Success. My goal was sub-six hours, and managed it in 5:39:54 according to Strava. Ran three circuits of Draycote, 14.3 miles (23 kilometres), but then reduced to a mixture of walking and running, managing to run most of the final two miles. I estimate I ran about 65-70% of the total distance.
I was surprised how moving forward at a run became so much more difficult after the halfway mark, and (writing this two weeks after the event) remember how afterward the lower half of my body felt pretty beaten-up. There was even discomfort in my biceps. Swinging the arms backwards and forewards for such a long period obviously had an effect.
So, learned more about what a Marathon is all about. With hindsight I really needed a month or two of practicing longer distances, but unlikely to ever get another 60th birthday, so just had to go for it. No shin splints, which I’m really pleased about – put this down to making sure having longer periods of rest between training runs, especially the longer distances, and also balancing (or not) for a few minutes each day on a ‘wobble board’.
I’m writing this on day fourteen of my recovery period. There’s general advice in running literature to have a day’s rest for each mile run, at least no prolongued ‘impact’ activity. Given that I ran a little over seventeen miles and have done nothing since, that brings me neatly to the coming weekend when I have a couple of days off – back to Draycote, and it’ll be interesting to see what my body allows me to do. Can I manage three circuits without feeling all done in?
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