Team breakfast with my Mum and Dad and Andrew - porridge and honey and bananas, tea and toast to set us up for a hard days running / enthusiastic cheering.
The race starts at Blackpool FC stadium...great venue. We started in the tunnel, 900 people doing the marathon and 1400 doing the half, and Ron Hill was there to start the race!
The route went south down the coast a couple of miles, to just past the Pleasure Beach, turned back on itself to head north along the promenade back past the Golden Mile and Blackpool Tower, then down onto the sea wall for a few more miles until Cleveleys, then turned back south to the Tower, where the half-marathoners turned back to the stadium and the marathon did another whole lap.....fairly gutted at half way that could almost see the finish! Cruel.
The first couple of miles I worried as my chest was hurting again, and I thought I would have to pull up if it got any worse. Thankfully it just seemed to be the cold air, as after the first couple of miles it settled down and didn't give me any more bother. Was not sure at all what to expect from myself today after feeling so out of it for the last 10 days, so reduced my expectations to making it to the finish however/whenever I got there.
Parents there at mile 5 with jelly babies and smiles...THANK YOU!!!! Oh, and a camera, thanks Dad for only taking pictures while stuffing faces with sweets! NB: I do actually run on these races too....
My Mum has been at all 3 of my races so far this year - big cheer! :-)
Mile 8: huge news. So hot I took off winter top and ran in vest top for the first time this year, and I have got SUN BURNT!!!! That's it, see you later winter, time to move on.
I felt good, much better than I thought I would. Loved having someone to run with the whole way, made a massive difference, and was way more fun - thanks Andrew!!! Also, good if you're having a bad patch and the other person isn't, then you can sponge off their energy for while...then once you're back on form, they can have a bad patch and you can help them through. Team Work.
I began to feel vague and a bit woozy around 17 miles. Had been having some stomach aches at around 10 miles, so had stopped eating and not drunk much since then. The advantage of having made lots of mistakes previously, is that now I think I am starting to recognize the different feelings of different things going wrong, and this was definitely some dehydration and low sugar issues making themselves known. So forced myself to have some Mars bar and some sweets and drank a bottle of water at the next water stop, and magic. By 19 miles started to perk up and by 20 was back into it. Just in time for the 'hills' for the last few miles. My parents contest the name hills as really they are just a few gentle slopes, but after 21 miles of running I swear they were the size of mountains. I am not proud of what I said to the hills while we were going up them. So we got through the next few miles cursing the hill slopes..
Mile 24 and can see the Tower. Picked up the pace. Mile 25, almost there, back onto the prom and faster, feels so good to run this well at the end of a marathon. Left off the prom and back to the football club, and a sprint finish inside the stadium with hundreds of people cheering..... awesome feeling! 3.49.05, sooo happy!!! Fastest time this year. Congrats to Andrew who finished his FIRST MARATHON in exactly the same time! But who irritatingly has been placed above me in the results as his surname comes first in the alphabet ;-)
Why I love the Blackpool Marathon: 1) it's where I did my first marathon, 2) it's really friendly 3) it's a lovely route, the prom is closed so you have loads of space to run and a great view of the sea 4) it's Blackpool, it's always entertaining! 5) the crowds are brilliant 6) it's near home so I get to stay at home for the weekend. What's not to love!
3 done, 10 to do......
Happy running xxx
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