Greater Manchester Marathon

As I don't want to try the stairs yet I may as well give my thoughts on yesterdays Greater Manchester Marathon.

Cold, cold and cold. Worse conditions I have ever raced in. Temperature was around 5 degrees, strong winds, hailstone and rain. Add to that an exposed course and you have a recipe for hypothermia.

I have been pretty lucky this year as far as injuries are concerned. Only had a minor niggle at the beginning of year. So you can imagine my disappointment when I had ankle and calf pain with only days to go to the Manchester Marathon. My calves are a real weakness when it comes to long distance. This year has been better, as I have started to use compression calf guards which have helped massively.

So to race morning. Up at 6am, a bowl of porridge and honey and a cup of tea. I ask which of my support crew are braving the weather and coming to cheer me on. Lesley (my Ironman training widow), Emily (7 year old daughter) and Mat (14 year old step-son) opt to brave the conditions. We get there with plenty time to spare, which is a novelty, as I'm usually rushing around.

Why, why, why do runners strip off with an hour to go and stand around shivering. I'll never understand this mentality. Take some old clothes that you can throw with minutes to go. I had about 4 layers on and was still cold.

Warm up commenced with about 20 minutes to go. It's never a big warm up for a marathon. Just a bit of jogging and a few accelerations. Was my calf painful? You bet it was, but only mild pain! I tried to stretch it, massage it, with little success. It was going to hurt. O well, it could be a long day, cos I'm still running. I feed my way through the masses and get onto the start line.

Bang!!! And we're off. My plan is to run 6:45's and maintain for as long as possible. This would give me a finish time of high 2:56. I'm straight into a pace of 6:30. It feels so comfortable, but have learned that it doesn't last, so ease back to 6:45. First mile done in 6:49. I'm comfortable and chatting to runners. Everything feels good. Calf is not too bad, I'll just carry on and see what happens. Today feels like a sub 3 day. My legs feel strong, I have been allowed a weeks taper. Stefan Skrimshire runs passed and reminds me that we have unfinished business from Chester marathon when we had a sprint finish (that I won).
1.5 to 2 miles in, OMG there it goes, a huge pain in right calf. If I had been out on a training run I would have stopped and walked home. That ain't happening today, so carry on regardless. I know the race route takes us back towards the start at 5 to 6 mile and decide I can bail out then if I need to. I'm maintaining my pace and the pain isn't getting worse.

At 5/6 mile we're back at the Stretford Arndale. There are masses of spectators. Surely, I cant bail out in front of all these people? Far too many supporters shouting for Man Tri and fellow club members about! Time for a quick decision. Carry on is the only option. Male pride is at stake here. I'll walk if I have to, but I'm going to finish.

I'm cold, but feel OK. I go through 10k in 41 minutes. The race route then takes you into Sale and down Brooklands Rd. We are at miles 8 to 9. I really struggled down Brooklands and hit a bit of a low point. The headwind was making it a tough. Out into Timperley and through 10 miles in 1:07. To be on target I needed to be at 10 mile in 1:07:30, so I am 30 seconds ahead of schedule. All is looking good. I start looking forward to the short climb in Altrincham, as it was going to help stretch out my calf. It offers some relief, but it's short lived. A short downhill section offers some recovery to the legs, before another short climb. I hit half way at 1:28:07, about 20 seconds ahead of schedule.

The second half is where all my troubles begin. Lets start with the short cross country section through Dunham Massey. Not exactly what I was expecting in a 'Road Race'. Only a very short section so I won't whine about it too much. Lets just say puddles and mud. I can now feel that I'm starting to get really cold. My face is going numb and I'm starting to lose feeling in my fingers.

By 16 mile I hit my first plus 7:00 minute/mile (7:06),  I'm 20 seconds down on my target of 2:56, and I know that I'm only going to get slower. In a nutshell I got colder and slower. Both calves started hurting to even things out. The second half of the course was so much more exposed, especially the mile long stretch down to Flixton. Conditions along that particular road were grim. The battle now was to just keep going and get to the finish. I was aware that by now I was doing the end of marathon shuffle. Despite my best attempts I couldn't really stretch out to run my 'normal' style.

I ticked off the miles one by one. 20 miles done (in 2:17:36) and you say to yourself 'Only 6.2 to go, anyone can do 6.2!'. 22 miles done 'Well that's only 4 and a bit. That's my shortest training run distance!'. The organisers in their infinite wisdom decided that to cross the A56/Chester Rd they would use the subway. Not what I really needed as I approached the 26 mile point. The small steps up the other side nearly finished me off. I was in no state to climb steps. Not even steps designed for the frailest of OAP's using a zimmer frame. I'm not ashamed to admit that I walked them.

The crowd carried me the last 0.2. I could see I was going to sneak under 3:10, so was quite happy with another 'good for age' time for London Marathon. I crossed the line totally unexpecting what happened next. My legs gave way and I couldn't think in a coordinated manner. I heard the words "he's going!" I think I had just been felled by the local lumberjack. The medics from Manchester Medical Services whisked me off to the medical tent where they sat me in a freezing cold tent, next to the entrance/exit, where I remained getting colder until I could muster the energy to move to a 'warmer' part of the tent. After about 15 minutes I was given a warm drink. Eventually, I got warm/bored enough to leave and go back to my car.

I'm not going to sit here and slate the organisers, as I like having a marathon in Manchester again, and appreciate that they have put this race together. I just hope lessons have been learned and next year will be better.

As I sit here writing this I have taken my compression calf guards off. My right calf is swollen and 3cm bigger than my left. It is also covered in a massive bruise. I hope this is not the end of my season.

Perhaps the decision to continue was the wrong one????

Here is my Garmin readout http://connect.garmin.com/activity/172854193

I have added this several days later having been told I have torn my calf muscle. I just have to hope that running 24 miles on a torn muscle has not caused too much damage. Fingers crossed.