Portsmouth Coastal Marathon

Hurrah!  2011 is almost at an end and I’m feeling greatly relieved to have reached the end injury free with my marathon challenge behind me.  As has already been pointed out, it is a good job that I can run better than I can count.  I have completed 16 marathons in one year after originally intending to do just one a month.  My average time for all 16 was just under 3 hours 30 minutes, ranging from 3 hours 3 minutes in London to 4 hours 14 minutes for the Shillington Shuffle.  I ran 6 pure road marathons, 5 trail marathons and 5 marathons that were a mix of road and trail, and 5 of the marathons required a degree of self-navigation.  So, my choice of marathons was reasonably diverse, which certainly helped to keep the challenge interesting throughout the year.  I’m not sure it would have been as enjoyable if they’d all been large scale road marathons like London.

My last marathon of the year took place from Portsmouth on Sunday 18 December.  I saw a few familiar faces.  First off was the legend who is Steve Edwards, who makes my marathon exploits seem feeble.  He has already become the youngest person to run 500 marathons (I was told this by another runner, and it’s not a fact that I have checked with the man himself).  He is now on a mission to run 500 consecutive marathons in less then 3 hours 30 minutes (this is true).  Talking to him on Sunday I got the impression he was slightly disappointed at only running 25 marathons in 2011 with an average time of 3 hours 10 minutes.  There were a couple of people who I’d seen at Broad Meadow the previous week, one who is closing in on his 100^th marathon one who already has 411 marathons under his belt.  I also met up with Ian Berry once again, who I ran with on the Pathfinder marathon and in the New Forest, along with his girlfriend Sandra, who ran with their pet husky (who was the only runner to complete the marathon and not be given a medal).  I also chatted briefly with a runner I met at the Bedford Clanger and Shillington Shuffle (unfortunately, I’ve forgotten his name). 

A few runners warm-up at the start of the Portsmouth Coastal Marathon

In total some 640 runners took part on Sunday, quite a large field for a December marathon.  However, it was clear why the marathon had such a large turn-out.  The organisation was immaculate and the route was very simple but at the same time sufficiently varied and scenic to make it an enjoyable event.  From Portsmouth Promenade we headed east all the way to the south-west tip of Hayling Island, which is connected to the main land by a bridge.  We then followed the same course all the way back to the start/finish. 

Hitting the beach at mile 2

At the 2 mile point we found ourselves leaving tarmac to run on the first stretch of beach.  We ran around the top edge of a bay that would be under water at high tide.  I was informed that slower runners got very wet feet at this point last year.  The marathon has an unenforced cut-off point at the half-way mark.  If you don’t make it to half-way before the cut-off you can guarantee getting wet feet on your homeward run.  Shortly after this I almost lost my cool with the only idiot runner I’ve met all year.  We were running along a narrow footpath with a fence to a caravan park on one side and a narrow concrete sea wall on the other side.  There was clearly no option but to tuck in behind the runner ahead of you and not even consider any overtaking moves.  However, someone behind me had other ideas.  He got so close to me that he caught my heels twice, and I could feel his breath on my neck.  I was about to turn round and tell him to back-off when he literally pushed past me and tucked in between me and the runner ahead.  I thought he was about to clip the heels of the next runner, but instead he jumped up on to the sea wall, which was about 6 inches wide, and sprinted past the six or so runners ahead of me.  I could tell by his body shape that there was no way he was going to beat me to the finish, and I wondered to myself why anyone would risk falling off a reasonably high sea wall on to shingle at the 4 mile point of a marathon.  Sure enough, once we reached the end of the footpath and were running on a reasonably wide section of tarmac, I found myself passing the sea wall sprinter within a mile of his passing me, and then never saw him again.  He also made himself fairly distinctive by wearing a Santa hat.

One small section of the route was alongside a very busy road, but for the most part we stayed very close to the coast running on a mixture of tarmac, gravel and mud paths, which were frozen on the way out but completely churned up and slippery on the way back.  There was one other beach section to contend with, this one with very loose shingle underfoot, which is energy sapping to run on.  Fortunately, it was no longer than, maybe, 100m.

At the halfway point I was just ahead of Ian, Sandra and their dog.  Sandra and I kept passing each other over the next few miles.  Typically Sandra would be ahead of me and I’d catch her at each water station, whilst she made sure her husky had enough to drink.  Ian must have been just behind me the whole way.  With 8 miles to go the wind seemed to pick up.  With 6 miles to go I started to feel drained of energy and found it very hard to maintain a decent pace.  With 4 miles to go I was caught by both Ian and Sandra.  I decided to try and keep with them to the finish.  I then realised that Sandra had mud on her T-shirt and was running with a limp.  When I asked what had happened she told me she had managed to sprain her ankle with 9 miles to go, but was determined to carry on.  I was really struggling at this point but I thought that if she could run with a sprained ankle I should be able to keep up with her.  I was also sure that if I was in as much pain as she was I’d have given up entirely, or at least decided to just walk to the finish.  I was also amazed that Ian hadn’t tried to convince her to stop.

Whilst running with Ian and Sandra my right hamstring started to cramp, sending sharp pains down my leg.  I felt forced to slow to a walk, leaving the other two to go ahead.  Watching Sandra limping off on a sprained ankle whilst I walked to nurse my hamstring made me feel like a complete wimp.  I managed to start running again, but if I tried to push hard off my right leg my hamstring would complain.  So I had to run with an almost entirely straight right leg for the last 4 miles.  This meant that I was passed by several runners, a situation that is the reverse of what I’m used to in the closing stages of a marathon.  At that point, I have to say, I wasn’t enjoying my marathon experience.  I felt as if I was attempting one marathon too many, or that’s what my brain seemed to be telling me.  I even questioned why I’d want to run 26.2 miles at all.  I then thought about Sandra limping some distance ahead of me and told myself not to be such a wimp and to just get on with it.  Even with a hamstring in spasm I was able to complete each mile in about 8 minutes 30 seconds, or thereabouts, and I reasoned that many of my clients would be happy with that.  I was glad to reach the section of beach again and to then find myself back on Portsmouth Promenade with just 2 miles to go.  I could see the pier in the distance and knew the finish line was just beyond it.  For what seemed like ages the pier never seemed to get any closer.  I probably had to walk about three times over the last 2 miles.  I couldn’t quite believe this was happening to me.  I don’t think that I’ve ever felt so relieved to reach the finish line of a marathon.  I was also amazed that I had some how managed to do it in just under 3 hours 20 minutes.

Thumbs up for the 16th and final marathon of the year

Of course, a few minutes after finishing, once I’d collected my medal and event T-shirt (only the second technical running T-shirt of the year – the other being from Loch Ness), any pain in my leg seemed to have completely subsided.  I chatted with a few other runners, all of whom said they found it tough, despite being completely flat.  Even Steve Edwards admitted to finding it quite hard, due to all the different conditions underfoot.  I then sat and chatted with another runner on the promenade, sheltered from the wind whilst eating our complimentary soup, bread roll and mince pie.  We watched many other runners on the last few hundred metres of the marathon and cheered them home along with a handful of supporters. 

Runners approaching the finish line

I then left when I noticed I was starting to feel the winter chill seep into my bones, and realised how little clothes I was wearing for a winter’s day.  I headed back to the car and started thinking about a hot bath and a big Sunday roast waiting for me at home.  I wondered if I’d ever be tempted to top my challenge.  For now I am looking forward to a few weeks off and not running another marathon until Paris on April 15^th.

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 -1^oC.  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