The title is relevant for a couple of reasons:
This has been a marathon I wanted to do but I hadn’t planned on for this year. Then due to family plans changing the week before the race a window of opportunity appeared and entered on the Wednesday before the race on the following Monday.
It’s a 150 mile drive from home to Milton Keynes, so on the day of the race it was a 5am start with a quick bite for breakfast before a 2 and a half hour drive to the start. All went well with the drive as you would expect so early on a bank holiday Monday morning, until I got within half a mile of the start at the Milton Keynes’s Dons football stadium. I crawled in my car onto the last large roundabout before the stadium, high above a dual carriageway below and came virtually to a complete stop. Initially, I wasn’t too bothered but then after half an hour and having only moved about 20 yards I stared to get very concerned. Not only was I running out of time to get changed and to get to the start but I needed to find the information desk at the stadium to collect my race number. As time dragged on and I didn’t move I got more and more agitated. Had I come all this way, 150 miles only to miss the race? Oh no, this can’t happen! Other runners who had been given a lift to the start would exiting cars, getting changed and walking to the start leaving their drivers and cars in the traffic jam. I couldn’t do this, I couldn’t even get changed, I didn’t have my race number and there wasn’t anywhere I could even leave my car on such a busy jammed up roundabout, aaaaaagh! How frustrating!
Luckily after about 45 minutes I had slowly crawled around the roundabout and squeezed my way into the large Stadium car park with no parking issues. I had about 40 minutes before the start. I could feel myself almost shaking as I quickly got changed in my car, I knew once I had got my number (if I wasn’t too late) their wouldn’t be time to come back to the car. I swiftly ran into the stadium, dodging cars and runners on the way. Inside the stadium I found Karen who showed me the way to the information desk and promptly I collected my number. I was so relieved!
Once I had started to calm down, it was great to meet up with a few friends, particularly Karen with her welcoming smiling face, especially after my stressful last hour. I also bumped into Rik, great to see my 10in10 roommate and buddy from last year. Even better to see he was the 3:45 pacer which meant I would beat him today for the first time ever! I had to tease him about this.
Finally the race started. The first part of the race took in a fairly central part of Milton Keynes and showed off its modern straight matrix like roads, lined with tress. The second half of the course took in the tarmac paths that goes round the town and connects up the lakes called the Red Way. It is very pretty going through these man-made green spaces but for me it felt a bit too artificial and I prefer the more natural look of the countryside.
The event also had a half marathon and there were thousands of runners, making for a great race atmosphere, this was made even better by the lovely sunny weather. I was pleased to manage a nice steady paced run and nudge under 3 and a half hours with a 3:27, especially as the course was a bit more undulating than I was expecting. The finish was inside the Dons stadium, making for an impressive finish and it was great to see Nozza Paul there taking photos and Traviss the newly elected 100 chairman. After the race I bumped into John and Matt and chatted with them and others while I got my breath back and prepared for the long journey home.
