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Manchester Marathon 2013
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Valley - I'm with you on the parking - what a fiasco! We had same misdirection problems, and ended up jumping out of the car to walk, letting long suffering hubby find his way to the car park without us.
Managed 4:44:11 and I'm over the moon. I'd hoped to get in under 4:45 and started following the pacer but left him at about 7 miles and was doing fine up until about 18 when it was a real struggle to put one foot in front of the other. I got to about 24 and who should come past me but the 4:45 pacer, so I managed (still not sure how) to dig deep and found new reserves of speed, just pipping him at the post. Am now struggling to walk...
Lovely to meet up with Cybarev at about the 10k mark, and had a good chinwag which got us through several miles - hope you had a good one and have got home safely!
OK, off out in a minute to eat, drink and nurse my aching limbs - well done everyone!
well done guys, glad you all enjoyed it i was marshall up on mile 22 today, all the locals were brill offering me brews every now and then apart from one or 2 guys in cars who thought they could drive straight over my cones everything went ok.
First marathon done! And got my goal of finishing with a smile on my face!! 4:57 which I'm chuffed with cos of knee injury.
Would I do it again?! Nope... I'll stick with halves.
Thsnks for everyone's support. I might cheer u all on next year!!!
Thought I'd review it from a spectator's perspective. I ran it last year but decided to let hubby do it alone this year. First of all the car parking was atrocious, we set off in plenty of time and what surprised us was the lack of signs anywhere directing us to the Race Village. We eventually found Old Trafford but there was a road closure and tons of cars were all turning round and looking confused and after several attempts we saw a car park for a fiver so decided to go for that one. Race village was much better organised than last year, just been on concrete was a major improvement on last year's bog! Bag drop off was smooth and hubby retrieved bag extremely quickly so that was a major improvement. The worst point of the day was the tram system, I think we got away fairly promptly from the start but we couldn't get on the first tram and only just got on the 2nd, we also got on a stop early at Trafford Bar by mistake but turned out to be a good mistake as Old Trafford stop was about 8 deep all along the platform and only 1 person managed to get in our door. Coming back from Altrincham (again something that worked well as it's end of the line so empty tram) wasn't too bad but at Brooklands no one could get on our tram. All in all a major improvement on last year but still some issues to iron out. Also, none of our friends could find the tracking system, they had it last year but seems to have been invisible this year! Well done to everyone who ran today
Wasn,t my best run ever but i did enjoy it. 4.04.00 love the mammoth medal and crowd support was fab. Good idea having my name on my t-shirt, it felt like everyone was saying "heidi".
Little brother did 3.29 pb so good day all round.
Even managed to get some shopping in after at the trafford centre, that walk probably helped my legs and they're absolutely fine now.
Well done everybody!
Just browsing the results. Anyone know what category "ERR"means - this was the top female (who came third overall). Some kind of error thing?
well done everyone today,my first one and I really enjoyed it,4.34 for me I,ll take that,thought the support was fantastic and the last bit to the finish felt like they were carrying you over the line.dont think it,ll be my last though somehow.
3.41:07 for me, very pleased with that after last years DNF. Much better course than last year, agree with the comment about the water station in Sale outside the town hall, it was chaos so I decided to skip it.
Enjoying a couple of beers now.
Have been lurking since Christmas! Thanks for all the help and advice. My first marathon and a 3.57 which I am delighted with. I wanted to go sub-4 but didn't know if I was capable of doing it. Destroyed myself in the last 2 miles and so had to spend 20 minutes in medical tent recovering. Medics were brilliant and water, sweet tea, banana and biscuits cured me! now that I've achieved my targent I think I'll stick with the halves. But, at the age of 47, I am now officially a marathon runner! Chuffed.
Great effort all, Jonah in particular - incredible time mate!
RP - That made me chuckle, you just knew your bladder was going to screw you over
I could hardly fault the day. I didn't have to park near or catch a tram so I spent 10 mins at the village and then on to run the race. Crowds were incredible and much kudos and thanks to those people - absolute stars the lot of 'em.
In terms of my race, I was so comfortable tracking at 3.07 pace until mile 20 and then my legs seemed to fuse. I guess it must have been "the wall" but it felt more like my legs had just given way rather than my energy had gone. Finished in 3.11.50 and missed my ultimate target of a GFA for London by less than 2 minutes. Gutted about that but delighted with that time for my first (and not my last) marathon. The pain in the last 6 miles was just something else entirely. Jeez.
Oh, on peeing, I too have a terrible bladder and mine was ready to burst at mile 3. I always intended to stop but then just kept hanging on. By mile 13 I was busting but then I didn't want to stop as I was doing so well. I just kept on hanging on and once I got past 20, I couldn't stop as I knew it'd be curtains if I did. I got that all wrong to be honest and i'll learn from it.
Well done to everyone today - some fantastic performances. Really enjoyed the race. Perfect weather and so much better organised than last year. Crowd support was fantastic round the course as ever. Finished in 3.18 which is an 8 minute PB so very happy! Edinburgh Marathon in 4 weeks so hoping to get under 3.15....
Well I survived my first marathon - 4.30, not bad for a 44 yr old girly who only started running last year!
Last couple of miles were tough as my hip hurt, but am really pleased that I didn't hate it & would do another one
Fish n Chips demolished ..... delicious!
Well done guys - great achievements today
Well result site as above has me indistinguishable 10 minutes after I did. Forget my watch the clock at finish said 3:49 and result says 3:5wight and my watch said 3:47:12 Hmm will wait for official time
Well done everyone. I thought the organisation was spot on really. And the support really kept me going at the end.
I had a nightmare. It's my 4th full marathon and I've never had to dig so deep in my life.
I made a schoolboy error, aim was sub3 but I set off too quickly, hitting halfway in 1:26 and slowly but surely the wheels came crashing off. Also had stomach problems.I have never been so glad to see a portaloo as I was making my way back to old Trafford. Was seriously close to shitting myself lol.
I was such a wreck and still am really. My time was 3:03 according to the clock. Gutted I missed out on a PB but it's another medal and a nice tshirt I can wear with pride.
Well done again everyone
Well I finished in 3:14:07 but the site has me as Martin Platt ha ha. I emailed them and they are changing tonight. Think someone is taking piss with Corrie link. They have been good about it. Was gutted when I couldn't find myself at first
BTW....Out of interest, did anyone spot any actual gels being given out? I got plenty of shot blocks but I thought there was meant to be gels? unless they had run out!
There are some fantastic times on here. I think the weather was pretty much perfect eh? I was freezing at the start but soon warmed up and was hot in the sun in Sale. The rain just about held off till I was waiting for the tram.
yes, the tram was a joke as I said before. Metrolink need to sort their act out, simply not enough trams for the people using them. My partner almost missed me on the course as he was waiting that long to get on a tram.
Crowds were amazing, I thought it was generally really good. it was my fault I missed the start (well, my bladders fault) but I didn't really sense much of an "off"...perhaps I am wrong?
I hope to do it next year.....definitely not 4 months pregnant next year though
Panda
yeah my wife struggled with trams, not enough spaces or trams for the amount of people using them, trying to get on and off with two young children was a nightmare! they didnt get to see me anymore than once out on the course, and ended up walking along the canal!!!! so trams and organisers need to sort this out! Rant over marshalls and support were fantastic, great race and a 12 minute pb too!
Had a fantastic time today, just loved every minute of my first marathon and well happy to come in bang on 3:28. I stayed clear of the 3:30 pacer as it seemed to be chaos behind him; he also came in at 3:27 leaving loads of runners struggling in his wake on the drag into OT. Great support and had a good chin wag to a few guys around the course and it felt like there was still some good running left in my legs at the end. So now off to think about where to race in Autumn. Thanks to all the people who kept this thread fun for the last 6 months, you know who you are!
Paul platt... I've just checked those results and mine are wrong too. I started right at the front of the pen A, and the wife even saw me go over the finish line on 3:03 on the clock. yet the results have me down a full minute slower. Ah well! Got my garmin data.
I am not even on the results page!!
The website is slow too - if anyone can find bib 8572 that would be great!
Had a great day, but other half struggled with the trams and had to run to catch me at the finish... more carriages next year?
Other than that, fantastic support from Manchester, got my 'gold' in 4hrs 29mins so all good
(and those water pouches were superb!)
First marathon 3hr43m10sec absolutely delighted.
The cones in the road were dangerous I saw 2 people go straight over.
Went off with the 3hr30m pacer but I’m pretty sure he wasn’t running 8 min miles more like 7m40s don’t know if it was just me that thought this, it wasn’t a problem as I just hung back a bit.
The family have been giving me some horror stories about the trams being rammed full and 6 going past which were so full nobody could get on them so they missed most of the race. Lots more or bigger trams needed, apparently some of them only had 2 carriages.
Really enjoyed the event and will do it next year if/when I can’t get into London.
Very tough after 20 mile, it was like some kind of twilight zone with everything in slow motion (especially me) and everyone groaning and people stopping throwing up never seen anything like it carnage. People had spoken about over 20 mile but until you’ve experienced it, hopefully I can do better at this stage of the race next time.
Great day loads of really good stuff not mentioned… crowds, stewards, village, water pouches, love the t-shirt and medal.
Special day all in all.
I had mixed results. I started out with hopes of a sub 3.30 PB, and by the half way point I looked on course for it. At the 15 mile mark my legs cramped up really badly, and I couldn't keep up any sort of momentum. By the 20 mile mark I could only plod along at a training run pace, and every step was a struggle at that. Still, I calculated that if I kept that up, I still had enough minutes in the bank to come in under four hours. I made that the new target, and ended up coming in at a still respectable 3.51 something.
In all, that was the toughest marathon I have ever been in, despite the flat course. Just goes to show that circumstances on the day can count for more than the course. Despite not getting the time I hoped for, I still feel some satisfaction at pulling what I did out of the bag, in the aforementioned circumstances.
Jedwards - yeah got my Garmin data. Not really big issue but if it had been 4mins quicker and wanted to use for GFA I would be panicking now. Not complaining though was a great day and I thought we'll organised.
Well done mate great time.
I was enjoying the race until I picked up a water. Chocked on the Easter as couldn't figure out how tI get the water out, it took some time and nearly a cut lip in sale.
That's the only negative from me about the race. The only other problem I have is my finish time is 4.20 when I crossed at 3.53 so something went wrong there. Waiting for official results and going to see if my time is correct then. If not ill be asking questions.
Bit of a panic when we realised we couldn't get to the car par at Old Trafford from our house in Whalley Range (about two miles) without going through Eccles or something. So a bit of a mad dash for the start. I suggested my partner and the kids got trams around to see me en route but I'm glad they didn't now. She took the car and they managed to see me four or five times somehow.
RP, no, no coundown or gun that I could discern, everyone just sort of shuffled off unheralded. Great run after that, amazing support, good atmos. Felt good most of the way around and kept to my pace targets but the last few miles, jeez. Even when there was one mile to go I didn't think I could keep going. Somehow did and got PB of 3.38 or so (can't get that website to work), about 15 mins better than last year. So I'm happy. Felt ill for about three hours and pledged to never run again but I'm already reconsidering.
Well done everyone, sounds like all did great
Andrew
Those icepops full of water can make life a lot easier!
You just puncture them with one of your canines, then squeeze the water out through the hole.
There is no cap, you cant spill the water, and with a small hole there is less risk of you inhaling it.
Of course if you drop a near full one, and somebody stamps on it, then it can fly up in the air and hit somebody on the head!
With the water all you had to do was rip off the red bit at the top. All the ones I had had this already off, except the very first. Took me ages to work out what to do!
Waters were good but prefer the lucozade orange sport to the iconic stuff they were handing out