After a period of rest for 2 weeks prior to the rest, I was hoping to be fresh and ready for marathon 7 as the course promised to be fast and flat and I had my eyes on a new personal best.
My run on the Thursday just prior to the race was unfortunately quite slow and sluggish and my legs felt overly heavy giving me quite a sense of foreboding for the upcoming challenge.
My personal life was pretty jam packed in the few days in the lead up to the race and I had spent most of my time moving and delivering furniture as Emi and I prepared to move houses. On the Saturday before the race, Emi and I made our way to my new digs in Cardiff and spent most of the afternoon and evening getting me and my things settled in.
Sunday came round far too quickly. I really could have done with a days rest in between moving and the race, but life is rarely simple and after all, what doesn't kill you only makes you stronger!
The race itself was quite a small affair. Far from the hustle and bustle of one of the larger races like London and Edinburg, packed with sponsored runners and tv crews, Boddington presented a small and calm affair, the entrants to the marathon and the 50km ultra were runners of a wholly different and weathered class. As I glanced around before the start, I spied a large number of "100 marathon club" members which gave me something to think about as these guys don't generally go for the easier races!
The race itself comprised 11 laps of a 3.7km course around Boddington manor. The course was fast and flat with a single water station. Reading the previous race reports, I was slightly worried that the weather wouldn't be on our side and would be too hot. The previous year there had been a high number of withdrawals due to heat exhaustion.
As with the previous BTL events I had done in Gloucester, the organisation of the race was pretty good, although perhaps a little basic. The start line was some 15 minutes away from the race HQ and there was a bit of confusion over which start line was which as the two distance races started in fairly close succession.
I had hoped for a new pb in this race, and so with perhaps a touch of mistaken optimism, I set my watch for 3:50.
The first few laps passed exceptionally quickly. I was feeling surprisingly good despite the bad run on Thursday, and so made an effort to be about 0.1 miles ahead of where I should be after every lap.
After about 7 laps, I was about 0.9 miles infront of my goal time, and was starting to set my sights on a 3:40 finish.
I managed to catch up with Paul Wade, a fellow 12 in 2012 runner, who was looking really strong and on target for a 3:10 finish. He said that he was started to flag a bit, and I must admit, by this point the heat (which was slowly starting to creep up) was starting to get to me, and my legs were feeling heavier with every step.
Paul quickly moved off into the crowd as I made the crucial mistake of stopping to walk for a bit. You would have thought that with 6 marathons behind me I would have learnt by now never to walk!! From this point on, I saw the lead that I had built up on my goal time slowly diminish to the point that it was looking unlikely that I would be able to t beat it.
Emi and her sister had come to support me, and their support was a god send as I rounded thE corner for the penultimate time.
Part of the challenge of this particular set up was the psychological aspect of seeing people peel off towards the finish when you still have another lap to go, and hearing the marshals direct those infront whilst instructing me to go round again, sapped what little mental resolve I had left.
Luckily Em and Vicki were there to pick me up, and with various woops and cheers, they sent me off on my final lap. I managed a walk/run hybrid on the last lap, my focus now on beating the 4 hour mark.
Luckily, as I rounded the timing corner, I was on target to finish a few minutes within 4 hours and so managed to dig deep to push through the last 600m. I didn't quite manage a sprint finish but felt a sense of relief as I collected my finishers medal, securing 66th place and checking marathon 7 off the list.
Overall, it was a good race with a slightly disappointing result. The lack of scenery would stop me from running this race again unless it was simply to get a good for age time at a future point, but I'm glad I had the opportunity to meet the people I did.
Tanks for taking the time to read this latest entry and for your continued support.
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