It took us around 2 minutes to actually get to the “start line”, and everyone was running on top of each other. There were lots of cheering from the crowds, it was cool, with a hint of rain in the air – perfect. The beginning was a circuit of the town, before heading off out of Stratford for the first 12 miles. Went past the support team after a couple of minutes, then 10 minutes later and a mile in we past them again, 3 minutes after that they were there again of the side of the road, just before the first climb of the day.
The gumf before hand had said that the course was “generally flat”, with one big hill at 6 and 19 miles. Well, it wasn’t. They lied, this was a hill, and OK not massive, it was a sign of things to come. Heading out of Stratford, feeling good, and managing to keep up a conversation with GD , we got to the first drinks station, which had bottles (a very rare occurrence), but I already had my running bottle, so no need for me – although I did see people who had taken a sip then just left the bottle on the road.
Three miles in the running began to slightly spread out somewhat, and we had a good pace going, some blokes were already jumping into fields to have a wee, but we then came to another hill, and everyone bunched up. You could see that already at this early stage some people were finding it difficult. The sun also came out around here. Pace set at just under a 10 minute mile we were doing well. My lace came undone, so left GD carry on, but at this early stage there was no problem putting a little spurt on to catch him. Although he had no time in mind, I figured that he would help me ensure the timing around the first section, so away we went. Passed a few people who were suffering already, some gripping their hamstrings and wincing – I was feeling really good at this point, and so glad of the training – I knew mentally and physically that I would be fine to around 13+ miles, as I had a good few of these under my belt.
Around 6 miles in, it had begun to get quite hot, and as we got to the next drink station they had water and sponges. This was brilliant – its very difficult to drink from a cup whilst running, and after nearly choking a number of times I managed to get some fluid in, but the sponge, oh the heavenly sponge – squeezing that over your head was so unbelievably nice – something that small really made a difference to me as the miles went passed.
Got to the “big hill” and it was actually quite big, and long – me and GD plodded up, I think at this point GD was a little in front, as I had almost choked to death at the last water station, then other side of the hill, the down slope was really very steep and I found it difficult to jog down, some nutters were sprinting down it, there was no way I could.
My this point I thought I should get some energy in, I had packed up some jelly babies and a fruit string in one of those bags that hold the washing powder blocks for the washing machine, which I thought was a great idea – however the combination of the hot sun, and my even hotter hand and begun to melt the babies. Managed to get a couple into my gob, but had really sticky hands. Was just catching GD, when I pushed my glasses back up my face and my fingers (and jelly baby juice) stuck to them, as I brought my hand back my glasses flew form my head. There were still a lot of people around, and I did a pretty good Mr Magoo impression as I chased them around the floor – luckily they were undamaged and I jogged after GD.
Just before the final 3 mile straight we saw the other support team, cheering wildly at the runners and us, can’t remember the cheers exactly – something like “run fat boy run” ;o). Up the “greenway” next, which is this long dusty track which is flat, but very very long – and this was just the first lap. I managed to keep up with GD until the split, where he went off to do the final mile of his marathon, and I started the second, but longer lap.
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Days left: 0
Confidence: 98%
Ability: 89.2%