I decided to enter the Twin Lakes 20 as preparation for yet another MK Marathon. This is my second time taking part, and I remember it being a really great event with a fun 2-lap route and very well organised.
Training has been going ok this year. After an extremely busy December left little time for running, I was determined to stick to my training plan and improve my fitness again. Despite starting from scratch again I did feel confident that I could finish fairly comfortably.
The weather on the day was quite unusual. After several weeks of crisp, sunny days we woke up to a very atmospheric and foggy day on the morning of the event.
One of the things I remember the most about this event was how well organised it was. If you had already picked your number up (one of the running shops in MK lets you pick them up early), then you can just turn up and join the starting line. No problems at all.
There are also plenty of portaloos available, a baggage drop off, and you can easily pick up your number too. I didn’t notice any large queues, and heard some of the other runners praising the event for how easy it is to get going.
In terms of the race performance, there really isn’t much to write about. I stuck to a very conservative pace, aiming for a strong second half. I focussed on finding a good flow for lap one, and the second lap saw me catching up and passing runners steadily. I felt very comfortable up until mile 18, which is where I usually start to get tired.
I caught someone cheating a bit half way through the second lap which bugged me a bit – liberally cutting corners and taking several ‘detours’ on the way. I don’t understand why someone would want to do that, especially as they seemed to be running really well for this late stage of the event. I ended up keeping to my pace and found myself running alongside this person all the way to the finish line.
I ended up crossing the line at 3:05 (by my watch) which I was really happy with – it was much quicker than some of my long training runs and better than I’d expected!
I should definitely book this one again next year – it’s a perfect Marathon training run, excellently organised, great support from marshals and everything you’d want from an event like this. Also note to self – the finishers t-shirts were really small this year, so maybe order an XL one next time!
