I know this post is about a month late but straight after the marathon I moved house and it’s been a crazy few weeks getting all sorted and settled. Also because of the move I haven’t had a chance to run much and I gave my legs a well deserved break (boy did they need it!)
So how did my marathon go? Well it was awesome! Awesome but very tough, oh man those hills, so many hills! The race was on the Sunday and after a few days of rain the skies had cleared and thankfully the day was nice and dry, although those few days of rain had left the ground a bit wet and muddy. We arrived at the Eden Project nice and early, my nightmares had given me fears of getting there late and forgetting things so I wanted to make sure I got there ok and with everything! The start line didn’t have much of an atmosphere to start with but with only a few hundred runners there wouldn’t be. Things picked up when we were told to go to the start line. As it was such a small marathon there were no time pens so I decided to stand in the middle towards the back. After a brief talk from the race organiser who told us about a few issues only the trails and wished us good luck, we were off! The first mile was downhill and I knew not to start off too fast but there were plenty of runners speedily over taking me. As we reached the bottom of the first hill we turned to run along the river, it was here that my feet started hurting a bit. I sometimes have issues with my shoes so I loosened the laces but it didn’t help, I stopped a few times over the next half mile or so to fix my laces which was a bit disheartening as I was only a tiny bit in to the run and had hours left to go, I really didn’t want to have pains all the way around. Luckily the pain subsided and I managed to get back on track.
As it was an early Sunday morning and we were running through woods and a few villages there weren’t many supporters about, just a few morning dog walkers. Luckily I knew about 5 miles in we would reach Luxulyn and there would be villages out in support there. It was there I saw my sister cheering me on. It was great seeing her but it was sad that she had to pull out of the marathon due to health issues. It would have been awesome to run it with her. A few minutes after I hit mile 5 the first of the fast half marathons sped past. As they came flying by most all ran past saying ‘well done’ or ‘good work’ which was really nice. The half marathoners had started half an hour after us and there were over a thousand of them running half of the marathon route. They broke off about 7 miles in, a few marathon runners also turned off here but I knew there was no bailing out here for me. The roads got a bit quieter again and us runners were a bit more sparse, I normally had 1 runner in my sight up ahead which was good to keep my pace up.
Along the route there was signs with funny running quotes on, all were really helpful and encouraging, even the ones that tricked you about the hill you were about to be running up! I knew there was going to be a climb up Helman Tor which was a big rocky hill and before the path up the hill came in to sight there was one of the purple signs saying ‘chair lift ahead’ and then one right before the climb that said ‘coming 2015’ so cruel! I wanted to try and keep my running rhythm up the hill climb but it was impossible, it was so steep and rocky, I felt like I was bouldering at one point! At the top I took a breather and a panorama photo, the view was amazing! Now it was time to run down the other side and back to a trail.
About 14 miles in I was running up a road and was keeping to the right whilst cars overtook me however I noticed that there was this one car behind that just wouldn’t go past. It took me a few minutes and for the people in the car to shout at me before I realised it was my dad and boyfriend! They had spent the past two hours trying to find me along the route and they finally had! It was great although a bit odd having them follow me for a couple miles. I was laughing to the other runners and volunteers at check points saying ‘don’t worry, it’s just me Dad!’ The road followed a path in to the woods and it was here I lost them. The path through the woods was beautiful but quite tricky to run through, lots of fallen trees!
After running in the woods for about half an hour I reached the bottom of the routes where there was a nice flat bit of the trail running alongside the river. It was here that my Dad and boyfriend had found the car park at the entry to the woods and were there cheering me on again. So good to see their faces once more!
My soles of my feet were starting to ache and I was getting a bit tired but I plodded along! After the woods we were then running along part of the route ran a few miles earlier. The marathon route had done a bit of loop and had to run about 5 miles of the first section of the route. It wasn’t great seeing signs for 7,8 miles etc but at least I could ignore them and pay attention to the larger numbers! The second time I ran through Luxulyn the crowds had died down quite a bit but it was good still having the local support. Again my Dad and boyfriend found me along the route but I was slightly worried they wouldn’t have time to make it back,park and walk down in to Eden to see me at the finish line so I waved them on and said I’d see them in about an hour.
Finally I reached the top of the hill where the half marathon runners had turned off 2 hours earlier! There really weren’t many other runners about, there was a couple who kept running then walking and we were playing some sort of tag game (minus the tagging!) for about 5 miles of the race but they had managed to push on and were no longer in sight. I then made another runner friend, I would over take him on the up hills but he would over take my on the down hills. The road was still a bit wet and there were a lot of mushed leaves on the road so I had the fear of falling and sliding which stopped me running so fast downhill. About mile 24 i St him but I was on the home stretch and knew the end was near. As I reached the entrance to the Eden Project I thought it was all down hill, but I was wrong, there were some little hills to come. That and the fact this last mile felt like 10 made it quite tough. Other finishers were walking back up the hill to their cars, I was wishing I was one of them! At last I aw the finish line but as much as I wanted to speed up I had nothing left in my legs to give. As I came towards the finish line most of the crowd was my family cheering me on and the guy on the microphone said my name, which all made me feel like I was a winner. I finished in a time of 5:12, slower than my goal of 4:45-5 hours but I couldn’t have predicted how tough and hilly the route was.
From running up hills, climbing up moors, running through muddy puddles, over old train tracks, up through trails, along rivers, through woods, little villages and around the Eden Project, I was done. I claimed my past and pint and enjoyed!
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Run LJ, Run! 