The Salisbury Marathon (named the 5-4-3-2-1 for the 5 rivers, 4 hills, 3 large country estates, 2 castles and 1 cathedral on the course) would also be a point where I could get a degree of perspective on my recent training and assess, to an extent, whether it had been of much benefit.
Emi and I stayed in Bournemouth prior to the race, an occasion in itself as it is the last time I will ever stay in the house as it has now sold, and we made our way up on the morning of the race, arriving in plenty of time so that we didn't have to rush around too much. Bless Emi, even after 8 marathons she still is surprised by how early we have to get up, but she was an absolute life saver and has been throughout this year.
Also running this race were a few familiar faces from Westbourne Running Club, and so it was nice to see some old friends and catch up on the news. Scott and Kelly were running the 50km ultra and Jacqui was running the marathon with me.
I managed to see Scott and Kelly as they set off as the 50km ultra started 30minutes before the marathon event, and I then had a chance to chat with Jacqui for the first mile or so of the marathon race.
This race was always going to be tough due to the varied terrain and the summer heat. It rained for about 30minutes or so prior to the race starting, and I was starting to worry that it would go the same way as Cambridge, but the rain eased off quite quickly only to be replaced by a slightly muggy heat.
The race itself comprised some beautiful scenery and I managed to snap a few pics as I went round. The course takes you through three private estates which are normally closed to the public which were stunning. One thing that never ceases to amaze me about running is some of the generosity you see demonstrated by the runners and the running community.
This is a picture of one of the "houses" on the country estate, although it looks more like a small castle to me, and its "granny annexe" that is bigger than most houses!
The race went really well for the first 18 miles or so, I ran with my camelbak which was a godsend due to the heat, and was experimenting with using bananas as peri-race fuel which seemed to work pretty well. The support at the water stations was superb and towards the latter stages the stations were laden with a vast array of sweets and treats, so I might have scoffed just a few of those aswell!
After the 18 mile mark my pace started to slow as cramp set up in my left thigh and around the upper part of my left knee. I fully expected this at some point and so had planned for my time to be around the 4 hour mark.
At roughly 2 miles from the end, Scott caught me up. The 50km ultra adds an additional 5 miles to the start of the course, and then joins the marathon course to the finish. It turns out that Scott and Kelly had had a bit of a bet to see which one would catch me up first! Lucky I managed to keep it to just being Scott, but despite the bet, it was good to see a familiar race.
I managed to run with Scott for roughly a mile before I had to drop off. My left thigh was cramping with clock work regularity so I had to keep stopping to stretch it out. The last mile was a toughy and the race was about 1km long, which is always a possibility with trail runs as they are difficult to accurately measure.
I finished in 4 hours 20 mins 26 seconds (race report: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/210230943) which I am very happy with and some semblance of balance has been restored after the disaster that was Cambridge.
Me and Em waited for Kelly and Jacqui to come in and we sat around for a while after just generally chatting which was nice. The weather was pretty good so it was nice to just enjoy the atmosphere.
Here is a picture of me, scott, and Kelly (www.kellythehungryrunner.com) at the finish:
One other great thing to come out of the Salisbury marathon was that I got a chance to meet another 12-in-12'er that I have been chatting to on twitter. Lee (@leerickards, www.justgiving.com/leeandrach12in12) did Salisbury as his 8th marathon as well, and it turns out that Portsmouth will be his final marathon just as it is mine. Lee is a real inspiration and so all my best wishes go out to him and his 4 companions who are all doing the 12 in 12 challenge!
I have planned to take a week off following marathon #8 before running to the Hanson training plan, and so I'm looking forward to being able to put my feet up and relax!
Once again, thanks for taking the time to read this blog and feel free to drop me a line at rob.tanner@gmail.com, follow me on twitter @tannerstwelve, or visit my justgiving page at www.justgiving.com/tannerstwelve