The Milton Keynes marathon is a weekend-long event, kicking off with the ‘Rocket’ 5k on Sunday followed by the marathon, half marathon and family fun run on the Bank Holiday Monday. It’s a pretty huge event that gets bigger every year with loads of activities going on around the stadium. This is the sixth year I’ve entered the race, and while it’s a lot busier than the events I tend to enter I find it convenient to travel to, very well organised and good value for money.
This usually turns out to be a bit of a family weekend out for us as well, with Lorna running the 5k and me running the marathon. We had a pretty good turnout this year with friends and family members cheering us on and I was running with my cousin Daryn and friend Tom, both running the half marathon.
I wasn’t expecting too much from my run as training hasn’t been great this year. After my poor performance in the Oakley 20 I’ve put in some extra effort and stepped up my training, but this led to some problems with my achilles tendons. I think the combination of being over a stone overweight, increasing milage too quickly and running in worn out shoes all contributed so I needed to take it easy on the lead up to the marathon. Luckily things seemed to heal up in time, and my goal would be to try and finish in one piece around the 4-hour mark.
The weather conditions were perfect this year: dry, overcast, and a slightly chilly 10ºC. Nothing like the inferno that was last year’s event thankfully. I joined the yellow start zone with Tom and Daryn and after some waiting around we were ready to set off. I think we started a bit too far back in our zone as there was a fair amount of weaving between other runners for the first few miles and it took a while for me to catch up to where I wanted to be. Tom went ahead after a couple of miles and I stayed with Daryn for the first 7 until the half marathoners break off and we went our separate ways.
The first half went by very swiftly. I was worried about my ankles at first but they held up well and I found a nice steady pace. The course begins in and around the city centre and eventually becomes a little more varied as it moves out to the more villagey parts of Milton Keynes. It’s generally flat with a few slight hills here and there. I started to think I was on track for a comfortable 3:50 finish, but this turned out to be very wrong.
I found myself needing to slow down around mile 21 because my knees became stiff and a bit painful, and I had to walk a bit over the next couple of miles. I felt pretty knackered at that point, realised I probably started off too quickly in the early stages of the race. I knew I was in trouble when one of the marshals told me to ‘hang in there, it’s not far now’ as I grimaced my way along the course.
A few uncomfortable miles went by and I was feeling very tired and a bit fed up as I passed the teardrop lakes. The Fetch crew were here giving out fruit, and I wanted to say hello, being a fan of the website but all I could manage was a raspy ‘thank you’ as I got my hands on a much needed slice of orange. I find that my voice goes weird the longer I run, and often turns into a kind of ghostly whisper if I’ve been going long enough.
I was grateful for the fruit which really sorted me out and I felt able to find a reasonable pace again for the last couple of miles, despite my knees feeling quite sore. I was glad to see the stadium and was even able to manage my usual sprint finish which always looks ridiculous. I was happy to be finished but I don’t think I looked that way – I was exhausted and if I’m honest a little disappointed that I had to walk some of the way. Lorna was there with my mum and mother in law so I waddled over for sweaty hugs and sat down for a minute to recover.
I ended up finishing at 4:05 which was about what I expected. All things considered it was one of my better runs this year, and a great training run to kick me back into shape. Tom & Daryn did really well, with Tom finishing in 1:51 and Daryn completing his first half marathon in 1:53, a fantastic time for a first go at the distance.
All in all it was a brilliant day, fantastic event and it felt very special to see so many friends and family at the finish line who had given up their bank holiday Monday to be there.
