Manchester Marathon 2022
I know the Manchester marathon hasn’t had the smoothest of journeys over the years, with the course being short and baggage issues, that said I’m a real supporter of this event. I suppose I’m biased with living in Manchester but the event has arguably come a long way. It is now a seriously BIG city marathon that rivels any in the UK outside London and surpasses many other international big city marathons.
It was nice to be back running the course again for the second time in only six months. I love the fact the course now goes into the city centre and if the organisers could include more of the city and it’s sights, I would be up for that. The only negative I could comment on, is why does the medal and finisher’s t-shirt have a cube on it? Surely there could have put a little more thought into the design and have a Manchester bee or the city’s skyline woven into the design?
Enough about the event and now about my experience. It is a fast course and one many would be looking seriously at going for personal best but that wasn’t my angle this time. I’ve had a pretty poor 3 months of training in my preparation for the Brathay 10 marathons in 10 days. Injuries have reduced my training, it has been inconsistent and with less long runs than I would have liked. That said things are improving and I did complete the Gin Pit double marathon only two weeks ago which gave me a real mental boost that I needed. Although the times of these two marathons were far slower than I am used to, with them both being significantly over 4 hours.
In the run up to the event I was sole searching as to what pace to run, I wanted to be able to run better than at the Gin Pit but what was I capable of doing? On top of this I was taking my friend Richard to the event for his first marathon. He was hoping of running about a 3:40 marathon. I wanted to help pace him for this but doubted I could even run that fast. I went into the race on the back of a 58 mile running week, good for my 10in10 training but not for a good marathon time. Before the start, I would have been happy if I managed 3:50 and wasn’t expecting to be able to stay with Richard.
Richard and Me at the Start
I gave Richard a lift, we parked in Man United’s car park and walked over to the start. I could see Richard’s first marathon nervousness and I wanted to be there for him. We waited under the Start gantry on Chester Road and watched on as the huge number of runners and atmosphere built up around us. Peter Hook from New Order started the race and we were off running towards the city centre. I do love the atmosphere of a big city marathon with wide city roads jammed with runners and hundreds of spectators lining the pavements. Deansgate was a spectacle in the cool early morning sunshine.
Manchester Selfie!
How should I pace this run? I elected to be just outside 8 minute mile pace, which was Richard’s planned pace so gave him a chance to reach his goal time but was far inside what I was expecting I could achieve. The first few miles passed and so did the city centre and back out to Man United’s ground at mile 7. I had kept roughly the same pace and Richard was with me but I sensed he could do with going a little slower. I felt surprisingly good and didn’t want to pull Richard on too fast so suggested we split up to do our own thing. At about mile 9, it was a great boost to see my running club members who were manning the water station. Then on down Chester Road and under the M60 where the Underground Kollecktiv DJ’s had set up their quality sound system pumping out fantastic house music, echoing under the flyover and booming for half a mile up and down Chester Road. I wanted to stop and soak up the deep base rhythms!
On I went, down Wash Way Road, the crowds were brilliant and supportive, they got even better around Altrincham town centre. I was starting to feel the pace but was very pleased that I could still maintain it. As I headed back towards Manchester and the 20 mile point came and passed, I longed to slow down but knew I had the energy and fitness to carry on so I dug in. Back under the M60 and a second wonderful helping of the Underground KolleKtiv’s thundering, hypnotic and motivating beats. At this point I knew I had broken the back of this marathon.
Running at Manchester, thanks to Stuart for the photo.
I was still hanging on to roughly the same pace and started to believe I could do one of my fastest times for a year or two. This marathon running lark is certainly not getting any easier! Into the final mile with only one more left turn before the finish. I was incredibly tired but it didn’t matter and I kept focused on what I had to do. Last turn, I could see the finish although it was over 400 meters away. I pushed and pushed, speeded up and watched the finish gantry slowly get ever closer. It’s a long straight, luckily flat and finally I got there, under the gantry in 3 hours 34 minutes 56 seconds. Far better than anything I could have dreamed of.
I waited in the finish area and only a few minutes later I was so pleased to see Richard coming over the line in 3 hours 40 minutes exactly and exactly what he had hoped for, well done Richard!
Ooopps, looks like I have already entered for 2023. Underground Kollektiv will you be there?
