Yorkshire marathon 2013

I wasn't really looking forward to this one. Flat and fast is not something I train for, I prefer to have some hills that I can walk up and take a break. Melanie had decided this wasn't for her so she did all the driving and spent the day in coffee houses and shops in York.

The drive down was fine and I was dropped off as planned at the John Lloyd gym about 75min before the start and walked from there. As I approached the baggage area I realised there was a very long queue. Eventually got there and dropped my bag only to join another queue over a bridge on the York Uni campus which was hosting the event. The Uni had opened several of their buildings too so there were plenty of toilet facilities. Finally, I got to pen 4 about 7 minutes before the start.

It took me about 6 minutes to cross the line and then we turned towards the centre of the city and then going through one of the gates in the walls. Onward towards the shopping area and it got a bit narrower and headed towards the minster. Passed Melanie who seemed to be standing above the crowds on something precarious and then out through another gate in the walls and into the suburbs. Still lots of people about, some with megaphones, people had also put bunting outside their home and were offering jelly babies to the runners. We had our first names on our race numbers so the spectators were encouraging us by name. I heard some spectators making plans for next year, suggestion they would bring out gazebos 

When running through Stockton on the Forest I was surprised to see a vicar in full regalia high fiving runners and saying 'God Bless you' to everyone she connected with.

My plan for this one was to do 10min miles and just see how it went. I had to start a little ahead of the pacer in the pen because of the crowds, but I seemed to be knocking off sub 10 min miles without too much effort. I wondered how long it would last and I could feel my calves tightening ominously ...

By about halfway I realised I was enjoying this more than I expected. Soon after halfway there were two out and back legs which gave me the opportunity to see people I knew and there were loads, Fetchies, clubmates and friends from other clubs. Looking for other runners distracted me from the gentle inclines that had started to appear.

I got to 20m in 3hr 16min which was pleasing. Things started to go wrong at about mile 22, the first real walking started and I started to put in 10min, 11min miles... But I knew I had enough time to get under 4hr 30min so I just walked when I felt I needed to, but always started up again as quickly as I could.

Lots of crowds at the finish, a reasonable goody bag, with a pink and white t shirt and a pink and white medal 

I think I might enter again next year and MelanieLH is tempted as well 

Some photos from Melanie 

Kielder marathon 2013

We got up early to get to Kielder for MelanieLH's first race round Kielder. It was to be my eighth. The forecast was light rain from 12 and cloudy before that.

Arrived in plenty of time and parked in the official car park (a field) at Falstone and got on the bus to take us to the start. No delays and we were dropped off at the top of the hill and made our way down to the starting area. Sadly as we approached the start one of the barriers blew over onto MelanieLH's ankle. It went red, but she had it checked out and it didn't seem to cause her any problems when running. Relaxed and ate some of the wonderful food being sold by a group from Falstone. All home cooked and lovely.

The announcer warned that the start might be late (which seems to have happened most years), but we went off just about on time. It had started drizzling and it kept on doing that all race. It was cooling at first, but it did get a bit more windy and chilly towards the end.

Melanie and I decided to run this one separately as I wanted to walk most if not all the hills and then speed up towards the end. This strategy has worked well the last couple of times. So I started fairly near the back. However, once I got started, I found I was bouncing along quite rapidly. I was surprised, it had been a tiring week and I hadn't slept too well the previous night. To my surprise I started to catch MelanieLH and two clubmates and caught them after about 4m. This was probably a mistake ...

One of the other two clubmates rapidly slowed after 6m and limped round the rest, so then the three of us ran on. I was walking more than the other two, but then catching them on the descents. However after a while I found myself unable to catch them. But I was still going reasonably well and did the first half in 2h13min

I was hoping that I would still be able to either speed up or at least continue that pace after 17m, but inevitably going too fast early on had taken its toll and I slowed. Still I got round in my third fastest time out of eight, so I was very happy with that 

I do love running at Kielder and there was a lovely atmosphere. Apart from a falling barrier, the organisation was very good and it was an excellent goody bag 

I will be back again next year