Leicester Marathon 10th October 2010

Well this was to be my second marathon of the year.  Normally I only run London, but as I missed out on my good for age time by THIRTY SECONDS this year  - yes THIRTY SECONDS - I had to run another one.

It seemed a good idea at the time.

Leicester was really the only one that fitted in and still had spaces and was flat. Well they SAY flat  - but they fib.

Training had gone OK  - but was hampered by my 'A' race of the latter half of the year - my Coast to Coast.
I'd had some good long runs in, and my Yasso Interval training had gone better than it had for the London Marathon.  The only thing against my training was that it had kind of finished in September for the Coast to Coast as after that I got a heavy cold and my running was curtailed after that.  I'd planned to carry on after the C2C  and get another 20 miler in before tapering down, but that didnt happen.

We turned up on the Saturday afternoon - to a small race riot going on. Shed loads of Police and the Police Helicopter hovering overhead - keeping a watchful eye over everything. Some out of town idiots were protesting against suicide bombers. I dont know anyone in favour of them to be honest - so they were wasting their time.
Good thing was that our hotel wasnt directly in the area where the protests where - so we werent disrupted - but we didnt bother nipping into the centre for tea.

Race morning dawned and the forecast was for warm weather. 20 degrees or so - which wasnt in my plan - I'd thought London was a bit warm in April and that was only 17 degrees. I dont run well in the warm.
(dont run well in the cool either to be honest - but warm isnt my favourite)

Race start was 9.15 and I was up in plenty of time to get there - hotel was about 30 mins walk away - so a nice leg stretcher.  The family were going to come with me, but Sean said he'd a poorly tummy and didnt want to walk so far - so early on in the day. No worries really - unfortunately they cant do the running for me anyway.

Got to the start in Victoria Park - nice setting - dropped my fleece and kit in the luggage and lined up with about 20 mins to go. Not that many people running the marathon - 700 or so, and 2000+ in the half marathon that was going off at the same time.

Plan was to aim for a 3hrs 10 finish and allow for a bit of slippage in the second half. 

Gun went and first mile was slightly downhill - which meant I went off a bit too fast and was 40 secs up at the first mile marker. At least I knew though, so tried to ease it back in the next couple of miles. As a result I was running pretty much to pace by about mile 5 or so as we'd wound our way out of the city centre.
The sign to the Leicester Outdoor Pursuits Centre and with a picture of a mountain on was very intriguing,  especially as it was only a mile or two away from the centre and in a residential area seemingly. I must google it !


From about mile 8 though I knew I wasnt having a good day. Tum didnt feel good - think I may have got a bit of Seans bug. Sadly my plan hadnt allowed for extended toilet stops - so I was off the pace by about half way, and even more off the pace after yet another loo stop. No GFA time from this race, but I had no chance but to continue on. I was probably looking at a 3.35 finish or so. Still respectable but not good enough.

By now the sun was shining and it was getting hot out there. My determination had left me a bit now I knew my race time wasnt on, but I still had to finish.

The last few miles were through a nature reserve and some parks alongside the river - very scenic. It was a nice course - not flat but nothing too hilly.

At mile 23 I was running through the country park and rounded a bend to see a runner going straight down in the grass on a bend. I couldnt really run past him (although if I was on for a pb I'd have had a dilemma). I stopped as did 2 other runners and we checked him out.  We grabbed a marshall (great marshalling all the way round by the way) and she rang for St Johns Ambulance.  Turned out that their rapid response unit wasnt THAT rapid, but the guy wasnt too bad - just not in a fit state to continue - although he tried. We had to hang around for 20 mins or so until the first aid turned up and we could hand him over.

After that - it was a bit hard getting started again. Ow my legs had stiffened up !  But nice mile or so past the UK space centre (who knew we had one ?), then through the new shopping centre, and the last mile was a bit of a git - uphill all the way to the park.

Struggling in the last 200 yards

Final time 4.05 - my slowest yet - but I'll be back next year - its a good marathon.

Leicester Marathon 2010

Liverpool 10k - 3rd October

This was a tester for my forthcoming Marathon next week.  A lot of plans seem to say a 10k the week before is good. Er not that I actually use a plan...  I'd figured 40 mins would be a good target - especially as its very easy to set the timer on the watch for 4 min intervals to go against the km markers.

Training since the Coast to Coast hadnt gone particularly well - I had a few days off, during which I caught a cold - so thought it best to rest up. So since Scotland - I'd done a handful of runs and ridden the bike a bit.
At least I'd be rested.

Come Sunday I opened the curtains to torrential rain. Oh fabulous. And I was still a bit snuffly too. Its taking a while to clear this cold.

Liverpool 10k is basically one and a half laps round Sefton Park over in Liverpool. Its a staple for the local 10ks and half marathons, and I'm sure the forthcoming Marathon will make use of it - if the Council ever sort out a date that is....

The rain didnt stop on the drive over - luckily we had binbags for the waiting round at the start. It could get cold without them, and Jean Paul Gaultier would have been jealous of my creation. The finishing touch was the Pirate Yellow tiecords at the bottom. Matched the Pirate kit perfectly.

This makes it look drier than it felt....

 
The start line was getting muddy from so many peoples feet over it. It was going to be a slow start.
I wasnt as high up the field as I should have been - I was checking out the approach to the finish - always useful to see where you go - when they called everyone to the start.

I was probably about 1/3 of the way down the 1600 strong field as we lined up.

The start was on time despite the weather and we slowly trudged off the field and then after 30 meters or so - onto the perimeter road.  This is where I was really going to open it up, but there was a lot of traffic. Slower people chatting as they went so I had to duck and dive to get through them, and then I decided to take the longer line down the outside of the field, and try to avoid the odd oncoming car, and the traffic cones.

This helped and I did start to make my way up the field, but by the first km marker - I was a few seconds down on my time. Oh well.

The good thing about the rain was that it had washed a lot of the leaves off the roads and into the gutters. Every cloud has a silver lining... And there were plenty of clouds.

The rest of the race was me just making up placings - I dont think anyone passed me and I must have passed loads - just shows how badly I'd placed myself at the start.

The km markers came and went and I was still off the pace - oh well 40 mins was only a rough idea. I cant remember the last time I properly raced a 10k ? Oh Abersoch in the summer, but that was offroady and I did 43 mins I think ? (must have been a short course).

After 8 km of dodging puddles, we were off on the last leg - up through the centre of the park. Slightly uphill - nice. The ducks and the swans seemed to be enjoying themselves in the lake alongside the path.

Last few hundred meters and we were onto the grass - not too muddy to begin with as not many people have run that part ahead of me, but as the Finish gantry was where we started too - that was very muddy.
I was still picking off people all the way and ended with a sprint finish trying to catch the guy ahead - not sure if I did it or not - he kicked strongly - luckily neither of us fell in the mud.


Finish time 41.09 - so fairly pleased. Most people seemed to be about a minute or so slower than they'd wanted - all the mud and the rain made for heavy going. And obviously - without my snuffle - sub 40. ;-)

Home to a hot bath and a nap and then its off to Leicester next week for my attempt at sub 3.15.  I'm not overly hopeful, but you have to have a go.

Must remember to a. Book a hotel and b. Find out what time the race starts and where.

After my precise planning for Scotland - I'm a bit lax on this one..

Useful Links
Run Liverpool - organisers of the 10k


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