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Message fro Plodding Hippo
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Good luck with your marathon this Sunday.
I am half way through my cardiff report
its a biggie
and ive had a big thinkabout my future training
big fat hilly mara tomorrow
back to wrok-god know wher april/may
and as many maras as i can fit in
How did the marathon go PH? Hope it was a good one.
Take care
Eleanor
but great
despite LOADS of walking9big hills), i just about made 5.30
Cardiff Marathon 2006
The scene of my first marathon
The scene of my ,previous marathon pb(2004)
My sixth marathon in 7 weeks-more uncharted territory
In theory,there was a pretty good chance I could beat my personal best here.My last pb,set just two weeks previously at Loch Ness had been on a hilly route.Cardiff is flat. Moreover, Id “only” had a half marathon the week before.That had been a hilly half in which Id posted my second fastest ever half time(2.16), so the leg strength and speed was still there.
Unfortunately the marathon organisers had other ideas,instituting a cut off of 2.30 for the half way point and planning to start both full and half marathons together.I would not normally worry about a 2.30 cut off for a half marathon, but add on up to 10 minutes to cross the start line, plus maybe something going wrong on the day,and you have a potential failure to make the cut off.It looked as though I was going to have to break all rules of well paced marathoning,starting off near the front, and going out at a suicidal pace for the first half.Once the half was over,Id be able to relax,since the organisers deemed it ok to take up to 5 hours for 20 miles.Sheer madness!!!!!!!!!!.The fact that I always start a marathon too fast is irrelevant!
Naturally,I decided to make a bit of an evening of it the night before.Hubby and I had a delicious meal out and a few drinks with friends, and I had an overdose of fish .Yum Yum!
I slept very well and was up at 6.30 the next morning to force down a bit of breakfast,which this year was laid on in time by the hotel.Then it was off to lurk outside the running shop for a forumite meet up.Running is a strange sport.Meeting up with a load of other nutters in Lycra,some of whom I had never met before,and posing for photographs at 8 am on a Sunday morning is a bit odd, I suppose, but it seems normal to me these days.
Against my better judgement, I decided to head for the start line early, and get relatively near the front.I reckoned I needed to be around2-3 minutes form the start line to be sure of making the cut off, and I would just have to hope that I could slow it down a bit after the first two miles.Sue(aka CdK) kept me company.We were even interviewed by the local radio, so I had another chance to rant about the cut off!
I neednt have felt guilty about starting near the front though.Ahead of me, up with the elites, were people in fancy dress.So I stood my ground, as people started trying to push towards the front.It got even more squashed when an ambulance tried to get through just before the start.More squashed than FLM and I started to feel really uncomfortable.
At last the hooter sounded, and we were off-far too fast, of course.
It was impossibly crowded, and within that first mile I overtook many walkers.First time racers(identifiable by numbers on their backs) were dashing across the paths of runners to say hello to family and friends.Within the first half mile I saw a woman ahead of me fall heavily, and I realised I was really going to have to watch my feet.My Garmin beeped at me, and I realised Id done a 9 minute mile.Gulp!!!!!!!!The last time I had done that, it had scared me so much that I had walked.However, a quick check of my breathing didn’t suggest imminent death, and so I ploughed on.
Both sides of Lloyd George Avenue were open for us, but even so it was still ridiculously crowded and hence stressful.Mile 2 brought a female Hogweed trotter who thanked me for helping her mate Roger around the Neolithic marathon.Id never met her before!.As my Garmin told me again that I was still sub 10 minute miling, I decided to try not to look at it again until the crowds had cleared and I could settle into my pace.My breathing felt ok,but I knew I would pay for this pace later on.But I had a cut off to make.We entered the docks area and between 3 and 4 miles started to see the lead runners coming through.They had to fight their way through the oncoming mass of runners, and since the road had narrowed, it was becoming increasingly cramped on our side as well.Suddenly we were brought to an abrupt halt.I really didn’t want to walk, so jogged on the spot until the backlog shifted.People were running up the steep stone banks to overtake, and I saw another runner fall.All I could do was concentrate on the job in hand, but I felt increasingly claustrophobic and stressed.I was unbelievably STILL overtaking walkers
The first water station arrived, and was impossible to get to because of a mass of bodies surrounding it.Okay-I didn’t need water, so carried on.Five miles arrived----------in 50 minutes.Well, I couldn’t worry about that now.The first Lucozade Sport station was again impossible to get to because of the sheer pressure of bodies surrounding it.I was also quite thirsty by now, so decided to break into my own isotonic pouch to try and get ahead of the 8 miles fuel switch.The bloody thing had got punctured again in my bum bag, and I had wet legs!!!!!!!.I took a large slurp and jettisoned the pouch, hoping that I would at least get some Lucozade at the next station.
“Hello Hippo” piped up a Scottish voice.I chatted to this runner about several marathons, desperately trying to remember where I had met him.Long Legged Bird-I had to look you up after the race,but thankyou for helping me through mile 7/8.
At 8 miles-thank God, I managed to get some Lucozade Sport, and stashed it away in my bum bag.Marathon running is an odd thing.Ive done this Cardiff route twice before, but I didn’t remember going through two parks, or running alongsidethe river Taff.
I was starting to feel a bit disoriented and unwell,and I was still worrying bout the cut off, despite reaching 10 miles in 1.42.My brain didn’t register that this was a huge 6 minute pb for 10 miles, nor that I actually had 48 minutes, give or take 2 minutes,to complete 3 miles and make the cut off.I felt fuzzy and odd and anxious.Neither did it help that all around me were first time half marathon runners struggling towards the end of their races.There were many walking, and a few in tears.I recalled that last year, I myself had walked at 11 miles in that park.It took a HUGE effort of will not to do so again, but at last my brain computed that I WAS going to make the cut off, and I allowed myself to slow down a little.And so it was that I posted my first eleven minute mile of the race.Several people said hello to me in the park-I was too fuzzy to recall who you were-sorry!The slightly reduced pace must have helped, because I started to speed up again in mile 12, desperately now wanting to run without a huge crush of people around me.My Garmin lost signal around the stadium, but I vaguely recall seeing 2.15 for 13 miles.Past the stadium-and then-SILENCE.
The silence was eerie.From a jostling mass of bodies-to solo running.
I ran out onto St Mary street, felling woozy, and was a bit nonplussed to have to run backward to a turnarouns point-im sure I hadnt done this last year.There was hubby-who told me I looked “great”.I certainly didn’t feel it.I could hardly focus, and felt giddy.Somehow, I managed to keep some semblance of running, nas on the other side of the turnatound I espied Ripped Dap.We waved to each other solemnly-we had both made the cut off.
So-back out along the course.By now I was shuffling along, feeling sick, giddy and desperate to walk.When I had donre a similar paced half marathon the previous week-I had had to go to bed for an hour to get over it.No chance of that now!Of course by now my brain was so fried that I didn’t register this at all.I just knew I felt awful.Several people overtook me,perhaps those with more confidence in their running to have stuck to steady 11 minute miling from the start.And yet, I too was overtaking people who were walking as though it was mile 23 of the marathon.Maybe they had done what I had, run too fast in fear of the cut off.
All I could think about was getting to 15 miles without walking.That’s what I had done at Loch Ness, and that is what I had done the last time when I set a pb here in 2004.It felt like running through treacle, but somehow I got to 15 miles without walking-with a pb time of 2.38.Then there was no choice-I HAD to walk.Through the fog in my brain, I registered dimly that to do a sub 5, I would have to do eleven miles in 140 minutes,say 12.5 minute miling.Easy peasy you might think.But in actual fact the main concern was whether I could keep going at all.I walked on, shivering, and switched on my mobile to check for texts.It rang instantly-Ultra Hamster seems to have a sixth sense for telephoning when I am having a bad time!.We had a chat, and he just advised me to take it easy for the next hour, and then see how I felt.Well, that was good advice, there was now no longer a cut offf to worry about.
As soon as I had got off the phone, I felt slightly better.By that time I had walked quite a lot, and so decided to jog for 10 paces at a time to try to get going again.That mile was my slowest-at just over 14 minutes.I decided to run walk acording to feel, and hope for a second wind at mile18.There was enough external wind building up on the barrage, and I didn’t want to get cold.The next two miles were 13-ish minute miling, but at least I had got going again, and I started to overtake people.The turnaround and next section on the elevated bit of the barrage was a further psychological boost, as I could see how many people were behind me.I certainly wasn’t last by a LONG chalkI also realised that I was easily going to crack sub 5.30, all I had to do was so sub 15 minute miliing-that’s mostly walking with the odd jog!.I didn’t dare think about any othe potential time.We would see when I got to 20 miles.
Two ladies overtook me, and informed me that my t shirt was covered in blood at the back.Certainly, my back seemed to be rubbed raw.I availed myself of some vaseline from the St Johns, but I suspect that was too little, too late.Between miles 17 and 19, I was locked in mortal combat with “Yellow Bws Caerdydd Vest”.Unfortunately, his run walk was sinmilar to my sped.I finally lost him on the taff bank, and by now I was 12,5 minute miling.Believe it or not, I was so convinced Id totally blown my chance of a pb, that I slowed down to talk to the next person I was overtaking.He was doing his first marathon off 15 miles longest run, and was struggling.We had a good moan about the cut off, and then I decided to make an effort once more.Mr 1195, you finished in five and a half hours, so respect to you Sir!
You could tell most of the marathon runners had fiinished, as it was dodge the cars and dodge the public from now on.The marshals for the most part looked decidedly bored, and they certainly werent dishing out any encouragement!I hit 20 miles in 3.44-a massive pb, and then realised that if I could just hold it together, I still had a chance of a pboverall.
It’s a fine line in those last 6 miles of a marathon though.Apply too much psychological pressure when the body is exhausted, and it could all go horribly wrong.So I just concentrated on running as much as I felt able.I decided to see if I could sub 13 minute mile, and was amazed to see that I could.Not only that, I was overtaking people every few minutes.Running through Pontcanna Fields, I was surprised and pleased to see many runners behind me, on the opposite side of the river.But there was still a lot of work to do, and I tried to distract myself by looking at the scenery.I knew I couldn’t pick up the pace any more, I was by now very tired, and stumbled a few time.But I could keep going steadily.
The roads were actually opened before 5 hours had elapsed, which annoyed me.I heard the announcement through a marshals walkie talkie-and it was a full five minutes before the actual appointed time.This meant running on the pavement, and more dodging of the general public.It also meant I had to wait a full minute to cross Castle Street.By now, my Garmin told me I had done the full distance.I remembered this from last year, and so didn’t stop running,Another dodgy road crossing moment in Westgate street(couldn’t they have kept that closed a TINY bit longer) , and a grumble to the next person I overtook(who turned out to be another forumite-Sir Sqrl!!!!!!), and it was into the stadium with my Garmin reading 26.50.Garmins don’t work in the stadium, but my watch was still running, and I saw 5.08.My personal best was guaranteed now, but could I get sub 5.10?.I was going to have to speed up.
The stadium was eerily silent and I ground out the last 400 metres.
5.09.22
No elation, simply exhaustion, and the knowledge that id been very close to not finishing at all.I climbed the stairs to get my medal, found out there were no t shirts left, and met hubby outside the stadium before a swift half and then home.A real let down of a finish.
I have ranted elsewhere about the marathon unfriendly organisation of this race, and I cant be bothered to do so again.Suffice it to say that unless there are significant changes to the organisation, I am unlikely to return to this marathon, personal best or not.It is one of the most stressful marathons i have ever done
!
Great PB - sub 5 is on the horizon for you
Does anyone know anyone who has done New York? I am thinking of doing it next year if I can get a place! Who is up for it with me?
Take care and when is your next race PH so that I can send you some positive vibes!!
ELeanor
thats my last marathon then till the february ultra
just as well
i stil have 4 race reports to do!
but I would have to take hubby
he is a teacher, so it would need to be in half term
PH from what I can gather it is usually the first weekend in November. Does that fit in with hubby's school holidays?
that measn going back toi caerdydd
hm
Well worth the wait ;o)
I like your new piccy btw