Sunday 11 December 2011

Last Long Training Run and Broad Meadow Marathon

I know, I know, I haven’t been doing a great job of keeping my blog updated of late.  I put this down to being generally very busy at work and Christmas preparations (feeble excuse) getting in the way.  I’m going to try and keep this brief, but may well get carried away.

First off, I completed my final long, 19 mile training run on Sunday 27 November, two weeks after marathon number 14.  I was joined on this run by various friends.  We all met in the car park of the Plough Pub in Fen Ditton at the civilised time of 10am.  Just as well as I had been out for a few drinks the night before (as had others – it is the build up to Christmas after all).  Jamsheed had agreed to run the whole 19 miles with me, whilst Tony, Dan, Megan and Lynne had agreed to see us off and then drive to the 5 mile point.  We were also joined by Steve at about 9 miles.  It was a glorious day; clear blue skies, slightly cold, but not bad for late November, as you can see from the team photo. 

Me and the Amsterdam Team: Dan, Steve, Tony, Lynne & Megan

The rest of the gang, with the exception of Jamsheed all ran in their Amsterdam T-shirts, which made me wish I had joined them on that run, rather than running in the Lincoln Spires & Steeples marathon that took place on the same day.  Oh well, maybe another year.  Unfortunately, Lynne had to pull out half way as her knee suddenly became painful.  We all decided to put Lynne on a bus back into Town and to, hopefully, see her at the finish.  The rest of us continued on our way around the outskirts of Cambridge, through Grantchester then around the backs to follow the River Cam back to Fen Ditton.  It was a highly enjoyable social run at a very leisurely pace and I was very grateful for the company.

On Grantchester Meadows after Lynne's retirement

Tony & Megan alongside the Cam

Friday evening I drove down to Stratford-upon-Avon to spend a night in a Travelodge Inn.  I’ve long since given up on trying to convince Ruth to join me on my marathon weekends away, plus she also had a college reunion to attend in London, which was tough competition.  So I spent a few lonely hours wondering the streets of Stratford before having a meal for one in Bella Italia and returning to the Travelodge for an early night.  This is what the loneliness of the long distance runner should be about.  The running bit is very sociable, it’s the night away on your own before an event that isn’t.

When I left the hotel I think I experienced the coldest morning of the year so far.  My car thermometer told me it was -1oC.  Was I being optimistic planning on running in shorts?  There was still an hour before the run started, maybe it’ll warm up a bit by then, I thought to myself. 

The race HQ for the Broad Meadow Marathon was in the Carriage Café at the end of the Greenway, a disused railway line that is now a leisure walking and cycle route.  In my opinion it was strange that the marathon itself didn’t make much use of this bridleway.  We were all given our numbers, directions and a cup of tea in the café before setting off at 9am.  I glanced over the race instructions and found the route description confusing.  For a start I couldn’t tell which direction we were supposed to leave the car park.  I checked with a few other runners, who seemed just as confused.  Many people were wondering how they’d manage to follow the instructions for all 26.2 miles.  Whilst waiting to set off I also decided to change into running leggings.  The thought of getting my bare legs out on such a cold day was too much.

Race HQ in the Carriage Cafe

Come the appointed hour the race organiser set us off in the right direction, after reciting a shortened version of King Henry V’s “Once more onto the breach” speech.  About 50 people set off at the start.  I soon found myself in a lead group with seven other runners.  I was grateful to note that we had a runner from the Stratford running club up front who seemed to know the route well.  He was the only person without the race directions in his hand.  This gave me and the others in our group a lot of confidence.  We maintained a pace that I was very comfortable with and one which I knew I could sustain to the finish.  I knew I’d be o.k. so long as our Stratford man really knew the way and didn’t decide to speed up.

Unfortunately, the Stratford runner was probably over confident of the route.  At about 5 miles he seemed to suddenly doubt his directions.   We asked a local dog walker to point us in the direction of a road mentioned on the instructions.  When we reached the junction we met a group of runners who should have been a long way behind us coming from a different direction.  It seemed we’d gone about half a mile out of our way.  I decided that whilst the local knowledge had served us fairly well to this point, I would start to also try to follow the directions myself.  However, we did go wrong a further two times because the Stratford runner insisted he knew the way, whilst the rest of us were trying to piece together the instructions in front of us.

The marathon route itself was very scenic.  The first quarter was mostly over rolling countryside, passing some quaint churches and a war memorial on top of a hill with great views.  The second quarter was nice and flat following the canal on an out and back route, which meant we could cheer on the slower runners as we passed them whilst returning to the halfway point.  The halfway point itself was back at the Carriage Café where we’d started.  We were due to pick up the second half of the race instructions at this point, but we had a forced stop as the instructions weren’t immediately available.  Someone had to rush off and collect them from the boot of a car. 

Being checked in at the third checkpoint

As we had to wait for the 2nd set of instructions there was time to pose for a photo

The second half of the marathon then mostly followed the river out to the village of Welford-on-Avon.  Returning from Welford gave us another opportunity to cheer on those runners behind us and for us to appreciate just how much of a margin we had over the other competitors. 

When we were in Welford our Stratford guide picked up a hamstring pull and decided to withdraw from the run.  At this point our original group of eight was reduced to six.  We weren’t quite sure what had happened to the other person in the group.  We continued as a group all the way to the fifth and final checkpoint, which was just 2 miles from the finish.  I’m sure others in the group were wondering if we’d end up having a sprint finish to the line.  We all knew there were prizes up for grabs for the first 3 runners.  It was certainly going through my mind, but I kept telling myself I wasn’t bothered about getting a prize.  The idea of turning the last few miles into a race certainly wasn’t discussed.  However, with about half a mile to go the youngest person in our group clearly fancied his chances and started to speed up.  Someone else then started a pursuit and I decided to have a go myself.  With about 200m to go I was in second place, but I was aware of someone closing in on me fast.  I felt as if I was close to my limit, I could have gone a little quicker, but to do so might have resulted in me spilling the remnants of breakfast over the finish line.  I reasoned that coming second really wasn’t that important.  With less than 100m to go to the line I was passed by the runner who clearly wanted the second place a lot more than I did.  I was very happy to come away with a third place finish. 

Marathon number 15 completed

My finishing time was 3 hours 46 minutes, not particularly fast, especially as the course wasn’t that difficult.  It’s indicative of how much you slow down when you have to follow instructions.  We six leaders congratulated each other at the finish.  Once we’d stopped running we quickly became cold, so we retreated into the café where free tea and sandwiches were laid on for us.  Chris, the organiser then turned up to give us our mementos: a T-shirt and an engraved shot glass.  Everyone seemed delighted with the shot glass.  It’s certainly not a memento that I’ve had before.  We were then asked to hang on for the prize giving ceremony, which would take place when the first three ladies arrived.  Other runners slowly trickled in after us.  Over 20 minutes went by before the next finisher arrived, and we had to wait almost an hour until the first three ladies were in.  However, given that I’ve never, ever been involved in a prize giving ceremony before I was certainly not about to rush home and miss it. 

The third lady turned out to be Lisa Barry, who I ran with on the Pathfinder marathon back in August.  She was taking this one easy as she was running another marathon the next day.  The prize giving ceremony was held; we were applauded by about half a dozen hangers on, said our goodbyes and went our separate ways.  And what was my prize?  A fairly decent looking bottle of mulled wine (very seasonal) and a £10 gift voucher.  For an £18 marathon entry fee I had come away with a decent amount of goodies and had a very pleasant run with a nice bunch of guys.

Now I just have one final marathon to run this year.  I really hope it is on a marked course and that I don’t have to follow instructions.  I’ll find out next Sunday.

At home with my booty: T-shirt, engraved shot glass, gift voucher and mulled wine

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