I'm not quite sure what to think right now. The Brighton Marathon last Sunday was a great day out both weather wise but more importantly, cheering on my fellow club runners, and many others, to the finish line. It also emits fond memories of taking part in this event in each of the last two years. Most of all, it signalled the real countdown to London, I suppose like advent signals the countdown to Christmas. At the same time, it means this short journey is nearing its end. Easter fell between Brighton and London this year and on the plan for Easter weekend was 10 miles. I was away with my family near Bridport in Dorset. We've been to Norfolk over Easter for the last two years and strangely I found the Trowse 10K happened to be on the same weekend. This year was also strange as I found the East Cliff Quarter Marathon was taking place on Easter Saturday. Fancy that! Add Bournemouth parkrun on the same day and I'm as good as at the planned 10 miles. Trouble was, I must have made a mistake in my planning of the journey time to Bournemouth parkrun. When I rechecked the time I needed to leave for parkrun, I found that it was a 75 minute drive. Add on a little extra just in case and it was hard to really expect my family to have to be up so early, or for me to have the car and not be back until late afternoon. After a quick check, Weymouth parkrun seemed the best solution, and an extra 30 minutes or so in bed. The drive afterwards to Bournemouth was approximately 60 minutes so the second leg was in the lap of the gods. We found Weymouth parkrun in good time. A bang of a drum and a shout out for first timers meant it was time to go and listen for anything important about this course. Added to that was a tongue in cheek who's come the farthest today. Any thoughts of the biggest cheer were soon dashed by Brisbane and Durban. Pfft! Time to start. I arrived at the start pen and noticed time bands. Quite useful in the hope of not being held up through the start, and also not holding up faster runners. All of a sudden, one of the volunteers stood on a crate and blew a horn to gain everyone's attention. There soon followed some jovial song from the same gentleman as I struggled to get my phone out to record a little. He finished his song and talk and the crate disappeared, but only to be used at the front of the pack for, what turned out to be, the Weymouth haka, luckily though, nowhere near as scary as the New Zealand version. Sadly, I was enjoying it so much, I forgot to record any of it on my phone! With the formalities done, we were on our way, one short loop through partially wooded trail followed by a longer stretch out and back before finishing on the second part of the first loop. As I headed out towards the turn point, and probably at just over 1 mile (of 3.1), I saw the lead bike and the leader.......on their way back! The leader was flying and the lead bike working hard to stay ahead. I wasn't the only one to notice the impressive performance about to be recorded - others around me made comment at where they usually cross paths with the leader - much sooner than normal. I headed back towards the finish and decided to push on harder than planned, eventually finishing in 25:24. On reaching the finish area, I discovered a new course record had been set - 14:47. With parkrun done, it was time to attempt the second leg. I didn't know at this point whether there was a cut off for collecting my number before starting and so there was some doubt as to whether or not I would make it in time. At one point on the way, Is had given up any hope of making the start, but with luck on my side, I was dropped off by Bournemouth pier and then ran the 200 yards or so to the registration area. Two helpful ladies found my number and took my bag, one of them pinning the number to my vest while I handed over my hoodie. Never mind the PWR sandpaper vest that had done me damage in recent weeks, I was briefly concerned I might end up with a couple of unwanted nipple piercings! I got away unscathed. To be fair, the two ladies were incredibly helpful and placed the pins safely away from the danger zones. I rushed to the start line, well the very back, and within 60 seconds we were on our way, running along the seafront. I hadn't really looked at the route, nor thought about it on the way. As I settled, I started wondering. Was this an out and back course, all along the seafront, or was the cliff to my left something to be concerned with? About 2 miles in, and with the cliff face becoming ever higher, I decided to ask. My worst fear was confirmed. As it turned out, the incline worked out naturally leniently, with shallow inclines broken up with short flat sections, even a downhill thrown in. The last couple of miles were largely uphill but fairly shallow and long. The bigger danger was cars being parked and occupants getting out apparently unaware there was a race on. I wasn't far off crashing into one - she moved with about 5 yards to spare after I called out. The last half a mile was mainly downhill. I reached this point having not been overtaken once throughout, clearly a benefit of starting right at the back. I was sure I had never finished a race without being over taken before..........and sadly that was to remain. I was passed by 4 others in the last 200-300 yards. Oh well. Small chocolate eggs awaited finishers followed by the bag drop. The queue to reclaim bags seemed slow and when I reached the van, I realised why. None of the bags had been placed in any sort of order in the van. Near the front I saw a white plastic bag labelled 108. Why couldn't those numbers be 180? I waited, was asked a couple of times what my bag looked like, I even heard that my bag had been given to someone else until that person said it wasn't hers. Eventually, the chap in the van, unable to find 180, showed me the contents of 108 and asked if it was mine. Yes, that looks like the one, confirmed when I found my PWR hoodie inside.
All in all, a successful morning on many levels, and different in many ways too, from the pre-parkrun ritual, the sub 15 minute course record set at Weymouth, the last minute check in at Bournemouth and the complicated bag storage at the same event, the importance of time was very much on display in very different ways. Next week won't be quite as low key, or have quite the same baggage retrieval process. In the meantime, there is the final gentle run on Tuesday plus the visit to the London Marathon exhibition to collect my number. Oh, and a little bit of nervous excitement too.
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ABOUT MEHaving completed 5 marathons between 1999 and 2016, I decided this year, I would try to do it properly and plan my training! Alongside, I wanted to keep a blog as it went along, partly to look back on, and partly to help anyone else who may benefit from my own experiences. Archives
November 2023
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