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Snowdonia Marathon 2011
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Right. I couldn't work out in advance how to get round in 5h, because I didn't have splits from last year and I had to resort to PLUMMETING down the last mile or so. But if anybody is planning to run in 5h, and they want to compare their plans with my experience, these are the splits for this year.
The fleet of foot can look away now.
Unless they wish for advice on how to get slower, I suppose.
Anyway.
Ahem.
9.57, 9.54, 11.07, 12.43, 13.10, 8.32, 9.09, 9.25, 11.28, 9.59, 10.19, 10.44, 11.01, 11.57, 13.04, 11.12, 11.31, 10.52, 11.15, 10.52, 11.12, 11.54, 17.27, 16.04, 11.54, 10.02 (and last bit: 7.53).
Notes:
1. My Garmin has me standing still for 7 minutes of the 4.59. This is a result of my one-handed fumbling with gels and is probably not necessary.
2. I didn't actually walk until 22 Miles. Yes, I am skilled at running very, very slowly. But this is still faster than me walking - I seem to walk like a particularly unfocussed tortoise, - that's OK because it means that my slow running is still quicker than walking
Alas, next year there's a clash between SNOD and the Preston Guild Marathon the day after, and I am very, very torn about which to do. I know that some of you will say "do both" and I say to them (with great respect), ouch.
Wierd race this year, never got going the entire race with my first mile in a comfortable 7-16.
In training i always reached the front door of Pen Y Pass in around 41-20 to 30 but was nearly four minutes down.
The weather was not too bad compared to previous years with 2008 and 1996 being memorable ones.
Having been unwell so close to the race and resting up for nearly three weeks certainly wrecked any chances of any time and my legs felt tired and slow all the way.
In the 17years ive done the race this was one year i wanted it to finish as quickly as possible and yet again having posted such a slow time i was out climbing Foel Fras on Sunday.
My only complaint was a blister on my small left toe with my legs feeling surprisingly good considering i struggled around the UKs most scenic marathon.
Here's to the 30th next year and i think i will avoid ladders for the forseeable future.
Owwwwww, sore, sore quads here this morning, probably from hurtling down the final descent in a bid to get sub 5 hours......ended up doing 5h01
but pleased to have run well and beat last year's time of 5h10!!
This is such a great race, probably my favourite. It was a shame we weren't treated to many nice views and that it rained/drizzled ALL the way round. I think I might do this race every year until I get a nice, sunny, crisp, windless, dry day to run in it!
Well done us!
Recovery run, completed.
5.44 miles in 47:47 minutes, the legs still work and don't feel that bad.
Should be in shape for a fast-ish parkrun by Saturday
Back to work today after a great weekend in beautiful Wales. Well done to everyone. Some great times and more importantly everyone seems to have enjoyed the experience.
I managed 3.58 which I was very pleased with. Over half an hour better than last year. The weather was perfect Snod weather and it would be the same without it. Roll on 2012!
Two little moans - what has happened to running on the left? The amount of criss-crossing for no obvious reason which just results in problems for both runners and traffic. The roads are open and we runners need to do our part. Perhaps a view more signs/marshalls along the route to remind people.
The other moan is the for the traffic wardens of Llanberis. Now, if a vehicle parked in a place that is dangerous or is blocking other traffic then fair enough but most vehicles parked on along the main road were not. The town benefits from the runners spending their money in the hotels, shops, pubs etc and the race provides funds for local good causes so how about a little good will from the powers that be? How many people would have visted Llanberis on a wet Saturday at the end of October without the marathon? By the way this isn't sour grapes as I didn't get a ticket but just felt sorry for those who did.
Sorry guys I don't want to put a downer on such a great day. This is the highlight of the running year for me and I can't wait to sign up for next year.
Feet up for this week for me and then it's off to have a go at the Rutland Water Marathon on Sunday
Strangely enough I got my all-time SNOD PB in 2008. Was that the year of really strong wind assistance, Peter?
Well said The Lazy Greyhound on both points. I was thinking at the time how the criss-crossing from one side to the other was causing traffic hold-ups.
There have been some amazing performances this year, with many impressive PBs. I was hoping for (expecting) the same but it was not to be. Still, at least 4:11 was a little better than the previous two years' 4:15, although it was some way off 2008's 4:00. Heavy legs told me that I must still have had the remnants of the Round Rotherham in them from two weeks earlier.
Despite my 'average' run, this was my best SNOD so far as far as the whole weekend experience goes. There were more friends than ever before to meet and chat with. The post-race party was the best ever. The camaraderie absolutely rocks on this event. Bring on 2012. I shall return every year until I beat 4 hours and until we get to run in sunshine with clear views of the peaks. What a novelty that will be.
Managed 3:50 - but just the wrong side by 24 seconds!! Never mind - there's always next year, when it will be my 6th Snod, the 30th overall, and sunny....
Oh well, 2 out of 3 isn't bad!!
This race is surely the highlight of the year.....I absolutely loved it .....I had a fleeting few minutes on the last climb where I thought never again but it must have just been the moment because after this post I am off to the 2012 Snod forum to do it all over again
Dispite the wind and rain I had a real blast of a run on Saturday......ran a few miles with a guy I have run with at other races but then held back on the off road section as I thought i was pushing on a bit to much and then had a few miles with a Scottish guy down to Beddgelert ...he really was the life and sole of the race and think he must have put a smile on anyones face who he ran with after that. Felt good running at the half way stage so pushed on and again found the second half of the race to be better than the first. Ran all but about 30 yards of the last climb .... after a few strides of walking though it just let me stretch my legs enough to get going again and then the whole race makes sense to me when you see that descent in front of you......loved every slippery step of it and overtook loads of people.
Got myself a huge PB crossing the line in 3:32:35 and 13th lady overall. Thats well and truly set the goal for next year 
splits as follows :
7:24 7:43 8:38 9:05 8:31 6:40 6:55 7:25 7:44 7:24 7:52 7:51 7:39 8:41 8:57 7:46 7:37 7:48 7:51 7:42 7:51 8:29 11:37 10:39 8:20 6:41 1:14Rou great to meet you and just wanted to say what a great run you had it was amazing and I know you said you had the run of your life .........so must Kelly have from the look on her face.....just brilliant racing both of you
Great to meet up with everyone again and new faces .....briliant to meet you all ....what a great bunch......and the only thing i have left to say is the last song sung on Kareokee was most definately not "I'm still standing".........!!!!!! That was one heck of an after race get together
Bye one and all .....thank you all for the never ending banter, support and encouragement that this thread has given over the year
See you all over on the 2012 thread
Well, thank you to all you kind folks who have said my pacing schedule helped you get round in your target time, and that's quite a few of you. I'm glad because on the day I was no help at all: (i) apart from nicola at the start I saw no-one at all from the forum during the race, and (ii) my time was 4:27. At least I can say I didn't let anyone down!
I'm very impressed with the large number of Course Bests (and some outright PBs?!?) this year from folks on the thread.
I'm obviously disappointed in my lack of form which has continued throughout 2011 right up to this, my last race this year. In every race, including SNOD, my time has been 10-15% slower than I would normally expect. On Saturday it wasn't I was feeling pain anywhere, or burned out, just that every mile was about a minute slower than my anticipated pace over the various sections of the route. I felt I was putting the effort in and was moving well, but my watch didn't seem to agree.
Not sure how to go about remedying the situation but I'm sure I'll think of something and bounce back.
Still, it was great, wasn't it? We all got the weather that Peter L, and secretly all of us, wanted. And the "post-race drinks" is starting to become another marathon in its own right!!
I enjoyed my time immensely with those of you who were able to come to the Padarn Lake. (Don't forget Reydon Rover.)
nicola - yes, I'm hearing stories about all sorts of tumbles people took
. Not all of them causing wounds, happily.
Peter J L - a mistake above, I did meet you at the beginning of the Waunfawr hill. I came up to you and slapped you on the back in greeting, which was possibly a bad move considering the nature of your injury. Sorry about that. I did endeavour to introduce myself but you were either too "out of it" to reply or were deliberately ignoring me, I couldn't work out which. Glad you were able to finish.
Although I had all my walking gear I somehow wasn't in the mood to tackle any 3000-ers on Sunday and elected to meet my brother in the Vaynol Arms for a drink and an early lunch at 1200 and then go straight home.
I got there soon after 1200 to find the usual roaring fire and homely atmosphere of the place. No sign of my brother and I bought a drink and waited. No-one else in there. I asked to see the lunch menu but the owner behind the bar said he wasn't sure he would be serving food today. His two staff had failed to turn up.
It got to 1300 and still no sign of my brother, but then first one staff member, then the other arrived.
Can you guess what had happened?
Neither the pub owner, nor I, had put our watches back!!
I had been served a drink at 1120, 40 minutes before the pub was supposed to open.
There's a result.
T Rex- LOL! But I was expecting a little more drama from your Sunday! No getting lost, swimming, or even mysterious flashing lights!
I hate stairs today!
Hi Folks,
Need to split this into two posts, hope no-one gets in between!
As I’m so easy to get side-tracked, thought I’d do this off line and paste in! If I start reading posts before I do this, it’ll never happen
It was great meeting so many at the weekend, putting faces to names. The Padarn on a Saturday night is the place to go. I never realised how hard Karaoke is! ‘ Sweet Dreams (are made of this)’ seemed appropriate.
Rou, that was some performance, you looked so in control the whole race.
Jason, sub 3 next year?
Some excellent running out there. A bit of ascent, a few puffs of wind, and a light misting seems to suit the majority…….
For me I had a plan, mentioned a few pages ago of taking it steady up the first hill, let gravity have it’s fun going down the other side, keep a good pace going to Bethgelert, keep the same effort level on the way up to Rydd and see how it’s going there.
Started off and for once in my life I actually stuck to the plan. I was slower up the hill than last year and it showed later on in the race. TR39 and I chatted about the world around us and soon we were at the top of the hill. I’m sure it was longer last year. Flew down the other side elated at how fresh and strong I felt (Ok, so it’s still 21 miles and change to go, still felt good though). On the way down the track I had short issues and had to slow to re-tie them. The gels were pulling them down. Not a sight those behind would want to see. Caught back up with TR39 and back we were enjoying the world. Hit the road at 8 miles and we both took a gel.
I think I get bored on flat/almost flat surfaces. Between hitting the road and Bethgelert I kept playing about with my stride, lengthening, shortening, quickening, slowing. My legs felt like they needed a stretch. Maybe it’s because I do most of my running off road? They’re just not used to keeping a constant stride length/cadence. As I left Bethgelert heading up the hill I turned around, jogging backwards to look at the runners behind and see if I could see TR39 as I’d gone ahead on one of my leg stretchers but couldn’t see him. As I still didn’t believe I could keep going as well as I was I knew he’d be overtaking me soon so turned back and trundled off. I did let the pace slow but kept the same effort level, just thinking that I’d keep it up as long as possible. Again this hill didn’t seem as long or as steep as it had last year. I started to think that all the hill work I’d put in this year had actually made a difference.
At the top of the hill I made a decision. Back myself. Keep the same effort level going and sub 4 was on. Took another gel at 16m and set off with absolute conviction that I could do it. If the wheels were going to have come off, I would have had a hint by now. Somewhere around the 18m mark TR39 caught me. At the water station shortly after TR39 went to get some water and I think got held up/delayed there(?). I had carried on, expecting him to catch up again. I knew what was coming up and even though the previous hills had gone better than I expected, it’s still a long hill with a fairamount of ascent. I had stated before I was going to run up this hill, no walking allowed. Pleased to say I managed it, even though one lady did walk past me…..
Got to the end of the tarmac at 24m, looked at my watch and realised that not only was I going to go sub 4, it was going to be sub 3:50! This filled me with so much positive energy I could have run up that hill again. With every step through the race I had felt stronger & stronger. Off across the mud, stones, grass. Side winds that had you leaning 30 degrees into them, nothing was going to slow me down. Until I hit the tarmac the other side. There’s a photo of me on the site Britnick linked to (308) taken just as I hit the tarmac. The grimace on my face at that point was my muscles suggesting that flying down mud is fun, doing the same on tarmac with fatigued legs is not. We had a little discussion and I won. It now wasn’t just a case of sub 3:50, but how much. Sped up even more and was just so elated as I came into town. Accelerated to the finish line, looked at my watch. And stared at it for what seemed like hours. 3:47:21. Couldn’t believe it. Thought my training had gone to pot and I had no chance over distance. Glad I don’t know what I’m talking about.
Stayed around the finish area as I thought TR39 must be close. Within a few seconds he came storming down the high street and over the finish. We were both so happy for each to go so far sub 4 as we’d both had confidence issues going into the race. All throughout the summer TR39’s and my training was as near as damn it identical, and we finished within a couple of minutes of each other. Perhaps we should have had more belief in our ability?
Mrs TR39 took a few pictures and as I was starting to cool down I headed off back to the hotel. For only the second time in my running life (The first was my first race) I got a bit emotional on the way, you know that absolute happiness where a tear forms in your eye, a lump appears in your throat and you just want to leap around hugging everyone.
As the race rating says – Will you do this race again?
My answer. Do you need to ask?
08:48 08:51 09:20 09:55 09:02 06:42 07:07 07:35 08:03 07:53 08:08 07:59 07:54 09:28 09:46 08:43 07:58 08:28 08:11 08:10 08:07 09:21 12:25 11:37 08:58 07:17 01:37
And for Stuart - 2,485 feet ascent, 2,533 descent according to mapping software.
301st to cross the start, 304th to cross the finish
Sub 3:30 next year? I did take over half an hour off last year’s time….
I was just 15ft off with my total ascent prediction of 2,500ft!! Awesome.
Congrats to all the finishers and the supporters who braved the conditions.
Ian H - we'll decide for you: you loved the race. No other marathon has such drama or presence.
Liked that report, Chimney. I suppose it could be worse - at least you haven't called yourself Chimney Pot. Lol.
I'm afraid I can't keep up an endless stream of ridiculous, but true, stories. Besides you lot are rapidly catching up.
I was intending to have some escapades on Crib Goch but in the end, although I had the time and the weather was reasonable, I decided against it. I felt I had done enough for one weekend.
"It's like the Marie Celeste in here."
Barman, Vaynol Arms
Seems I'm in the minority with a that's it from me.
Rou - I think I passed you going up a hill out of Beddgelert. I had a yellow vest on. You ran past me at 12.2 miles as I leaned on a rock doing my laces up. Well done indeed.