I thought it was fantastic for a Manchester marathon to return after a 10 year absence. And I was very pleased to see such a well organised marathon with a large field of runners.
Unluckily the weather was absolutely awful cold only 5 degrees, with very heavy rain throughout and strong winds. For April I don’t think the weather could have been any worse. For this reason I proclaim the real heroes of the day not to be the runners (even though it was tough enough for us) but the spectators who still came out in the hundreds and the volunteers at the water stations. They were all amazing and much appreciated in the conditions.
The course was an excellent flat course, took in some good local sights including Man United’s ground and Dunham Massey Park. On a better day I recon it has very good PB potential.
The weather put me off for the first half of the race which I did in 1 hour 44 minutes. But as the race progressed I became more focused and as I was feeling so cold running was the only way to keep warm. I final finished in 3 hours 28 minutes 38 seconds.
A great marathon, shame about the weather. I hope it is on next year so I can do it again, preferably with a bit of sunshine.
