Now brace yourselves for this blog post…it is going to be uncharacteristically positive.
Last Saturday I raced the race of my life, put in a performance that I am incredibly proud of and got round a marathon in 4 hours, 1 minute and 1 second. I never imagined, in a million years, I would achieve this time, so I thought it was best to give you all my insight to where I think I got it right.
The Magna Carta marathon is quite a low-key event that follows the Thames Path trail starting at Runnymede. The route is essentially two relatively short out and back loops (2.5 miles) in one direction followed by four longer out and back loops (5.3 miles) in the other direction. This is only the second year it has run and there is the half marathon event on the same day, starting an hour later, with a much larger amount of runners. The terrain is a mixture of trails, grass and cement paths and very flat. There were some exposed tree roots on a couple of sections so you had to be careful to mind your footing, especially as fatigue set in. The other difficulty was when the half marathon runners set off it created awkward moments on the narrow sections where you had to squeeze in to let them pass you but this didn’t impact on me too much.
I must say that I have really enjoyed the training in the lead up to this race, which is quite different to how my training went for the only other marathon I ran back in 2017. Training this year kicked off with a mammoth run on New Year’s Day. This involved running to a parkrun approximately 6 miles from my house, running parkrun, running back to my home city, running another parkrun, then running home. Approximately 20 miles in total. I had done a few longer runs up to this point but those 20 miles felt like a proper slog. This is when I realised that in order to succeed in this marathon I was going to have to respect the distance.
I have heard a few people say that whenever they are training for a longer distance event they only ever get up to half the distance in training. Now whilst this may work for them this was never going to be a viable strategy for me. I was going to have to get comfortable with feeling uncomfortable. With this in mind – my Sunday long runs started at around 13-14 miles and gradually got longer every week up to around 22 miles. And these were not just road miles, some of these long runs were technical trails with massive hills to climb that felt like mountains when you were into double figures in terms of mileage. I am extremely lucky that not one of these runs I had to do alone. My wonderful boyfriend, and super ultra-marathon runner, Paul, was there with me every step of the way. We had a laugh and chatted (most of the time!), took stupid selfies and had some proper adventures. Having Paul with me meant that my whining was fairly minimal and we pushed each other on when we were struggling. By the time I hit the taper, 2 weeks before race day, I had reached the point where 20+ miles didn’t scare me anymore. Even typing that out now seems ridiculous. By the time I got to race day I knew I had done everything I could to prepare me for those 26.2 miles.
Now in terms of race goals I would be lying if I said I didn’t have a time in mind. My previous marathon time was 5 hours 11 minutes but this was my first marathon and it was a hilly trail route so I knew that getting a PB this year would be more than achievable. My running has got much stronger over the last 6-8 months and I have been able to run at a quicker pace for longer runs with my running club. I knew that a sub 4 hour marathon was extremely ambitious, but I was going to shoot for it anyway. This is a race I have trained for 100%, my A race, so you can be damn sure I will be giving that race my all. On the Tuesday before race day I went out for a little 5k leg stretcher and tried to keep at sub 4 hour marathon pace. It still felt pretty fast and I found it really hard going so I had no idea how the race itself was going to go when I would have to maintain that pace for another 37 kms. In reality a sub 4:30 would have been a more than realistic goal based on training times and my previous marathon. So I was more than a bit chuffed to come in just over that ‘completely unobtainable’ 4 hour mark. If I could go back in time to some of those longer training runs, particularly the ones that followed very flat routes, I would attempt to run one or two at a faster pace. This may have enabled me to get used to how it felt to run faster over the longer distances but hey isn’t hindsight a wonderful thing?
I had been feeling really chilled out about the run in the 2 weeks leading up to race day. I knew I had put in the training and I felt completely prepared for it – you could even say I was looking forward to it! I had managed a parkrun PB the Saturday before and I was in a very positive mental place. My 7 year old unfortunately came down with a tummy bug a few days before the race and even that didn’t phase me, I was completely calm. Thankfully the bug avoided everyone else in the house. By pure coincidence I had the week off work leading up to the race so I’d had loads of time to recharge my batteries and focus on the challenge ahead. All week I had been dithering over what to wear as the weather forecast was fairly cool. I have very limited experience of how fast I could run 26.2 miles so I didn’t know how warm I was going to get. I opted for shorts and my club t-shirt with no sleeves – on the basis that if I did feel a bit cold it might make me speed up! The other element I had been flip-flapping over all week was my fuelling strategy. Throughout all of my longer runs I have been fuelling with tailwind (electrolyte drink) in my flasks that I carry in my race vest. There were aid stations at both the start and turn around point on the route, stocked with tailwind, so technically I didn’t need to carry anything. However, I wanted to be sure that I followed exactly the same strategy as I had done in training which involved taking a sip of tailwind approximately every 1k after the 5k point. With this in mind I decided to wear my vest on race day especially as it is so light and comfortable so it was unlikely to slow me down. It was more like a security blanket to be honest, knowing that what I needed to see me through that marathon distance was with me at all times.
Then BAM the day of the race arrives and I am completely overcome with nerves. They were so bad I didn’t even want to run the race anymore. A drama free 90 minute car drive later and we arrived at the race HQ in plenty of time and collected our race numbers. After a few nervous toilet trips we gathered round for the pre race brief and set off promptly at 9am. I suspected that all I needed to settle my nerves was to run and I was absolutely right, by the time that first 2.5 mile lap was out of the way I had got into a good rhythm and I was enjoying it. I think a good taper makes you miss the sensation of running so I was relieved to be back to it. Predictably I set off a bit too quick and by the time the 2 shorter laps were done I had banked a couple of minutes. But I wasn’t too worried as I headed out onto the first of the longer 5.3 mile laps and I was still smiling. The race director was absolutely right when he said that these longer laps were scenic. A few hundred metres in and I was already caught up in soaking up my surroundings – I was really enjoying myself. A couple of these laps flew by and I had already reached the half way point, still at a decent pace, and not suffering in the slightest. The best thing about this out and back style of lapped race is that as Paul was running too and was ahead of me we got to pass each other twice per lap and shout out some encouragement to one another. It really helped to take my mind off the distance, thinking about when I was likely to see him next, or if he had managed to gain any places. I was also very relieved to see that the gap between us didn’t widen too much as the laps went on. I always knew I would struggle on the 3rd longer lap as the first 2 were about getting half of them done and the 4th was the final lap. The 3rd lap was always going to be a ‘grin and bear it’ 5.3 miles. So I was more than a little thankful when a fellow runner started a conversation with me on this lap about a mile in. It turned out that he is doing the Thames Ring 250 mile event and was using this a training run but I was more than happy to listen to him chatter on about his training. By the time I hit the 4th lap I was in a very positive head space. I kept thinking that I would hit that dreaded wall or the wheels would fall off…but I just kept going. I knew the pace had dropped off a bit but I was still running well and sipping my tailwind, I just had to keep pushing. I reached the turnaround point on the final lap, downed a cup of the sweetest blackcurrant squash I have ever tasted and thanked the super friendly marshals for the final time before heading back to the start/finish line for the very last time. I just could not believe how strong I felt for these last few miles. Paul finished about 10 minutes before me so came and met me on the corner of the final field. I even managed a little sprint finish!
© Sports Action Photos
Crossing the line, looking down at my watch to see a time of just over 4 hours and realising I was 5th female finisher was incredible. I wish I could bottle that feeling. I’m not ashamed to say I was a little bit emotional. I was so proud of myself. Not just for those 26.2 miles but all the training I had put in leading up to the race itself. This is a medal that I am so pleased with and will keep me smiling for a very long time. I am not only proud of the time I achieved and my performance on the day but the fact that I had a really enjoyable race. There was not a single point on that race where I wished it was over or I couldn’t wait for it to be done so that I never had to run again. This couldn’t be more different to my race experience earlier in the year at the Canterbury 10 which you can read about here. I knew all I had to do was believe in my training, I had nailed it.
So what next? Firstly I am going to have a week of recovery. Much lower running mileage and some swimming thrown in to help with this recovery. Then I have my first ultra-marathon booked in, the Weald 50k, in a little under 8 weeks time. My focus will be on longer runs with quality mileage – lots of trails and hills. If I have learnt anything from training for this marathon it is that you have to make your body familiar with what is to come. You absolutely have to get familiar with the distance and not just rely on race day adrenaline to get you through. I need to make my legs (and my head!) accustomed with what running 50k of trails feels like. The marathon has given me a good basis for the distance so I just need to continue with all the hard work I have put in so far. But most of all I want to continue to have fun and enjoy myself out on those trails because if running isn’t fun then what is the point?