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Valencia Marathon 2014
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Finnegan's found easily enough too. Our whole flight from Gatwick this morning seemed to be running the marathon. We'll be there from 4pm. Come and say Hi. We should be easy to spot being the knackered blokes wearing the race t shirts and medals struggling to hold a glass.
Had a nice day today cycling round on one of the hire bikes. Really is a stunning city. Best of luck tomorrow everyone!
Hoping to get to Finnegans but will definitely need somewhere to sit down - it won't be packed out will it?!
Good luck today Team Valencia. Hope everyone has a fantastic experience
Basically, found the whole thing pretty brutal. Although I was still hoping for the sub 4, really wasn't sure what shape I was in after all the injuries, missed training etc. Soon became very apparent that the dream time wasn't on. It was very hot which I must say I don't enjoy & didn't help! But basically I was very under conditioned and under trained. Had to dial pace down after a few miles as my HR spiking and starting to get chest pains! Actually wanted to quit after 10k - not great with 20 miles ahead
But somehow I just kept going. Still hoping at least for PB on my VLM time of 4:07 but started to fall apart at 15 miles - everything hurting and my pace started to drop again. How I got to 26.2 I don't know, last 2 miles I was in tears but obviously knew I wasn't going to quit at that point!!
Official time not yet in but Garmin time was 4:14. Weirdly I'm not at all disappointed just blown away with the finish and without stopping or walking despite constant temptation! I can't believe it as I felt so mentally weak so early in the race. Has taught me a lot about myself
On positive side too Valencia was beautiful and friendly and the course was great, with a stunning finish. Very very different vibe to VLM- main thing to note was that it seemed a very 'serious' event and there were very few women. Nearly everyone was a very athletic/muscular Spanish guy in his 20s/30s with athletic club T shirts. Quite intimidating - but despite everything nice to pass a lot of them who started walking about mile 18. Appearances can be deceptive!!
Sorry to have missed you all in Finnegans but after making it back to the hotel for a shower my legs were taking me no further than a couple of doors down for a drink and pizza!
It was a tough old race Banksy
Very well done everyone. My expectation was to finish in 5hrs-5:15 with my current mara schedule plus how tired I was coming into this. However, I felt relatively strong mentally at the start even though I was my usual bag of nerves. I started out at sub 4hrs 30 pacing, although I had decided against wearing a Garmin in favour of a stopwatch, probably insane but I thought I'd see how long I could hold onto that pace. KM markers work better fof me for some reason, perhaps because they come around quicker, who knows? I had my usual dip at the equivalent miles 18-19 but I had decided I wouldn't stop throughout, slowed a little to take Powerade which I carried between the fuel stations. I think I dipped again at 34km but pushed through to the magical 37km which meant just one more parkrun to go! I realised at 40km with 4:18 on my watch that I could scrape just over 4:30 if I dug deep. Dug like a complete loon from 41km, thought I was in Australia by the time I hit that blue mat. Definite case of eyeballs out (Usain would be proud!) for that last push to come in at 4:29:58. Not super fast compared to you guys but my fastest in a few months and having run 3 marathons over last Fri, Sat and Sun, I'm not sure where yesterday came from!
I enjoyed it, the challenge, the atmosphere, people and organisation. Feet and ankles dipped in the freezing cold moat around the finish followed by the complimentary massage and stretch afterwards which was great. I'm pretty much a scaredy cat when it comes to running in any temperature which doesn't require gloves so the heat was really my main worry before starting. I've learned not to take on water (unless I have salt tablets, which I forgot to bring!), I lose far too much salt, isotonic drinks work better for me as I found yesterday.
My only criticism would be the fuel stations at 5km apart is much too far, especially given how warm it was. With this in mind, I've had to condition myself to hold a drink throughout which has worked well with my last few maras, taking a sip every mile or 10 minutes. This is my favouite of the 4 Spanish ones I've run so far and I look forward to returning to this beautiful city to run it again on fresher legs to do the course some justice.
Great to meet up with Jamie post race in the finish area by sheer coincidence as well as spending time with Nicole pre race and last evening.
Safe journeys home everyone, back tomorrow. Booooo!
Loved it loved it loved it. Warmer than I'd anticipated but was thankful that I'd elected and planned to carry a drinks bottle around with me, which only ran out towards the very end. Got 3.39 which after previous experiences I'm happy with - a proper marker to work down from. Looking at my splits I did fade after about 31k, but I do think that's partly down to just feeling the heat more than I have been in training.
Could have eked another minute out at the end but as soon as it became clear I was going to get sub 3.40 I just wanted to slow and enjoy that finish - one of the very few times in my life I haven't finished a run with a sprint! But what a finish, and a run I'd definitely consider doing again.
Enjoyed the Finnegans social as well, likewise I hope paths cross again.
Well done everyone! Sounds like everyone had a pretty good time. With some challenges for good measure.
Hope the legs are recovering well, I had a hilarious visit to the Oceanographico yesterday which was full of OAPs and runners walking like OAPs, stairs and slopes were not appreciated.
Happy with my first marathon, was 4:34:30 in the end, could have run the last couple of kms faster but elected to soak up the atmosphere for the finish. Lots to learn about this marathon running lark, made many school girl errors!
My MiCoach Smart Run wasn't happy so I was struggling to keep track of my pace and looking at the splits I now see that 5-15kms were my undoing. Pre race training the furthest I'd gone was 19 miles and that totally showed too! First 30kms done in a reasonably good time, on for a 4:15 finish ish, loving life, scampering along and then at 35kms my legs just gave up the ghost!
35-40k were pretty painful, still loved it, but walk/shuffled more than I would have liked. Luckily my husband could run with me at the side of the road for some of it which I'm sure annoyed the more serious runners but meh, what were they doing in white wave anyway?
The heat was hard. Didn't anticipate that. But that said I'd rather run in the sun than spend 4 hours + in the miserable November rain of England.
Although I was cursing them at the time I am so grateful for the spectators, every time I slowed down or even thought about walking I'd get a "venga Lucy venga" or a "vamos" or an "animo chicas" or something!
If I do another marathon, I will be going back to Valencia! Sorry I didn't make the social, I too had a siesta and then stumbled down to the hotel bar for a pizza.
Well done everyone. x
I did this race, too at the weekend! I loved the fact that in the middle of Novembr I could run in short and a short sleeved top, and could feel the sun on my face - a very nice change from grotty England, leaving winter behind for a day! I set a new personal worst time due to tummy problems and wanting to throw up at 27km, after which it was a real struggle to get to the finish, but quitting was never an option I gave myself, especially after all the hard work I had out into training for this! I would love to see more of Spain, maybe do Valencia again, the support coming from the spectators was amazing!
got back home late last night after a fantastic weekend. What a brilliant, friendly city!
2.48.56 for me so a pb by 2 & half mins, happy with that!
I loved the course, great crowds, was warm but there large sections where you could run in the shade.
great to meet tom, Paul & nick in fineggans.
Ill be back for a shot at sub 2.45 next year....
Hi Lucky and Timmi. Sounds like we ran pretty similar races. I have prepared so well for this race and was very confident that I would better the 4:07 I did in April on a hilly Madrid course. Set off at 8:55 pace which soon became 8:40 and really tried hard to keep it sensible so mostly 8:50 to half way (1:55). Kept this going until about 16/17 miles when I felt very dehydrated and sick. Had to walk to next water station. After some water picked it up again and got to 20 miles in 3:03. By then knew I'd had it and jogged/walked/messed around with the crowd/ stopped for some spray on cramping calf/stood in one of the showers for a minute and got home in 4:17. Just been for a recovery jog and took my anger out on Sundays missed opportunity and ran 4 miles @ 8:20 without a second thought. Can't really say what caused my demise, probably 10 secs per mile too fast in first half, maybe the heat, lack of energy because I couldn't stomach any gels past 15 miles. Doing Madrid again in April and will definitely be looking for a negative split even if I run the first half in 2:05. What do you think caused your problems?
Took my daughter with me, think she got a PB shopping wise.
Is anyone on here planning to do Malaga next month?
No, but I'm doing Seville in feb!