NEMC Handicap marathon 2014

The North East marathon club specialises in cheap marathons. When they were being formed about five years ago, there were no marathons in the North East. There are now plenty of marathons in the area, but the club survives as its prices are low for its no frills events.

George Routledge

The cost of entry to the club itself is just £8 and included in that is a discount for entry into the club's races and today's marathon was for members only and was free to enter. There was also a free buffet afterwards and all finishers received a medal. A bargain !

Today's route took us from the South end of South Shield's promenade and up onto the Leas (familiar to many people as that is the finish area for the GNR). The route followed the coastal path past Marsden Grotto and Souter lighthouse to a car park where there were drinks. A slightly different way back across the Leas and back to the start, where there were more drinks and bit of food. Repeat another three times.

I was expecting it to be pretty flat as I have run round there before in events such as Pier to Pier and the South Shields parkrun, but on shorter races you don't notice the undulations. Melanie and I were fine with them on the first two laps, but I noticed them more on the third lap and I was very aware of them on the final lap !

The weather wasn't great, fairly thick fog which never lifted. It was also pretty cold as Phil Owen found when he came to give us some support - thanks Phil !

I tried out some baby food in sachets as a new approach to fuelling. Not a success, I felt a bit sick after the second one. Melanie also didn't like them.

A small field, but everyone was very friendly and waved as they went by. The route wasn't marked, though we had written instructions, but many people weren't looking at these and managed to go wrong. We made one minor error on the first lap, but we still ran more than marathon distance.

Melanie did well on her first marathon since her stress fracture on 1 January and as she was feeling fresher than I was, she went on ahead on the final lap and came in with 4h 33min. I did 4h 51min.

Shame about the weather, it would have been great to have seen more. This was my 99th marathon, which is hard to get my head round. My 100th and Melanie's 25th will be next Sunday at the Hardmoors Wainstones event.

There will be more than just gentle undulations at that one ... Photos

Golden Fleece 27.5m 2014

Melanie and I did this one last year and quite enjoyed it. I say 'quite' because there seemed to be a few long straights which I usually find a bit dull. However, apart from that, it was an enjoyable day out. Typical LDWA event, lots of friendly people, cheap, lots of food at the checkpoints and a basic meal at the end.

Last year I struggled a bit, I think I was just tired. I also didn't know the route and the last two or three miles surprised me (it surprised a friend this year and he has described it as like going through a portal to Switzerland!). This year, I was going to be on my own as Melanie didn't want to risk her recovery by doing too much too soon. Also my longest run since the Hardmoors 30 on 1 Jan was 15m, so with both of these things, I expected to struggle again.

It started cold and misty, but villages, attractive churches and checkpoints appeared regularly. 

There was no pain in my calf, so all was good. I managed to rescue about eight people who missed a turn and ran and chatted with them to the next checkpoint where the 17m route parted from the 27.5m route. They all went off on the 17m route and suddenly there were very few people about. In the mist this was a bit eerie, but after about two and half hours the sun had burnt off the mist and it started to warm up.

I was remembering the route well and I was enjoying it, the long straights didn't seem as long as I thought they might be. There was hardly any mud. I was walking the long uphill stretches but that had been the plan all along, I didn't want to risk doing any damage to the calf and I was after time on my feet.

Switzerland arrived and went by without too much difficulty and I was soon back in the village hall. Nowhere near as exhausted as I had been last year and much to my surprise, only a minute slower.

A lovely way to spend half a day !

Photos