Categories: uncategorized
Date: 28 October 2004 22:21:39
i had a bad time at this one last year with it being rather warm, which was one reason for my return, that and it's nice and local(ish). with coventry way still in my legs from the previous weekend though i was only really in this for training mileage and would be happy to sneak under 4hours.
lisa has witnessed enough marathons by now and with no one else to hang around with this was routine enough to let me out on my own! plus with this race attracting a fair posse of runnersworld people there's usually someone to chat to. notably flying ant the welshman who i ran most of my PB with at potteries marathon, who's still bashing out marathon after marathon.
wearing my spotty top i was almost caught in a crowd of people dressed as dalmations! i managed to elbow my way far enough forward so it only took a couple of minutes to get over the start line, not that it mattered a great deal as this marathon has the benefit of chip timing.
ant and i agreed to do a gentle start and not risk tripping over the several hundred (thousand?) other runners and for the first 3 or so miles it was pretty crowded. after that i graciously let ant speed up and head for the horizon.
i kept a steady pace and knowing the course just enjoyed myself. it wasnt as hot as last year fortunately but fairly windy, luckily most of the urban first half was well sheltered.
at about 11miles there's a well signposted split for the half and full marathon and the going suddenly becomes alot quieter. happy to have survived thus far though i let myself push on a little and soon caught Xerxes from runnersworld (good job he was wearing the URWFRC vest) and ran with him for the next 8miles or so.
the route heads out toward and past holme pierrepoint hall with a deadly off road section at about 19miles by which time it's as much as you can do to coherently put one foot in front of the other without having to deal with uneven surfaces and navigating round puddles and potholes! there was a helicopter presumeably getting a scenic view of us running past the hall.
a 2 way section just before this also gave us a chance to see ant heading the other way, so he hadn't really gained all that much on us, maybe a mile.
now for the really deadly bit! the route enters holme pierrepoint alongside the rowing lake and heads down to the terraces and buildings before doing a U-turn and heading up the full length of the lake, across the top and all the way down the other side! this was depressing enough last year as you see nearly 2miles of the route stretched out ahead of you but this year we got the full force of the wind. myself and xerxes provided a portable windbreak on the first down leg and seem to have missed the benefit of the wind in the other direction. turning back into the wind for the back leg was tough but i knew i couldnt afford to stop and just got my head down, after a short while i looked back to notice he had stopped for a walking break.
i allowed myself a walk after the water station where we turn off the lake, hoping the remainder of the route would be at least a little sheltered. unfortunately i was kidding myself as whilst it wasn't as bad as the rowing lake, it was alongside the river and into the wind again. a few people were struggling along here and i had to take a few walking breaks, each time setting myself a time on my watch to run until.
finally turning right over the footbridge toward the start again, the movement of the bridge made me feel very sick! so i kept running to get over it as quickly as possible. although they cruelly make you turn right to loop out and back over the start line again i knew where i stood now and the fact that the 400m to go sign appears before the 26mile marker is always a boost. pushing on on this loop and looking at my watch i new i could sneak the sub-4 i was after. ant was at the finish ready to cheer me on having slowed in similar proportions to me on the last leg and even stopped to wait for me!
so in 3hrs56that was the nottingham marathon that was! i did make a note of my usual 5 mile splits on the back of an envelope somewhere, if i ever find it again i'll put up the graph for comparison.