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Great Welsh Marathon
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great to see so many first timers like myself had a great race!! a brilliant atmosphere amongst the runners, never seen the coastal path look so nice due to the weather.
Cable where did i speak with you? the whole event strangely seems a blur now , everthing was overwhelming for me, i spoke to so many runners, passing words of encouragement at the switchbacks. i did see your family holding a sign for you,which i thought was a great idea!!!
having not done a marathon before i was suprised how tough it got from mile 18 to simply hold what was a steady pace. i know from 17 onwards it was twisty up over the bridge and around the switchback again, then that horrid dusty gravel just seems so hard to run on. or was it just me????
i was expecting to finish between 3.10-3.15 based on my half time and all those predictor sites, maybe too ambitous or simply naive to expect that on my first one.
i've signed up for snowdonia in october and seriously having second thoughts now, if i found loose gravel paths tough at mile 22 what am i going find a 300m climb up a mountain!!
Hellloooo everyone
and hey Seren Nos - nice to meet you & Hot Tub Alci (I'm also sure I remember you from the Brecon Ultra thread)!
Well, what to say...I think I was a bit negative yesterday & maybe I'm just not used to doing marathons/ more 'on road' stuff lately, but I have to agree with daz1927 & Hot Tub Alci & say i really wasn't a fan of the route at all. I've never turned around so much and looped and lapped in my life! It actually started to confuse me and my mind just lost all sense of focus. After the first 6 miles I started to feel miserable & I just wanted some nice open hills/ a route that actually went somewhere! I think the heat probably added to me feeling a bit grrr; I'm not used to it really & only got a taste of properly running in the heat last weekend at the Calderdale Hike - I need to get out of 'wet and windy' mode.
I think the organisation was great at the start and finish and some of the marshalls were nice, but others were really uninspiring & just stood around chatting.
It was nice to get a cheeky marathon in, but I don't think I'll be back; just can't take the repetitive route.
Well done everyone though and another shout out to the 100 marathon club runners with the dog - you made me smile
Good luck to everyone doing VLM > I'm off to the Highland Fling
Cable - sorry it didn't work out for you yesterday, mate- but there's always next week
Oops - think we met at the end - there can't have been 2 runners who forgot their shoes- great effort considering
I didn't get a goodie bag at all- medal and t-shirt, but that was probably my fault- even managed to drop the t-shirt twice when they were trying to give it to me- lol! Didn't really care/ miss it though
I didn't mind the twists and turns and in fairness, apart from the rerouted bit, they were shown on the map. Agree about the gravel track though - lost the will to live waiting for the turn at 23!!!
It's been a pleasure being part of this forum, wishing everyone well for the future and looking forward to running with some of you again
lol I'm sure we did then... I didnt meet anyone else foolish enough to own up to forgetting trainers even if they did! The turn arounds I didnt really think about til after the event and the rerouted bit was fine but the gravel should really be moved to near the start if they are going to use it... its also the most exposed bit with the longest energy sapping view I've ever experienced!
I wish I'd been a part of the forum as it would have been great to meet people at the event. Well done everyone on their performances.
Hi everyone,
sorry i can't do links, but photo's are up on sportysnaps website.
Some great pics there!
Managed to upload my Garmin last night, route and stats here: Great Welsh Marathon
I'm thinking of complaining, I'm sure they said it was flat and I've recorded a massive 212ft of elevation
Daz...........if your alterego Gareth is the one with curly blondish hair..........tell him he's still got my yellow running gloves from 18 months ago
the finish line ones aren't the ones going through the finish unfortunately...................and i nearly killed the announcer as I was running up to the finish he said and they are coming in just over the 4 and a half hours./...................I nearly burst into tears as i thought I had missed the sub 4:30 again.............I was nearly 5 mins within the time by the chip.....
They won't be able to put the gravelly route at the start because it would be too narrow to accomodate all the runners going in both directions.............as the field takes a little while to spread out.............that said if they up it to 2000 runners then they will have to change major parts of the route because the bit around the lake was quite narrow...
so whose signed up for their next one already
Annadav - I'm glad it worked! I wish I'd said last 10 miles now!! Check me out on the mile 16 shots on Sporty Snaps - you can literally see 'the wall' smacking me in the face!!!
Phil - You picked the right moment to stop using me as a pacer - I was doing ok til then! In seriousness, I was quite worried in that I had a continual pain like a need to pee but nothing was there. Not nice!
And Lloyd, maybe it wasn't you - whoever it was remained nameless and I heard a shout for Lloyd soon after. My boys did me proud on Sunday - always cheering, which is good for 3 and 2. You may also notice my 3 year old dragged me across the line!!
I'll post my VLM result, but it won't be until I get back to Swansea next Wednesday.
Seren lol - the Gareth of my alterego has dark hair, definitely not a blondie!
They definitely need a major re-route if they want to increase it to 2000 runners!
Hi guys,
I think most runners disliked the last 10k, not so much the loop itself but the fact that you had to run on gravel which made running difficult, especially after running 20 miles on mostly tarmac.
Personally i thought the marshalls were great, and i did manage to have a bit of banter with them from time to time, i'm also glad that they knew the route for without them i'd have taken a wrong turn on more than one occassion when i spent the bulk of the second half of the race alone.
I can't complain about the goody bag at the end, considering the race costs i thought it was quite reasonable, ok i've had better medals but there was a t-shirt (i always give mine to friends or family anyway), and most importantly there were drinks and snacks which were much needed straight after the race. Also, spare a thought for some of us who hung around at the end for the presentation only to find that some of the trophies hadn't arrived in time (due to be sent directly to category winners by post).
In fairness to the race organisers, it was their first attempt, and i was a bit anxious before the race got underway, especially in the first couple of miles when we had runners coming towards us, but i'm sure they'll sort this out for future races. I think the course will definitely have to be revamped to accomodate a larger field of runners though !
On the plus side, the weather conditions were perfect
Hot ??? hehe
you want to try running an ultra in 32 C !
yeah, the wind did pick up later on though.
Next year the race (2000 capacity) will start and finish at the Parc Y Scarlets Rugby Stadium, Pemberton Park, Llanelli but will still use the coastal path.
It may mean that that gravel stretch will then be near to the start and end!
Lloyd - No - gravel was a killer
FA- No - I don't want to try that
Hope they move the date next year so not too close to VLM, cos I'd like to do it again - we can all be "Ever Presents" - lol!
Jason - no such luck. The next Great Welsh Marathon is 17th April 2011
http://www.runnersworld.co.uk/events/viewevent.asp?sp=&v=2&EN=55148&ms=
On the Llanelli Half Marathon there was a barefoot runner. Boy did he regret it on the gravel. I passed him trying to walk on top of the concrete kerb!
Hi, just after a bit of advice, loved my first marathon, when do think i could do my next one?? was thinking of farnham in september? ( dont know if i can wait that long )or would you advice sooner,
any advise would be very welcome
thanks
Alexandra x
it was also my first, according to my training books it takes about 4 weeks for your muscles to repair from microtears. they recommend only 2 marathons a year with approx 6 months between them.
september sounds fine, i'm considering one then too, hopefully a flat fast course
I can vouch for the fact that she was the fast one and you were the slow one..............I noticed it on the results....a shame as she would have been first in her age group I believe,..........
so they have put the llanelli marathon on the same day as london and on the same day as stratfford if the 17th april is the date...........
they seemed to struggle to fill up this year so not sure if they will get 2000 if they go into direct competeion with 2 already established big races.............
Its suprising how many people will do 2 marathons a week apart but noone will be able to do them on the same day
I would have suggested abingdon in October for those looking for a fast well organised autumn race... flat.... but its full already although there will be a waiting list with spaces coming up later o in the year.............bbut when you are eager then you want a definite place........
LLoyd / Lewi - I plan to have a year between marathons - but that's more to do with my lack of discipline training long distances.
Think I'm going to enter the Llanelli marathon again next year as it's close to home - was nice to finish & have a 15 minute drive home - all showered, changed, fed & relaxing in the garden by mid afternoon, although I am tempted by the atmosphere of running in London.
My target would be to run sub-4 next year..... Would anyone else on here enter this marathon again?
Flight permitting I'm going away getting married next week - plan on return is to start training for the Cardiff 1/2 - will hopefully see a few of you there?
Good luck to anyone doing VLM and racing over the summer.
LTS - I'm tempted to do it again and would also aim for sub 4 as that would give me a GFA place for London 2012 (I hit the big 50 later this year).
There's a lot to be said for running close to home. I'm doing Cardiff half too.
All the very best for the big day and hopefully see you at a race soon
I will be running london next year...as they are on the same days.......if they were different my OH wmight have run this one but can't with clashing........
good luck with the cardiff half
lloyd and Life too short,
Good luck with the wedding! Lloyd
Def will do Llanelli marathon next year as really enjoyed it, much better then the other 2 halfs i did! but i did put alot more training in!
Was thinking of doing the cardiff half aswell,as not too far from me too!
I think my poor hubby thought i would get this running thing out of my system on completion of my first marathon, but now i feel i have put a ton of coal on the fire!All i can think about is runnnig! and what race i can run next!and what time i can get down too! soooo competitive! i`m like a bloke!!!