I managed to arrive early for this event, keen not to miss the start as I have managed to do on my last two marathons. The start was from the Shoulder of Mutton Pub which meant a nice warm area to get changed, collect race details and meet feelow runners. A word of advice for future runners, get there before the bus comes from the train station as its manic from then on. Baggage trucks were outsdie and it was straight to the race briefing, there I met new friends and companions for the run.
One guy who stood out was Alfie Pearce-Higgins, he is in his mid twenties and looked like he had just thrown on any old running clothing lying buy the front door. He wore a hooded top (which I'm sure wasn't technical) and only had a bottle of lucozade on a belt. Well the gun went off and so did Alfie, sprinting down the street, amazing to watch, even more amazing was his finish time of 5hrs 43 mins, 5th place overall !! Its clearly not all about the kit, gels and backpacks !!Fortunately I had downloaded the GPS route to my garmin which was essential in places and loads of people got lost. The first 22 miles was pretty quick, 90% off road and muddy as hell. Through fields, farms, woods and water logged gravel paths, I'm sure I wasted loads of energy slip sliding around but it was all great fun. Once we hit the towpath I was pretty tired, I was still running with Marcus Escott and Tom Parry but both seemed like they had loads left in the tank I decided to hang on as long as I could but I knew that I was fading fast and I didn't want to hold them back. The guys graciously offered to wait but when we saw the 13.1 miles to go sign I waved them on.
It was at this stage that I ran for a while by myself. Now running along a canal is pretty magical but when you are exhausted and there seems to be no end its draining with monotonous scenery. I realised that I had pushed too hard for the first half trying to keep up with the other guys and running their race, now I slowed down, took some walking breaks and ensured I took on some water which I had been neglecting to do.
Around 6 miles from the finish I hooked up with Simon Allchin (I think), believe it or not he was wearing 5 fingers and doing pretty well. Simon seemed to be in the same place as me so we ran together for the rest of the race taking walking breaks here and there. A couple of miles from the finish people started to overtake us at a good old place, I couldn't believe it, where was their energy coming from !! 15 + people must have ran past us. With only 100 metres ago I was overtaken again and I couldn't believe it, this time I pushed on and ended up in a sprint finish with Simon and Sarah El-Kadhimi. We crossed the finish line and I was so relieved, a medal, a hot cup of tea and a post race massage well deserved. My finish time was 7hrs 13 mins and I was pretty pleased with that.
What have I learnt from this race? My Ultimate Direction race pack was well suited to the day, although because my water bottles needed to be removed to drink from them I didn't take on enough fluid. I ran too hard for the first half trying to keep with the other guys. Maybe a heart rate monitor for longer distance would force more discipline. 20 miles along a towpath is tough. The event was well organised with plenty of well stocked rest stops and overall I finished with a big smile on my face :-)
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