Stour Valley Marathon

After a party down near Haslemere in Surrey on the Saturday, it was an early rise to drive to Nayland in Suffolk for my second Marathon of the year. The first of 2015 was at Milton Keynes was only a month ago. As this was also a trail marathon (MK was on roads) it was going to be interesting to see how my body coped with the limited recovery time and more demanding terrain.

The course consisted of a sort of figure of eight, with an overlap linking the two loops. It was an extremely hot day and as a trail marathon you are expected to carry your own water etc. Certainly I got through quite a bit, but managed to refill on the second loop. As marathons go trail ones are more challenging as you need to read directions and understand where you are on the map. This is the area where my experience pays off, even if my endurance & fitness doesn't. Also runners seem a more friendly bunch and willing to chat while you are with them, which helps pass the miles. Some passed me several times as they took wrong turnings and I managed to overtake a few towards the end, despite struggling with the hills and course myself.

The finishers medal was the largest I've received so far and incorporates the logos for the three trails that the route links. A much deserved McFlurry on the way home and after months of Osteopathy I was able to drive home pain free.

Milton Keynes Marathon

My second road marathon was to be a fairly local one, at Milton Keynes. It was reasonably cool to start, but got hotter as the day progressed, so not necessarily ideal conditions. Added to this was a recurring blister on the sole of my foot which meant it was a bit more painful running that I would have liked.

My second half was as usual slower, without putting in the right level of training I guess I'll never achieve the negative split others always go on about. Given all these moans I managed to finish in 4 hours 14 minutes & 45 seconds. This was 9 minutes & 39 seconds faster than the Guernsey Marathon back in August 2014! So if I got my act together I should be able to get below the 4 hours.

There were plenty of people to cheer us on and my wife managed to get to several points on the ruin to help keep me moving. The finish was at the MK Dons stadium, where we ran into the stadium and around most of the track beside the pitch. It was a good feeling and when I saw the finish line I managed to find the reserves to take a few scalps in the final yards. A great race, maybe next year but I need to think about the Raleigh International Expedition to Tanzania which will see me setting off in early June.