Another repost from last years blog:
"It took me a while to try and summarise this run, not just in writing but in my head. I think the Blackpool marathon for me (along with Sussex of course!!) will be one of the hardest marathons out of the 12 I will complete this year.
Needless to say, with two very hard marathons under my belt, completed in respectable times, my attitude towards the Blackpool Marathon was slightly cocky. Originally I said to people “Blackpool will be my run”. Guessing that with it being on my home ground and flat as a pancake I’d be able to whizz round it and get a personal best in the bag.
What I failed to anticipate, not just for the Blackpool run, but for this year as a whole, was that life could get in the way. When I started cracking out my training to get myself prepared for the challenge, I was cracking out 70-80 miles a week and feeling strong. If only that was the case now! It was about halfway through December when I got the first niggles of an injury which I’m still battling with now. Needless to say, this has affected my training massively and the total mileage for each week has gone down by half, if not a third.
With running mainly on the side line, my marathon challenge became less about my quest to raise a large amount of money for charity and became a journey about myself. Over 3 months, while being sore and avoiding putting my body through any unnecessary stress, I finally had to start facing up to many of my own personal demons. The lesson I’ve learnt over the past few months, that running had not only become a way of trying to do some good for others, but for myself, a crutch and away of literally running away from problems in my life.
Heading to the start line of the Blackpool Marathon, I knew that the odds weren’t on my side. With 3 months of overcoming multiple injuries, due to a leg length discrepancy and lovely high foot arches, basically living in my doctors surgery, battling with post-traumatic stress disorder, insomnia and numerous illnesses from a cold, full blown tonsillitis, through to stomach bugs and nausea, it’s pretty obvious to anyone that it wasn’t going to be my best run.
Plodding along, well no, I began by tanking it, trying to keep up with some friendly people, I burnt out rather quick. Never mind the fact that I hadn’t realised the marathon was two circuits of the same route, once reaching the end of Blackpool Marathon, hitting around four miles and already bored I knew it was going to be a fun run….
The pace went down rapidly, and having had around 4 weeks out of running, the temperature outside not being what I was used to, dehydration and fatigue kicked in quickly. Needless to say I was still averaging out just above a 9 minute mile and feeling reasonably strong-ish. The fact that we had to run past the finish line about four times over the duration of the course was a nice little mental test, especially at half way, hearing the half marathoners cheering as they crossed the line.
The road was pretty much empty from here on, as the marathon started to take its toll and the gap between runners widened significantly. The run itself was boring and hellish. From 13 miles on my blisters got larger and larger, and at around mile 17 they started popping…lavly! Despite the pain and tiredness, I managed to fit in a tactical 3 mile power walk for the sake of my poor feet, and needing the skin still to be in tact with only a two week recovery before my next marathon, the goal was merely to finish even if I had to crawl across the line.
One of the interesting things about this marathon was the people. I’m always one for making friends whilst out running, I think it’s one of the joys of the sport, helping each other get through the pain with some good banter about the motions. Friends I certainly made! I can look back and smile on the day, some of the inspiring people I met and got a small (we needed to reserve all the energy we could), chat in. I even crossed the line with a couple of new found friends and there were celebratory hugs all round.
The final amazing part of this marathon more than the others I’ve done so far, was my family. Having never had them at a run before, it was inspiring knowing that they were there for me at various points of the run. Despite it being an emotional journey for myself, there were a few emotional moments throughout, seeing how proud they were, and wanting to succeed to make sure I crossed the finish line for them.
Despite being hard, all I can say is bring on Sussex!!!!"
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