Well its been just over 2 weeks since the race and my legs are still as sore as they have ever been after a race. I've only ran 3 times since and never felt good so I guess its true what they say about taking around 3 weeks to fully recover from a marathon.
As far as the race is concerned I ran 3.04.08 to take 31st place (of around 1100 finishers) which is a massive PB and under the 3.10 I needed for a London good for age entry so I'm well pleased with that.
The day itself was sunny and warm (a little too warm for marathon running but no-where near as bad as Edinburgh in 2010), so I arrived with my friend John at the start in plenty time & quite relaxed. I hadn't done much running in the 2 weeks leading up to the race because of a few niggles in my left calf & right thigh which seemed to still be there during the warm up which worried me a little.
Before I knew it the gun was going and I was off and I hit my first problem - after about 200 metres my Nike+ decided I had already ran a mile (and not surprisingly a PB) so I had to uncomfortably fiddle on with it to restart it - great timing!!
I felt pretty good for the first 10k and went through it in 39.33 which in retrospect may have been a little quick. My goal was to break 3-10, but I still harboured a slight hope of breaking 3 hours and I that point I was on course (although I knew I would inevitably slow down as the race progressed).
By the time halfway came though I started to feel the pace and had slightly slowed down, going through in 1.28.18. In previous marathons it has been around the 18-20 mile mark that I have really started to really feel the fatigue kick in, but this time it really started to come on after halfway - probably a result of my earlier pace. By the time I got to around 16 miles I was more exhausted than I have ever felt in a race and my legs felt like lead weights. There was more than one occasion that I contemplated stopping and walking even just for a few minutes, but somehow I managed to keep going.
The course is very twisty and turny & because of this there were a few points that I passed the race leaders in the opposite direction which judging by the looks on their faces appeared that they were suffering as much as me. I also saw John and few Saltwell Harriers pass the other way.
After about 19 miles the course loops back past the Stadium of Light and then goes up the coast to Seaburn and back down again. It was nice to have the support of the crowds at this point but I was really suffering and my legs were in agony. I had noticeably slowed down and knew by now I wasn't going to break 3 hours, but I was still on course to get under 3-10 and this was the main motivation that kept me going.
At around 23 miles the dreaded cramp flared up and I had to stop for a few seconds. I hoped that it wouldn't be a repeat of the problems that really slowed me down in the last few miles of Kielder last year but luckily it was a one off.
The last few miles were some of the toughest I have ever ran, but I finally managed to get across the finish line in 3.04.08. The pain in my legs was so bad it took me twice as long to get back to the car, but I came back to the to watch John finish in just under 4 hours 30 in his first marathon.
I've learned something different in every marathon I've ran do far. In this one I really pushed hard at the start and this definitely affected me later in the race. Could I have achieved a quicker time if I had not set off as fast, and pushed harder later in the race? I'll never know, but I do know that if I want to try and maintain that sort of pace for the entire race then I need to do more training (in the build up to Sunderland on average I ran 4 times a week with a max weekly mileage of 43 miles). I feel confident now that I will be able to run under 3 hours which I will try and do next year in London, and maybe later this year if I do another road marathon (I don't think I'll manage it as Kielder).
The biggest positive I took from this race was how hard I was able to push myself in the 2nd half of the race despite the agony in my legs and being absolutely exhausted.
Next up Chevy Chase....
