Run > Race

Clarendon Marathon 10/20

That's a first: starting a race feeling as though I've already just done it twice. The strategy became clear: start slowly and pick up the pace later. I managed half of that.

This was my 10th Clarendon Marathon and there was an extra bit of bling on offer, so it wasn't one I was going to miss, just because I'm knackered. And it's a great race and would have been a terrible shame not to have been there.

The countryside, though a bit lumpy, is very scenic; the marshals are numerous and friendly; the feed stations are frequent and well-stocked; even the weather was kind: it was a little cool hanging around for the start but I decided I'd warm up once I was moving so wouldn't don the windlite I'd brought in the pack. There were even complaints from some runners that it got *too* hot in the sunshine later.

So, all in all, a good day to be out and about. I fell in with a marathon "virgin": she'd never run more than 16 miles before, so the last 10 miles were all Personal Furthests. At times she pulled me along, at times I was doing my annoyingly-positive thing with the enthusiasm and general disdain for pain and suffering (especially hers: she called me 'evil' at one point, but did keep running).

There were a clutch of friends there: Mark, who'd done no training and had food poisoning the week before and obviously therefore smashed it, turning in a sub-4:15; Gareth was sub-3:30 and going well as usual; Sandra, who seemed very nervous beforehand, did a great 5:15 and Dennis turned in a brisk sub-4:45. Not forgetting Brendan who (off an early start, so I only caught up with him on the bus) beat me by 2 minutes while knocking an hour off his time from last year. Lulu was just outside 2 hours for the Half. Heroes all!

Split Summary
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1) 26.68m - 5:36:51(12:37/m) 3893cal