In the last 18 months I should have run 4 marathons (Manchester, Berlin x 2 and Bedford) all of which were cancelled for obvious reasons, so it was great to finally get the chance to run one.
I have got to various stages of the training before they were cancelled. Getting right up to the final long run of one block.
This training block had gone really well with the help of the guys at Purdue Performance and lots of positive comments from people that had seen my training.
There was one minor blip at the Milton Keynes 20 mile race. But that was put down to experience and a few things that conspired against me on the day.
Other than that I felt ready and thought I was capable of achieving a marathon goal that I had been in my head ever since I crossed the finish line of my last one at London in 2019.
So whilst the masses all went to London, I set off for Dorney Lake with just over 300 others to do laps of the Olympic rowing venue.
The course is just about perfect for a long race. Plenty of space, nice tarmac paths and not a hill to be seen. The only thing that can cause an issue is if it is windy. On this morning things felt still.
In an interesting starting idea the people aiming to run under 3 hours and those planning to take longer than 6 were set off first, with people planning to do times between these set off 1 and 2 hours later.
When it got to start time we set off. At first I was trying to attach myself to small groups to have some company but it soon became clear that only 1 other person was running at a similar pace so I tucked in a few metres behind and got used the the sight of the back of his head.
The first 2 laps of the 4 lap course went really well and I was just ahead of the 4 minutes per kilometre pace that I had planned. Towards the end of the 3rd lap it started to feel a little bit harder but i went through 30km in 2:00:01, just 1 second off the planned pace.
As we started the 4th lap things became increasingly difficult and I started to have the occasional issue with cramp in the backs of my legs. This meant that I had to slow my pace a little to start with and then more as the race went on. When I was just over half way around this lap I had to take a short walking break to try and get some life back into my legs with some stretching.
Eventually the finish line was in sight and I tried to pick up my pace, at this point i was pretty sure that I had achieved the sub 3 hour goal that i had set myself and wanted to get as far under as I could. My official time would prove to be 2:57:05.
To say I was happy with this time would be an understatement. It was something that had taken two and a half years worth of training.
I am now hopeful that this time can open up some other opportunities to run in the big marathons.
markrepton26.2 