop further.
Luckily, we had two locals navigating with us.
Honestly, it would have been a struggle without them.
What mile is this?
17.
17.
Right here, right now.
Clock in!
After meeting up with more of our team, we finally managed to find a clear spot.
Shervin already blew past us, but we still had a chance to catch a colt and teach us.
Yeah, we see him.
We got him.
We got him.
We got him.
We got him.
Let's go!
Let's go, baby.
This is crazy.
Spot number three.
We're going to try to catch them one more time.
Yeah, man.
Proud of it, man.
They look in good shape.
Yeah.
Mile 18.
Mile 18.
This is where the race begins.
This is where the race begins.
44.
The most I've ever ridden.
The third thing you need to know about watching a marathon is that some spots are more crowded than others.
Closer to the start, you got more of a chance to see them.
Closer to the finish line, well, good luck.
At this point, Shervin had already finished the race, but we still had a small window to film Colt and Tejas.
Okay, cutting it close, we have around like 12 minutes to try to catch them.
There was a colossal amount of people at mile 25.
The odds that we could get to the front to film were slim.
Do you think we'll see them?
I don't know if we can see them.
I believe.
I believe that we can try.
We were running out of time, so our group made the decision to split.
So we're going to try to get on the bridge.
Half went forward while we went back through the crowd.
And after dodging, jogging, and a bit of squeezing, there they were.
Luckily Paulo got the shot, because me and Mayuri were absolutely losing it screaming, trying to get their attention, which obviously didn't work.
But it was enough to see them.
I can't believe we found them on the bridge.
We actually found them.
And a few minutes later, Taha saw them too.
Marathons are electric, literally electric.
They say that most of life is just showing up, and what we do every day says just as much as the big moments do.
How one seemingly small idea can lead you to a place that brings you closer to something bigger than yourself.
We did it.
We did it.
Three for three.
Three for three.
Every time I saw you, I got like energy.
I didn't exactly know what to expect watching my first marathon, but I'm glad to have had a tiny part in this massive, beautiful thing.
It was a reminder of what we are capable of doing and how inherently human it is to want to share it with others.
So whether you are chasing something for yourself or something bigger, you truly have one life.
So don't forget to show up for it.
