Got ready with usual breakfast and shower and got into my team gb kit, then took the drive to Halstead. For some reason I decided my cuddly elephant hot lavender pillow wanted to come, so I put him in the back seat of the car and buckled him in. Then I remembered I'd need safety pins- ran back up to my flat and went riffling through my old race numbers and came across for the one for the first marathon I did, London- the pins were still attached, so I decided to use these.
We arrived at race hq, and easily found running number, timing chip etc- there were refreshments that could be bought cheaply- David was shuttling back and forth with water for me, whilst I stayed off my feet as much as possible. I also put my pre-labelled drinks bottles in the boxes for them to be taken onto the course - drinks of SiS go electrolyte with some chia seeds mixed in, each with an sis energy gel Sellotaped to them and labelled with my race number.
Decided to go outside with about 20 minutes to the start to limber up, which involved some dynamic stretching and basking in the very intermittent sun. There was a minutes silence for Boston, which was painfully destroyed by the spectator near me that sounded a cross between a pig and an Essex girl snorting away, and then there were a couple of minutes until the start.
Very soon we were off- the whole field was around 550 runners, so although I'd positioned my way about 2/3 of the way back, I was over the starting mats within a minute or so of the gun. At the start, the runners around me in a way forced me to take it easy, but I could already hear by their breathing that they weren't the runners for me. I wanted to find somebody to run with just to take away the potential loneliness on the course. Within the first mile I found a girl, who was wearing a black jacket (weird) who seemed to be going at my pace, so I latched onto her. We were running well together. But by the time we hit the third mile, we were running faster than a 9 minute mile. I let her drop me, and continued at my own pace.
Shortly after I found another girl who seemed to be taking it sensibly and going at my pace so I stayed with her. It didn't take long before I mistook a forward arrow for a 1 so I commented on that and thus the ice was broken. I found out that this was her first marathon, that she was doing it because a friend of hers had a list of things to do before 30, and they decided to do this one together, although the friend never entered the race so she was here all alone poor girl! I really enjoyed the company for the next few miles...
The first drinks station was brilliant, having pre-prepared, on approach the marshal said to call out your number if you wanted a drink. So I called '1 2 5', and the chain of marshalls yelled '1 2 5' '1 2 5' down to each other so by the time I reached the drinks station, I had my drink and gel in hand- pure class!
At mile 4 I saw my fiancé and elephant- I hi-5ed the elephant :-)
The girl I was running with, Katy, was aiming for 4 and a half hours, so I was probably a bit fast for her and I could hear it in her breathing. I feel kind of bad now, as trying to run together probably helped my race lots, but probably hindered hers. When we got to a point somewhere between 8 and 10 miles (I think 10) I crossed the mile marker and we were going slower than 10 minute mile. Since I was feeling fine I decided to push on.
At mile 11, my finances parents, aunt and uncle were all there clapping and cheering which was a nice boost. Onwards
I was still running well and passed halfway in 2 hours 6 minutes- pretty much the same time I've crossed halfway in both of my previous marathons, but I felt much better here. I think the confidence knowing I would only be running a bit over 2hours more. Rather than a lot helped, and I thought back to the article I had read in runners world about miles 13-20 being the no mans land of the marathon. I was supposed to have my next gel at 2 hours 15, but I kind of forgot about it, plus there were some more technical parts of the course, so I didn't have it until 2 hours 30. I was still going fairly well, and I put in a bit of a push around 15-16 miles- hindsight tells me this was too early, and I still need to learn whether to go with it at this stage of a marathon or still reign it in. I took comfort that whereas by this point in Berlin I had horrible cramps, in Halstead other than the odd twinge/ threat here and there, I was going really well. I thought to all the lovely people on the runners world forums who had given me so much advice, and even though I'd never done more than about 8 miles at this pace at once. I was coping pretty well.
When my watch said 2 hours and 45 minutes I had a comforting thought of yay, only an hour and a half to go. This was very soon followed by, argh an hour and a half is quite a long time, and I'm feeling a little underhydrated, and I'm sick sick sick of the sweet gels and sweet drinks and would people stop offering me jelly babies and start offering me oranges! At the next drinks station, I threw down my bottle and called out my number but I didn't have a drink there! Oh no! This meant a few miles running without water or energy drink. I ran on to the next station and picked up my drink there thankfully, but also stopped there for a bit to take on water in plastic cups and use the refreshing sponge. I took my next gel as well. This bottle was a 750 ml bottle so it was quite heavy and hard to carry. I was drinking from it, but I was really sick of the sweetness of the sports drinks by now. I also think those few miles without drink when the sun had been shining for a while did affect me a little. Certainly when wiping my face with a sponge I could taste how salty my skin was- very very salty!
Between miles 18-22 I stopped to walk several times, especially on the uphills, as did many people around me. However, I felt that I was still passing people despite this. This wasn't the wall; this was lack of mental fortitude. I was certainly having those thoughts of why am I doing this, it's Sunday afternoon, I could be at home watching a movie. I was realising I was on the line for getting my sub 4:15 and I would have to work harder and harder to get it. It's been so long since I've done a marathon, that I had forgotten how difficult this part is. Somewhere in the mix, with 45ish minutes to go, I took my caffeine gel. At about 22 miles I saw David and he was holding a caffeine gel out for me but I didn't take it. There was a very nice marshal who caught me walking and got me running again- with 3.5 miles to go I thought I could still get in under 4:15,if I just treated it asa 5k. I took some big gulps of my drink, threw the bottle down and went for it. Maybe it was the caffeine gel, but I felt like I could run again- here i was regularly running below 9 mm pace, but then getting tired and slowing to a walk. Hmm this strategy wasn't working, so instead I decided I would just run steady. Eventually I got my rhythm back and was no longer doing slower than 10mm. With 1 mile to go, I picked it up and was still passing people.
The last mile was my least favourite of the course, after all those peaceful country roads, you cut into a field to run uphill on grass, this then turns onto a badly rutted footpath. I suppose this is to avoid the busier road, but its tough doing such technical running at the end of the race. The last section is on residential streets leading back to the leisure centre. With about 150m to go I saw my mum :-) I was going pretty fast for me at this point, I'd just missed a 4:17 finish- d'oh, decided to wind up more so I was at least in the middle of my gold and silver targets. Crossed the line in a chip time of 4:18:41
As soon as I crossed, DS2 and Minks called out for me. I found out that DS2 had got his GFA time but unfortunately Minks hadn't. I'd missed out on my 4:15, but I didn't care, it was an arbitrary number, and what I had done was train properly and reap the benefits during the race. David quickly came over to feed me chocolate milk, and not long after the 2 men running with an aga crossed the line. An aga!!! As if running 26.2 miles isn't enough of a challenge.
I really enjoyed this race, it was quite different to a big city marathon, but I liked it. I wasn't hindered by others and was very much able to run my own race. I think it could have been really a difficult one if I hadn't been running well though. In London especially, no one lets u get away with walking without encouraging you to run again!
Splits:
Mile1- 9:31
Mile2- 9:19
Mile3-9:24
Mile4- 9:30
Mile5- 9:30
Mile6- 9:46
Mile7- 9:44
Mile8- 9:26
Mile9- 9:40
Mile10- 9:54
Mile 11- 9:35
Mile 12- 9:39
Mile 13- 9:42
Mile 14- 9:30
Mile 15- 9:18
Mile 16- 9:31
Mile 17- 9:40
Mile 18- 10:45
Mile 19- 10:24
Mile 20- 10:22
Mile 21- 11:32
Mile 22- 10:19
Mile 23- 11:34
Mile 24- 9:29
Mile 25- 9:55
Mile 26- 9:22
26.26 pace: 8:49
Average pace 9:51mm
Chip time: 4:18:41
No comments:
Post a Comment