Marathons for 2016 – 19 and out

Sunday marked my final marathon for 2016.  Struggled a little at the Enigma Christmas marathon around Caldecotte but held it together for a 3:36 to finish the year back at the venue I started.

Managed 19 marathons or longer for the year.  My first 38 miler at Bewl Water and my first 50 miler at Chiltern Wonderland 50.

Of the 17 marathons I managed to bag a surprise 3:15 in March but never quite got the same form back for rest of the year.  Even including my miserable performance at Bournemouth (when I decided to run the half first and scraped around in 4:51) the average for the year is 3:35 so happy with the overall improvement.  I also managed to win two marathons outright but more due to low numbers and faster runners pulling out rather than any skill on my part.

Now sitting at 86 official marathons and 1 charity event that doesn’t count for 100 Marathon purposes.  Countdown is on for 100th in September.

03/01/2016	Enigma Winter Day 2 – Caldecotte Milton Keynes	03:32:23
24/01/2016	Dymchurch Marathon – SVN	03:32:40
07/02/2016	Enigma Quadzilla Day 4 – Caldecotte Reverse	03:40:31
20/03/2016	Enigma Week at the Knees Day 7 – Caldecotte Reverse	03:15:31
03/04/2016	Paris Marathon 2016	03:27:52
02/05/2016	Milton Keynes Marathon 2016	03:26:50
14/05/2016	Bewl Water Ultra 37.5	05:50:11
18/06/2016	Enigma Shaken Not Stirred – Caldecotte	03:26:52
03/07/2016	Enigma Need for Speed Day 2 – Caldecotte	03:35:43
30/07/2016	Enigma World Cup Marathon Day 1 Afternoon Caldecotte	03:27:43
17/09/2016	Chiltern Wonderland 50 – Centurion Running	09:35:05
24/09/2016	Enigma Rocky 40th Afternoon – Caldecotte Reverse	03:30:08
02/10/2016	Bournemouth Marathon 2016 – After the HM	04:51:19
06/10/2016	Running Miles Eton Dorney Lake	03:24:20
23/10/2016	Abingdon Marathon 2016	03:28:11
27/10/2016	Enigma Three Lakes – Caldecotte Reverse	03:39:39
06/11/2016	Enigma Fireworks Day 2 – Caldecotte Reverse	03:28:25
27/11/2016	Colworth Hair & Tortoise	03:38:29
11/12/2016	Enigma Christmas Day 2 – Caldecotte Reverse	03:36:07

December is here!

11 months into the year and I’ve kept up my 200 mile a month target, now on the home straight.  Should hit around 2500 for the year. 

Managed to avoid injury other than a calf niggle last month.  18 marathon or longer done, including first 38 and 50 milers.  One half marathon, few 10ks and some random length races in Spain.  Next years targets are first 100 miler and hit my 100th marathon.  

Hare & Tortoise Marathon – No87

Sunday was my penultimate marathon of the year, and a small friendly local event taking place in a village outside Bedford.

5 laps consisting of mixture of farms tracks and leaf strewn paths through the trees on a gorgeous weekend.  After umpteen Enigma events and even a track marathon I’m used to laps.

The event was to raise money for money for Papyrus charity (Clicky) to combat yping deaths in the UK, and £550 was raised.  Andy Hoddle of Colworth Striders was RD and for a very low entry fee you got two aid stations per lap, a great medal and a Pukka Pie at the finish!

There was also the option for a team relay which my club had entered so was guaranteed some applause each lap no matter how well I ran.  The downside of relay teams is you lose track of overall position as relay runners pass or are passed by you.

True to form I set off a little too quickly and was third place for the first two laps, aiming more towards the Hare side of the pace.  As the laps wore on my legs were feeling heavy and 6 marathons in 2 months had taken the edge off my long run endurance.  Pace fell with each successive lap as I dropped back to tortoise pace and lost some places.  With one lap to go it was clear I’d missed the sub 3h30 so pushed on as much as legs were able, and did some impressive superman style lunges in the woods as tired legs found every fallen branch and I fought to keep legs feet and head the right way around.

It was a relief to enter the sports field for the final push and clock over the line in 6th place and 3h36, pleased to have held on and managing to beat all the relay teams.