Race Report: Shakespeare Marathon 28/04/2013 #2

 The definition of a “great” marathon can be well and truly pinned to the Shakespeare for all of us that took part. This year they obviously learnt from their mistakes of last and the organisation, course, weather were perfect gaining 5 of the 6 Striders PB’s either in the half or full marathon.

Happy days.

Gordon and I could not have picked a better hotel as we just had to fall out of bed, straight out of the front door and onto the start line! That was the first “great” of the race. 

Saturday was spent happily grazing from one pasta establishment to another. We bumped into the Coppenhalls who joined us for afternoon tea and a scrummy pasta feast in the evening. What with a little retail therapy and eating, Saturday was a very relaxed start to our endeavours.

Only special finishers got awarded their medals by the Mayor (not).

Sunday morning dawned hazy and cool with no wind (well none that we can talk about)…perfect. Gordon persuaded me that I would not need my full length running top and vest and boy was he right. The light breeze was a welcome relief once we were well into the marathon.

As always, Gordon left me standing at the start and before the first bend, I had lost him in the bouncing sea of colour. The course took us on a 1 mile lap of the town and then we were taken out into the surrounding countryside, through amazingly picturesque villages. The first part of the first lap had us up and down a little, with one interesting hill around the 8/9 mile mark which was long and exhausting but short and sharp over the other side so you couldn’t make the most of it. Support was sporadic but where there was some, it was enthusiastic. 

Think I was catching flies here!

By the time the half marathoners and full marathoners split, the sun and shown its face promising to make for a warmer second half. I nearly just did the half as I was chatting (yes, I had breadth for it…maybe that’s where my 36 secs came from?!) with a half marathon runner and a friendly marshal kindly pointed me, quickly, in the right direction.

So it was head down, music on, a quick look over my shoulder to make sure I wasn’t the last one through and a good talking to myself to keep the legs turning over at a steady pace. Knowing “the hill” was going to rear up again between 17 and 18 miles, I gulped down the gels in time for them to do their job and managed a steady stagger up for the final time. 

After that the course was flat and beautiful with the last 6 miles or so on a fab old rail trail. The wind was nicely sat behind us as was the sun (I have the sunburn to prove it) and my legs were amazingly still going at a good pace. Gordon had well and truly disappeared and in-fact when I was around 24 miles I think he was just about finishing. How does he do that?

Smile please… NO!

Apart from a couple of occasions when my legs felt like giving up, I managed to talk myself out of shuffling and gave myself a stern talking to and managed a PB as did Gordon. So all’s well in the Hutchins household!

Marathon man.

So we would definitely rate this as a “great” marathon and intend to do it next year. Well I’ve got to lose that 36 seconds haven’t I?!

For more information, check out the race website.

Cheryl