The orpington marathon was number 5 in my series this year and was a casual event in comparison to the larger events that I have taken part in this year, the website advertises the event as a fun run more than a serious event, which is exemplified by the fact the course is "as close as can be to 26.2 roughly" and isn't officially measured.
Emma and I drove up from southampton on the morning of the race, we had been staying with her parents as we were going away for the week on the monday and it made it easier to to bring everything back on the friday night with the cats so we could make sure they settled in before heading off.
The drive down was fairly uneventful, I did my usual thing of falling asleep within 30 seconds of getting in the car, and we arrived in good time to get registered before the race started. My dad had decided to come down and see me start so we had a chance to have a catch up before the race got under way, and it was good to have some support to get me going.
The race itself was two laps of approximately 13.1 miles, although I noticed that some of the mile markers were out by as much as 0.4 miles either way, but over the loop the discrepancies worked themselves out but the course ended up being slightly over the 26.2 miles.
The race started without any major hiccups and the first km or so is on a nice down hill slope so I managed to ease into my stride. I wanted to make sure that I didn't go off too quickly and was hoping for a negative split overall, so went off slowly with the bulk of the crowd whilst the faster runners quickly went out of sight round the first corner.
I was hoping for an easy-ish course as it was advertised as a fun event, although within the first mile came the first hill climb which went on for just under a mile or so. Luckily the remainder of the course was fairly flat with only a slight spattering of hills around the 8 mile mark and the last mile. The hill climb itself was a good thing as it got my heart going, although I soon regretted not doing more of a warm up before the start!
After 2 miles or so I found myself running at the same pace as another runner, Nick Marsden, who was doing the run as his first foray into marathon running. The first lap or so was spent running with Nick as we discussed various things about running, from training schedules and nutrition to shoe choices. It turns out that he had mostly been doing half marathons prior to doing the orpington run, but from the pace he was pulling off I would say that his previous running experience had given him a good basis for the longer distance.
The first lap passed without any drastic events, which unfortunately doesn't make for a good read! Emi was doing her usual support team duties and met me at the 8 mile mark with a fresh bottle of lucozade which was just in time as the weather for the day was the nicest we had had for a while and the temperature had started to creep up.
I had decided to take a slightly different tact in respect of hydration and had opted to have a bottle of lucozade every 6-8 miles and supplement this with water as and when necessary and I came across a water station. London had taught me the value of good hydration and I have been playing with taking varying amounts of water with me on longer runs to try and get the right balance.
The tactic seemed to be paying off as Nick and I crossed the half way point at 1hour 50 minutes which was slightly ahead of target of 2 hours and I was still feeling pretty strong. Scott had recently sponsored me and had put the challenge of beating his PB of 3:43 with the reward of doubling the sponsorship if I managed to pull it off. After crossing the line in 1:50 I had started to wonder whether today would be the day that I could pull it off!
At around the 20 mile mark the tiredness started to set in and my legs began to feel heavy. Luckily I still had my supply of dextrose tablets and half a bottle of lucozade with me, but around the 21 mile mark I encountered the second hill which goes across a trail path and takes a quick detour over a golf course and found that I simply couldnt left my legs enough to continue running and decided to take a tactical approach and walk until I had exited the golf course and take the hit of around 3 minutes too my time.
Emi was waiting for me on the exit of the golf course and indicated that Nick had passed about 5 minutes before meaning that I had been walking slower than I had realised and my chances of catching Nick again were relatively small. Still, Emi sent me off with shouts of encouragement and a fresh bottle and I slowly settled back into a run with Nick some way off in the distance.
Towards the 23 mile mark, I had started to get the familiar feeling of cramp setting in in my hamstring so decided to stop briefly and warm it up and stretch it out which gave some temporary relief but between 23 miles and the end of 24 miles I found that I had to stop every 2-3 minutes to stretch the muscles out again.
I had noticed that Nick had started to adopt a walk/run technique in the last few minutes so I was managing to make some gains as long as I didnt stop for too long when I stretched my legs out and I picked up the pace when I did run.
Lately my longer runs have incorporated at least a mile or two at a 7 min/mile pace and so I decided to throw caution to the wind at 24 miles and dig a little deeper to see what I had left.
The last mile or so is up hill, which I would class as one of my stronger areas and so I decided to up the pace and deal with the consequences after I had finished. The gamble paid off and I caught up with Nick about half a mile before the finish line at the last corner.
At this point, the course levels into a gentle down hill and with the end in sight, I could breathe a sigh of relief and pushed in towards the crowd that had gathered around the finish line. My mum and Emi were waiting for me with cameras in hand (although even a week later I am still yet to see the pictures!) as I crossed the line, and a quick look at my watch showed me that I had finished in 3:51 meaning I had smashed by previous PB by about 8 minutes, which was a great end to what had turned out to be a very good day.
The race itself, whilst only advertised as a fun run, turned out to be one of the best events that I have had the pleasure in taking part in. The marshals, of which there were many, were kind, supportive, and friendly throughout the entire race and the entire thing seemed to go off without a hitch.
I have around 3 weeks or so now until the next race, the South Downs Marathon, which will be an entirely new experience as the elevation is much much higher than I had done before and it is predominantly a trial run. However, the change in my running schedule seems to have had a beneficial impact and after only 2 days or so I was able to get back out to run, even if it was only 1.6 miles at a 10min/mile pace, which is a positive sign.
Thanks for taking the time to read this race report and for your continued support through my 2012 marathon challenge!
