One of my favourite races is the Snowdon Race and I had entered it this year for the third year in a row. But with being accepted to take part in the Brathay 10 in 10 for 2011 my priorities have changed, I now need to compete regularly in marathons. I found the Enigma Marathon on the same day which meant I changed my plans and on Saturday 24th July 2010 headed off to Milton Keynes instead of Snowdonia. I think my fell shoes are going to be put away for the foreseeable future.
This marathon had a small field of only 26 entrants and consisted of people with vast experience in marathon running. I felt like a complete novice even though I have run 22 marathons over 14 years. There were several from the 100 marathon club and some that had completed to Brathay 10 in 10. They all knew each other from the many marathons they had done over the years. It was like entering the Big Brother house half way through a series as a new house mate but they all were very welcoming.
This weekend shows a clear change in direction of my running, from fell running and training for times to simply running marathons and not really caring about the time. My time for this marathon was 3 hours 51 minutes and 36 secs, awful by my usual standards but I enjoyed it and I’m not at all disappointed.
The Enigma marathon is a lovely course a loop of a lake followed by a run up and down a picturesque canal, finishing with a three quarter lap of the lake again. I would do it again and recommend it to anyone.
I started the race steady and sensible but at mile 9 I could see Lisa Barry & Paul Allen in the distance and decided to try and catch them which I did by mile 12. In hindsight this was not a sensible thing to do. I ran out of water at mile 13 and was looking forward to the next water station at 14.5 miles but when I got there I had beaten the water and missed out. The next water station was 21 miles and by 18 miles I was really feeling the heat. It was quite funny that I was running along a canal next to a huge volume of water and there was nothing to drink. By the time I got to the water station at 21 miles I was spent and walked for about half a mile while I sipped the water. I passed a man using car wax to wax his barge it must have been 60 feet long. I thought to myself who out of the two of us was doing the longest marathon? I came off the canal and made my way along a track back to the lake when a wasp flew into my top lip. I could not knock it off and it stung me. In the end I had to peel it off and then with my nails tweezer the sting out of my lip. It was quite painful. Along the lake I caught up with Rob Bishop and ran/walked with him. We were over taken by Alan Rumbles shortly before the finish but neither of us was up to racing him.
I think the best way to summarise this marathon for me is with a following few short statements:-
It was my first trail marathon.
It was the hottest day I have ever run a marathon, 22 degrees C.
It is the highest position I’ve ever come in a marathon 7th, albeit there was only 26 competitors!
I have occasionally felt sick after a race but it was the first time I was actually sick.
I’ve never been stung by a wasp before while running.
Oh, the joys of marathon running!
Left: Rob Bishop and me finishing the Enigma Summer Marathon, I’m looking a lot better than I felt!
Below: At the finish, Foxy Lands
(alias David Baley, Enigma race director).
