Manchester Marathon

Race: Manchester Marathon
Time/Position: 2:54:01 (78th from 7000)
Some way outside my 2:49 target time, but still a PB by almost four minutes - so it would seem churlish to be too disappointed. Boston was perhaps a little too close, less than 13 days, despite holding back so much with a view to a serious PB attempt today. But the main problem was the same as ever, the sticking point that that has afflicted every one of the 17 marathons I've done: not enough 18-20 milers in training. The event was a lot better than I'd expected, however, even if it was rather distasteful to have to park underneath the Fergie statue at Old Trafford (and pay £9 for the privilege). Perhaps not the most scenic or atmospheric of courses, but the crowds were friendly and supportive, and the whole event had a nice local feel - and could perhaps become a decent northern alternative to London. For me, it was a huge advantage to sleep in my own bed and, even more importantly, to be in my own bath by 1pm! I started out at target 6:30 per mile pace, keeping this churning over quite precisely and comfortably. Went through 10k in 39:59, got in with a decent group through the leafy streets of Sale, which sadly started breaking up at 9 miles. The halfway point comes in Altrincham, and I went through bang on target in 1:24:30. After a gel, I felt even better on the return leg (at least initially!) and enjoyed watching the waves of runners coming through on the other side of the road. But at around 19 miles I began to suffer, the inevitable result of my lack of training, and really hit a low point as we entered bleak open fields near Flixton. The headwind, which I'd worried about all day, became a problem here and I couldn't stay with any other runners. My situation was semi-desperate for a while, but at least I'm no stranger to this kind of pain, so managed to steady my pace and luckily grabbed a gel in Urmston at 21 miles. This allowed me to just about resume my sluggish progress back towards Stretford. Chip times were a little dodgy: my watch had me at 2:53:56 or so, whilst my chip time came out initially as 2:52:30, which was definitely wrong!