Beachy Head Marathon 2018

Early pick-up for this one, but fortunately I had a good sleep in the spare room under two summer duvets and woke 5 minutes before the alarm in pitch darkness. Then I lay in bed for 10 minutes thinking about what I should be doing before getting up and getting my shit together and having to rush (shakes head). Donned my winter marathon gear as it was going to be a bit parky and, having scofed banana porridge with golden syrup waited for a lift from the lovely Alison of Sandhurst Joggers. I had baked the night before and had a box of flapjack - actually layered flapjack with homemade blackberry jam/grape jelly filling and topped with chocolate ganache. I had a piece on the way down to Eastbourne and it was so calorie dense it nearly made me feint. 

At Eastbourne there was much faffing tryng to park and then find a pay machine that worked, then we were off up to St Bede's School to find more club-mates and see if there were any Fecthies around. We got our numbers from Andrea who had come down the day before and hung around waiting for another of our runners to turn up. I saw Fleecy, Carp(?) and Plodding Hippo then went to hang out in the warmth of the bag drop in the sorts hall until 5 minutes before the off.

We queued to get up the Green Wall at he start and it was quite congested for the first few miles, so lots of pauses for chat before crossing roads and through pinch points. This was massively busier than when I last did it, but the big change this time was HALLELUJA! I CAN SEE! Last time from about 2 to 17 miles was all thick fog, massive hills and no view. Today was all chilly-bright and glorious.

I set off with Andrea and Alison and stayed with them for 3 miles, met up with SJ John Tovell and we somehow lost our SJ ladies by the first checkpoint. John and I sort of stayed together, but around mile 5 I got hailed by a chap called Daniel who was also wearing a parkrun tourists' cow cowl, so we chatted parkrun tourism and recalcitrant teenagers for a few miles until I caught up with John again just before half way. Then we found another SJ runner Richard, who was gamely battling on with his first marathon since starting dialysis. We chatted for a bit while John ran off, but Rich would rather suffer in solitude so off I went and found Rich's partner Jane, also banished from running with him, at the next checkpoint. 

I was pretty tired by here, Checkpoint 4, 16 miles, but relatively pain free. However, that soon changed going over the second of two sets of stairs as my right calf really tightened up to the point of cramping.

Getting to the Seven Sisters I was reduced to walking only with 6 miles to go, which was a bit disappointing. Still the weather was still OK and the views fine so there was no need to grumble. A few stops for massages, photos and a cup of tea at the last aid station and I managed to hobble back down the Green Wall to finish just under 6 hours. 

I really enjoyed the run and the chat with fellow SJ runners and random strangers; it was all run in a great atmosphere. Even with my calf cramping up over the Seven Sisters I was in better shape than the last time I did this event and managed to finish in sunshine and get a nice recovery beer along with the free hot food in the school canteen. A lovely day out.