Can I Run A Sub 3 Hour Marathon In Crocs?!

I'm at the Valencia marathon in Crocs. Sorry, I'm about to attempt to run a marathon in Crocs, my first ever marathon actually, if I finish it this time. I've done some pretty outrageous things in my time, but I think this one trumps them all. Now, I will admit I loosely have my sights on the world record, which until a couple of months ago sat at 258. Unfortunately, it's now been lowered to an eye-watering 251. Sports mode enabled. I think I might go for a little fold in the strap. It has a nice pops the heel. We'll see, actually. Maybe that's not a good idea. Maybe I will. We'll start off with it. Now, my toe hurts. It's almost go time. Target-wise, I'll be super chuffed if anything, so that's 415 per K. Try and hang on as long as I can or until I break. So many carbon shoes. We're off. In typical Mark fashion, I'm already running well above pace, four minutes per kilometer, but can you blame me with all these people and energy around me? Talking of which, I was quickly finding out how poor Crocs are for weaving through the pack, but you would have thought I would know that already. Well, I thought the key to a Croc marathon is to do as little prep in them as possible. Better to not know, right? Which size do I choose? Do I go down a size or do I go the nice and comfortable, what should be my normal size, but does feel a little bit floppier? Probably should have figured this out. I've decided to head out and actually give it a go. I was leaning towards a slightly bigger size, but actually, this strap is annoying me and sort of falling down. Maybe I will go the smaller, but my toe is really pushing against the end, so be right with it. Through the 8K mark, I'm a little bit ahead on pace, but not far off, so bang on. I've got to say, my feet are already feeling a little bit slightly worrying. Wow, look at these guys. As I thought I was concerned about, I'm already feeling my big toes against the front of the Crocs, and we're not even 10K in. I don't suppose you're planning to stop me now. Still nicely underpaced, but I've got to say, it's really biting now. Feet are hurting a lot. Paces dropped. This race is insane. 35,000 runners. I started in the sub-three-hour wave this morning, which is probably a little ambitious, but we're going for it. We're rolling with it. There's obviously a lot of people behind. Some people are going up fast at times. They're coming through now. I'm trying to not get too caught up in that because it just feels like I'm going backwards, but I'm actually holding my pace. Cheers. I'm at the point running just under 129, so still on pace, but my feet are hurting. I can't really dispute the tiny little spikes inside the Crocs foot grid might start causing me such issues. Tell you what, I've got to wonder how much easier and nicer it might feel in my carbon shoes right now. Well, a week out from the marathon, I thought I'd find out. Here I am on the athletics track right now. I've just completed five laps in my carbon super shoes, five laps in my Crocs, holding the same pace around 410 to 415 per kilometer. Now, what's quite cool is when I upload that activity into the KOROS app, it gives me a run efficiency score. Now, anything between 105 to 120% is deemed excellent efficiency and I'm quite chuffed. I got 116% in the carbon shoes. In the Crocs, unsurprisingly, it was a bit lower. I had 95%, which is still good, but definitely losing some valuable efficiency points there. Oh, and my heart rate was a lot higher. It's taking a lot of mental strength now. So much is hurting. My feet are burning up, I'm getting cramps everywhere, and I'm only just a little over halfway in. Oh, man, I had to stop. Carry on, don't worry. Oh, my goodness, my calves. Resigned to the fact this is not a sub-three, but I'm going to keep moving, do the best I can. Might have to do a few stops, definitely slow the pace. Oh, I'm really struggling now. Everything's cramping and I don't think it's necessarily all because of the Crocs. I think it's because I've been really silly this week. I won't be running a sub-40 mile anytime soon, or will I? We did it. We bloody did it. Don't stand on the start line of a marathon with sore hamstrings and calves and everything, really. On top of that, my feet are in so much pain. I don't know why I'm saying this. I need sympathy because I've absolutely brought this on myself. I'm an absolute idiot. It's about completion now. I'd hate to see my feet right now. I'm currently pointing and wondering, is this really worth it? Getting calf spasms left, right, center. The bonk slash cramped walking, maybe not going to make it line. It's just like a train of people on the right just walking and stopped and stretching and cramped. That's me on and off. I'm inside the last 2K. Oh, it's painful. I might cry. It's a pain. That was utterly disgusting. Everyone warned me and I knew it would be, but weirdly, I still wanted to try. If you're ever considering a Crocs marathon, please think again. I can't begin to explain how relieved I am to hit this blue flooring to the finish line. I have never felt cramped like this before. Let's not start on the feet. Great effort. Great effort. Thank you. That's okay. Hello. You all right? I didn't think this would happen at one point. I really didn't think it would happen. Janice, if you weren't here filming, you're not sure I would've got around. I did it. I completed a marathon in Crocs. Maybe it didn't quite go as I'd hoped, just assessing my battle wounds and scars, some very juicy blisters on my feet right now, and some very, very sore legs. I got incredibly bad cramps in the second half of the marathon, cramps like I've never had before. I had to stop numerous times to stretch it out, as well as just grimacing on every foot strike because of my blisters, which is probably no surprise, really. I basically just had to accept that that sub-three-hour time was out of the window, and just focused on trying to complete it. I managed it in three hours, 25, so pretty chuffed with that. I'm pretty happy to say I'm done with the Crocs for now. Of course, a big thanks to Coros, who made this happen. They supplied me the entry to this event, big partner and sponsor of the event, so amazing to get involved. 35,000 runners out there. It was an incredible atmosphere, amazing to be part of, albeit in an odd and slightly weird way. Yes, guys, I hope you've enjoyed today's video. Please do give it a thumbs up, give it a like, and don't forget to hit that subscribe button. See you next time.