Phew, that was a tough one ! The course itself was two laps and almost completely flat apart from a climb up the sea wall near the end of the each lap. There was some wind, which mainly helped to cool us down a bit, but it did get a little too strong when we were running into it. The big problem today was the heat, it was was up to 27 degrees and there was little or no shade.
I got there with plenty of time to spare and met up with people I knew from fetcheveryone.com and some new people from there that I had not met before. During the day, I also came across about five runners from Sunderland Strollers who I have seen many times before, so there was always people to talk to. The half marathon went off half an hour earlier than the marathon. After a bit of a delay, they were off and the did a loop first which meant they passed the start and the marathon Fetchies cheered on the half marathon Fetchies. Then it was our turn to start. The first few miles seemed to take a long time in the heat.
After 3m I was thinking, this is going to be very tough. Luckily there were water stations every 3m and plenty of extra ones were put on. There were people coming out and spraying us with water, people with buckets where you could put your hat in and put back on your head. I drank loads, more than I have ever done before and I was a bit worried it might be too much. It was very well marshalled by enthusiastic clapping marshalls, the best I have ever seen in any race and I have seen quite a few good ones. They were well looked after as well. On the second lap I overtook a small van that was delivering jacket potatoes to them. The organisers are due heaps and heaps of praise for a fantastic event in very difficult conditions The main organiser uses Fetch frequently and he also put out two extra signs 'Go Team Fetch' and 'Well done Fetchies', which brought a smile to my face on the way round. There were quite a few people sitting outside their houses encouraging us on, but once on the promenade about 2 miles from the end of each lap, there was lots more support. At halfway the half marathon Fetchies supported us with shouts of encouragement and later they came past in a car shouting encouragement.
The second lap was slightly different from the first. At 20m there was an out and back section of about 1m in total along a quiet country lane (it was an all road course). I lost a lot of drive at this point. I kept a close eye on the time and worked out I could get sub 5, if I made sure I ran more than I walked for the rest of the race. I managed this with 4hr 56min 13sec. I don't think I have ever been so pleased to finish a marathon, I was completely drained.
Photos: https://picasaweb.google.com/105792896882008304219/MablethorpeMarathon2011
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