The lead up to this marathon saw me in possibly the best condition ever, with no injures and having got a lot of training miles in before what was supposed to be a short two week taper, but actually resulted in me doing more miles in a week than I have ever done before (52m including the marathon). At least with my "anti-taper" I didn't have time to go stir crazy with not running much and didn't feel like I had to wrap myself in cotton wool to survive till the race. I also didn't have to worry about putting on weight with a drop off in mileage during a taper and I got to the start still at a good race weight.
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| Kelvin, me, Ben, Phil, Abby, Jenni and Sarah at the expo. Numbers ready - now for some serious carb loading! (photo Phil Jelly) |
I had thought that I could persuade the family to come to this one for a weekend away in Brighton, but then rather dropped the ball by not booking up a hotel months in advance like 10,000 other people did. So, with no room at the inn anywhere within a marathon distance of Brighton, we had to make do with a day out at the Expo then leaving me to make my own way to Brighton on race day.
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| All the important stuff. |
I was up at 5am, dressed, breakfasted on porridge and out of the door by 5:30 to go and pick up Emma Lewis for the drive down to Brighton. There were no traffic issues and, apart from a stop on the A23 at "The"Most"Disgusting"Toilets"in"East"Sussex", which we abandoned, all went smoothly. I had a park and ride place at the Moulsecoomb campus of Brighton Uni, which we found despite a complete lack of signposts and, after catching the shuttle bus, we got to the start area at Preston Park by about 7:30. First job was to get to the loos while there were no queues, which was just as well as just half an hour later and we would have been at the tail end of 50m long lines to all of the toilets. These queues lasted until moments before the start when most people just gave up and started running. Definitely not enough loos for an event of this size! By the way, have you noticed how everyone coming out of a portaloo is rubbing their hands like they just thought of an evil plan?
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| Looks of triumph and relief! We made it to the loos without having to queue! |
briefly before they went to drop bags off and then Emma and I went to get in our start pens.
The Race
The start time was 9:15. Back in the pink pen we waited and waited for the red and blue runners to get under way and then we watched as the elite and faster red bib runners went by as they came through their first mile on the road next to us. There was a slight delay after the final blue runners had left to provide a small gap between us before we were released, crossing the start line at 9:30am. Luckily I was on the right side of the road so I got to high five Jo Pavey just past the start.
My plan was to set out at 8:50/mile pace and keep that going for as long as possible. As usual, I had my Garmin virtual pacer set up to just tell me how many seconds ahead or behind plan I was so I didn't have to do any complicated mental arithmetic. Starting with slower runners wasn't too bad, though we did have to do a bit of weaving to get past some people and the congestion held us up every now and then. However, if you are not too anxious about pacing and can spare a few seconds to chat, there are some interesting stories to be had talking to some people running for charity. The first 4 or 5 miles passed by fairly quickly like this. The congestion didn't ease off until we got out of the town centre and on the run up the hill above the marina, where the roads were straighter and wider.
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| The route. The profile looks more hilly than it feels and it's quite a quick course. |
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| Still breezing along at mile 18, Simon just behind me. (photo Bob Fudge) |
I didn't really have any problems with injuries out on the course - a little tightness in my left hamstring got me running with a bit of an exaggerated knee lift for 5 minutes on a couple of occasions and my only real issue was with the laces on my right shoe. These came loose around 8miles and later at 15miles and I stopped to tighten them up both times. Unfortunately I didn't stop early enough and my foot moving around in a loose shoe caused blisters on my little toe and heel. Once my foot was secure, the little pain I had from the blisters mostly went away. Oddly, the left shoe was absolutely fine. Lessons learned - if you have a problem, don't wait to sort it out, no matter how small it seems and change the Hokas to regular laces.
The course has a few hills, but nothing too strenuous. What it does have are lots of out and back sections. This could be seen by some as a bit of a drag and the section from 14 to 18 miles along Church Road parallel to the seafront did seem to go on forever, as did the section out to the power station. However, much like at Portsmouth marathon, the out and back sections give you a chance to see supporters and runners several times. I saw Emma, Madeleine, Pam and Vicky H, Lisa Hale, Gemma Potter, Dick and Erol from Sandhurst Joggers, Kelvin from Cove Joggers and a few Windle Valley runners who I didn't know but gave a shout out to anyway. I also managed to get my picture taken while still looking fit at about 18 miles (thanks Bob Fudge!)
The crowds are what really make Brighton a good marathon and throughout most of the route, there are hoards of cheering onlookers. There are only two sections where the crowds are a bit thin - out to the marina and back and then down to the power station. At least the marina section happens when you are reasonably fresh and the views are nice from miles 7 to 11, but the drag out to the power station is dull industrial estate with not much going on from 20 to 23 miles. I took quite a mental dip on this section and felt some tightness in my left hamstring for a while and I ended up doing my slowest miles along here. With 4 miles to go I realised I had dropped my mate Simon and it was time to push on if I had anything left in the tank.
Getting off the power station road was like a breath of fresh air, as the crowds were back to full strength and kept cheering all the way to the finish. With just 3 miles to go I got back in my stride and felt better for picking up the pace and running more naturally. As each of the final miles was ticked off I felt I could push harder, building up to near 7min mile pace as I went through the last mile. The run in to the finish line seemed to take forever to appear and wasn't even in sight as my Garmin announced 26miles, but eventually I could see the finish gantry and crossed the line running flat out to finish in 3:51:19. That was an amazing finish for me - it is the only time in 11 marathons that I have finished with enough energy and with legs that work to actually run to the finish instead of slowing to a painful shuffle.
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| All the Sandhurst finishers - Well done! |
I was a bit wobbly after crossing the line, just taking baby steps to get to my medal. I then waited for Simon to come in and he crossed the line 8 minutes behind me, just below 4 hours. We then shuffled along with the finishers to collect a cotton T-shirt, bottle of water, Gatorade recovery drink (ew!), banana and melted chocolate biscuit. After collecting my bag from the bag trucks, I left Simon getting a massage at the NSPCC tent and wandered round to the beach area where I met up with Erol and Dick at the S-for-Sandhurst meeting flag for some recovery food (milk and BBQ Hoola Hoops) and we sat around checking the Marathon App for updates on SJ and Frimley parkrunner's progress. After meeting Emma and comparing feet, we headed off for the shuttle buses and the drive home.
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| Simon waiting for his post-race massage (photo: Simon's dad) |
A total of 9426 people started the race and 9200 finished. I came in somewhere in the top 30% overall and top 25% in age category (v for vintage or something like that). This was the one marathon of the spring season where I was going to push for a good time, so I was very pleased to come away with a PB. It almost felt like I had trained properly for this one!
My next race is in just 11 days at the St George's Day marathon in Kent, followed only 3 days later by London Marathon on 26th April. That's a key block of training on my way to my solo attempt at Endure 24 in June. So far recovery from Brighton has gone very well and I'll be out for a 6 or 7 mile jog with the club just 2 days after the marathon. Running on tired legs and back to back long runs are what I need and so far the sensible progression in increasing the mileage is working well. My next go at a "fast" marathon will wait till the autumn when I have another go at Abingdon.
Ever onwards!
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