The Marathon Man Returneth

Well, that was hell, although it could have been worse.

There's nothing wrong with my puff, never felt even remotely out of breath and indeed kept chuntering along talking to Radio 4, until the advent of Any Questions, as I've mentioned before, meant I turned the radio onto 6 Music rather than thrown it into the Trent.

It was a tough, tough course, which would have been tough this time of year in the dry, let along after a wet November. I would say that 80% of the route was off road, and an awful lot of that off road was through mud!

The first lap went fine, and although tucked towards the back of the field, I kept in touch with a group of runners and kept myself going by nibbling jelly babies and carob energy bars given to me by the enthusiastic, if no doubt shivering wet and cold marshalls. But my various muscular niggles and sciatica began kicking in after about 7 miles and towards the end of the second loop of the muddiest, grimmest section of the route I was nearly bent double and so tempted to bale after the first lap - which would have been a half marathon - I had to all but yell at myself to keep going.

But after necking many pills on the curious 100 metre section the council insisted we had to walk on, I began to forget my back a little and keep on trotting in, slower and slower, but still running. And that's how I carried on, for the next two hours, eating sweeties and drinking energy drinks, but it was by now a very lonely run; indeed by the time I got on to the final loop of mud, I could see that I was a kilometre behind those ahead, and a kilometre ahead of those behind.

At one point I thought I'd just make 5 hours, but in the end I couldn't give a damn and just trotted round to get 5 hours 14. It'll do nicely, but I wouldn't recommend a rookie like me to run on that course, it is very very tough and more of a cross country trail run than a road race.

So, some pictures.

Si

All text and images copyright CreamCrackeredNature 28.11.15

Gathering for 10am start. It was freezing

Bar 9 gave out loads of these carob bars. Rather nice too.

Race control

Huddling for warmth

Milk bottle legs

I am indeed a number.

11km fun run start.

Off they go

Marathon start

An idea of the mud most of the way round

Medal

My Longest Longest Longest Ever Run

As my regular readers may remember, I've been supposedly training for a marathon to take place here on the 28th November, but have been struggling with various niggling injuries for months.

Well, with the big day so close, today was going to be last chance I had to get a really long, final training run in. My longest one so far has been 25km, with a few 16km runs thrown in as well, but this isn't really the kind of mileage - well you can't say "kilometerage" - the training plans are suggesting.

Even with the weather forecast as bad as it was, there was no chance I could give this a miss. Had to do it, had to know I was capable of the distance on the day. I was hoping to get out and back before the storm arrived in the afternoon.

Wanting to avoid any upset stomach, I didn't eat anything in the morning before I left, but took along with me a bag of jelly beans, which really helped despite the fact that eating them on the run is actually a rather tricky business, it rather obstructing your breathing and there bring a risk of choking on the gelatinous mass in your mouth as well. But without that energy boost, I might have struggled.

For I ran 30.4 km in 3 hours 46 minutes, the furthest I've ever run. It was slow going, and the rain did lash down on me for the last hour, but I survived to get my cup of tea at the end, having run from home, to Bowbridge, to Hawton, to Cotham, to Thorpe, to Fanrdon, and then onto Rumbles coffee shop for a cup of tea, by which time I was pretty much on my last legs.

I was wearing my new trail running shoes, a pair of Kalenji Kapteren Explorers from Decathlon, which have basically been bought specifically for the marathon given that the route is largely off road and the weather has been, hey guess what, really wet lately. They feel rather stiff on the road, and with the deep tread it's actually rather like running in football studs on concrete, but off road they are comfortable and stable.

At £12.99 they aren't really designed for long runs, according to the website, but they handled the distance fine and I've only got a small blister that you would expect anyway running this kind of distance.

When I finished, I felt the urge to eat all things, and ended up eating two meals in two hours. According to MapMyRun, I'd burned the small matter of 3000 calories, so that's no surprise.

Especially as I'm an oinker when it comes to food, even without 30km in my legs.

Si

All text and images copyright CreamCrackeredNature 17.11.15 - I have received nothing from Decathlon for reviewing their trainers. In fact I've never received anything at all, not one tiny little thing, from anyone. If anyone from Decathlon reads this, feel free to lob me some stuff. Same goes for anyone else with running, walking, astronomy, photography or birdwatching gear. Oh yes, and rum as well. 

30 kilometres of ache