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Talkback: ASICS Target 26.2 Team: Craig
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Good luck on Sunday Ten!
AC8: nice field size, for a first mararthon I think. I also totally love halves, got to respect the distance without full on marathon thing.
Oscarr: really, did you have to tell that???
<groan> @ Oscarr - you really need to watch Milton Jones to update your collection of one-liners.
"Militant feminists, I take my hat off to them...
they don’t like that."
"I was mugged by a man on crutches, wearing camouflage.
Ha ha, I thought, you can hide but you can't run."
hahahahahahahahaha to the bad joke brigade
Good luck this weekend Ten and anyone else who's taking on whatever the sky can throw at them! You show them clouds who's the boss! Have a great run- I'll be thinking of you all!
Bo - slapped wrist for you! Am gonna tell Sam! Oh ok then - I'll put it down to enthusiasm and let you off - just this once!
When shall we start the new thread then? Before or after MK?
Ten - most of mine are Tommy Cooper and all the crew from lunchtime radio in the seventies but some of the recent one liner comics like Tim Vine, Milton Jones and Stewart Francis are good plus Reg D Hunter;
Tim Vine - "Had a meal at my bosses house and his wife asked how many potatoes i wanted so i said 'one please' - she said 'don't be polite' so i said 'ok, i'll have one you stupid cow!!'
Milton Jones - "A teacher doesn't know where to stand cos if you face the blackboard you can write on the board but can't see the kids and if you stand at the back you can see the kids but you can't reach the board - they haven't sorted that by a long chalk !!!!" Even i groaned at that one !!!
Anon but winner of best joke at this years Edinburgh festival - "i was asked to give a password with 8 characters so i chose snow white and the seven dwarfs"
Hello all, but particuarly hello Tenjiso and GOOD LUCK at the weekend! Glad to hear that nothing untoward has interrupted your final week (apart from car troubles) and fingers crossed that the weather is OK - it has seemed to improve thorughout the week...
And also belatedly, big congrats to Susie and Louisa on their marathon completions last weekend - brilliant work ladies. You are now officially part of the 1% of the population who has done a marathon.
SO looking forward to my holiday week after next - triathlon training camp in Greece! And then will be gettng going with coaching for the autumn marathons. Fresh challenges ahead!
Hello folks.
After some discussion, started a new, single thread regarding Paris and all that. Made an excecutive decsision. Called Paris: so long and thanks for the cobbles...
I'm currently using my lucozade & malt loaf carbo-loading strategy, which got Ruth's seal of approval
Regarding the weather, I have decided that it merely makes the marathon more of a challenge (i.e. I'm at the acceptance stage, after going through anger, denial and depression while watching the forecasts). If nothing else it will be memorable, and all future marathons will be easy in comparison.
"When shall we three meet again
In thunder, lightning, or in rain?
When the hurlyburly ’s done,
When the battle ’s lost and won."
Bring it on!
If anyone is struggling to find our new home, try here:
new thread
See you there
Part One:
Well I certainly know how to pick my race dates! My training included the Watford Half-Marathon, which was cancelled due to the only significant snowfall of the winter, and the Milton Keynes Half Marathon – in which it rained throughout, except for when it snowed. The latter, as it turns out, was good preparation for the marathon to come.
I spent most of the last week monitoring the increasingly gloomy weather reports. Long range forecasts are never correct – except on this one occasion when I really wanted them to be wrong. Cold, heavy rain throughout the day and high winds gusting up to 50mph. God only knows why I was still looking forward to the race and hoping they wouldn't cancel it
I was lucky to be upgraded to a parking slot at the stadium itself, so I only had a short walk to the start line. There was only one gate opened to the stadium, so it soon got severely congested with people escaping the weather, and I was surprised that there were no additional portaloos available to keep the queues down. The organisers really need to address this for the next event.
Last year I made an impulse purchase of an ultra light running jacket for £10 in Aldi. I'd forgotten about it until I was scrambling for what to wear during the week. I knew I was going to have to break the “wear nothing new on marathon day” rule (though I did manage one short run in it a few days beforehand). As far as impulse purchases go – it was the bargain of the year and saved my marathon. I would have frozen without it!
I wore a single technical tee-shirt under the jacket, and shorts, runners peaked cap (essential headwear for speccy gits like me) and lightweight gloves. At the start line I wore a top-of-the range rain jacket with a hood, from Poundland. I still felt frozen and my hands were going numb already. Thank goodness there were no delays and we were soon on our way. I ditched the hooded jacket at the start.
I was aiming for 10:15 pace for the first ten miles. It was difficult to resist the temptation to run faster simply to warm-up quicker. I was so happy that my jacket was wind-proof as well as waterproof. I never suffered from excessive sweating while wearing it, which was a concern before the race.
Between the Garmin inaccuracy and a couple of dubious mile markers on the course, I wasn't 100% confident of the pacing accuracy. My Garmin pace was 10:03, 10:07, and 10:10 for the first few miles. When I was overtaken by the 4:30 pacer, I decided to tag along on the basis that he should be at around my desired pace. However, I should have kept an eye on the Garmin, because my next five miles were all sub-ten minute miles. When I realised, I let the pacer go and slowed down.
The course was flooded across the paths in numerous locations. I did well keeping my feet relatively dry for several miles until we came to a particularly deep and wide puddle. Like a sheep, I followed other runners onto the surrounding grass. This turned out to be disguised swampland – so my feet were not only soaked, but I nearly lost a trainer in the mud. During the latter half of the race I ran straight through many of the puddles. My trainers must have doubled in weight.
continued...
Target time for ten miles was 1:42:30, and I actually clocked 1:42:27. Get in there! I'm amazed I was so close at that point. Likewise, my halfway target was 2:13:30 and I crossed that point in 2:14:05, so I was happy at this point. My pacing was okay for the next few miles, allowing for Garmin inaccuracy. The marshals and spectators gave plenty of encouragement, which was amazing in such adverse conditions. The noise in some underpasses was deafening. Especially when I was running near the gingerbread man!
The bad spell that Sam had predicted came at 18 miles. I began to feel much colder and needed a pit-stop. I really didn't want to stop, because I knew my legs were hurting. Just before 19 miles I saw an opportunity to dive into a field for some relief. The cold rain was lashing into me and I was starting to dread the remaining miles. As I rejoined the race my legs felt like they were seizing up – perhaps I had made a mistake only wearing shorts? I had no choice but to walk for a few minutes to get circulation going again. I clocked my slowest mile – 12:33 – bad times
At this point I made a decision. Forget the time, try to maintain running – even if it was slower, and finish the race! I resolved not to look at my Garmin any more until the race was over, and just run to how I was feeling.
So, the pit stop was the only time I walked in the race. Although my speed did drop to somewhere around 11:10 pace for the remainder of the race, I was overtaking plenty of walkers going up the hills, which was a boost for my morale. I resisted the temptation to check my Garmin. I thought that it was more likely to have a negative effect if I saw my time slipping away. With a couple of miles to go, I thought about my family and why I was running. Bad move – I started feeling very emotional and must have sounded like I was having an asthma attack!
I unzipped my jacket as I approached the stadium. For the first time I was feeling a very warm glow! The finish line wasn't well marked, I was expecting an archway like at the start. However, once I saw the line approaching I put out my arms like a plane coming in to land. I had done it.
My time was, unsurprisingly, outside what I had hoped for – 4:38:56. However, I'm very happy with that under the circumstances. However, here's the kicker – I finished my only other marathon in 4:38:23. I had to smile when I realised. All that way for virtually the same time! LOL.
I've seen some comments that the course was long due to last minute adjustments to avoid a dangerously flooded section by one of the lakes. Anything from 0.1 to 0.2 miles. So I may have technically scored a PB, and if true, then I lay claim to having completed my first Ultra-Marathon!
After picking up my medal, I stretched (a bit) and got dry and changed. Then I met a celebrity – the one and only Craig. It didn't feel like the first time we had met – having followed his progress since the start of the year. I really appreciated the effort he and his wife made to meet me afterwards. Sorry it took me so long to finish!
The rain stopped within minutes of me finishing the race, and the sun shone as I drove home! The kids were pleased to see daddy's new medal, and soon devoured the contents of my goody bag. I had christmas pudding smothered in double cream as my post-race treat.
I weighed myself this morning and have lost the three pounds that I gained during carbo-loading. Hopefully this is a sign that I did it right? My legs don't feel as bad as I expected – I can walk up and down stairs unassisted, which is better than after one of my 20 mile training runs. Perhaps DOMS might hit me tomorrow, though.
Thanks again to everybody on this forum for helping me on my road to this marathon. The training was tough at times with illness and injury. I'm sure I wouldn't have made it to the start line without all of the encouragement from you guys. I'm already booked for Brighton 2013 and have today entered the London ballot. I want to smash my marathon PB next year, preferably by more than a few seconds
Ten what an amazing report - FANTASTIC.
You would have been within target had the weather been with you - running whrn cold and wet is really tough!
AMAZING - Thank you for being part of this journey!
PS Jokes terrible but funny
Sam - I really appreciate all of the help and support you have given me during the training. I have learned so much and just need to bank it all now to make progress.
I'm glad the race is completed, but I'm sorry it's over at the same time.
Ten - thanks for a great report and a fantastic run in atrocious conditions - great time considering - in future years folk will talk about the flooded MK race and you'll be able to say "i did that one!" with some pride - enjoy your recovery and again, well done
p.s. i do mine this sunday and will post report on the new thread probably on Monday night when i get back home
LOL - Ditto to all the above Ten - I kept looking out of the window and thinking of you all - I'm not sure I would have even made the start line in that weather - you ran a brilliant race - and I think you've realised yourself that you're in PB shape if you can run that time on the most horrendous day of the year!
3 whoops for Ten - whoop whoop...
SB - thanks to you too! I hear your husband made the GB squad! That's absolutely fantastic news! I've got a way to go yet....
Especially for Oscarr - remember the importance of exercise:
My mum began walking a few miles daily when she was 60. Now she's 79 years old - and I have no idea where she is!
(Sorry Emma)
Ten - and the importance of family:
I met my wife on a trip to Australia and i said "what the hell are you doing here??"
Oh well I guess the cat is out of the bag!! LOL
"Just" the England team Ten - not the GB one! His debut is this weekend in Denmark - a half marathon with an unpronounceable name!
Keep your fingers and toes and everything else crossed he has a good run! And then recross everything on Sunday for oscarr!
ps Boys - you could go to comedy jail on the strength of those ...
Folks, it was shocking, but great to meet Trn yesterday.
The countdown to Brighton has begun
LOL - don't worry - I just didn't want to 'brag' or jinx him but I am very, very, very proud as you can imagine. He totally deserves it and I know he'll do his very best