Wowzer! Its been a while since the race actually occured, so i'll try and fit in as many of the details as I can! Its been a bit hectic since the race took place so haven't been able to get a few minutes to do a proper write up. Some of you may know that I study part time one day a week, and I have had the added pressure of exams along to revise for. Still, all done now so I can get back to the challenge!
The third race took place on the 4th of March and I was supposed to be doing the steyning stinger in west sussex. Unfortunately, the race was full by the time I entered, and so I had to find an alternative at short notice. This came in the form of the Cambridge Boundary Run, which is a 26.2 mile trail run through some of the more interesting areas of Cambridge.
Since running the race, I have learnt an important lesson about dealing with this should it happen again, don't rush into it! Had I have spent more time researching the race, I probably would have elected to run a different marathon for #3 as it was quite honestly brutal, and as it was my 3rd marathon in 6 weeks, I really should have planned it much better than I did.
Emi and I headed back to southampton the night before to stay with her parents so as to make the journey to cambridge on the sunday morning as short as possible. During the drive, it started to rain, slowly at first but the rain kept on coming, and so at this point I started to get the feeling it was going to be a tough day.
A friend of mine was entering the foray of long distance running, doing his first half marathon at the Cambridge run, and as runs go, I can probably think of a few easier runs that he could have started with, but kudos to him for finishing in the time he did!
In the run up to the race, I was feeling more confident in my ability that I had done before the first two marathons, one cause of this was the knowledge that I had 7 weeks to recover before marathon #4.
I had decided to take on a different tactic for this race, preferring a slower pace for the first 10 miles or so, hoping that this would help with the fatigue that i've been getting towards the 20 mile mark in the first two races. I figure that it may well have worked had it not been for what lay in store for me subsequently, and at the 10 mile mark, I was feeling good about the progress so far and confident that the overall experience was going to be a good one.
The course was marked out by flour arrows on the floor, or by markers taped to lampposts at regular points, which in normal summer weather, would have been an excellent plan. Unfortunately, the weather was not on the organises side it would seem, as the water washed away alot of the flour, and the wind took away alot of the markers! I was lucky as I managed not to get lost at all, but I did hear some stories that people had run an extra 5 miles by going in the wrong direction!
Around the 11 mile mark, the weather began to worsen noticeably and the temperature began to drop along with it. By this point, most of the runners were soaked through and it was a common thought amoungst the people I was running with that they would withdraw at the half marathon mark and catch the coach back to the start. If i'm honest, I envied them in their freedom to do this, but carried on regardless.
One of the thoughts that stays with me, occuring most often when i'm going through a low point in a race, is that the people that I am running for have this level of pain/discomfort/etc on a daily basis. Most likely they have periods of reprieve, but on the whole, am I am lucky in the sense that I have not personally experienced it, have a terminal illness that causes you continual pain would make a few hours of pain and cold out in the rain look like a walk in the park. Its something that gives me the mental strength to keep going even at the hardest points.
After the half way mark, the terrain started to become dangerous in some points. The weather had been suitably abmissmal for 2-3 hours now and the muddy paths through fields had become very slick, which when the ground is uneven and the raised path is bordered by 1/2 foot drops, makes for slow going to avoid any injuries.
My luck was beginning to run out towards the 3/4 point, having plodded through the first 19 miles or so, I began to experience a grinding sensation in my left hip which became very painful very quickly.
I've been quite lucky in my running career and have never hit the "wall" before. During the first two marathons, of course it got hard to keep going at points, but I never thought about dropping out of a race. This changed during the Cambridge run, and I think I hit the wall around 6 times or so in the space of 3 miles!!
I always knew that each race throughout this challenge would teach me something new and all of them would come with their individual problems to be overcome. This race was an exceptionally humbling experience for me, and gave me a new found respect for the marathon distance.
Towards the end of the race, at around 24miles or so, alot of people were echoing my own thoughts as they went past, and that was they were simply wishing for the race to be over at this point. I've never thought this before, and whilst I didn't realise it at the time, it would give me the determination to double my training efforts for the remaining 9 marathons.
The last few miles were quite possibly the toughest two miles that I have ever had to run, and the sight of the finish line was like seeing an oasis in the desert! I managed to cross the line in 5 hours and 20minutes, which was much much slower than I was hoping for!
Still, I managed to finish the race, and it is another one off the list and one step closer to my goal, and whilst the race physically and mentally broke me to the point of wanting to give in, I really can't wait to do it again next year (although I think i'll stick to the half marathon next year!) just to see if I can make it round in a better time!
The next 6 weeks or so will be spent trying to improve my speedwork before the London Marathon. I'm actually quite looking forward to doing a reasonably flat marathon that's all on tarmac! Also, the experience of the crowds throughout the entire race will be an experience that I wont have had so far, and I am hoping to break the 3hr 45mark for the finishing time.
Lessons learned from this race:
1. Always plan and research a race before you do it!
2. Never underestimate how bad things can get. Hope for the best, but plan for the worst!
3. Bring a jacket!
