Sore Legs, and Epic Chafing, Courtesy of the Brighton Marathon

Yesterday, I finally did the unthinkable, and became a marathon runner.  It was an interesting experience, one I will always be proud of, and would rather not repeat... had I not booked myself onto the Amsterdam Marathon in October via the means of a drunken exercise.

I arrived late afternoon on Saturday, found my hotel, and got settled down.  My friend Stan was supposed to be doing the race, but pulled out on an injured knee, which he had been hoping would sort itself out in time, but he did the right thing in the end.  He did decide to come down, and show some moral support anyway, which was rather decent of him, so I put him up on the hotel floor in exchange.

The night before the big day was spent getting some decent pasta and pizza based food inside of me, at a nice restaurant that catered for his Vegan needs as well (I think I have mentioned this in the past).  After that we headed out to play some pool, relax, get back to the hotel in the pouring rain, and rest up for an early start in the morning.

When I say early start, I wasn't expecting to roll over in bed in my sleep to be given an appraisal of the time; 

"It's 4 o'clock, Gav."

I ignored this interruption.

"Did you get that?"

"Thanks mate, p*** off back to sleep."

So, the morning of the day came, I trotted downstairs to have my wheatabix with raisins, and some toast.  All was looking wonderful outside, with barely a cloud in the sky.  I hopped back to my room, got dressed, made sure everything was in my bag, then checked out, and shared a taxi with some other runners that were waiting downstairs for a ride to the starting line.

The crowds at the start

The start was at Preston Park, north of the station, and at a pretty high point of the course.  It was absolutely freezing up there as well.  I dared not take any layer of clothing off right until the last moment, when I had no time left before I had to check in my luggage before heading to my allotted time zone.  Stan agreed to meet me at the finish, said he was envious of what I was about to do, to which I offered him the chance to take my bib and shorts and prove it.

I wasn't looking this good at the finish

The start was nasty, straight away, the only direction was up. In fact, it didn't take long to run under a huge banner that congratulated everyone for reaching the highest point of the course.  Still feeling fresh, I ignored this, and tried to ignore the guy relieving himself in the bushes, with a life size Bengal tiger straddling his back.  Heading into the town itself, it was very cramped for all the runners.  There was a lot of human traffic, and I couldn't wait for it to disperse.  I think it was between miles 4 and 5 that I heard my first, "GO ON, BANKSY!" I gave a wave of acknowledgement, Stan was doing well so far.  

Elevation of the route shows how hilly the first half was

Miles 5 to 9 were spent heading out of Brighton, east along the coastal road as far as Ovingdean.  The beginning may have had the highest point, but undulated would be a compliment to this stretch of road.  Some would say hilly, I would say bumpy, but it was tough, and some people were evidently finding the going tougher than planned.  Once we reach the furthest point, miles 9 - 13 were spent running back into Brighton over the bumpy roads to the seafront proper, and the half way point outside the Hilton hotel.  I was glad at this point, because after everything, I was still feeling good in myself, not breathing heavily, and the legs didn't feel like dying anytime soon.  

Between miles 14-18, you had to do what I found a frustrating and demoralising section through Hove.  It was simply straight up for a long way, to turn around and come back again to make the distance.  To make matters worse, the lanes weren't wide, and there were cars parked on the road, so it provided a bit of a bottleneck for you to get past anyone who was going slower than you were, or even worse stopped, and walked.  This was where I caught the 4 hour pacers though, and I got past them knowing that I was now well ahead of the 4 hour time I wanted to beat overall.  After 18 miles, I took confidence in there being only 8 miles to go, still felt good, and told myself to get to 20 before checking again.

18 - 23 miles was spent running out to a power station at the far end of the coast, before rounding it, and heading back towards the finish.  It was around the 20 mile mark I decided I was still good, but I noticed the effects it was having on others.  There were people in front of me who were going strong, and like a click of the fingers, they'd stop, head to the side of the road, and start stretching their muscles, or look completely broken.  For the first few miles of this, it gave me encouragement that I was doing better, but then it starts to creep into the mind 'when will this happen to me?'

The official route map

The last section between 23 -26 miles was spent straight down the promenade, heading towards the pier, and finishing on the road below it.  It was between 23-24 miles that the true effects of what I was doing hit me straight in the face.  I can't describe it, but be happy in the knowledge that it's not a nice sensation having your entire body screaming at you to stop all of a sudden, but your mind driving you to carry on.  I counted every final marker, and prayed the next would come sooner, 24 miles, only 2 miles to go, 40kms, only 2kms to go, 25 miles, surely that pier should be closer, 26 miles, don't look weak, just run it home, 800m, "COME ON BANKSY!!!" what was that?  ah yes, Stan.  Just run through that line.  Do.  Not.  Stop.

The time on the line said 3:57:03, so I knew I did under 4 hours in total.  On the results page, it says I was position 2132 out of approx 9000.  My chip time, and benchmark for any marathon now was 3:45:42.  I was very happy with myself, and felt as though I had done exactly what I did... a lot of miles, on foot, in one go.

Afterwards, I found Stan up what felt like hundreds of nasty steps, we did what I always seem to do when I need to recover, and went to the pub.  I sat down, had the best burger I think I will ever appreciate (and it was a good home made one, with non-rubber like cheese etc), and a well earned cold pint of lager.  We had a chat about how everything went, and how he really had the motivation to do one himself at some stage in the year.  

I hope he does, it's a pain everyone should experience at least once.

Other than the chafing... that is the one and only thing that is seriously bothering me as I type today.

An interesting update on the Brighon Half Marathon

I've felt the aches and pains of the day today, getting to, and around work.  I've also felt it was well worth while for the effort of yesterdays race.  One thing I didn't mention of the race yesterday was something I noticed when I finished the race.  I linked my time yesterday, to the workout with the map, route statistics and all that boring technical stuff you can over analyse while training.  I doubt anyone has looked at it, but if you did you will see that my phone gps recorded a route of 22.27km.  A half marathon should be in fact 21km.

As I did really well, I kind of ignored the fact.  There could have been a little discrepancy with the gps location for the start and finish, I didn't start and stop the device right on the line.  But over 1km?  Yeah, I ignored it, I was a happy man.

Today, I went to the official website again, and they acknowledged this:

Brighton Half Marathon 2012 distance acknowledgement

Race Organisers of the Brighton Half Marathon have acknowledged today (Monday 20th February) that due to human error the course was extended to a total distance of 13.42 miles.

The Race Organisers have confirmed that ‘The Brighton Half Marathon is a UKA licensed course measuring exactly 13.1 miles, we have however received feedback from various runners that the total distance measured on their training devices showed a distance of over 13.1 miles. We can now confirm after investigation that the total distance covered by each runner in the Brighton Half Marathon on 19 February 2012 was 13.42 miles. This has been investigated and is human error due to a misplaced turnaround between mile 4 and 5.’

The Race Director said: ‘We take full responsibility for this human error and would like to issue our most sincere apologies to all the runners who experienced disappointment over this. We have taken all feedback into account, we will be implementing some new additional measures ready for the 2013
race to prevent this from happening again.’

Action has been taken to amend the runners’ times on the Brighton Half Marathon website, taking the extra distance into account. This will be live on www.brightonhalfmarathon.com at 4.00 pm today in the results section.

The Brighton Half Marathon is a hugely successful event with this year seeing blue skies and sunshine, welcoming 7,427 runners to the 22nd edition of the race.

The Brighton Half Marathon had been growing steadily over the last couple of years and the 2012 race sold out in record time with all 10,500 places snapped up by 18th November 2011.

The Brighton Half Marathon organisers hope that their sincere apologies to all the runners will be accepted along with amendments to the runners’ times and measures to prevent repetition of this in future races.

My bonus from all this is I now have an official time with the event of 1:38:55.

The modified time, taken from the Brighton Half Marathon results page

I feel even better, but feel like an athlete that gets given a medal after the one above has been disqualified.  I didn't do that time for real, and didn't get to feel that pride and satisfaction right after crossing the line.

Saying that, however, the event was well organised, the regular updates I received building up to the race itself, the organisation on the day, the smooth start and finish, all made it one of my favourites yet.  I hope it doesn't effect them too greatly, and it can continue to be a seasonal highlight.

But, for some people, they may not have hit their goal, and don't feel the satisfaction I feel in now absolutely smashing mine.

I'll have a wee dram to celebrate.

Run Like the Wind; The Brighton Half Marathon 2012

I can't believe I wrote this up last night, and accidentally deleted it from the blog.  What a stupid thing to do, but here we go with another attempt:

What a day.  I completed the Brighton Half Marathon in 1:41:21, which was far better than my expectations in my previous boring ramblings.  This was a surprise, and a huge confidence booster leading up to the Brighton Marathon in April.

Taken from the official results page

The weekend didn't start to the best of news.  My friend Stan called me, and let me know that he wasn't going to come down to Brighton, due feeling heavily under the weather, resulting in bad headaches.  Only Stan knows his body, but to undertake this kind of distance, and not feeling fully would be a huge mistake.  I was gutted for him, and so was he obviously, but he has plans to get onto another half marathon race in the next couple of weeks to keep his motivation going.  It must be horrible to prepare for something so well, and then not be able to do it due to unfortunate circumstances.

Looking back towards the pier from the beach

So, I was left in Brighton on my own.  When I arrived, it was raining, and windy.  I had the full ensemble on to beat the weather, and decided that as my hotel was a couple of miles down the seafront, and the wake of the sea was looking good, I would meander along the coast to my desired destination.  I got set up in the Sea View Hotel, in a room with no view of the sea, then went to find a more local Italian restaurant to stock up on the carbohydrates, and a naughty bit of pudding.

It's difficult to resist chocolate and ice cream

The morning was bright, and fresh.  I got up early, did some necessary stretching, and walked the coast back towards the pier, and the starting area within the vicinity.  It was certainly cold, but I kept doing my stretches, and kept warm by not sitting around too long in one spot.  Then, before I knew it, the race started, and it wouldn't be for another 13.1miles before I could stop and rest again.

Ready at the start line

The race was nicely organised.  It was an undulating course, with a couple of gradual hills, but all seemed fine.  There wasn't the greatest deal of 'human traffic' in front, I could nip past anyone in the way with ease, and fought my way all the way to the finish line.  I was feeling the burn around the 11 mile marker, which was probably a little more mental, as I could see the finish in the distance ahead, slowly coming nearer with every step and breathe I took.  I certainly felt as though I got through the finish doing my absolute best, and before I learnt my time, knew I couldn't have done much more in terms of effort.  The time was the icing on the cake.

Relaxing at the finish, I used my sunglasses as a filter

Now I can take heart, know I can do half a marathon comfortably at a pace I am proud of, I just need to put in the extra training to become more comfortable with longer distances, and in 8 weeks time return to Brighton, and run twice the distance.

Bring it on.

Panoramic from the beach at the start/finish of the event.  Sunglasses used to effect again

Thoughts leading up to the Brighton Half Marathon

I'm sure anyone who trains for anything would think, perhaps I could have done some more.  I've pretty much blagged my way through every stage of life using the means of charm, optimism, and gentle persuasion.  Therefore, I am happy to be a contender for the above thinking.

Yet with running, it's your own body.  There is only a distance in front of you, you have to reach it in a self-satisfying time, and you have to cross the line with your life intact, reserving the dignity to not look too spent in front of the many cheering you on. Not to mention the watchful Paula Radcliffe on every other billboard saying, "NEARLY ISN'T ENOUGH".  Was that why she gave up in Athens?

I don't feel I have put in the effort of late, to that my training schedule dictates.  Why?  Snow, ice, cold weather, stress at work, general laziness, to name a few.  To be fair the general laziness could be omitted, I have been lazy, but I have done the run when the other factors were not in place to a satisfying time.

What I'm writing here is my personal forecast for what I want out of Sunday's Brighton Half Marathon.  Something that I can set in stone as it were, and give me prose for thought after the event.  

Here it is:  

• My personal best half marathon time is 1:46:26 in the Run to the Beat half marathon in London.  
• I want to get around that time, give or take a minute to be happy.  
• I want to get into the low 1:40's to be really happy. 

All this will give me the encouragement, and feel for the terrain of the Brighton Marathon in April.

The below is nothing exciting, just what the 5 weeks following the half marathon will be like.  I try to cycle 2-3times during the week to make up for runs that should take place then.  After this, it will start winding down for the full marathon on April 15th.  I just look at this, and think how can I mix 16km, and watch my football team play on the same day?  It's not often Grimsby Town are in south at the moment.

Still, no matter how good the result, perhaps I could have done some more...

...and don't even get me started on the diet.  Maybe that can be a topic for tomorrows musings.

Planning the future; Anthony Nolan; and a sore finger

This was orignally posted yesterday, but playing around with things has resulted in it appearing today.

I should start with an apology if this post is a little long:

I guess it was about a year ago that I would have happily sat in a pub, discussed the merits of running, and branded anyone who did such an activity a mentalist.  In some ways, I stand by my convictions, but happily include myself in such a lame categorisation.

The reason I came to start running was (in my view) the fault of a childhood friend of mine, Stan, from the village I grew up in 30 years ago.  We had one of our random chats, and he let the cat out of the bag that he had entered both the Lincoln and Hull 10km races in 2011.  I reckon there was a wager involved somewhere here, but the competitive nature in me decided that if he can run 10km, then so can I… so I entered the British 10km, and the rest is history.  I was hooked.

Before I knew it, I had planned the next 12 months.  I was entered into the Run to the Beat Half Marathon in September, which was great as it was down the road from my home; the Brighton Half Marathon in Feb 2012; and the Brighton Marathon in April 2012.

With hindsight, I look back at this ambitious planning, and wonder what the hell I was playing at.  Why plan so much when after the first run training for the 10km, I got 2km before I had to lie down wheezing in Shrewsbury Park?  This wasn’t like me, and furthermore, Stan, the poor bastard was coerced into following my plan, and is still sticking with it to some extent, barring an injury he fears will pull him out of the marathon, and sensibly so to.

I have no answer to the question above, but I find myself already looking beyond Brighton, and possibly towards Amsterdam in October, with a half marathon in the Langdale Valley of the Lake District in September to really test the legs.  It’s all crazy, but I have to plan ahead before I can stop.

I also want to do one thing for charity every year in my 30′s.  It started walking the Yorkshire Three Peaks for the Mountain Rescue England and Wales.  Last year I ran the British 10km for Anthony Nolan.  My mother died over 12 years ago to Leukemia, so this is a charity that I am happy to be involved with as they do a lot of work towards matching donors for people suffering and need a bone marrow transplant.  I’m stuck in two minds whether to pick one event for this year, or alternatively open a charity page for all events, and just let people know which events are coming up, and remind them of the sponsorship at the time.  I just don’t like to look as though I pester my friends and family continuously all year round.

After the Yorkshire Three Peak Challenge

Anyway, the training has been going from strength to strength.  I inadvertently ran over 20 miles on Sunday without thinking about it.  It hurt me a lot, but I did it, and was happy to have made it round in one piece.  It has given me the confidence that I only need to find another 6 miles, and get used to a better pace.

Training has involved cycling to work 2-3 times a week with the running taking place over the weekend.  I’ve slowed down on my cycling pace, just using it as an excuse to loosen the limbs, as well as save money on the transport costs here.  Yesterday, cycling into work, it was raining, and travelling through Greenwich, I saw a car that decided to pull out in front of me.  With all the water on my brakes, I wasn’t able to pull off the kind of stop I’m used to, and ended up hitting the back of the car and falling into the road.

Luckily all I could identify was a sore finger (which is currently in the phase of fusing a purple colour with red).  What amazed me was, a/ the driver drove off, b/ all other traffic were doing their best to drive around me, rather than helping some poor fool lumbered on his arse by another motorist.

The camaradarie of city living.