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Valencia Marathon 2016
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Thanks bobdidmadrid,
We're flying early Friday and aiming to go straight to the Expo after dropping our bags at the Air BnB place so will be able to scope out the area.
The weather was a big factor in choosing this event (that and the flatness of the course) so should hopefully be a nice little jaunt (he says, knowing that it's still gonna hurt!).
Bit warm here isn't it...! Good job I'm only into this running lark for the suntan.
BA managed to forget to load one of our bags onto the plane yesterday. Luckily I had all my gear for yesterday in hand luggage and on feet, and a few bits I'll need like bodyglide etc in the bag they did put on the plane. Unfortunately Mr Nells is missing all his clothes, I'm missing the rest of my running gear (staying here for 10 days) and a few other things. Fingers crossed it arrives at promised tomorrow to be delivered to us on Monday (I'm not schlepping out to the airport to collect tomorrow afternoon I can tell you now!)
Good luck tomorrow everyone. I'll be at the back, but if you see anyone with a dragon on her back say hello!
Loved the run. Good route and the support was fantastic. Weather was pretty much ideal I thought apart from a couple of stretches where the wind picked up a bit, but not too bad. Was hanging on a little at the end, but managed to take another 6.5 mins off my PB to finish in 3:28:22. Really pleased with that
Only annoying bit was coming up to the finish, could see big blue "FINISH" banner, but when you got there there was another couple of hundred metres to go! Grrrr!
Fab medal! Love the design, that it looks gold, and has a good weight to it! All in all its been a good day!
I loved it! I'm a plodder, but took 35 minutes off my marathon PB, so there's hope for me yet! I managed to pace it quite well, a little blip between miles 20-24 where I slowed down a little, but managed to pick up again after that and even got a sprint finish on the blue carpet in! Finished in 4:44:13 - I was thinking anything under 4:45 would be fantastic, but wasn't sure I had the endurance to get there. General target was anything under 5 hours, so I'm really happy with that. Found the first half a bit less interesting than the second, but better that way round the other - nice to have the bigger crowds and more interesting sights for the second half.
Did some major positive mental attitude work at about mile 18, and that managed to keep me smiling for most of the next 8 and a bit miles. I'm most pleased about the fact that I ran every bloody step of the way yesterday, first time ever for me. Got to mile 20 and realised I had it in me to do this so became determined not to stop and walk after that! I'm really pleased with how it went, and hoping this will stand me in good stead to improve again next year.
I saw that big FINISH line too kamoshika, so glad I'd had a good look round on the Friday and seen the real one. I'm guessing that was the finish for the 10k? Looking at the coverage on TV last night, it looks like the winner wasn't sure what to do at that point either and nearly had to be shoved around the corner to the actual finish line!
Support was amazing. Was struggling with cramp over last few ks and was such a huge boost to hear so many people shouting your name.
There was a bit around 15ks where the support was also amazing and music pumping. Felt like I could run forever at that point.
The Finish banner confused me too. I'd run it before but they'd changed the course a bit so was wondering if they'd changed Finish too.
Well done Nells - that's a brilliant amount to take off your PB! You must be delighted
Congrats to you too runner1980 - PB and GFA time is a great effort
Had a brilliant weekend in Valencia. Love the city and will definitely be going back (it helps having a friend living there!). I'm already planning to do the World Half Marathon Championships when they host them in 2018. Back at work today in the cold and pouring rain
Can't believe it was only yesterday afternoon I was eating Valencian oysters and drinking champagne
Only my second ever Marathon and ran it just a minute slower than I did Brighton in back in April, so happy with that. The Mrs, on the other hand, knocked nearly 27 mins off hers, so very proud with her achievement.
Course was nice and flat with good surfaces, bit of a scrum to get to the start corral even though we left plenty of time. However, it's nowhere near as bad as the Great North!
Heard about issues with not enough buses being laid on but we were staying just 2 miles away so it made for a nice walk in. Due to my timings I was quite a way down the field but it was annoying/disheartening to be still running but seeing the barriers/drink stations being packed away.
Encountered a number of idiots (general public) just wandering around on the course and came within 3 feet of being hit by a car who thought it was perfectly fine to cross the course. Thankfully a Policeman had a little 'chat' with him.
Great support all the way round and the variations of my name being shouted with a Spanish dialect made me chuckle a few times - 'Stoowaht' seemed to be the favourite
Overall I thought it was very well organised and had a few nice touches but I too fell foul of the false finish line.
Well done Stu, good running
Well done to your wife too. Thankfully I didn't share your experience of the starting pens, arriving as I did with 5 minutes to spare 