London/edinburgh marathons or bust!

Sunday, 25^th May 2008

I felt that getting a London Marathon number through the club ballot had put a different type of pressure on me. I had a number that others had wanted so I could not let it be used badly. Marathons have always been my Achilles heel, the only distance that I never felt I had achieved a respectable time. This time I would spend a lot more miles training and I would run the race differently to my past eight attempts. I would use local races as stepping stones - the longest being the Trimpell 20. I had great support training mainly with Caroline and Tanya in my longer training runs. The week before London I ran the Coniston 14 as my final training run this did not go down when my betters but I was 100% sure it was right for me.

London is without doubt the best organised user-friendly course you can do. The race, the built up and the coverage on television is second to none. I have a couple of niggles which initially worried me which were, a pain in my ankle and something happening in my kneecap. Then, like now, they disappear after I have run a few miles? London, on the day, was perfect; the weather suited me as I cannot cope with anything hot - the other plus was a windless day. This is the first Marathon I have done where I had a plan, brilliantly simple so simple that it sounds simple. I would not race London I would run London………….

I would run at a pace I could sustain for as long as possible - hopefully 26.2 miles. There is a huge difference in even running 30 seconds a mile slower. You can literally smell the roses. I won’t pretend that I did not run a slower few final miles than the initial first miles but I kept running - no walking today. A big surprise at the race was how many people you recognise in the crowds or taking part. Sue an ex-North Fylde runner was a helper at a water station, Sue Eaton with her camera, Stewart Williams from BWFAC cheering people on. Woody was there but, in the din, I never heard his call. I could not believe catching David Lord of Clayton Le Moors up at 25.5 miles. I recognised him instantly with his union jack shorts. Then the biggest surprise my pal Caroline at 26 miles. We had spent many hours training and discussing this day and now here she was just in front of me. As I joined alongside I could see she had given her all - sheer determination and guts were keeping her going. I had joked while training that I would not wait for her in this one. I offered words of encouragement and ran on knowing I would see her again in a few seconds. I crossed the line in 3.09 feeling good and happy with my time. Caroline crossed in 3.10 and we followed the other finishers to collect our medal, goody bag and kit bag. Caroline’s brilliant family were all there at Horse Guards to congratulate her. Her first Marathon, a brilliant 3:10 and an automatic entry into next years race on the elite start line with possibly Paula Ratcliffe. She could bathe, at least for this weekend, in being the fastest female Marathoner on the Fylde before the ‘know all’s’ tell her where she went so wrong???

Post London I was buzzing - a decent time and an automatic place for next year. I was suffering from Marathonitice and could not wait to try another. The big negative of coming out of distance training for me personally is a complete lack of road speed. The brain sends the signals but the legs don’t pick them up. Though I was happy to be fit, I was greedy to be running quicker. A big boast was finishing 3^rd V50 at Horwich as soon as London, (getting a brown envelope with a Sweatshop voucher.) Then finishing 3^rd V50 in the Chorley 4. Both of them are tough little races with a decent standard. Just when I resigned myself to thinking New York was to be my next Marathon I was thrown a dilemma. Julie Murphy could not run Edinburgh through injury so the number was available. It was the Monday before the Sunday race, I was working that weekend. I phoned work to see if I could arrange cover? Yes, I could be covered on the Sunday but it would mean finishing work at 6.30 on the Saturday and driving straight to Glasgow to stay with my Mother, (always a bonus seeing Mum.) That Saturday night I could not sleep. I really believed I would beat my London time, I felt so confident. Up at 6.00 I drove straight to Edinburgh and parked in the road behind the famous Castle. I had arranged to meet Pete at the start to collect Julie’s number. The atmosphere was good, the competitors wore colourful attire - I loved the kilts. But there was to be a problem, a seriously bad one, a strong headwind. The race started just off Princess Street then headed towards the coast. Not knowing the route I did not realise that we headed 18 miles south before we turned to run the final 8 finishing at Mussleborough race course.

Of course the organisers had no control over the weather but 18 miles into a wind…..!!! The worst part was at 17 miles where you came off the main road. You exited the road to run on a stony ash road to a Stately Home then various other types of other uneven surfaces, just what you need in a marathon. This brought you back eventually to the road to the final eight.

Yes, you had the wind behind you but I was a ‘spent force’ as those initial 18 miles had beaten me up, chewed me up and spat me on the floor. I then proceeded to run the slowest 8 miles of my life, sorry run walk. I crossed the line in 3.25 to immediately team up with Lee and Peter both looking as fed up as me. All the training Tanya and Lee had put in to be confronted by this wind. Then, here is the quandary, Pete Waywell and Simon Eaton both ran personal bests. I put it down to the fact that they are so thin they were blown back the final 8 miles and they have only ran a couple of Marathons. To add icing to the cake I did not take a Tom Tom and spent 15 minutes trying to escape Edinburgh because I had to drive straight home, work at 6 the next morning!

Footnote: Marathons are not the monsters they may seem. Don’t be put off - have a go and, if you do, training is the key but don’t train on your own!

Written by: George Kennedy

Submitted: 11^th June 2008

Edited by: Brenda J Earnshaw WRR Editor