Quite a day yesterday, only once before have I ever ran a long distance race in those conditions (the grizzly a few years ago) , happy with my time (3.48) and i have seen enough underpasses for a while, only letdown for me was baggage collection (big queue and took ages whilst we froze) and changing , really needed somewhere warm and dry. Medics also deserve a thanks as i saw at first hand how busy they were.
i was a gutted DNF .... my first attempt at a full marathon .. and what a day it was weather wise .
Calf went at mile 16 , tried to run walk it off but it was no good. Walked as far as mile 18 and sort refuge with 5 others. Got a ride back to base in ambulance. The passengers on board were same as me suffering with calf strains. Seems a common feature of such cold conditions?
Are other events organised in such a haphazard way ? It seemed there there was no consideration for the poor weather conditions. Signed at the stadium seemed non existent. And was there a tannoy / PA system ?
Anyway I'll put it down to experience.
Of course I'll need to find another event soon .... be a shame to waste all this recent training and not tick it off the check list.
I was a supporter on Sunday and I loved it. I don't know MK at all well but armed with a copy of the route map and a Sat Nav I was able to meet my runner at three different spots along the course. It was great being able to drive around the town, park on the road side, and nip out to support before getting back in and driving to the next spot. You don't get that at London!
Two things I noted as a supporter was
1) funnel off the relayers when they swap over. I was at the final swap (C-D) and the relayers were having to cut across the path to hand over and
2) erect a finishing gantry. I saw three people cross the timing mat just after they entered the stadium, they hugged, embraced, and congratulated each other until they realised the crowd were telling them to continue
I agree Schmunkee I was on a bike and never been so cold I managed to see my runner at 2 points so very happy and he got a 30 minute pb.
I have never been so cold and wet but it was worth it to offer support.
I did London this year and the end was also poor this year because of the downpour at the end.
There was a thread on it. I got drenched and was trapped in Horseguards Parade. Roads were closed and we had to walk about 3 miles to get our coach...
It was purely the weather that spoiled what would have been a great day but imagine how you would feel if you were at the Shakespeare and were half way round the course before you knew it was cancelled
I say well done to MK for going ahead and I am sure they will make some improvements for next year.
Any way well done to those who had a good day and sorry to those it didn't turn out so well for.
I agree about the supporters. I saw one family with a (?Cork) flag about 5 times and another chap had sort of adopted me by the third time I saw them. Not been called Bridget the Midget in years
It also meant we were getting loads of hoots along the main roads from people driving to the next point.
Schmunkee - that last changeover point was great for support. Don't know if you realised but the people down in the underpass were raising a huge cheer as each runner entered it!
The underpasses were a wall of noise at time, and the kids cheering were great. At one point there was a little girl handing out jelly babies. I think it was after mile 20 but things are a bit blurred.
Interesting to see the discussions on pacers. I know some were a little more off than others, but I think we all did our best in the circumstances. I was the sub-4 pacer and the detour at Caldecotte did throw me off - I was pacing by garmin and soon realised I was a good quarter of a mile or more off. The problem then was that I didn't know whether there were other adjustments later on in the course to make up for that. I decided to get on track for sub-4 somewhere between what my garmin said and what the mile markers said and if we were still off in the later miles I'd have to slightly up the pace to make up for the distance. It was a close thing in the end as I finished just under 4 by chip time.
I've put this on before just to highlight how inaccurate gps watches are. This is the same watch over 15 days.
Brighton 26.12 miles London 26.47 miles Milton Keynes 25.93 miles
Was mine the only one to measure mk short. Maybe all the underpasses messed it up???? But there were tunnels at London. I don't know????? Legs ate fine now. Buttocks a bit tight ( can't say that without a chuckle) and bloody toenail is a killer
The race referee who is not involvded with the organisers was aware of the adjustment and doesn't think the times should be amended. Speaks for itself.
Surrey Runner: the run Britain rating takes into account the weather. On a good day it would be much lower. That is a quick course
Liam68: Run Britain grade races by degree of difficulty. This grading takes into account the local weather factors on the day. They gave the grading a 2.9 which is high, suggesting it was difficult. They don't break down how they come to that rating.
It is a pretty flat course, the couple of climbs are by no means severe. So I can only imagine the weather on the day put the rating up significantly. Until its run again it better conditions though that's purely my assumption
MarkD - my Garmin read 26.6 miles. It generally reads "long" in all races.
I believe the second official mile marker was short and corrected again at mile three. I was taken aback when I "corrected" my garmin at the eight mile marker, because I had run for a further three minutes since my garmin had registered eight miles. This knocked my confidence in the pacing (though now I know the difference was mainly due to the diversion at mile 6/7).
As a guide the Milton Keynes half marathon in March 2011 recieved a grading of 0.8. The Watford half of the same year hot a grading of 0.9 and that's described as an undulating course
My photos confirm that I looked as rough as I felt.
A top tip for those who suffered with queueing for bags at the end - be slower. By the time I reached my trailer there were hardly any bags left and mine was easy to find.
I think I was also lucky with bags as I was probably one of the earlier 'yellow pen' finishers so there wasn't anyone else at my truck. Good job as I was really struggling with the cold. The reports from Manchester sound terrible.
Two days off - already looking forward to getting out again. think I may give the legs another day or two off.
What are other peoples plans for the next few months? For me I think it's time to work on my speed over 5 and 10k so I'm going to start hitting my park run and doing some speed work. I feel like I have at least a 3.45 marathon in me so want to aim towards that next year.
Get fit (I'd barely trained enough for a 5k, let alone a marathon)
Get back into Parkruns as an incentive to get fitter and faster
Sodbury Slog in November, because I've done it every year since 2006, and because it toughens me up so that I can laugh at 'floods' like we experienced on Sunday. If you can keep your head above the waterline, it's not deep!
Normally a thread tapers out the following day. Looks like this one has got legs. Quite a controversial little race MK gave us.
Old no 7 your correct that the course profile is probably a flat one but I think the constant ups and downs, twists and turns wouldn't class it as super fast. I think you thought that cos you were running on rocket fuel I think I would have found this mentally tough even in good weather. I would class abingdon as flat and fast.
I've only done four unique marathon courses (having done one twice). This was definitely hillier than Abingdon '04 and Cardiff '06. It was, however, siginificantly flatter than Beachy Head!
I think mark is correct. The twisty-ness of the course is a bigger factor than any inclines.
I deliberately did not run full pace in order to fight another day. I shall concentrate on speedier stuff now like 5 miles or so races through the summer. Maybe a bit of track work too. I don't think there are many road marathons on offer now until the autumn. I shall probably aim for the Leicester Marathon in October.
BTW, I think entries open for the Lake Vyrnwy Half Marathon today. This has to be one of the fastest halfs in the country (and an excellent race to boot). It's on my list
I wish I had stretched afterwards - my ITBs are killing - just wanted to go home to a warm bath...
Plan t o do a gentle 5 on Saturday then I am doing the Round MK relay on the 20th (first leg - 10miles) then the Boulder Dash in Jume - http://www.theboulderdash.com/index.html
worth a look if you are localish - 8mile route looks the most fun...
Comments
How does an underpass go over a canal bridge?
Sounds a bit like an Escher drawing.
Quite a day yesterday, only once before have I ever ran a long distance race in those conditions (the grizzly a few years ago) , happy with my time (3.48) and i have seen enough underpasses for a while, only letdown for me was baggage collection (big queue and took ages whilst we froze) and changing , really needed somewhere warm and dry. Medics also deserve a thanks as i saw at first hand how busy they were.
http://www.miltonkeynesmarathon.co.uk/Race-Info/Race-Distance
Calf went at mile 16 , tried to run walk it off but it was no good. Walked as far as mile 18 and sort refuge with 5 others. Got a ride back to base in ambulance. The passengers on board were same as me suffering with calf strains. Seems a common feature of such cold conditions?
Are other events organised in such a haphazard way ? It seemed there there was no consideration for the poor weather conditions.
Signed at the stadium seemed non existent.
And was there a tannoy / PA system ?
Anyway I'll put it down to experience.
Of course I'll need to find another event soon .... be a shame to waste all this recent training and not tick it off the check list.
I was a supporter on Sunday and I loved it. I don't know MK at all well but armed with a copy of the route map and a Sat Nav I was able to meet my runner at three different spots along the course. It was great being able to drive around the town, park on the road side, and nip out to support before getting back in and driving to the next spot. You don't get that at London!
Two things I noted as a supporter was
1) funnel off the relayers when they swap over. I was at the final swap (C-D) and the relayers were having to cut across the path to hand over and
2) erect a finishing gantry. I saw three people cross the timing mat just after they entered the stadium, they hugged, embraced, and congratulated each other until they realised the crowd were telling them to continue
Hats off to all of you who took part yesterday
I agree Schmunkee I was on a bike and never been so cold I managed to see my runner at 2 points so very happy and he got a 30 minute pb.
I have never been so cold and wet but it was worth it to offer support.
I did London this year and the end was also poor this year because of the downpour at the end.
There was a thread on it. I got drenched and was trapped in Horseguards Parade. Roads were closed and we had to walk about 3 miles to get our coach...
It was purely the weather that spoiled what would have been a great day but imagine how you would feel if you were at the Shakespeare and were half way round the course before you knew it was cancelled
I say well done to MK for going ahead and I am sure they will make some improvements for next year.
Any way well done to those who had a good day and sorry to those it didn't turn out so well for.
I agree about the supporters. I saw one family with a (?Cork) flag about 5 times and another chap had sort of adopted me by the third time I saw them. Not been called Bridget the Midget in years
It also meant we were getting loads of hoots along the main roads from people driving to the next point.
Schmunkee - that last changeover point was great for support. Don't know if you realised but the people down in the underpass were raising a huge cheer as each runner entered it!
So how much distance do we think was added at Caldecotte...? Did Ross have a map or something he posted on the forum...?
Did you notice at Willen there was a slight diversion too - think that would have shaved off a couple of seconds as well
Trying to work out if I can drop my PB even further....now I am getting greedy...!
I've put this on before just to highlight how inaccurate gps watches are. This is the same watch over 15 days.
Brighton 26.12 miles
London 26.47 miles
Milton Keynes 25.93 miles
Was mine the only one to measure mk short. Maybe all the underpasses messed it up???? But there were tunnels at London. I don't know?????
Legs ate fine now. Buttocks a bit tight ( can't say that without a chuckle) and bloody toenail is a killer
Surrey Runner: the run Britain rating takes into account the weather. On a good day it would be much lower. That is a quick course
Hey Emdee - you did a good job - thanks again!
MarkD - my Garmin said MK was .2 further than Brighton (last years course) so who knows...
Old No7 - could you explain more about the course - are they saying on a good day it would be a lot quicker...
I did post the detour, but it was exactly what was confirmed by the official announcement.
If you're wondering about effect on times I'm pretty sure it wouldn't be worth more than a minute or two, much less than the weather.
Don't forget too that the regulations on course measurement require a little bit extra distance which over marathon distance can be noticable too.
It is a pretty flat course, the couple of climbs are by no means severe. So I can only imagine the weather on the day put the rating up significantly. Until its run again it better conditions though that's purely my assumption
I believe the second official mile marker was short and corrected again at mile three. I was taken aback when I "corrected" my garmin at the eight mile marker, because I had run for a further three minutes since my garmin had registered eight miles. This knocked my confidence in the pacing (though now I know the difference was mainly due to the diversion at mile 6/7).
My photos confirm that I looked as rough as I felt.
A top tip for those who suffered with queueing for bags at the end - be slower. By the time I reached my trailer there were hardly any bags left and mine was easy to find.
Two days off - already looking forward to getting out again. think I may give the legs another day or two off.
What are other peoples plans for the next few months? For me I think it's time to work on my speed over 5 and 10k so I'm going to start hitting my park run and doing some speed work. I feel like I have at least a 3.45 marathon in me so want to aim towards that next year.
My current plans:
Get fit (I'd barely trained enough for a 5k, let alone a marathon)
Get back into Parkruns as an incentive to get fitter and faster
Sodbury Slog in November, because I've done it every year since 2006, and because it toughens me up so that I can laugh at 'floods' like we experienced on Sunday. If you can keep your head above the waterline, it's not deep!
Old no 7 your correct that the course profile is probably a flat one but I think the constant ups and downs, twists and turns wouldn't class it as super fast. I think you thought that cos you were running on rocket fuel I think I would have found this mentally tough even in good weather. I would class abingdon as flat and fast.
I think mark is correct. The twisty-ness of the course is a bigger factor than any inclines.
I deliberately did not run full pace in order to fight another day. I shall concentrate on speedier stuff now like 5 miles or so races through the summer. Maybe a bit of track work too. I don't think there are many road marathons on offer now until the autumn. I shall probably aim for the Leicester Marathon in October.
BTW, I think entries open for the Lake Vyrnwy Half Marathon today. This has to be one of the fastest halfs in the country (and an excellent race to boot). It's on my list
Best Wishes all
Owl
what happened at Manchester...?
I wish I had stretched afterwards - my ITBs are killing - just wanted to go home to a warm bath...
Plan t o do a gentle 5 on Saturday then I am doing the Round MK relay on the 20th (first leg - 10miles) then the Boulder Dash in Jume - http://www.theboulderdash.com/index.html
worth a look if you are localish - 8mile route looks the most fun...