Run > Race

SNOWDONIA MARATHON. Found this much harder than I thought I would - I forgot how much marathons hurt. Or maybe I thought it wouldn't hurt because there were hills, and I could walk, and I'd done quite a bit of distance stuff this year. Anyway, I was wrong. I didn't walk until the huge hill at mile 21, maybe I should have. I felt absolutely fine until mile 18ish. Started to suffer a bit at mile 20, and then the last 6 miles were pure mind over matter. I feel I got the food right, as I didn't bonk out. Maybe my legs weren't really recovered from the long runs and the tough Scottish hillwalking week. Or maybe it was always going to be like that - I still ran within my predicted time window. Amazingly the niggles all seemed to be ok, with spells of twinges from the knee, but nothing to worry about. The most distracting thing was the left shoe laces too tight and bruising the top of my foot - next time sort it out before you start, ya wally!! Anyway, a great challenge, not as enjoyable as I thought it would be, and definitely still prefer off-road running. Hugely emotional at the end, in tears, and then enough pain in my legs for 10 minutes to make me cry again. Fairly extreme DOMs on Sunday!!