With all the uncertainty and chaos of 2020, the running calendar has been pretty much cancelled for everyone this year, which is why I’ve had nothing to write about since almost a year ago!
The year started like any other, with me booking the Oakley 20 and MK Marathon as usual. I was running every day to the office and my training was going smoothly, up until March when the pandemic started to ramp up.
After lockdown started my training pretty much stopped dead. I wasn’t comfortable leaving the house for a few weeks and any free time was spent looking after the children. Running events were all postponed or cancelled which came as a relief to me because I was falling behind in my training, and uncomfortable with the thought of taking part in any crowded events.
I think the organisers of MK Marathon have adapted brilliantly to the twists and turns of the pandemic. First of all they gave us the option to take part in a virtual run in June (run the distance in your own time and send in your Strava page as proof), or wait until September for the full marathon experience. I really appreciated the flexibility this gave me, deciding to wait until September, and hopefully get my training back to where I wanted.
By the end of August, despite lockdown measures being relaxed, it was looking like the pandemic is here to stay. The MK marathon wouldn’t be hosted as planned, but the organisers once again gave us some flexible options to still take part in some way. Instead of the full marathon they hosted a ‘reimagined’ event, where runners can complete the official (although revised) route in their own time, logging their progress to the MK Marathon app or via Strava screenshot. There was also the option to run the distance virtually, which is what went with.
I very nearly didn’t take part in this at all. With lockdown, work and parenting commitments, as well as moving house in July (not recommended during a pandemic) I basically did no running at all during the summer. My fitness had totally diminished and I knew there was no way could even consider running a full marathon in my condition. No way I could ‘wing it’ like I did last year! I changed my mind at the last minute when learned I could run this in multiple sessions. I decided to try and complete this in two outings and I’m really glad I did.
First run – 15 miles
For my first run I decided to loop through Leighton Buzzard, before following the canal back towards Great Brickhill and Rushmere park. My goal was to complete at least a half marathon, with any extra miles being a bonus.
It wasn’t pleasant but I did manage to run the majority of the first 10 miles or so albeit at a slow pace. By the time I reached the climb towards Great Brickhill I was pretty much walking the rest of the way. This was fine by me, I just wanted to cover the distance any way I could and would crawl if I had to!
I managed to put away 15 miles, which was a result for me. Less than a half marathon to go!
Second run – 11.3 miles
It took me all week to recover from the first run. I was still feeling tired the following Sunday when I went out to finish the remaining miles. There was a bit of a brutal heatwave this weekend so I got out as early as I could before the heat got unbearable.
This time I did the route in reverse, keeping to Rushmere park as much as possible, staying in the shade of the trees. The hills were killing me a bit (a year or so ago I’d barely have noticed the hills here at all), so there was a fair bit of walk-running.
From there I followed the canal towards town, before looping back the way I came along the roads towards home. I had a mile or so to make up so I ran laps in a local park until I reached 11.3 miles. I was so relieved to get back home!
A year or so ago this would have been an uneventful training run, but today this was the most exhausted I’d felt after an event, and definitely the hardest marathon I’ve run.
Once I uploaded screenshots from my Strava page I was done! I got a confirmation email from the race organisers and all I need to do now is wait for the medal to arrive in the post.
This would have been my 7th MK Marathon. I’m not sure if it still counts towards my 10x medal, but I’m glad I was able to take part in at least one event this year. It wasn’t pretty but it’s given me confidence start getting my fitness back.
I’m massively grateful to the MK Marathon organisers for their amazing planning throughout the year, giving runners plenty of options and flexibility to be able to get this done. I’ve already booked my place for 2021, whatever form that event will take. Hopefully I’ll be joining the start line in much better form next year.
