Another Training Need ticked off :o)

Much as I love the Windermere Marathon course, I suspect that it will lose a little of its appeal with frequent repetition. Boredom is not something I tolerate well. Forcing myself out to run the same route day after day will take a fair bit of mental resolve.

The Draycote Water Marathon didn't let me down. I knew it wouldn't. Last year, Leon and I entered the 35-mile ultra that's run at the same time and pulled out after 21 miles because we couldn't face doing the same uninspiring 4.71-mile loop around the reservoir three more times.

I was quite looking forward to the race. Lots of people we knew would be there, Leon was going to try for sub-3:10 (yes, he did tell me beforehand) and Aly's marathon PB was ready for an upgrade. Me? I'd have liked sub-4hrs, but my main objective was to get bored out of my skull and not quit. No performance pressure, then :o)

There was a vicious wind blowing, and it was so cold at the start that I regretted my decision to wear a short-sleeved t-shirt and shorts, and ran the first 4 miles wearing a down jacket. I knew early on that sub-4 was unlikely and dropped down a gear. I slowed down towards the end of the race, ploughing into The Wall at 17 miles and not getting over it till 23 miles, but that just helped to bolster my attempts to have the worst possible race I could have without actually getting ill or injured.

I succeeded. I ground out lap after lap, telling everyone who would listen that I hated the course and wanted to quit (though, in reality, I was never going to quit). I fought the temptation to walk despite being perfectly capable of running (proof = I did run every step of it). I stopped eating my Werthers Originals because they weren't sweetening me up. I had mild phantom trots. Lots of people lapped me ... but I wasn't overtaken much by other relative slowbies except when I popped into the Portaloo.

Once I'd given up on sub-4, I didn't bother checking the time until Mile 24. Sub-4:15 was looking achievable if I got a move on, and there was no reason why I shouldn't.

4:12:41 by the clock. The time may be adjusted by a few seconds in the official results.

I wandered around in my t-shirt and shorts for a while, cognitively aware that I was getting cold but not feeling it. Drank coffee. Ate several pieces of the delicious bread pudding that is a Draycote constant. I so need that recipe!

Steve Edwards and Aly Knowles were the Prize TiTs of the day. In a Good Way, of course. Well done to both of you, and to Selina (who completed the Challenge in 2008) for her 200th marathon. I just lapped her as I was finishing. If I'd known that this was her 2ooth marathon, I'd have stood back and applauded.

This is a fabulous event. Really, it is. I hated it for specific reasons of my own. But it's well-organised, friendly, on gently undulating and mostly traffic-free roads. There's lots of encouragement from other runners, cyclists, and people out walking their children and dogs. At the finish there is hot coffee, bread pudding and chocolate biscuits. Fetch had by far the biggest group presence there (by contrast, apart from one of the officials Leon and I were the only representatives from our running club) and it was a wonderful illustration of how positive the internet can be in bringing together people with a shared interest who might otherwise never meet.

Today I'm painfree apart from a tiny niggle in one foot which I think will settle if I don't do any more long runs in my clapped-out F-lite 230s, which are approaching 700 miles and are worn quite thin on the midfoot. Leon and I went out and did 7 miles at 9.06mm pace this morning.

Last week's training ...

Mileage: 73.43 miles, average pace 9.35mm.
Longest run: 26.2 miles at 9.39mm pace.
Cross-training: 1,830m of swimming on Saturday.
Niggles: A little sore area under my left 4th metatarsal head, which I first noticed after the Keswick/Buttermere 34k. It settled over the week, but returned after yesterday's marathon.
Sofa-spud day: Friday, by accident, ending a 21-day running streak.