Grim Challenge 2012

Barbara and Pal

My friends Barbara and Pal Skogtjarn were coming over from Sweden for this event. They tried last year, but were foiled by the weather. I wanted them to come and stay with me the night before, and also offered to drive them down to the venue, so it seemed only polite to do the race as well. My legs were not in good run shape, and I hadn't been training, but there is a lot of stopping to wade through mud and rivers, so I hoped that I would make it. I haven't stopped cycling, so I'm still pretty fit aerobically.

We all met up the night before, and Pal was particularly keen to try some beer. I was surprised when we only stopped at drink number four and hoped this wouldn't affect his running too much - I didn't care that much about mine.

I don't remember that much about the race; I was pretty OK for the first 20-30 minutes, but felt some of the familiar ache in my thighs after that. I was right about the conditions helping though; wading in the freezing water took the pain away. I just kept going, and really enjoyed being out in the countryside running again - I do miss it. I got very muddy, but the water washed most of it away, especially the big pond at the finish. I've done this race before, so when I got close to the noise of the announcers at the finish, I knew there was another extra loop so didn't sprint too early this time. Finished feeling pretty good and went to look for my friends.

I finished with a time of 1:10:36 which isn't really important in these kinds of races. The placing is important, and I came 324th out of 2922 finishers which pleasantly surprised me. Even more pleasing was that my friend Pal came 1st overall - an awesome result. Seems like I should have four pints of English beer the night before every race..

Results here on the Grim website, unfortunately  I didn't record my time on any Garmin, due to the mud and don't seem to have any photos stored anywhere either except the one above of my friends at the start.

Belfast City Marathon 2012

This race was a real mistake.

Having been really disappointed at the London Marathon, and with all the work I had put in to get fit, I decided last minute to go over to Belfast. I'm not really sure now what I was thinking. Mary Ann Billingham was coming over from Canada with her husband Greg. She is a distant relative, and Greg is a marathon runner. He had included running the marathon as part of his itinerary, and my mum suggested it would be nice to join him. Like a fool I agreed.

By the time the day arrived my legs were feeling OK, though my feet were not. The brand new Newton Gravity trainers therefore went back in the box and I raced in my old Newton Sir Isaacs.

Even at the start line, I had no clear strategy. It was a cloudy day and rain was likely, but this isn't much of a problem in marathons, in fact it is usually preferable. I started way back in the field and for the first couple of miles tried to keep it slow, but I found this tedious and so went back to my usual running pace.

I was doing fine up until about 10 miles, and was OK up the big hill in the middle of this course, but my legs started to really hurt again like at the end of London marathon and it started to rain, and the wind along the coastal path was strong, and I even had to stop and walk a little at times. I took a couple of ibuprofen, but it didn't help. I could feel my toes hurting as well, and started to wonder what kind of state they would be in by the end.

The good news was, frustratingly enough, that I did not feel tired at all. Perhaps it was the climate, or the taper from London, but unlike that marathon, I never had any issues with my endurance. I was angry with my body for letting me down, felt mentally strong, but each stride was difficult and there was nothing I could do.

Any sensible person would probably have stopped, but I don't like to and have no DNF (Did Not Finish) marks on my racing record.  So I ran on in the wind and rain, punishing myself, stopping occasionally when the pain got too much, and I was very relieved indeed when the end finally arrived.

I finished in 3:15:50, which is still a  respectable time, and Greg came in about an hour later. In hindsight, I really shouldn't have been there at all so soon after London, but I had done it.

Photos and finisher video are still online at Marathon Photos here - I look terrible! Gregs here

I recorded the race on my Garmin Forerunner 205 here. Unfortunately the detail seems to be missing, but I did press the lap button half way, and am pleased to see that my pacing was exactly the same for both halfs of the marathon.

London Marathon 2012

So my big race day finally arrived. Over a year of training, who knows how many miles but I've worn through my Newton Sir Isaac trainers. I have new training shoes, Newton Gravity. I tried them out at Reading Half and got a good time there - they are very light, but a little more aggressively forefoot than the Sir Isaacs.

I slept very badly the night before, but got up on time and made my way to the train station. Ate and drank normally as with Belfast Marathon last year. There was no change in my plan and I should have been OK.

I met Libby on the train who was coming up to support me and some other friends and she helped my take my mind off the race. I was very nervous; I was chasing a time of three hours, and had put a lot of pressure on myself.

I had a good for age place, which means getting in a spot to start near the front. It was all very exciting. Warm and sunny, lots of other fit people ready to go.

We started and I stuck to my pacing, no sprinting, but things were just not right. After three miles I was feeling tired - I should have been fine. In training I do six miles without thinking even about it. I'm also never thirsty and had planned my first drink at about 10 miles. I took a bottle of water at the first opportunity.

It was fun being in the race, but I was suffering physically. I tried to enjoy it, just kept pushing, and watching my average speed, but I was tired. I made it to the half way point almost on schedule (1:30:32) but I was slowing. At about mile 16 my feet were hurting, and my thighs were burning. I took a couple of painkillers but they did nothing. I started thinking about the state of my feet, my left big toe was worse. The pains running down the front of my legs were making it hard to keep moving, and I counted down the slow miles one by one.

I knew I was going to miss my target, I also know my secondary target of beating last year's Belfast Marathon time of 3:05 was also out. I struggled to the line in 3:11:39, very sore, and very disappointed. I know it is still a respectable time, but from my training I knew I was capable of more. Perhaps I trained too much. Perhaps the new shoes were the problem (my big toenail has gone black, as have a couple of others).


Links
Results 03:11:39
Photos - now seem to be removed, sorry.