Marathon of the North 2013

I'm not keen on the name for this event, I think there are plenty of other events which would be stronger contenders for that title. But I guess the organisers thought it sounds grander than the Sunderland marathon.

I did this last year, but this year they introduced a half marathon and altered the route for the marathon itself. Last year we had about 18m south of the river and 8m to the north. This year the distances were about the same for both sides of the river. I enjoyed the first half more and the second half less as the bits they added seemed to include a few extra hills.

Incredible numbers of people from my club were running - 31 just for the marathon ! Then there were 11 for the half and 4 for the 10K. There was relay for the first time, but it appeared to have a very small number of teams, nothing like Vienna two weeks ago when there were 2700 teams. This event, being our closest marathon, has definitely inspired people from our club.

It was cold and windy at the start and during the race it varied between wind, rain, cold and about ten minutes of sun - a few of us, including me, managed to get sun or wind burnt. It was a very well organised event, not too crowded, well stocked and staffed drinks stations.

I joined six other clubmates who were running as a group. There were three other groups running at various speeds and it was great seeing the other groups and individual Striders on the many out and back sections. I have mixed feelings about out and back sections, it is great to see other people, but then you are always wondering where the turn around point is and you know what is coming on the back leg. You also get back to where you started but a bit more tired. 

My group was aiming for ten minute miles. I stuck with them until about 18m when I felt myself dropping behind. They were about 3 minutes ahead of schedule at that point so I didn't worry too much about it. But then we had an into the strong wind section and two out and back sections which involved climbs on the way out and they disappeared into the distance. I just lost energy at this point. I had been hoping for sub 4hr 30min but I could see that slipping away as I was walking more. I then aimed to do better than my other six long events this year and I did achieve that. Just before the end I came across an old running friend who was marshalling and he ran with me for 400m which really helped. Then it was over the railway bridge to be greeted by lots of cheers from my clubmates and the crowd  Into the finish just outside the Stadium of Light and then into the Stadium (impressive place) past the manager's area to get medals, tee shirts, goody bag and bananas.

Then it was cheering in other members of our club and then in the evening we went and took over a local pub. So although my time was a little disappointing (more work mid-week needed I think), it was a grand day out