Thames Meander Spring Marathon and ultra parkrun

Pre-Race Preparation - it took half an
hour to do my bow tie!

Pre-Race Party
My first marathon after deciding to focus on this distance was the Thames Meander marathon which starts at the YMCA Hawker Centre next to the river near Kingston.  The night before was Sandhurst Joggers' end of year Grand Ball, which was not necessarily the best preparation for a marathon, but the food was very tasty and the company excellent and to top it all I picked up an award for winning the club Handicap competition for the year.  I was good though and apart from a very small half glass of wine I stuck to water to drink and avoided any wild moves on the dance floor.

With the ball the night before, I had sorted out all my race kit and food the before going out and just had to get up at 6am for breakfast of porridge and a home made nutty energy bar.  I also downed a couple of glasses of beetroot juice left over from last week.  It's supposed to be full of nitrates which can help oxygen transport round the body but tastes awful (I don't like beetroot) and has the odd side effect of turning your wee pink.  I got picked up by Emma Lewis, who I have run Portsmouth and Milton Keynes marathons with, at 7:15 and we made it to race HQ by 8am, a full 2 hours before the marathon and plenty of time to get our race packs and have a cuppa.

A Warm-Up Run
Emma mentioned that there was a parkrun that started nearby, so we asked the race organisers about it and found that the parkrun finish line was at the same place as the marathon.  Usually I would be doing a marathon on a Sunday and a parkrun the day before is not an issue.  I might decide to save my legs and volunteer, but mostly I would both volunteer and run a very gentle and chatty parkrun.  Should I run a parkrun that finished just 30 minutes before the marathon start?  In the end I found a spare barcode in my race bag and the decision was made.

Kingston parkrun is a simple but pleasant out and back course along the Thames starting and finishing near the YMCA.  A field of 128 parkrunners was swelled by 10 or more slightly foolish parkrun addicts who were also running the half or full marathon.  We all got a cheer from the regular Kingston crowd and were off.  There was a kilted Scot along as entertainment to play bagpipes for the marathon runners who also played us out at the start of the parkrun.  I set off at a gentle jog trying to ignore any twinges around the knees, chatted to some of the local parkrunners at the back of the field and finished in a fairly sensible 28:45.

Thames Meander marathon route

By now it was 9:40 and with 20 minutes to the start of the main race I found Emma with my race bag and went to find the loos and sort out my gel belt.  Today's kit was SJ running vest, taped up nipples to avoid bloodying the vest, short leggings, toe socks and Brooks Ravenna 4 shoes.  These shoes are very comfortable with good forefoot cushioning and mild support.  They also have reasonable grip as
we were warned that there might be some muddy patches on the course. I tucked 6 Hi-Five gels in my belt and went to find the bag drop tent.

Teddington Lock - a scene of tragedy in the late 1960s

The Marathon
At the start I lined up at the back with Emma and decided to start the first few miles running with her. Emma was aiming for a 5 hour time which is about 11:30/mile pace, but I noticed that we were doing 10:20 pace over the first 2 miles.  Emma seemed to be fine with that and we chatted along, first upriver to Kingston Bridge, then turning back on ourselves past the start and at 3 miles passing Teddington Lock, which marks the extent of the tidal river Thames and was the scene of Monty Python's Fish Slapping Dance Sketch.  The last time I was here I lost my favourite blue teddy while walking along the weir; that was about 46 years ago!

Most of the route looks like this

At 3 miles the fast half marathon runners started to come by after they had started at 10:30.  After 4 miles I thought it would be better for both Emma and me if I pushed on and continued on at a comfortable 9:30 pace.  The weather had started off cool and sunny, but started to cloud over and get a bit breezy after an hour, but it stayed fine for the race.  The marathon is a simple out and back course  to Putney Bridge and back and I thought that it would be fairly urban.  Actually, most of the course feels like a canal towpath in the countryside with woods and parkland on both sides of the river.  For those who know Frimley Lodge parkrun or the Basingstoke canal in Surrey, the surface is very similar being mostly hard packed gravel with a stony texture.  There were also sections of tarmac path, concrete and cobbles for a bit of variety.

There are a few landmarks along the way to keep you interested such as the parkland around Ham House (4-5miles), Richmond Bridge (6miles), Kew Gardens (7-8miles), Leg of Mutton Nature Reserve (11.5miles), Craven Cottage (13.5miles) and Putney Bridge just before the turn around at just beyond 14 miles. It was around this point that we all started to have some problems with crowding on the course. For the last half mile before the turn, there were loads of rowers getting their boats out of the water and raised on to trailers after their regatta.  The road and footpath were packed with people either ambling about or trying to load each half of their Eight boat and I had to dodge and duck around to make progress.  I came through this area unscathed, but one runner I talked to after the race had a boat dropped on his head as he tried to pass and dropped to the floor stunned!  He said he was dizzy for a while but he managed to finish OK.

Thirsty Work
The congestion caused another problem as the marathon organisers were told to remove their aid station at Putney.  I had been making a stop at each aid station to have a gel, eat some of the amazingly tasty home made brownies and have a drink of squash, so I was looking forward to another break at the turn.  The aid stations were at 5, 8 and 11 miles (Barns Bridge) and there was supposed to be one at Putney just after 14 miles.  Without that there was a bit of a big gap from 11 to 18miles without a stop, so I had an extra long feed and drink at Barns Bridge.

A hefty medal to show for it

On the way back beyond Barns Bridge my legs and feet were starting to hurt from the cobbly ground and I found myself searching out the smoother path at the side of the track.  I also started to think "If I hadn't done the parkrun this morning I would be into my last 6 miles."  But to counter that, I also thought "I got to do a parkrun I haven't done before, got some bonus miles in and this isn't a target race, even got to do something a little bit ridiculous."  I'll also get to have a go at getting two course PBs later in the year!  I kept my spirits up in the usual way, having a chat with whoever I caught up with, however, that last 3 miles was quite tough and my pace dropped to slower than 10min miles with a bit of jog-walking.  The last couple of miles are along a winding path and you don't get a good view of the finish from any distance away.  Having done the parkrun, though, I knew what the run to the finish looked like with the finish coming into view with just 150m to go.

Emma sprinting her way to a sub-5 hour finish

I crossed the line in 4:23:26, got an impressive medal and made straight for the excellent cakes. Whoever thought of putting mint Aero balls in chocolate brownies and making biscuit coated fudge is a genius!  There were plenty of bananas and crisps and more squash to have for a good post run snack after which I got into dry clothes and came back out to wait for Emma.  I thought she would be coming in around 5:15 or a little later but she came round the final corner with 4:59 on the clock and managed a sprint to come in at 4:59:25 looking very comfortable. That was just as well, as she was running another marathon the next day in Wiltshire.

Afters
Splits for this race were a bit all over the place even though the course was pan flat. It shows where I was stopped at aid stations for a proper drink.

10:20 10:12 10:27 10:11 9:26 10:31 9:47 9:20 10:46 10:33 9:53 9:24 9:20 9:30 9:45 9:17 9:15
10:29 9:29 11:59 9:15 9:22 10:32 10:36 11:50 11:50 9:51

But this started with Kingston parkrun which went like this: 8:55 9:28 9:23 and a bit, which almost makes it an ultra marathon day.

I'm starting to recognise a few faces who turn up to marathons regularly, but Emma was the only person I knew in the marathon field of 297 runners.

There was a half marathon too and Sarah Boulter of Sandhurst Joggers finished in a new PB time of 2:14:24.  And this week's special mention goes to Karen Summerville who I saw when she was a mile away from the turn waving and smiling at me, though with a sore looking left arm. As she passed she said she had fallen and dislocated her shoulder.  She got a sling at the turn point marshals and managed to finish in 6:05:34, then went to hospital to find she had a broken shoulder. That's one tough lady!

I'll be doing this run again at the end of August and then again in November to complete the Thames Meander Triple Crown.  Next race is Fleet Half marathon on 22 March.