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Gloucester Marathon
A very well organized event, a number of distance's available on the day half marathon full marathon and Ultra marathons. Went to the race with good friends Darpan and Steve Darpan doing the half and Steve the full .
Very cold day with temperature's in the minus, the route was quite uninspiring and four laps of country lane for the full marathon , I was using this as a training run ready for my upcoming marathon, I had done 40 plus miles in the week leading upto it and not tapered at all even running my quickest park run the day before for a number of weeks. The race went far better than thought and I ended up with a new Marathon PB and only missing Championship qualifying standards by minute and 40 seconds, i was not disappointed and delighted with how it went and would recommend the event to anybody that like a marathon early in the year. Be prepared for cold temperature's unlike I was.
Brecon to Cardiff Ultra 44 Mile's
On a cold winter's February morning Couple of Hundred people gathered at Christ college Brecon to register for a epic run/race back to Cardiff . This was a self navigation race not my strongest point. There was was some familiar face's from running clubs and a famous face with Former Wales captain and British Lion Ryan Jones on the start line. Seeing Ryan there kept many a spectator happy . Once registration and kit check was complete it was time to get to start line a Five minute walk away . Everyone gathered and was ready for the huge task ahead everyone with they're own personal goals .
The start whistle went and away we went before hand i was told this race is all down hill, can honestly it was the opposite as mile's started ticking by we climb through the beacons and and it felt we was climbing for mile after mile. Finally at around mile 15 it felt as if we was on the flat and could hit some sort of decent running. I was Lucky to see some familiar face's who are a great support from Local running clubs David Kembery / Mike Donnelly / Sophie Taylor / Rhiannon Buckley seeing people that you knew gave you a massive boost and theyre abuse and cheers are great. As the miles ticked off it started to dawn that this was a long way and how tough the challenge was I had in my head that I wanted to be one of the top finishers. We hit 30 Mile and I felt great I saw the Huge support crew from Ogmore Pheonix running a massive boost and hit the taff trail for the final 14 miles feeling confident and on for a 5hour.30minute finish. Within two miles I felt a totally different person the leader had gone away from me and wasnt able to respond from doing 7 minute miling I was struggling to run at all it felt as if my body was shutting down, this was now becoming a massive challenge to even keep running at 8 Minute miling the weather had been testing all day we encountered snow/ rain / sleet and not a lot of sunshine. I kept ticking mile after mile off even feeling dreadful I wanted to hold onto second place and was determined for this. I hadnt stopped all day and kept plodding, I hit the last feed station and checkpoint, with 5 miles to go I was completely gone I took on some water flat coke jelly babies and off I went, feeling dizzy not sure exactly what I was doing I was running in middles of roads into oncoming cars it was hard work to function properly I tried to regather my senses as this was the final section and home and challenge complete. I at this point had dropped to a lot slower speed than what I wanted to be running but mile by mile I could see the finish. I came off the last section of taff trail and passed Dyffryn ffrwyd manor nursing home close to my heart and found a final kick to get me to the finish line just under a mile away , Over all was a a sense of disappointment id come in fourth not what I set out for .
On reflection it was a well organised event and another challenge completed. Anybody that wants to run Ultra marathons this is a great place to start and fairly easy to navigate and straight forward, Will I be back im not sure. But will definitely be doing more Run Walk Crawl events one of the best race event companies there is.
Great Welsh Marathon Llanelli
Having competed in this event for as long as Ive been running it hold's a firm place in my running calendar similar to the Cardiff marathon / half its a event I try to not miss every year, Every year it offers different challenges depending on the weather forecast. Being on a coastal path and a half marathon loop ran twice it can be a very tough day at the office in bad weather.
Having spent a time as a child in Llanelli with family and been a firm llanelli supporter growing up I love going back to this event each year, Also first marathon I ran a sub three hour so it is a firm favorite of mine.
Having left home in glorious sunshine fully fuelled on Nutella on toast and heading west ready, as I was getting closer the weather was changing skies had gone from bright blue to dark and drizzly closer I got to Llanelli the worse it got as I pulled into the event car park that is right next to start line it was hammering it down. I looked out of the car window and thought wow this is going to be a tough old slog today. I looked at my phone to see a number of good luck message from friends, few people asking what my goal was for the day, something ive had to get used to the last few events people expecting me to run well its great to have all these people asking it adds a little pressure but something that makes you want to give that extra few percent and not let anybody down. I dropped my bags off and went to the start line the weather was horrid hammering it down with rain and very windy everyone was soaked before we even started. There was photographers and journalists from Llanelli herald that had reconisged me from previous events and ask if i was willing do a small interview before we started which I did. I was ready to gels in pockets and ready to go remember the lovely words from all friends and awaiting for the hooter to get us started and doing the usual pre race ritual. Off we went the rain was hammering it down and with the wind behind us at start it felt good standard for me first mile my quickest pacing isnt my strong point as anybody who knows me and my running will know, coupel fo Miles in and i see a good friend Mark Hester who was Photographer for the day taking few snaps, id now settled into a comfy pace and was plodding along off the coastal path and around the factory we gone and after few miles id settled into third place and was quite clear of fourth place as we re joined coastal path to head back down it we had a wind in our faces, each mile was a constant battle driving rain and wind id seen Mark again who had taken a few more snaps and was updating facebook with how I was doing was appraoching ten miles when I bumped into some fantastic supportive marshals from Ogmore phoenix thanks for your encouragement it is very much needed when your on a lonely route, back past the start and ready lap tow and counting down the miles. By this stage the weather was getting better the wind was just as strong but the rain had stopped as the miles was ticking by i was now clear in second place and about a minute behind the leader at twenty miles I thought id try kick on and make a effort to catch him sadly i wasnt good enough on the day to get much closer and just couldnt close the gap. as i turned at mile 23 with five k to go I thought id have one last attempt again I made no inroads to his lead so decided to just relax and stay in second and enjoy the last few miles at this stage I hadnt looked at my watch and had no idea what time i was running knew I was under three hours but with such strong head wind I didnt know I was close to PB and my dream of sub 2,45 and london Marathon Championship standard at mile 25 I saw good friends Geth and cath that had come down to support was lovely to see some familiar faces I then decided to look at my watch and noticed that i was very close to the dream time I tried my upmost to do it in last mile but with cramps setting in it wasnt to be and i finished in a pb of 2.45.23 and second place delighted id ran a pb and came second and the disappointed to have missed my sub 2.45 dream , I asked my self why hadnt i looked at the time on my watch sooner could i have done it if I had ill never know the answer but I love the this event and the challenges it brings along coastal path in all sorts of weather. This was my second time id finished on podium down here, Third in 2017 Second in 2018 will i be back in 2019 to chase that elusive Number one spot.
