Marathon Number 2 - Cambridge Boundary Run

Mud, that will be my lasting impression from today's marathon.  There were many more off-road sections than I'd expected, and all were very muddy following the recent rain.  My decision to run in road shoes was misguided.  However, it was a great day and it ticks off the second marathon of the year.

It was great to be able to run a marathon so close to home.  I'm amazed I haven't done it before.  Being on my home turf meant there were many familiar faces at the start, so plenty of people to chat to whilst waiting for the start time to come around.  The last half hour on the build up to a race can be nerve wracking, but having friends around you helps take your mind off the run ahead.  Having said that, I was aware that my hands were a little shaky whilst trying to pin my race number to my running vest.  This doesn't normally happen to me.

The one gripe from today was the lack of toilets at the start.  The race started from the David Lloyd Leisure Centre in Cambridge.  Clearly the organisers had arranged to use a room at the gym as the race HQ for the day, but non of the staff at the gym itself were aware of the event going ahead.  In previous years runners were able to use the toilets in the gym changing rooms.  But this year the staff at the gym seemed to be in a bit of a strop and wouldn't let anyone through.  This meant that all the runners were confined to using two small toilets on the second floor, alongside the conference facilities that were being used as the number collection point, changing area and baggage storage.  As a result the race start was delayed as there was still a big queue for the loos at 10am.

The event itself is wonderfully low key.  There are no marshals on the course to make sure runners take the right turns.  This does mean that many runners take their life in their own hands at road crossings, as they dash across between small gaps in fast moving traffic.  The course itself is only marked by white arrows on the road that I think are made in either chalk or flour, it's hard to tell.  However, it can be easy to miss some of these, and every year people take a wrong turn because they simply follow the person ahead of them.  There are also a few locations were arrows seemed to have been missed, as you will see later on. 

Anyone who enters the race thinking Cambridge is perfectly flat are usually surprised by the one significant hill on the course.  At mile 2 there is a long steady climb from 14m up to 68m at mile 4.  A climb of 54m over a distance of two miles might not seem like a lot, but it's certainly enough to slow most runners.  It's also one of those hills that have a false peak halfway, which can be dispiriting if you're not expecting it.  However, what goes up must come down, and once at the top there is a good two mile descent for some respite.

At about the 5 mile point the whole of the pack ahead of me took what I thought was a wrong turn.  I had run the half-marathon option in 2010 and remembered the route reasonably well.  Consulting my map, which runners have the option of running with, confirmed my suspicions.  This was one of the few locations were there was a lack of any signage.  I tried shouting the other runners, but I was either unheard or ignored.  Some of the other runners near me at the time also decided to follow the pack (not that I'm calling them sheep), whilst a few others realised I'd made the right call and followed me on a footpath around a farmers field.  We all regrouped a few hundred metres later on.  I think those that went wrong probably added about 100m to their run, but had the benefit of running on dry tarmac rather than wet mud, so probably the net result was the same.

Runners reach one of the prettiest parts of the route at about mile 10, Grantchester Meadows.  It's possible to run on a tarmac path across the meadows, but the path was covered in a thin layer of slippery mud and I suspect most people were watching where they were going, rather than admiring the view.  There's history to the meadows.  This is where Charles Darwin spent his free time collecting beetles whilst studying at Cambridge University.

Before I knew it I'd reached the halfway point, which would mark the end of the run for the majority of runners.  I had the pleasant surprise of being greeted by some familiar faces.  Some of my running friends, who hadn't entered the race today, had come out to cheer me on.  I took a little break from running to thank them all for coming out and to pose for a photo.

A short distance further on I was also cheered on my way by Simon, one of my clients, and then a little further on again three girls from the Sweaty Betty running club.  I literally only saw the girls as I turned a corner, shouted my "hello" and was on my way.  I then felt bad for the fact that they'd made an effort to come out to the race and literally only saw me for a couple of seconds.

From this part of the race onwards I was running on very familiar ground, as I'd done a trial run of the second half of the marathon just two weeks previously.  Mentally, I broke the run down into sections and just focused on completing each section.  First, just get to Girton at mile 16.  This part of the route was mostly off-road, with one incredibly slippery muddy section around the corner of a farmer's field.  I almost skated around the edge of the field rather than ran.  I was sure that this part of the marathon would result in many runners landing on their arse.  Sure enough, I did see a few runners at the finish covered head to toe in mud, and I dare say that this is where they went over.

From Girton, the next 4 miles to the village of Milton was mostly on tarmac, and a welcome relief from the slippery mud.  Once at Milton I was on territory that was very familiar to me, and although there was still 6 miles to the finish, I felt that I was on the home straight.  My legs were starting to feel the strain of running 20 plus miles.  But I took comfort in the fact that I had overtaken several runners over the last few miles and yet hadn't been overtaken myself.  In fact, the runners I had passed seemed to be suffering quite badly.  Terrible for them, but a confidence boost for me.

With 4 miles to go I realised that a lone female runner was gaining on me.  It was actually a runner I'd seen at several points during the run.  We had passed each other on a few occasions.  At one point we had had a short conversation.  She eventually caught me as I stopped for a drink and quarter of a banana at the last drinks station.

The two of us then ran side by side for the last 4 miles, chatting the entire way, which helped the miles to fly by.  With just 2 miles to go we eventually got round to introducing ourselves.  I learnt that her name was Kim and that her marathon times are good enough for her to qualify for a championship place in London Marathon.

With less than a mile to go I was greeted by two friends, Andrea and Phil.  Andrea is very good at making whooping noises like an American who has just won the super bowl.  Sure enough, she whooped and hollered as I passed, lifting my spirits.  Then with just a few hundred meters to go Jamsheed, Shelley, Dan, Jo, Mike, Paul and Andy were lining the street to cheer me on to the finish.  As Kim and I rounded the last bend a few spectators egged us on to race each other to the line, but we kept to our pace and crossed the line together.  It would have been rude and pointless to race each other over the last few meters.  We thanked each other for the company, then Kim met with her husband and I was shortly joined by my friends.

My time was something a little under 3 hours and 20 minutes, I don't know the exact time just yet as I forgot to stop my stopwatch on the finish line.  I'll need to wait and see the official results when they are up on the event website.  But, it was a similar time to Gloucester, although I think it took more out of me.  I'll have to wait and see how I'm feeling tomorrow for a better comparison.  I'm glad to now have the second marathon of the year out of the way.  The third marathon is in just two weeks time, by then I'll feel as if I'm well on my way towards achieving my goal of a marathon a month.