Pete and I at about 18 miles!
I thought of that and how much my fitness must have changed yesterday as I was in the middle of the full Clarendon Marathon, a whole 26.2 miles of hilly paths winding from Salisbury to Winchester.
After we had pulled out of Man v Mountain this year (mainly because of the eye watering price), Pete had suggested the Clarendon and I had (of course!) said yes. Since then I've been training for it and felt up to the challenge. I wasn't really looking for a particular time, as it was my first marathon and it is hilly and off road, so hard to compare with a "normal" race, but Pete and I hope to get in in less that five hours.
We left home yesterday at 0830,with Kath driving to me to Salisbury, picking up Alison, a friend from the village who had decided to register as a late entry. We got to Wyvern College in Laverstoke on the the edge of Salisbury and there was the expected hive of activity, and hundreds of fit looking runners. We found Pete, chatting to a bunch of fellow runners from Totton Running Club, checked in, collected our numbers and wondered why we had come so early, as we had a whole hour to wait for the start at 1030. It was interesting to notice the range of kit that people were carrying. I had a small race belt with some food (nuts, jelly babies, couple of Mars bars) and my phone, Pete a small backpack. But others were carrying anything between nothing and complete ultra vests, with litres of water and enough pouches and pockets to feed an army or bivvy for the night. I had decided not to carry water as there were 12 water stops along the route.
After chatting in the sports hall and queuing for the loos, we were soon assembling for the off, about 300 runners, either doing the full marathon or the first leg of the four leg relay. The hooter went off and we were on our way. After the inevitable early traffic jams we were gently climbing the hills up onto the downs. The weather was perfect - dry and cool - and the mud tracks firm and dry after the driest September on record.
It was a friendly race, with lots of chatter between the runners, and continuously between Pete and I, running pace for pace as always. The race made its way up and down hills, through glorious countryside, mainly on tracks, with the occasional short road stretch. The marshals were brilliant, all cheering us on and offering encouragement. The frequent water stops, every 2 miles or so, were very welcome, and after the first few they all had food - always a big bowl of jelly beans and some had fruit bread and bananas. We grabbed a handful of beans at each stop, and I am sure that fueled me to the end, staving off the wall that I had previously hit at 17 miles.
Pete and I focused on keeping our pace down to about 9m45s per mile, to give us the energy to finish. The half marathon point came up at just over 2 hours (2:08) and I was feeling ok. Well fueled thanks to our own snacks and the food at the drink stations. I was clearly drinking enough as I had to pull into the bushes to pee a couple of times! We were running all the hills at that stage, while already agreeing that we would walk some of them later if we felt we needed to.
Our first problem came at about 14 miles, when Pete developed a pain in the top of his right thigh, which got worse and worse and was clearly very painful. We walked for a bit, and slowly jogged the flats. Pete suggested I could go on if I liked, but I reminded him that that wasn't how it worked and we were a team. We stuck together, stopping occasionally to stretch Pete's leg, but keeping moving as best we could. After a while Pete downed some ibuprofen and that (or just time?) started to do the trick and by 20 miles we were moving more easily, though still a little slow.
We were getting tired, and walking most of the uphills, along with everyone else. We knew we were towards the back of the race, though there were still plenty of people behind us. We enjoyed the banter with a few runners that we repeatedly passed and repassed, all feeling much the same.
The miles passed by and soon we could do the calculations that said that even with our runwalk strategy we would still get in in under 5 hours. That encouraged us, and at about 23 miles we got a bit of energy from somewhere and began to overtake a few people.
About a mile from the end I was running down a wide chalk track when I found myself flying through the air. I hit the ground in slow motion, landing on my left hand and shoulder, and hitting my left cheekbone on a rock. As motion stopped, I rolled onto my back and lay there, bruised and hurting and did an audit of my body. Legs - bashed but ok. Hand - little finger bleeding profusely, but all fingers working and bending. Face - bruised but no skin broken. Pete helped me up, and I stood for a bit getting my breath back before we walked on. Pete gave me a tissue to wrap round my finger and we were soon jogging again, though I felt a little lightheaded for a bit.
Soon my finger was just another niggling pain to add to those in my legs and the end was within reach. A last little steep hill (walked!) and we turned onto the final road to Kings' School in Winchester. A sign said 400m to go and we were moving well, apart from a sudden attack of the calf cramps I'd had before. But those were no match for end of race adrenalin, and we rounded the final corner into the school, and saw Kath waving and smiling. The announcer called out our names and guessed we might be related, and we finished, side by side as ever, in 4 hours and 54 minutes. Despite my tumble we had managed to crack the 5 hour target.
I got a plaster for my finger from the medical tent and put my medal on, and we walked slowly back to the car.
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As I write this it is the following morning, and I have aching hips and calves. My left hand is stiff and sore, with a slice of skin that will detach itself in due course, but overall I am in surprisingly good condition!
Looking back at the race I am happy with how I did. I had trained enough, with long runs building on my summer of long runs. The shoes worked (Salomon Speedcross) and my feet and toes feel fine. Nutrition worked, although that may be because it was bolstered by the jelly beans and cake from the drink stations, and I may not have had quite enough if I had relied on what I was carrying. I got the cramps at the end, and I think that is salt intake, so I'll sort that out next time.
Next time? I don't know if there will be a next time. Normal road marathons don't really appeal, and doing this one again doesn't have the same attraction as this first outing. I'll probably just keep an eye open for out of the ordinary events to add to the eclectic collection of races and runs that I have accumulated over the last few years.
Or maybe, if I can run 26.2 miles, I should look at a 50k/31 mile Ultra ......
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PS - Our official time was 04:57:11, a bit longer than the clock showed when we finished! We were 228/229 out of 300 male runners, and 297/298 of 411 overall, so basically three quarters of the way down the field.
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