Beachy Head Marathon

What a tough one! Was feeling OK before the race which was nice, got some sleep and wasn’t congested in the morning. Didn’t feel totally prepared in all honesty, the tapering period was different for me and I missed some sessions due to my sore back. Started off as planned, nice and easy up the hill (walking) then warming up on that first level-ish section. It was hard to find a comfy pace for long as the route was so changeable so I relied on my RPE as a guide. Managed to gain a few places on the first long downhill stretch to Jevington and felt pretty good here, even the horrid hill right after wasn’t too bad and ran most of it. Friston forest was nice, got some decent pace here, then the up and downs started so I just pushed on at a comfy-but-working stride. It was difficult to know how well as I was doing throughout as there was so many Ultra runners in front, most people I overtook were doing the 50k, but there were a few Marathon runners I managed to snare and destroy. I treated everyone on the course as if they were someone I had to beat (in a very friendly way), that might have helped. Alfriston was great, I was surprised by the support here… but my that hill and 3km of climbing after was pretty horrid, first big walking section for me but it meant I could run the less-steep inclines after. My IT band started aching at ~15km, a first for a long time, so I was a little distracted by that. The first couple of steep downhills caused my knees/lower quads to start screaming so I knew I was tiring so couldn’t do my usual ‘controlled falling’ down those upcoming declines. Feet were a bit sore, maybe it was new shoes but probably just the mixed terrain. Not sure if the cold-muddy bath helped out any, but I didn’t get any blisters on my toes which is very rare! At halfway I hit a really good comfy pace and actually started to really enjoy myself, the view was great and the surface forgiving (running ~4:30) despite the niggles. I felt in trouble after Cuckmere haven, that climb after the crowd was tough and I knew I was going to be walking most of the rest! My average pace was ~5:15 for most of the race up until this point so I was sad to lose so much speed but I couldn’t force myself to run up those damn sisters… I genuinely struggled to walk up some of the steep ones! Those horrid steep declines were no help, too steep to recover so I was slow down these too. I wasn’t in a great place here, lost a few places (gained one back at least) and was finding it harder and harder to re-start running after a walk. I saw Jake and shouted encouragement at him, it seemed to work, and made me try a bit harder too as I actually wanted to try and catch him (was telling him not to let me catch him!). It was really cool seeing him pick it up so the finish, although very tough still, wasn’t awful. I had nothing left in me for a fast sprint down the last few hills and felt if I had pushed harder I would have fallen. Maintenance mode kicked in, I felt that I had sub-4 hours in the bag which was good enough for me, why risk the entire race for an extra 30 seconds eh? The end came quicker than expected, I flopped down the last hill like a broken ragdoll and almost slipped… then a vegan runner sprinted past me so I took the brakes off and had a strong finish… then added 800m round the gardens and back to get the full 42.2km! What a loser! Ha. Had no idea at all what position I came in, but I now realise I was in the top 30 (ish) for a while but dropped some places on those last tough bits. Feel pretty good about the result but not about having to walk so slowly feeling very unfit indeed! I was ruminating on all those missed S&C sessions as I lumped up the hills! GAP is interesting, pretty consistent for the first half, then a real drop @ 33km but picked it back up a little bit. Finished up with 2 vegan sausage rolls in my back pocket. Nice.