Manchester marathon 2019

Finished 3:45/56, very very chuffed

Manchester marathon 2019

Marathon day - here we are!

They've got a point????

Well, it's the Manchester Marathon next Sunday. I wanted to show my support for Manchester after the terror attack. So, a little trip to the Manchester Shop in town, to get a worker bee tee shirt (unofficial Manchester symbol), in which to run and probably make more of an idiot of myself than normal.

Unfortunately, the shop owners found out the purpose of the tee shirt. They were absolutely full of advice. 'You do know that there's a free bus around town? You don't have to run you know'. 'WHAT???? You paid to run around this place? You could just set off now for a few hours, save some cash' 'you know we're not accepting that top back now if it doesn't fit, don't try and return it if you're running in it, it'll smell very bad'. And so the little quips went on.

All for the spirt of Manchester and running.

Thanks guys. Ahem.

Such thoughtful friends

Oh. How very lucky to have such thoughtful friends in life. A friend who spends a week or so, planning and plotting a training run/cycle around the Hope Valley, Peak District. Planning the timing, planning the day. How much climbing can she fit into one training run. How much hillwork could be squeezed in. On no to your rubbishy flat route around the reservoirs, Rachie. We're going up here.

How lucky is that.

Cheers, Suzie Sue.
17 miles and 1,946 ft elevation.

Apparently, flat is boring.

Trying to make sure tha sun doesn't go down on me. Running up hills still rocks.

Spine Challenger : 'race' pace

I just wanted to mention my 'race' pace in this event : or rather, lack of pace. I knew that, for me, this would not be a running race as such, more of a determined stomp through the mud. This was the only way that I would conserve my energy and resolve to get anywhere near the finish. To my mind and plan, there would be no running, jogging, or trotting involved if I stood a chance of lasting out this gruelling challenge.

There is a sixty hour limit on the event, and we finished in just under 54. That's not sounding so fast, I hear you say. Tough, I was chuffed to bits with that.

Our race pace dropped to two miles an hour overall average. I could not have given any more than that, either physically or mentally. We just tried to keep moving. We slept for three hours on the first night at Hebden Bridge checkpoint, then two half hour naps the second night. On our second sleep opportunity, in a coffee shop, I also had a despairing and quiet cry. Finding out I had to walk a further 150m to reach the toilet was enough to break me at that moment : absolutely ridiculous I know. I still haven't managed to write to the coffee shop owner to apologise yet.

So there we have it. I think I finished overall ninth female from the thirteen women who completed . This year's race carried a 65% completion rate. So, I'm still very very pleased with that two miles an hour crawl.