Back in the spring, we looked for a fast, flat autumn marathon where Lin could achieve her ambition of running a sub-3 hour marathon. After failing to get into Abingdon (who knew that it would sell out in about half an hour?) we settled on Mablethorpe.
We started on our training plan which we stuck to pretty well for a change, apart from about 30 races over the summer (what summer?) which we managed to shoehorn into the schedule. No injuries and things were looking pretty good until the weathermen started bleating about the return of summer and record-breaking temperatures.
Thought it would never get here, but finally the big marathon weekend arrived, for some reason I had always thought Mablethorpe was not far past Abingdon. They are both up north somewhere. Turns out it’s twice as far away, about 6 hours driving! Anyway, we drove up to stay with some old friends for a couple of nights beforehand and they spoiled us with carbo-loading meals, and a day relaxing in their garden. Everything was done to maximise our chances, and so when we arrived on Sunday in Mablethorpe I still thought we had a hope as long as we could get the pacing right, and if maybe it was not quite as hot and breezy as forecast, at least not for the 3 hours from 10am till 1pm.
It even felt too cold as we waited in the shade before the start, but as soon as we moved out into the sun to line up on the front line, the reality became clear. It was hot! The Town Crier gave an entertaining and rousing pre-race speech, and then we were off, winding through the streets of M'thorpe. We were immediately overtaken by about 30 people - going off too fast - and we overtook most of them as the race progressed. I concentrated on maintaining an even 6:48/mile pace. To Lin it felt like we were just jogging, but she restrained herself as we reeled off mile after mile at or around target pace. After 4 miles we started to overtake half-marathoners who had started 20 minutes earlier. This was mostly not a problem as there were not enough of them to completely block the road so apart from a little congestion at one or two water stops it was fine. The most annoying part was that nearing the finish of the first lap, several well-meaning people including marshals who should have known better shouted out to us “well done, only a mile to go!” I wasted a bit of energy shouting back - "14 miles!!!!!"
By that time, any lingering morning coolness had burned off and it was really getting hot. I was now struggling to maintain the 6:48 pace, and my heart-rate was over 160 which is where it should have been after 23 miles, not 13. So just after 14 miles I made a tactical decision to let Lin run on without me, and away she went, soon she was well ahead, trailed by her female competition, a tough-looking woman from the Hampshire Police as we later found out. I plodded on, getting hotter and slower, until at 20 miles I handed in my number and waited at the out-and back section for Lin to return. I had cut out about a mile of the course, giving me just enough time to catch her up and recover enough energy to run with her for the last 4 miles. By my calculations she had to run the last 4 miles in just under 7 minutes per mile, and for most of the time I really thought she would do it, but the last section up to the beach path, and 2 miles along it in the mid-day sun proved just too much and the pace must have dropped off, or else the distance was more than my GPS measured, because when she rounded the last corner with 60 metres to go, the clock was just turning to 3 hours.
Despite the disappointment, she still did really well, beat all the women and all but 7 men, in a new personal best time of 3 hours and 19 seconds.
http://www.sportstimingsolutions.co.uk/results_master_run.php?recordID=The%20Mablethorpe%20Marathon%202011
Only 20 seconds less and she would have accomplished her goal of sub 3 hours. As a consolation, she moved up a place in the
http://www.thepowerof10.info/rankings/rankinglist.aspx?event=Mar&agegroup=V45&sex=W&year=2011
Oh well it gives us something to aim for at
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