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Brighton Marathon 2016
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Oh dear. I'm arranging a clothes drop of with parents today then. They'll be a the finish (and we only got an email this morning about this, far too late!)
Really? That's insane. I'm travelling by train so I need some stuff for the trip home and I don't have a supporter to carry anything.
Hi Yellow, Ive not heard about that but i think thats not a bad idea, seems easier to me.
The kit bag can just fit a shoebox in if that helps visualise it
Just packed the kitbag and had to accept the 3ish hour journey home is basically going to have to be done in marathon kit. I can fit a jumper and a v thin gilet in there but that's it. And zero chance of a change of shoes, can't even squeeze a pair of flip flops in.
Email today says that the small kit bags are for better security. Cos small bags are harder to steal innit
I just need some bottoms, a top and BFH so a small bag is fine.
Expo itself was pants though; was surprised how small it was, and the absence of other races there. Hamburg was the only non-local representation I saw. And the bloody drop bag...
I'm now leaving my bag at the hotel I'm actually checking out of in the morning, and will collect it after the race. It's crazily small.
Anyhoo, hailstones appear to've stopped, and I remain sure that sunshine will appear. Probably.
The person handling out the bags (which are bigger than this morning) admitted they'd ordered the wrong kind 'half the size we expected".
The field in Preston Park is like a swamp now. They squeezed all the mini mile in a small area (they didn't do it in previous years)and with rain and hailstones it became very muddy very quickly. Those new trainers will be a shade of dark brown by the start.
sounds like there has been some pretty average organisation. onwards an upwards though, good luck everyone!
Good luck everyone.
There has been some wood chip put down in the park and some trackway between the pens and start but unless it dries up overnight I'd suggest either old shoes you can bin when you get to the tarmac or take carrier bags to put over your shoes.
Good luck all
When we went past on Friday afternoon there were only about 30 portaloos, hope they have put some more in, with 10000+ people that ain't going to cut it!!!
Go for it!
So I am back from Brighton after completing my first marathon and the headline news is that I didn't quite make it
Split times were as follows: 7.33, 7.25, 7.21, 7.21, 7.23, 7.26, 7.26, 7.17, 7.27, 7.16, 7.24, 7.20,7.14, 7.18, 7.23, 7.22, 7.21, 7.27, 7.23, 7.27, 7.33, 7.42, 7.52, 7.59, 8.13, 8.24
For a total finishing time of 3:17:42
The weather was amazing... a little too amazing to be honest, was very hot and I forgot to put sun cream on so have a lovely red face now!!
As you can see from the splits I just couldn't keep going from mile 21. Having only run a max of 22 miles in training, nothing had prepared me for just how tough those last 4 miles are. I know people tell you that, but until you have done it yourself it doesn't really mean anything.
Everything was going great to start with and I hit the half at 1:37, bang on target pace and maintained it til mile 21 where I was still on target, but a combination of the heat and my legs just refusing to move as quickly as I wanted them too paid its toll and I finished a minute a mile slower.
Thankfully there were lots of water stations, as i was throwing a cup over my head at every one of them to cool down. The crowds were amazing and the support fantastic. The crowds were 4 deep in places. Organisation was great and I couldn't fault much apart from the farcical number or toilets, the queues were immense and at least 50% of the runners would have had to abort their need for pee to get to the start in time. Luckily I got there early and didn't suffer from that. The local shell garage had a queue 50 yards long even.
It was a great experience for my first marathon though and I now have a real world marathon experience to base my future training on. I am hoping to break the 3:15 next time in Abingdon in October.
As an aside I somehow managed to find myself on the first row at the start line... Not really where I wanted to be, so I dropped back a row so as not to be so obvious.. if you watch the Marathon on C4 on Saturday next week, you will see a bemused me setting off amidst all the quick people.. yellow clanfield t-shirt, number 1813.
How did everyone else get on ?
Apart from being accosted by a strange woman at the start
it was pretty much a perfect day. Lovely weather, fantastic support, even paced miles, 4:10:30 finishing time and a 10 second negative split.
Don't be too tough on yourself, Jason. That's far closer to a perfect race than most people ever achieve. Almost everyone slows in the second half and only dropping a couple of minutes is pretty damn good. You can be very proud of yourself.
I dropped 2 min/mile and couldn't manage the cramps in my calf. Also nursing the final phases of a stress fracture in my foot, so I'm just amazed I finished. 4hrs 17, I'm well happy with that. Great event and the atmosphere through the busy sections was brilliant.
Yeah, last 4 miles was a struggle. I saw the blue blow up finishing line at the Hilton and got excited for a moment. 2nd marathon............ 3:46