I got a free place for winning my age group at Blackpool marathon with a 3.08:11 last year. Then I lost my mojo. And got lazy. And missed so much training I thought I was giving up on running. Then I got a nasty dose of covid and I physically couldn’t run for a month or two after the bug. Which was actually a good thing because as soon as I was well enough I was dying to run again. I got back on the horse, got some good training done, overdid it, got a sports injury and had to take weeks off of running just a few weeks before the race. I did a 20 mile test run last week and I was so battered I decided I wasn’t fit enough to start the race this year. But then I was rabbit-holing triathlons and saw a full distance one, relatively cheap, in 18 weeks. I mentioned it to Wendy and she said “But you’re not even doing marathons right now.” (Or words to that effect.) I realised I was being slack and defeatist. So I did the marathon today.
Being on the sea front the wind was pretty stiff, right in your face one way, at your back coming back, then in your face for the 3 miles back to the start finish line, you do two laps of that. There were some some of roadworks today so they’d re-routed the course a little, but not re-measured it. It was consistently .3 of mile too long. My watch was saying 10 miles, then I’d pass the 10 mile marker at 10.3 miles. It wasn’t just my watch, I asked two other runners and their watches agreed with mine. That was a tough mental challenge on the last 3 miles into the wind. I was absolutely smashed, I wasn’t really marathon fit, I had nothing left, and they were sticking an extra third of a mile on. I ground it out, clicking my watch at 26.2 so I’d have a real marathon distance time, then at the finish line. By that point I’d done nearly another half mile (.44 of a mile).
I’ve just looked, the official chip time is 3.42:36, but 3.55 of that was the .44 miles extra. 6th in my age group, 154th out of 596.
That really hurt. Just the last 3 miles into the wind. That was so painful. I stretched off, came home, showered, ate all the food, but the pain wasn’t going away. I ended up taking pain killers.
To be honest, the result is probably better than I deserve, given the last year. Today was just about finishing the distance. Which I did. And more. And didn’t die. So, it was a win.
Tomorrow I’m having a rest day from training because that smashed me today. I’m going to do a bunch of exciting tests on the CB550/Four and try and get it running properly. Then I’m going to MOT it. Either sell it or the VFR750, either way it is worth a lot more as a running, on the road, bike.
Now to take my glowing legs to bed.