Fleetwood Marathon - Suitable for a First Timer?

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  • Congratulations to all who did the half and full marathon!!!

    I should have done 16 miles today as I'm doing the Washington Marine Corp Marathon in October but at 7am I looked out and declined...Tomorrow is only 12mph!!! So I guess I'll do it then!!!

    Instead I went up on the promanade to cheer you all on. Hope the guy who's head was bleeding got it sorted out? 

    Stephen Weston....Sorry I only had a small amount of the powerade left (I'm using that as they use it in Washington). You had gone by the time my husband had got the lucozade out of his pocket!!!! You were looking good at a steady pace.

    Bimble: How did you do? I think we saw you on your way to Blackpool!!!

      

      

  • pretty gutted about today. Felt comfortable going through 15 mile in 1.30 and then bang - cramp in both calf muscles. after a minute stopped waiting for the pain to ease, tried to get going again. practically hobbling i decided to pull out as i didnt want to tear them. So disappointed as i was well on sub2.40 pace altho the wind did seem strong on the way back.

     Well done to everyone who competed, my teeth are still grinding with all the sand!

  • ...well, what the fylde lacks in the hhills area, it sure makes up for it with the wind!!!....had to walk/jog the last 3 mile as it felt like i'd been running uphill for the previous 7.....still enjoyed it though (i think) and also still finding sand despite a good bath....you know, it gets everywhere that sand!!...

  • I think Fleetwod will now be twinned with Chicago as they are both windy cities image

    That was the toughest marathon I've ever run. After all th sand I've swallowed I could lierally be sh**ting bricks tonight image

    But I only wanted a long, hard training run oday as I prepare for Kielder in October. And  got it! image

    I'm off for another shower to see if  can get rid of a bit more sand image

    I can't thank the marshals, other helpers and first aid people enough for today. Without them, we mad buggers wouldn't have a race to take part in.

    And great news for Soup. I got 26.198 miles on my Garmin, so after all that hard work it was short! imageimage

    Well done to everyone who ran today

  • Well I've ran in snow, ice, wind & rain but never a sandstorm before..!!

     Felt very comfortable until 7 miles when we went round the back of the leisure centre and could hardly see for being shotblasted by the sand!

    Well done to all that ran today and good luck to the lady who my sister gave a plaster to at the start who is doing New York marathon later this year.

    Off to clean the sand from the bath now, hopefully it will all have gone before Blackpool 10k on Saturday morning.

  • Well just been for another walk on Cleveleys prom, the wind has dropped and it's a nice evening for going out running. Hopefully tomorrow morning will be good for me to do my 16 mile run...Cleveleys to Fleetwood x 2.....On the second lap I will be joined by my husband to keep me at a constant pace!!!
    Hope you all put plenty of aftersun on as I'm sure you will need it!
  • That was the hardest run ever!!!!!! No matter how hard you try you could never describe how hard it was and how much that sand stung!!!!

  • That was some graft after the 16 mile turn. It felt as if I had bunjee cords strapped around me !

    3:53 which is a PB for me so can't complain, unlike my eyeballs who were loving the sand after the first lap !

    On the race description it states finishers receive medal and T shirt - I don't remember seeing any although I wasn't feeling too great straight after the marathon !

     Well done everyone - be proud of finishing in not quite so perfect conditions !

  • 3:13:01 here - apparently i was 12th

    the race went really well for me but the last 9 miles were horrendous with that headwind when we doubled back at Blackpool - i reckon i could have made around 3:05 with the pace i was going if that wind hadn't been so bad, ah well

    thanks to all the organisers

    oh, and to the pair of morons who took the p1ss out of the fact i had 4 gels on my SIS marathon belt...i'd like to see where you placed overall - oh sorry, you were only doing the HALF MARATHON weren't you
  • To everyone who ran today - well done, that was sooo tough, think we should all be very pleased with ourselves! I have tried to explain the force of the sand to people when i got home but i know you had to be there to fully understand how much it hurt!

    I would also like to thank the marshall's they did a fantastic job, on quite a lonley run their words of encouragement were well received, all the marshalls and organisers were so friendly and put in alot of hard work, thanks image

    About the t shirts i overheard an organiser say that they were going to follow in the post.

  • Yep - thanks to everybody involved with putting that on today - and well done to everybody who got round.

    Like everybody else, I struggled a little with the sandblasting behind the Marine Hall, ran really well to the turn at Blackpool then just went backwards in the headwind coming home - obviously, it gets windy everywhere but I've never had to put up with quite so much for quite so long - put paid to the outside chance of a PB I was thinking about when I entered.  At least, however, we were moving (after a fashion) - can't have been much fun standing around marshalling.  I suppose we just need to be thankful that it didn't rain!

    Steve - when you're done with results, I'd also appreciate a note on here confirming what the story is with T-shirts.  At the end, I was just pleased to be finished and forgot about them so didn't ask - quite happy to have something mailed out in due course.  Thanks again for all your efforts.

  • Here Here to all comments regarding the marshalls and general organisation.  It was a run that had a real mix but it was shock to see my splits  drop by nearly a minute after the 16 mile turn....I think I would have preferred the wind out and behind us coming back for sure....some people are never happy image

     Thanks also to the nice lady on the desk of the swimming pool who let us shower for free image

     Well done to all.....I've never done a marathon that included a full body exfoliation ! but a nice freebie all the same .

  • echoing the sentimetns re helpers.....thanks to the registration womenn/watergirl, who looked after my car keys......but ps, its a smart roadster not a smart car and it is worth nicking!!!!  lol
  • I agree a massive thankyou to the marshalls/first aiders and everyone that was involved.

    my skin is ever so soft this morning due to the sand blasting we had, a massive well done to everyone especailly the people that ran the marathon.  I ran the half as a training run, and planned on running around 1.5 min mile slower than race pace, but that went by the by near the end , after getting blown all over and with the sand, I thought forget this  and just ran as fast as I could to the end, so my last two miles were 8.00 min mileing.

  • I have to say a big thank you to all the marshalls and helpers. Especially those who gave us jelly babies and coke!!! I did this marathon last year when it was 4 loops. This year was horrendous!!! I felt like crying when the sand started whipping me!!! but kept plodding as had a friend with me who was doing her first marathon. Got though that then hit the gale force at mile 17. Just had to put our heads down and keep going. Was so glad to see that 26 mile!! I have done the New York Marathon and this was much harder!!! Well to to everybody who took part half and full marathoners. You are all amazing!!!
  • Fantastic effort from everyone yesterday - particularly the 26.2 milers who had to put up with the beast of a wind from mile 16 to the finish! But I've done it and got myself a PB in the process (first ever marathon so guaranteed!) so got to be happy. Only injury I ended up with was some very raw nipples, there was enough blood on my vest to make people think I'd been shot! 

    Met some nice people from Wesham Road Runners along the way who were really supportive and helpful. One of the girls from their club was doing the half and was pretty hot so that motiviated me to keep a good pace early on running next to her!

     All the race support team were fantastic and very encouraging. Water and kind words were appreciated in equal measure, and it can't have been fun standing around in that wind getting blown around. Looking forward to getting the t-shirt in the post, will train with pride in my first ever marathon t-shirt! 

  • It's so refreshing to read so many post race comments that are not talking about times.

    I think we all agree that after the turn it became a survival exercise rather than a race. 

    I've never done a race where everyone I came across was just encouraging each other and helping each other. For sure I tried to help as many as I could but I got a load of help in return. Thanks everyone.

    I was speaking to Steve after the run (yeah, lets not call it a race any more - it was an ENDURANCE runimage)

    and I believe the tee shirts will be posted out.

    I understand they're getting reprinted with the words "I was daft enough to run the Fleetwood Marathon" on the front, and "But I survived it" on the back, and a picture of hurricane "Steve" image

  • compo 1compo 1 ✭✭✭
    well done to everyone who did this and you should be proud of yourselfs
  • Def go down in my top 3 marathon experiences
    I'm smiling now but at the time....beam me up Scotty !

    Out of interest wondered how much the wind slowed people down in relation to how they had been running I'm no pb hunter but just wondered !
  • just to echo everyones statements that was the hardest marathon i have ever done 10 miles into the wind at the end was horrendous and the sandblasting was like nothing i have ever experienced.
    i wanted a sub 3:10 but the wind put pay to that i finished in 3:14 in thirteenth place which i have to be happy about.

    well done to joasia the first lady who i had the pleasure of running the middle section with and kept me going to be honest.

    the organisation for my part was a bit shambolic in places i wasn't even sure where the finish line was and they missed the joasia coming through as they were too busy congratulating five army lads who had just finished the half. if it wasn't for her mum asking if they were going to congratulate the first woman they wouldn't have known she had finished and that is inexcusable to be honest!!!
    well done to the lad running the full with a 17kg bergen on i could barely lift it up so how he completed a marathon i will never know!!
  • Anyone know where the pictures that were being taken have been posted?
  • The finishing line comments were made last year too, but they seem to be ignored.

    I had to ask as I went past!  Not good!  The run however was great fun. image

  • Did the Half Marathon but unfortunately they have failed to include me in the results so it would appear they did not record me crossing the line which is dissapointing.Ive emailed the organisers but no reply yet image
  • They have me in the wrong vet category too!  Not that well organised then! image
  • Overall a friendly and well organised and enjoyable race yesterday.

    Only down point was that between the provisional and final results I have been changed to have run 1 minute 18 seconds slower image. Doesn't sound much but I am gutted as I'd set myself a goal and achieved it only to be told I didn't (I'm 100% confident the provisional was my time as not only did my garmin record the same time, but my husband who had also ran and was waiting at the finish line confirmed it and the announcer as I crossed the line said well done for those finishing now as you've just done XXX time)

    Guess I'll be sticking to chipped races from now on image

  • I think that the head wind probably added about quarter of an hour to my overall time. However I have awarded myself maximum 'man points' for getting a PB on my third marathon although I have trained really hard this time round.

    The t shirts will actually be a great momento now if they are reprinted !

    I think that with a few tweaks and the organisers reading a few of these comments this could be a great, fast marathon (conditions allowing !). It could also be classed as an all terrain adventure challenge if the weather is like that again !

    I myself would like to see bottled water as all the cups allowed me to do was have a bit of a wash and go up my nose as I tried to take a swig. I also don't think that there were enough stations - I certainly don't think that they were every 5km as advertised ?

    Could a more accurate map be provided beforehand - I wasn't expecting all the turns out of and back into the wind along the sea front.

    The finish - did I ? Didn't I? All I saw were a bunch of cones !

    To end on a positive note - the marshalls AND all those slogging it back from Blackpool deserve a big pat on the back !!!

  • I only did the half, but I was running consistent 6:40 ish until I hit the wind and sand then I slowed to 7:40s then speeded back up to 6:40s and finished with a 6:20 last miles.  So I guess I could have pulled 3 mins faster if it was not windy.

    If I was on the full I think that would have translated to at 15-20 mins on my "usual" time  That would be shorter if you run faster and longer if you run slower.  Guess you have to extrapolate your own! image

    I still think it was a great race, but I think that is because I like friendly local races.  Last years full was good and I suppose the issues are minor.  Some sort of simple gantry would do for the finish as the could not paint the garden.  I had no clue on the entry to the garden either!  Steveif you are reading it may be worth instructing these guys as the finish has some turns. image

  •  went out for a nice long walk today with one of my friends who i ran with yesterday and we just kept giggling and chatted about the race, it will be one to remember.     

    That sounds like a t-shirt to keep with the new wording on, will they  post to everyone that entered on the mailing list? 

  • hmmmmm....for some reason i'm in category MV40 - is this correct? i'm only 33 years old!

    also, they've missed out the club that i run for

    sort it out FFS! image
  • I personally don't think it added as much as 15 mins. It was bloody hard tho!!!

    I actually ran a PB on Sun of 3.41, but I don't think I could have run faster than 3.36 in perfect conditions.

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