Snickers

Two honks of the PB klaxon, because I managed to get two personal bests in one run, yesterday! 

Yesterday I ran Brighton Marathon with my brother. Tell a lie. Yesterday, we completed Brighton Marathon. There's a reason that people recommend training plans, and we grossly underestimated what we'd got into! Nice atmosphere at the beginning, with a lap of the park where the starting corrals were knocking off both the first mile, and the highest point of the course. Easy, right? One mile down, barely broken a sweat. Down the main road into town, past familiar sights, lots of people calling out my name - getting it printed on the front of my shirt was the best decision I made preparing for this - knocking off miles two and three. Nice and easy! More posing for pictures as my wife surprised me by appearing between the pre-agreed spots, nice boost to take me past my old flat, up a hill that I'm not entirely convinced wasn't completely vertical, then back down the main route through town.

Down to the seafront, passing the mile 5 banner and crowds on both sides of the road were cheering me - I think by this point Phil was regretting not getting his name put on his shirt too. Up the steady climb to the clifftops and never again will I say that certain roads are flat. While they may seem that way perched on a motorbike, running up them reveals the true gradient! Out towards Ovingdean, ticking off miles 6 and 7, a steady pace, enjoying the view and going to part of the Sussex countryside I'd never visited before. It was about 8 and a half miles before I first slowed down to walk - a personal best in terms of steady running. 

Back out of Ovingdean, a village that helped me discover my love of jelly babies, and an evil double-back climb before heading back to town. More clifftop running, enjoying the views, glad it wasn't sunny. Being annoyed by the camber of the road, which may be one of the reasons my ankles are protesting this morning. A supply drop from my wife (and Phil's partner) at 12.5 miles, because despite normally having good math skills and running a half marathon last year, I can't work out the halfway point of a marathon. This was the loudest point of the whole run, and precisely the wrong time to start listening to music in one earphone! 

Approaching the 14 mile mark, scanning the crowds for signs to pass the time (I'll read any text if it's put in front of me, if I could combine running and reading I'd be much better at this!) I suddenly noticed one with my name on! Two friends from my local parkrun and pub quiz had roped in their friends and come down to cheer me on! Seeing Patrick and Kerry, and then half a mile later Claire and Matthew (the other third from our quiz team) with a supply drop was a real boost ahead of what my brother declared "the longest, most boring road ever" - the four mile out-and-back from Hove to Portslade. I used to walk this road daily to get to work so I knew what to expect, but I think it took a lot from him. We helped break it up by running to a bit of street furniture, then walking to the next one, and it really helped keep positive.

Unfortunately that deserted us after mile 18. Aside from Vanessa popping up with supplies, this was the bleakest part of the run. The psychological effect of turning away from the finish line was a blow; as was more of the dreaded camber, the rain, the sparse support, and Phil's knee giving him gip. These combined for a slow effort, and apart from catching each other up after toilet breaks (19.5 miles was the first time I came to a complete stop!) we didn't break above a walk. The grey, windy, cold, wet section through Shoreham Port - industrial estates aren't the nicest of scenery - up to the power station was the point where all motivation deserted me. I knew that all I had to do was get to the next water station, opposite where my bike gets MOTed, and that would be enough - after that would be the turn back towards the finish line and while we still had five miles to go, we had to do it anyway as everyone was waiting for us at the end so we may as well complete it!

It was at this point that we realised warmer clothing would've probably been beneficial as we were both shivering in our shorts and t-shirts/vest tops. Phil blagged a blanket from a first aid tent and we swapped this on the long route back. I honestly don't remember anything of miles 23 to 24 apart from endless grey clouds and a large amount of people shuffling along like a zombie movie. Just after the 24 mile point I got to familiar territory - the next mile or so was part of my usual parkrun route and I knew it like the back of my hand! Even more of a boost, Patrick and Kerry surprised me with an unplanned support slot and walked with us up to the 25 mile point. It was nice to have a distraction as Phil and I were out on our feet. Thankfully the psychological marker of only having a mile and a bit helped, and the crowds of support returned along the seafront. I noticed that my response to people calling my name changed over the run - from an upbeat "thank you, young lady/man!", to a simple thanks, to a raised fist of acknowledgement, to a weary thumbs up, to a very minimal wave! 

The sun came out to see us home, which means that I managed to get sunburned in the same run - in the same few miles - that I needed a blanket to keep warm. Thanks, British weather! Past the 26 mile banner we started to pick up into a gentle jog and crossed the line together, in 6 hours and 5 minutes. If I do it again it'll be with several more half-marathons and longer runs under my belt, as I'm normally upbeat and optimistic but this took it out of me. Still, I've run a marathon now, and nobody can take that away from me - not bad for the kid who preferred to hide in the library than take part in PE at school!

(Incidentally, from a few minutes of Googling, it appears that Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson has never completed a marathon himself - which means that I can be judged as a better sportsman than The Rock, using this as a barometer!)