It’s been 3 days now since the marathon so I’ve had a little time to process everything, training, race day etc, coming out of this 12 week training block and some high volume in there you ask yourself questions about what you did and if there’s anything you would change, and to be honest, no there isn’t . I went into this training block hoping to crack the 2:50 mark at Chester, my PB set at 2:58 this year at Manchester, was I asking to much of myself?! Maybe, but looking back I definitely didn’t choose the right course to do it on 😆 😆, think I should’ve paid attention a bit more to the course profile ! The had some challenging hills 😆 don’t get me wrong the course was very beautiful, but I wasn’t there to look at the scenery I was there to set a time. I made 4 plans for the day , plan A sub 2:50, B – as close as to 2:50 as possible, C- sub 3, D – finish !
Training, now I’m not gonna go into to much depth with my training as it’s all on Strava to see, I’ll try and link to it ( if I remember 😂) but I maxed out volume wise at about 103 miles for the week, longest run 23 miles, I did one long run per week which was broken down towards Marathon pace, and a mid week long run which i maxed a 14 miles, and one session a week, rest of the volume was easy / recovery runs .. looking back my training and I’m happy with the work I put into this block, through some tough conditions to, I remember the summer being pretty challenging, heavy rain for most of my earlier long runs, and then blistering hot towards the later ! 🥵 but I got it done and faced the elements.
Race Day came around, so it was the 8th October and marathon day was here, my eldest son stayed with my parents for the weekend while Anna and I went to Chester, such a beautiful town full of gorgeous architecture, lots of Tudor buildings
When we arrived at Chester we checked into our hotel room which was across from the racecourse where the start line was. I did a little shake run about 20 minutes or so, checked out the start line and the race village
Ran alone the beautiful city walls and just taking in the views, thinking over my race plan for tomorrow, I wasn’t feeling to nervous to be honest.
That evening we met up with the Skegness and District group for a pre race carb load 😆, a lovely Italian restaurant, and pizza was definitely on the menu for me, it was great catching up with everybody from the club as I don’t get a chance to much these days, great club with a lovely bunch of ppl 👍🏻
Race morning came, 6am I woke and got breakfast made, for me that was 2 bagels 🥯 with jam and coffee, a glass of water before I started anything tho. At this point I just wanted to get going 😆 the feeling of nerves and excitement and the months of training coming together into this one race! I knew I had done everything I could do so I felt well prepared. Getting my kit on I also wrote on the back of my hand some target times to hit at certain points which helped me mentally.
After breakfast we start to walk to the race village, I went into the England and Welsh Masters room where we would be looked after as i entered the British Masters Marathon Championship, so after a briefing and team photos, I went and did a short warm up with a few strides to get everything activated, got into the starting area, met with a few friends which was nice, Ty and Alex who both had great races on the day.
9am and the weather conditions were good, the horn goes off and we where off ! The first section of the race was quite rolling a few ups and downs, but it’s early in the race so you go with it, I soon got into my pace and relaxed
After 5k I was on pace and only 10secs ahead of time so I knew I didn’t go out crazy with a few other guys and just stuck to plan.
Hitting 10k in about 40 minutes and feeling good and relaxed , things where going well, I already had 1 gel at this point, I planned to take them every 30 minutes just like I trained for and just like in Manchester, I was also taking on water at every station as it was starting to warm up so remembering to keep hydrated.
Half way soon came and I got there just under 1h 25, so again bang on target for a sub 2:50, but hitting 16 miles things started to pinch, it was getting so so hot, and the later part of the course was get hilly, surprisingly hilly, some of these hills where very challenging, I remember crossing this weir, going over the bridge, looking up and thinking “ shit are we going up that “! 😆 so head down and get working, but pace was slipping , the next 3 miles I was touching 7 min pace which wasn’t good and sub 2:50 was slipping, but that pace was become way to hard to get to and the later hills took there toll on me, my body started to badly cramp up, hips, abductors, and hamstrings, I know the marathon hurts and the I do get that, but I was getting so hard to stride out and get to my pace, so I made a decision to try and keep to sub 3 hour pace, but that was also proving difficult, I knew I was going to have to resort to plan D of just finish, which was gutting! It became a very painful slog from 22 on, the course and heat had broke me, and within those last mile’s there was still hills to climb, there was so many ppl stopping and walking up hills and pouring water over themselves, I remember running behind one Welsh athlete as we was coming into the last mile and back into town, he shouted “ oh for fuck sake not another hill !” 😆 my thoughts exactly buddy 😂! But seeing some crowds and ppl cheering you on was so nice and encouraged me to try and push on as much as I could.
We took a left turn and a pretty sharp decline on cobblestone to enter the finishing section, I had to be so careful coming down here my legs were pretty shot to pieces so I couldn’t fly down like I would have down in a 10k or something, but running down this section felt good, painful but good, the finish was in site and I knew I could stop very soon 😆
Crossed the line in 3:03:10. Not what I wanted on the day but all I had on the day, so I’ve gotta be proud of that….
Like I said at the start, it’s now Wednesday, 3 days after the race, and have time to reflect over my race, my training, and to be honest there will be more reflection over the coming days, but I feel a lot better about the result now than I did on Sunday. I won’t be entering a marathon again next year anyway, I’m taking a break at the moment from any structured running, went out for a nice 20 mile cycle yesterday which felt great to spin my legs, so yeah a challenge awaits, what it is I have no idea, and only time will tell 👍🏻😉😊
A few thanks you’s 1st to my gorgeous girl Anna, for he amazing support throughout my journey always encouraging me and being there for me, thank you babe, love you loads xxx
2nd to my coach Gary, for his continued support and advice throughout my training, thank you..
And 3rd to the England and Welsh Masters athletics team for looking after us oldies 😆 thanks guys 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
The Life Of A Masters Athlete 
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