It was strange and a very pleasant change for me, to drive to and back from a marathon and use less than half a tank of petrol. The short drive up to Blackpool made a nice change from the hours spent recently trudging up and down the motorways to Anglesey, Gloucester and Milton Keynes!
I must admit Blackpool isn’t a place that interests me. I don’t like going on the rides at the Pleasure Beach and have no interest in the arcades. As for hosting a marathon Blackpool kind of surprised me and did a great job. It was a fast flat course and a well organised event. Blackpool’s front has some good wide walk ways which made for enjoyable traffic free running. Back in December I wasn’t overly eager to enter the marathon but after experiencing it I would happily do it again.
It was nice to meet some familiar friends before the start and run with them during the race, especially Craig from A&T, it made a nice change to meet a familiar face from my own running club. The weather was perfect for marathon running, mild, calm, with light cloud to stop the sun warming things up too much.
At the beginning of the run I didn’t seem to be in race mode but after eventually finding somewhere for a pit stop at about 7.5 miles, I upped my pace and started knocking out consistent seven & half minute miles. I ran a good distance with Jon from Hull (who I have met at a few marathons over the last year). His PB was 3:20 and as we were well inside this time with our current pace I helped him keep it going and aim to get him a PB. I kept this going to about the 22 mile point but even then still only started to fade slightly. Mile 25 seemed particularly difficult but I hung in and finished strong for the last mile. My chip time was 3 hours 19 minutes 6 seconds, far better than I was expecting. I was at half way in 1 hour 41.5 minutes so I even managed a negative split. Jon left me at about mile 23 and finished in 3 hours 18 minutes, well done Jon great PB. Also we done to Craig finishing in 3:32.
The Clowns!
