Dumfries Marathon 2008

Sunday, 23rd March 2008

 

My original plan was to run the London Marathon but it was logistically becoming a nightmare.  By chance, I happened to be talking to Russ who mentioned that he was thinking of doing Dumfries Marathon.  On further investigation, this turned out to be over the Easter weekend, which seemed ideal.  It was also in an area of Scotland that I have never been to before but was keen to see.  (One of those places that you pass by on the motorway and think that you must explore one day!)

My mum was keen for a break and agreed to accompany me.  We drove up on Good Friday and checked into a lovely guesthouse on the outskirts of Dumfries.  On Saturday, our first port of call was to check exactly where the race was starting from – the DG One Leisure Centre – thinking also that it would be a good idea to go for a swim.  After much touring of the town centre, we realised the building site that we kept passing was IT.  Apparently, the original opening was scheduled for last October, then the start of March and now May.  I was starting to wonder if the race actually existed.  We spent the rest of the day touring around Dumfries Galloway.

 

Eventually, Sunday morning arrived.  I looked out of the window to see a beautiful sunny day with a white blanket of snow covering the fields!  Luckily, although there were a couple of inches on my car, none had stuck to the roads.  We arrived at the leisure centre to find the car park had been specially opened for the race along with the sports hall and changing rooms.  But we were all under strict instructions not to take any photos while inside the building since it had not been officially opened.

9:30 am approached and our small band of runners were lead to the start by a young piper.  All quite surreal.  At 9:30 prompt, the Provost of Dumfries sounded a hooter and we were off.  The first few miles left Dumfries and headed east towards Lockerbie.  Within about a mile, the field was already well spread out.  I was getting the feeling that this could be a very lonely race.  The route then left this road and headed south east out along the Solway coastal route.

 

Three runners caught me up at about 5 miles.  I hung onto them and then pulled away with one of them.  I was very lucky since we were both running at a similar pace and ran together until mile 24. Mark was from Carlisle and ideally needed to finish within three and a half hours since he needed to get back for a christening that afternoon while my aim was to achieve 3:45 to get a ‘good for age’ time.  It was idyllic running along the country lanes with views of snow glistening on the hilltops, the mountains of the Lake District in the distance. We chatted away and the miles seemed to roll by.  Very soon we hit the halfway point.  1:33 and I still felt OK.  At 14 miles, we started heading inland back towards Dumfries up the Nith Estuary.  At this point though, we also hit the wind.  We were running into this all the way back.  I was very quickly slowing but luckily not too much.  Various runners started to pass, notably two from the 100 Marathon Club. I was informed one of them was Steve Edwards who one year ran a marathon every week.  Dumfries was his 450th.  (Martin, eat you heart out).  The other was Kevin Day (whom I incidentally ran with a fortnight later at the Coniston 14.)  The following week when I was running London, he would be doing Tresco in the Isles of Scilly, which would technically be his 100th marathon (discounting anything above the marathon distance).  I started to wonder exactly just how many marathons, indeed half marathons that I had actually done.  I’ve only just topped 20!

 

At nineteen and half miles, I could feel my legs starting to go.  Oh sh*t!!  I kept telling myself this was only akin to running a 10k now.  At this point, I decided that I definitely wasn’t doing London in 3 weeks time.  Then 5 miles.  We were still running into the wind and gradually uphill.  I was just grimacing.  We hit 24 miles and the last drinks station.  At this point, my race partner left me.  Just after this there was a downhill section into Dumfries.  It took me 9 minutes to run mile 25 down hill.  My legs were shattered.  I kept plodding – only a mile to go.  About half a mile from the finish, the route left the road and headed into Dock Park.  Lots of people were out supporting.  As I headed into the finish, I got a huge cheer.  First lady and 19 minutes off my PB.

 

I was completely spent and very cold.  Luckily, my mum was there to meet me at the finish along with some warm clothing although I still could not stop shivering.  She drove me back to the leisure centre.  As soon as the hot water from the shower hit my head, I started to warm up.  Hot soup and a roll, tea and coffee were all provided while we waited for the presentation.

 

This was a superbly organised race by Richard McDougal and the Dumfries Running Club and deserved more than the 86 finishers that it got.  There were water stations every three miles, your own food and drink could be left at miles 12 and 18 and jelly babies and Jaffa cakes were also handed out.  Despite the cold wind in the latter part of the race, we were extremely fortunate with the weather.

 

And yes, I did go on to do the London Marathon three weeks later.  This probably didn’t go quite to plan.  A bout of flu in between races didn’t help.  I also now know from experience that I don’t cope too well with heavy rain becoming cold too quickly and, not having windscreen wipers on my glasses, disorientated.  Also, High 5 gel bars don’t quite agree with me.

 

When the noise of London hit me, it struck home how I had managed to run two completely contrasting marathons; from the peace, wildness and unspoilt beauty of the Solway Firth to the huge metropolis of London, being in a field of thousands, cheered on by hordes of spectators.

 

And given the opportunity to run two marathons in 3 weeks again – I’d do it again!

 

Written by: Joanna Goorney

Submitted: 24th May 2008

Edited by: Brenda J Earnshaw WRR Editor