No such luck, it was a very warm night even though it was throwing it down with rain. My hotel room was like an oven even though there was no heating on. A very poor night's sleep.
I drove the last twenty minutes to Stratford and found somewhere to park easily. Found the finish and then made my way to the start. It was good to see some familar Fetchies and to meet some new ones. I was way back from the front, but it all seemed a bit odd. There was a man with flag down the road who would apparently wave it if there was a false start. I wonder how many times that has happened ?
Anyway there wasn't one this year and off we went. I met more new Fetchies as I ran. The plan was just to see how it went and I seemed to settle quickly into ten minute mile pace. That made the Maths easy and it all seemed fine. I was aware that from an overcast start, it was getting sunny and I didn't have any sun cream on. I was taking water from very drinks station of which there were quite a few. Hundreds of marshals as well, it was very well organised.
Good support from the locals as well, orange segments and jelly babies on offer from some houses. I also liked Stratford-on-Avon itself, it was very pretty.
It was a two lap course and about two thirds of the runners were doing the half marathon and just one lap and just before the split I came across Trumpton Riots who I hadn't seen for ages, it was good to see him again. He went off to the finish and I went off on the second lap which was much quieter. 10 min/miles continued fine until mile 18 when we came to the long hill. My energy levels had gone, so this was walked. It was probably a combination of Hawkshead yesterday, lack of sleep and the increasing heat and humidity. I was now getting two cups of water, one to drink and the other to throw over myself.
The last six miles along the Greenway were covered with a walk/run strategy, but I was happy to make it back in 4h36.
Then off the pub to chat with Fetchies and clubmates from the NE marathon club
The long drive home was taken slowly with frequent stops as the tiredness started hitting me
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