This will hopefully be a good bit shorter that lasts weekends Sligo Coast to Coast 10 miler report (Yay!).
I was very tired for this one due to our stay in Spain during the week where we over indulged on food and a few drinks (me, wife doesn’t drink). Also we could hear the man next snoring next room to ours for the duration. I got very little sleep the night before last, so felt rotten all day yesterday. Went to bed early last night, had a so so sleep until 2am and then drifting on and off until 6.15 alarm. Two snoozes, up, washed, got changed, made my porridge, muesli with water mix added banana, honey and a bit of soya milk, ate, got my that I packed last night and I was off.
The run was again an hours drive from home, lovely wide roads with little traffic and was there but 8 o’clock. Got my number bib and long sleeve T-shirt which is very nice. Went to the loo in the hotel, all full, found another one, tried on top, it fitted, picked playlist to play and set up NRC 20 mile run on phone. Someone came into the loo and tried my door, I left, washed my hands got to front door of hotel, heard a man calling me so I stopped. The gentleman had my phone, Doh! IK thanked him very much.
I then went back to the car to change, put o sleeveless T and the new top over it, pinned the number bib on, put all the gels into my pockets and some salt chews that were recommended to me in Holland and Barratt yesterday, put on my new hydration pack I got in Decathlon in Spain. I then noticed that most of the other runners were wearing sleeveless tops, so off with all the gear and left the sleeveless on. I hate running in them to opted for a short sleeveless T-shirt instead (I take 4 changes with me to try to cover all scenarios). It was 12 degrees so was kind of a borderline temperature. I pinned my bib back on and put back on my hydration vest, I was weary of the noise it made the last time so jogged a bit, heard the swooshing noise again so I turned around and left it in the car… I walked with all everyone else to the starting line and set my watches. The first to 32k with a time of 2hr 28 which was nearly 2 minutes faster than last ¾ marathon and set the other to normal. Small wait took the usual pics, crowd didn’t look too big for our run (there was also a ½ marathon starting half an hour later at 9.30) and we were off.
The start was quite crowded and very little wiggle room. Someone dropped a small collapsible bottle of water, we all ran past it, then a small lady went to her left directly in front of me and I had to take emergency action to avoid tripping over her, she apologise, it could have been nasty. I found a few gaps and settled down. I wanted to run at about 5.40 per km, my watched buzzed at the km mark and I was too fast and tried to slow down letting runners behind pass me until I found a couple of men running together at about the pace I wanted and followed them for the next 20k or so. The lady that I followed for most of the Swinford ¾ marathon passed me at about the 6k mark, she was wearing the same gear as last time with her green compression leg things. I was sensible enough to hang behind these two guys I was following this time. I day dreamed a few times and almost passed them.
I wore a different pair of trainers than the Swinford run as my feet felt were getting quite sore towards the end, they had no support and felt like they were twisting inwards. However, this time my big right toe began to get painful at about the 10k mark, it was only then that I realised that the trainers just about fitted and there was not wiggle room. I tried to turn my big toe in a bet for the remainder of the run.
The course itself ran along a road parallel to a river, it was fairly flat and not much too look at. We crossed a bridge over the river and ran back down the other side of the river and then back up to near the start and repeated the loop over the bridge again and then turned right instead of left (I think). This part of the run was where the two races met.
I stopped at every drink station to take a cup of water, walked to the bin to give myself a bit of recovery time, disposed of the cup, picked up a bit of speed to catch up to the guys again and repeated that process for the next 3 drink stations. The last 2 stations were offering “Freeway” coke and the second last offered jellybeans as well. I took a few even though I had some myself.
We passed a few runners who were walking and running, I seemed to be the one that they had let pass before they picked up speed only to pass me again. I think it was because there was they couldn’t see anyone behind and thought I was last. They all eventually faded into the oblivion behind me.
The guys I was following stopped along with me at the last drinking station, I grabbed 2 cokes and walked to the bin, they did as well. The had gotten a bit slower, I almost passed them again, checked my watch and I was still ahead of target time, so I held off. They then got even more slower so I passed with about 8k left to go and they faded into the distance.
I was them passed by two older men from the same running club as each other, we swapped greetings and they passed. One was giving the other instructions, every now and then they would drop their arms and waggle them and relax their bodies a bit. It kind of reminded me of the flamingos courtship dance. I smiled a bit and mimicked them to see if I would benefit but no joy. Looking back they must have been running the ½ marathon race. I got passed a few other runners and got past a few times myself.
The rest of the run started to hurt, I found that I was starting to flop and tried to pick up my knees. I had little idea of the remaining distance until I past a road sign that read Ballybofey 5 km (where the race started form and would end), I felt a bit relieved. A few minutes later I passed another sign that also read, Ballybofey 5 km…
We were directed onto a walking path for the last km or so, I felt like Mr. Raggedy however I was still ahead of target. There were two girls about 100 meters ahead, I saw them a good bit before that as they were walking and running (mostly walking), they saw me going slightly catching up and started running again. One of them got a bit cocky and turned around and started running backwards before turning back around when a sign read 200m to go. I picked up the pace a bit, turned the corner and saw the finish line. The last two runs had a picture taken of each runner crossing the finish line, both my pictures looked like I was finished, and trying to sound the letter “O”, this time I was ready, I picked up my form, lifted my legs and shoulders and tried to look like a strong runner going over the line.
I finished with a time in 116th place out of 188 with a PB of 2.56.15, just over a minute ahead of target and beating my last ¾ Marathon where I did it in 2.58.43.
So that’s my “shorter” report and last long race of the year that I can see at the moment.
Virtual London Marathon Week 12 Run 4 - Littlehampton 10K completed
My Brighton marathon
Oslo Half Marathon Landmarks Challenge
Copenhagen Marathon Phase 2 “Hard Slog” Complete
