3:11 at my big spring marathon yesterday (my second-worst ever marathon time) and a massive disappointment for me to process.
I think this brutal experience can be aptly summarised under three headings: the Good, the Bad and the Ugly.
The Good
My kit worked perfectly! I took the risk of running in brand new socks and brand new shoes and it certainly paid off. For the first time ever post-race, my feet are entirely pain-free. This is a revelation to me as usually the ends of my toes are so sore I can hardly bear to put on socks. Everything else was fab too – plenty of space in my trail shorts’ pockets for all the fuel and no rubbing or chafing (which, considering I was stuffing the plastic caps off the gel tubes down my sports bra is something of a miracle!). Knowing that this combination of kit has served me well in pouring rain, drenched through, gives me total confidence in it for all future race-day scenarios.
It was an amazing luxury to stay in a hotel just 300m from the start line! I was able to have an early breakfast, then get ready with zero stress, use my own private bathroom and just jog down the road (past the huge queues for the portaloos) when it was time to enter the starting pens. I wonder if this is how the pros feel?
I had two friends from the running club with me in Montpellier and it was awesome to have their company for pasta on Saturday night, plus it is no exaggeration to say they saved me from certain hypothermia (and possibly worse) when I crossed the finish line in severe distress. Forever in your debt Vincent and Jonathan!
A night in a hotel on my own was bliss, especially after ten days solo-parenting while my husband was in Australia for work. Two hours each way on the train in perfect solitude was also very special as any mum out there will recognise.
I did, after all, finish. When the wheels fell off at about 25km with miles and MILES still to go, it was all I could do to put one foot in front of the other. I wanted so badly to stop. But I didn’t stop. I gritted my teeth and kept grinding forwards. In the words of Florence & the Machine, I truly gave everything I had and what was left after that too.
And fourth overall female and first female in all the masters categories combined (age 35+) is not bad I suppose. It’s always an honour to make the podium and I was awarded a fancy glass trophy, a €50 sports shop voucher and a smart ASICS sports bag.
Oh and I saw flamingoes!
The Bad
The weather – UGH!!! We were in the start pens for 8am, just in time for the heavens to open. When the gun went 33 minutes later, we were soaked to the skin before it even began. I had an old cotton T-shirt on, which I discarded a few minutes before the start, but that didn’t help me much.
There were times on the course when the rain did ease off a bit, but the main problem was the ground being so wet. The path surfaces were slippery and there were passages (especially around a couple of the relay handover points) which had turned into a total mud bath. Not what you expect from a road marathon.
The wind could have been much worse, but having it full in your face for the long stretch down to the seafront (roughly km 13 to km 23) was no picnic. Plus, of course, the inclement conditions dampened the atmosphere and meant there were few spectators brave enough to stand and watch and even fewer with the inclination to cheer (perfectly understandable!).
I have to confess I didn’t think much of the race route overall. Far from being a “city” marathon, it was really a short loop north into fairly uninspiring countryside, followed by a long loop south to the seafront, much of this along main roads. A particular low-point was crossing a makeshift bridge made of those floating plastic box thingies! Slippery as an ice rink and a total rhythm-killer.
I was also unimpressed by the absence of distance markers on the course – not even at 5km intervals – nothing! Very surprising for any type of road race and very disconcerting for the runners. Signs indicating the approach to a feed station would also have been welcome (for timing gel intake and getting rubbish ready to discard).
The Ugly
My stomach did not agree with my nutrition strategy! After about my second gel (after roughly an hour), I started to feel that they weren’t really helping me any more. An hour after that, I had a nasty stitch-like pain in my gut. After finishing, I was violently sick and a frankly horrendous volume of sugary bleurgh came back up (but then I started to feel much better!).
I honestly think my body wasn’t processing the gels at all (or barely): they were just sitting in my stomach making me feel worse. I had practised with the gels in advance, but never running at 4:00/km. I think at this pace, my abdominal muscles are so engaged with the mechanics of running (as borne out by severe post-race ab pain today) that there’s very little blood flow to the gut to absorb the sugar, so it had nowhere to go. Possibly I took too many gels? But surely I would have felt even worse without them.
Onwards and upwards
In short, this was very far from an ideal race and very far from the time I was hoping for (sub 2:58).
I feel slightly better about it all today, having looked at the results and seen that most people clearly suffered in the conditions. What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger, right?
All I can do is pick myself up and try again. I know I have a much better marathon in me than this.
