Beachy head marathon

This years marathon has to be the hardest one I've ever had to do, sadly it was also the least enjoyable but that is no fault on the course at all.

My compaany in their infinite wisdom has decided to change location from the nicely accesible town of Uckfield to the not so nicely accessible but nicer when you get there town of Lewes.  I would love the move to Lewes if it were not for the drive on the A27 which so far regularly takes well over an hour, and I am only on it for 12 miles - I can almost run this fast!

Anyway, how is this relevant to my marathon tale, well in Uckfield there was a gym not far from the office that I could easily get to in my lunch break and hey presto could keep my fitness at a certain level, not fully trained, just at a level that should I need to train for a marathon it would take little more than a fortnight.  In Lewes there's no such option, thus leaving me with no way to remain fit and stupidly I didn't take this into account.  At the last minute 2 weeks before the marathon I decided to do a small dress rehersal since it's the first time I would be running with my new back pack, this was a lesson learnt earlier that drinks stations never seem to be there when you need them so taking your own fluids is really useful, most people opt for a £100+ camel pack, I opt for a £10 Aldi/Lidl special since they both offer the same functionality when you get down to it and the last Aldi one has lasted 7 years with regular use as my running/cycling bag as well as family outing pack!  The half marathon distance I did revealed a few aches so I decided then and there that I wasn't even going to attempt to get under even 5 hours, what's the point, I am older and wiser I don't hurt myself when running anymore I am just proving that I can do the distance not that I can do it quickly - tbh even walking it is an option.

That trainging run was in a light drizzle and everything was fine, in fact I used very little water so considered not taking so much with me, glad I changed my mind on the day!

Race day came and I'd forgotten to get myself a mars bar or a bottle of lucozade which I tend to carry just in case, ooops.  The start was really quite hot, and very very crowded I don't remember it being so crowded before but this is the first time I started so far to the back of the grid.

After the start was signalled it took 3 minutes for me to reach the start line, I had no idea I'd started that far back, but at this point I noticed that even though I was only walking I was sweating buckets, I could practically ring my hat out so I took it off to keep cool.  I thought at the time that it was more than just the weather making me sweat but carried on regardless.

I knew I wasn't fit and ready so had already resigned myself to a gentle jog around the course and that's precisely what I did.  One thing I did notice at the back is that people are far more chatty and there was a greater sense of camaraderie than where I normally start.  This year there seemed to be an incredible amount of queuing, at the footbridge into Alfriston (I think) for example around the 15Km mark I had to wait for about 8 minutes to get on the bridge.  The reason for this was clear though, the route that was normally taken into the village was under several feet of water, I've not seen anything like it before.

At roughly halfway I knew I wasn't quite right, but also knew my dad would be finishing the 10K run so wanted to see how he was feeling so stopped to make a phone call (11:50am).  I was definately not right at this point as when I went to leave a voicemail I started to choke emmotionally and the only other time this has happened is when I did the Brighton half when I had the flu - which is a very stupid thing to do I couldn't ever recommend it! - I pressed on and around halfway my muscles were good, my breathing was good my bones were good bbbuuuutttt I felt like crap so basically decided to walk the half I had left.

From this moment on I did very little running, I occasionally jogged downhill and along the flat but most definately walked the rest.

The support was fantastic, I was amazed that so many people showed up in the wind and rain to offer moral support, sweet, oranges and alsorts.  One lady I think in Jevington had the boot of her car open and it was like the school tuck shop I cannot thank these supporters enough.  Before I forget I can't thank the St. John Ambulance enough either as the day before I'd been on a very good first aid course and now I was seeing them out on the hillside ready for action!

Litlington was once again my favourite stop (13:02), for anyone that starts the marathon but retires before they get here I suggest they give it another go because once you reach Litlington the support, the live music, sausage rolls and drinks are enough to see you skip the last 10 miles home :)

OK so I didn't skip home I did continue to walk but Litlington does make facing those steps out of the forest a little less daunting.

I got to the top of the hill just before the decent into Cuckmere and OMG the lovely ox bow river was gone!  Where there used to be a lovely winding river was now a single wide open lake with the odd sprig of grass poking through the waters surface with a kite surfer skimming over the top, I had no idea the flooding had been so bad.

Anyway this part of the course always marks the bit I struggle to run even when I feeling fit, these first two hills always tire me out the most, but you do get a lovely view at the top,not that I got any where near the edge this time as the wind was far too strong, in fact the ascent to the beachy head pub was at times assisted by the wind!

I met some lovely ladies running for a variety of charities on the beachy head stretch and they reminded me that we'd had a chat many miles previously and they'd been trying to catch me up ever since, such is the uncompetative nature of the event the helped cheer me up and push me on :)

Finished around 15:50 but not 100% sure and haven't had my official time yet but guess it must be around the 7 hour mark, a good 2 hours longer than ever before :O

I suppose one of the strangest things was that someone got married half way round, what was more strange is that whenever I saw the happy couple running they weren't actually together which seems a bit weird as I'd want to stick with my wife on our wedding day, then again I wouldn't want to do a marathon on my wedding day either :)