Race 35 of 2015 – My first mile was 6:15, I then ran a few at around 6:20.  I got to 10 miles in about 62 minutes, half marathon in 1:23:30, 20 miles in about 2:08 and finished with a time of 2:53:58, some of my later miles were slower than 7 minute miles.  My stats are a bit lacking as my Garmin crashed on the finish line and lost the data!  I ran the first half 10 minutes quicker than the second half.  I ran to pace but occasionally checked my average heart rate and this was around 160 to 161.  This probably dropped for the last 6 miles as I could not keep up the pace, I felt ok with my breathing etc but the body was breaking down..

I really had no idea how fast to run this one, my training has been fairly hit and miss, but I obviously wanted to PB.  I lost 4 weeks training after a fall on 21 June which explains the low mileage – Don’t despair if your training does not go to plan, just be realistic and believe in yourself  . Total running mileage for the last few months:

• May – 185 miles
• June – 102 miles
• July – 74 miles
• August 164 miles

My long runs (16 miles or greater) were:

• 16 August – 16.02 miles @6:59 min miles
• 9 August – 24.64 miles @7:18 min miles
• 3 August – 16.24 miles @7:30 min miles
• 14 June – 20.37 miles @7:27 min miles

The sensible runners might wonder why I ran the first half in 1:23:30, that’s because if my training had gone well I was fairly sure I could break 2:50 so I set out to do my best.  Until you have run a few miles in a race you don’t really know how it will go and until about 18 miles I was still feeling pretty good.  Past 18 miles my calf’s were cramping up, my hips felt sore etc…  I need to work on my core strength and stretching a bit more (which is currently zero).

I was not really sure of running a PB until about 25 miles, I knew I was very close but struggling.

In terms of the race, can not really fault it, about as flat a marathon as you could hope for (several inclines), many marshals, good support in a lot of areas, big field of runners, fairly interesting route and the weather was spot on.  Drinks every 3 miles (and I had a drink at each one)  Well done to the organizers.

My fueling for the race was wheetabix and crunchy nut cornflakes for breakfast, 5 SIS energy gels (one at the start, 6, 12, 18, 22 miles) and a burger at the end.

Great to see some local runners finishing well including Owen James (Kimberworth), Simon Newton (Ackworth) and Richard Spooner (Barnsley Harriers).  Thanks to Janet Kerry and Rose James for support as well as Warren Clarke.  Also congratulations to Marie-Louise Taylor running her first marathon.

This was my fourth marathon (I don’t really like the distance, running flat out for that distance is very tough from about 20 miles):

• 2011 – 2:59:23
• 2013 – 2:58:53
• 2014 – 2:54:53
• 2015 – 2:53:57

This means I have had my best ever year for running, I have PB’d in all regular distances including 5k, 5 miles, 10k, half marathon and marathon.  I also completed my first ultra of 53 miles.  Moving onto cross country and ultra running for the rest of 2015 (with the occasional half  / 10k I am sure).