Beachy Head Marathon 2012

The training had been going well.  I'd lost a lot of weight and got some good runs in.  Perhaps some more hills would have been good but I was bang on for my target to break last years run of 5 hours.
Then the sickness.  This serious limited my running in the last few weeks but I could probably write this off as a full on taper.  The important thing was that I was better.

In reality I'm not.  It is a cold day and I struggle to decide what to wear.  Once going I know I will get hot.  In the end I go for a beany, gloves long sleeve running top and PWR vest.  I go with shorts and long socks.  Footwear I go for my trail shoes.

The first 7 or 8 miles aren't too bad.  The trail shoes are a good choice as I smash my way across the terrain.   Somewhere around mile 9 I realise things aren't good. I feel weak and I am coughing.  I just don't have the grunt.


Half way takes for ever to arrive (when it does I am only down 5 minutes from last time but I am shot)  I am doing lots of walking.  With around 16 miles to go the game is up.  I effectively walk the rest of the marathon.  In the middle I have some real dark times with so much walking to do and feeling so weak.  It is freezing cold and the wind is gale force.  It is a mental battle to keep going.  I am tempted to DNF but somehow I keep going

With about 3 miles to go I regain some cheeriness and start messing around.  I sing "The hills are alive with the sound of music"  I ask the marshals if they mind waiting around while I do another lap.

At the finish I even do a full tilt sprint for a laugh.  The crowd is confused.  Here is someone coming in with the walkers and slower runners but at a pretty fast sprint.

If it was the first time I had run this marathon then I would have thought I wasn't good enough.  But I have done it before. I know I am stronger and fitter.  But when you are sick.  Even still it is unlikely that I will run this marathon again any time soon

26 miles 5:40:00