Marathon number 13 and London marathon number 6:
After gaining a good for age entry from the 2022 Manchester Marathon (as a V45 running 3:04:40) I started to build up the running (I used Saucony Endorphin Pro purchased in 2021 for £84). In 2022 I ran 1696 miles. In early December I did my first long run for a while, 17 miles at 7:03 pace and late December 18.6 miles at 7:36 pace. I was running most days, doing track sessions on Tuesdays, racing either at Cross Country or parkruns at weekends. Not much structure just running as normal.
Ended the year on a good high in wales running a tough hilly 10km training run at 6:48 pace.
Back to Doncaster in the new year, thought I would try my new my new Nike Vaporfly (purchased December 2022 for £134). They felt great on the Tuesday track session. Then did a tempo run thursday and my right calf strained. Not had many problems in the past with my calves.
Waited for it to get better, took about 3 weeks before I could run again. Started on 27 January and quickly built up to 10k, had the Dewsbury 10k entered and decided to race this on 5 February. Ran my fastest 10k for a few years 38:21 in the hardly used Vaporfly. Did a steady 5 miles on 8 February and my left calf went, gutted. I basically could not run again until March. Sold the Vaporfly, loved running in them but not chancing them again.
I am not a swimmer but to keep fit I swam 3 or 4 times a week with a local triathlon club during the injurys.
Decided I had no time to do much of a taper and needed to quickly build up to get some long runs in. Also no time for any speedwork and my tempo runs would all be in races.
Long runs:
11 March 13.1 miles @ 7:01 pace
17 March 16.3 miles @ 7:22 pace
24 March 20 miles @ 7:29 pace
2 April 22 miles @ 7:29 pace
7 April 20 miles @ 7:13 pace
Did 5 road races during this period:
South Yorkshire Road League 5 mile races:
29 March – Elsecar – 6:36 pace (hilly)
5 April – Lodge Moor – 6:42 pace (hilly)
20 April – Worsborough – 6:21 pace (slightly less hilly)
1 April – Northern Road Relays – 6:01 pace (short leg)
15 April – National Road Relays – 6:03 pace (short leg)
Parkrun:
22 April – Newham – 6:11 pace (trying not to get carried away)
The race:
Caught a cough and cold a week before. I am still coughing up phlegm now. Felt quite poorly the week before but towards the weekend felt like it would not really cause me any issues.
Decided to run in my old Saucony Endorphin Pro. No issues.
Green start, wave 2. Massive toilet wait, no time for warm up. Raining. Went to the start area, watched wave 1 go and 4 minutes later we went. Did not try to get a good position as did not want to go off too fast. Planned to go sub 3 and run 6:45 pace. Splits below:
Rained quite hard for the first half. Felt good to about 18 miles, then just had to try to run easy watching the miles go by.
Passed my 3 hour pacing group at about 2 miles, then spotted another 3 hour pacing group from another start so passed them. Then spotted another 3 hour pacing group so passed them.
Raced with 7 SIS gels on my gel belt, used them all (about one every 4 miles). Had water drinks at maybe 8 water stations (just sips).
At 24 miles a 3 hour pacing group passed me but I held on to them and decided to kick with half a mile to go and managed to pass most of the group.
Got my sub 3 so really pleased with that, the last 6 miles was not too bad today.
Great weekend away with my Fiancé, Alison who looked after me.
My race weight was 80kg, probably the heaviest I have ever been for a marathon. Was not concerned.
Great running by all my running buddies, and the support from start to finish make it a fantastic event.
Listened to some dnb mixes:
Marathon History
| Date | Location | Time |
| 9 October 2011 | Chester | 2:59:23 |
| 21 April 2013 | London | 2:58:53 |
| 14 September 2014 | Chesterfield | 2:54:53 |
| 13 September 2015 | Hull | 2:53:57 |
| 24 April 2016 | London | 2:51:24 |
| 23 April 2017 | London | 2:44:35 |
| 28 April 2017 (injured) | Snowdonia | 3:35:57 |
| 22 April 2018 (still injuried) | London | 3:16:00 |
| 27 October 2018 | Snowdonia | 3:16:01 |
| 28 April 2019 | London | 2:48:47 |
| 20 October 2019 | Yorkshire | 2:47:57 |
| 3 April 2022 | Manchester | 3:04:40 |
| 23 April 2023 | London | 2:58:17 |
