Refreshed after a period of low mileage I faced my first marathon for six weeks and my first double since Quadzilla, almost a year ago, with low-key enthusiasm but no expectation of anything other than a couple of slow jogs and continuing fitness rebuild. The 'usual suspects' were out in force and it was particularly good to see Paul return on day two for his first run since a nasty fall at an event in early December. Gathering for the briefing prior to Saturday's run made me realise how much I had missed the buzz of the marathon crowd during my time away, particularly as this was 'Smiley' Sunny's 100th and had an extra dimension of anticipation as a result.
The format was to be four very flat out-and-backs on each day along the coast in Folkestone, unfortunately this was complicated on day one by the 30mph winds which were gusting up to 50mph against us on the 'out' portion but rewarding our efforts with a push in the back on the return. This effect was particularly noticeable on the second quarter of the race when a group of us battled through the gale together, moving forward like snails, one of us inching ahead before the storm battered them back and someone else pushed gamely into the lead before being pummeled back into the pack. At the turn-around it was as if my back was a sail, all I had to do was lift my feet up and I was, almost literally, flying back towards 'base camp'. The hardest thing was getting my feet down quickly enough to maintain momentum. Being tall and therefore having a greater surface area than most I think helped me more than smaller framed runners at this point as I overtook quite a few on this return. Into the wind this would have the reverse effect but I think the smaller people had a problem remaining 'anchored' to the ground so I think conditions during the windiest phase actually favoured me. My mile splits for this section illustrate the effect well; 11:06, 11:11, 12:05, 8:25, 8:42, 8:36 and I felt like hardly any energy was expended on the return leg! Energy started to run out quite quickly during the second half of the run, which was not unexpected, and it became a march into the wind with a jog back but all in all I felt it had been a successful return.
As a very nice touch that Sunny had arranged for all finishers to be presented with an embroidered commemorative towel as a memento of her 100th marathon and I waited with Mandy, along with many others to cheer her in after an uncharacteristicly slow 26.2 miles. There were other celebrations to mark the occasion that night but I was very tired and instead took the chance to rest up and prepare for the next day's exertions.
Day two was colder, brighter and less windy though it did build up during the latter part of the morning but didn't reach the level of the previous day. Susie has written a blog which includes some lovely photographs of the course, including one of Mandy who braved the conditions to run eight miles in the build up to her first marathon later this year. I think she has been hanging around with bad influences! My run was intended to be a repeat of day one, just a jog to build up base fitness, but pleasingly my legs soon lost the overnight stiffness and I felt stronger as the run neared completion, indeed the final mile was my fastest of the day as I realised I may be able to beat the previous day's time and was very pleased with how my legs responded. I didn't quite manage to achieve this late goal but that wasn't the point, it felt like things were coming together again!
10th January 2015 Martello day one 4:51:04 #52
11th January 2015 Martello day two 4:52:44 #53
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