Abingdon Marathon – 18 October 2009
Nicki
Roe reports …….. flat & fast and mission accomplished! (x4)
In a little more detail;
all four of us running at Abingdon had a personal point to make and our
own targets to achieve. Mine was to run 26.2 miles in under 4 hours,
Anthony’s was to prove that his excellent time at Paris wasn’t a fluke,
Craig wanted another go at the elusive sub-3.15 and Ian was still cross
with having to pull up at New Forest and had set himself an assignment
to cross the finish line.
The organisers of the
marathon were flexible and accommodating and both Craig and myself had
got our places from unfortunate injured parties who had advertised their
numbers on fetcheveryone.com. All we had to do was send our details to
the organisers and forward a cheque to reimburse the original runner and
the place was ours. Anthony was the only one of us who had actually
entered the race in the usual way as Ian used Denise’s place and ran as
a woman!
The practical running of
the race was quite straightforward for everyone concerned with just the
usual extra effort required when our bodies had used up the ‘easily
obtainable’ 2,000 calories and needed to use clever human methods for
an extra boost. Another one of these extra boosts which helps in
marathon running is support from spectators. The ones who shout you on
as a random runner are great and well received but a big cheer from a
familiar face is paramount – thank you Claire, you’re fab! (AND she
didn’t run me over this time - which was a bonus!)
So, the course itself left
through the town and then continued twice around a 9 mile loop before
returning back through the town for the last couple of miles. There were
regular water stations, some with fruit; oranges and bananas and loads
of jelly babies and sweets – some at official stations and some from
village sweet shops and local children. Lucozade bottles were on offer
around mile 12 and again at 21.
The race ended with a
stadium finish with lots of cheering and support which Anthony
appreciated as his vision had gone on the blink when reaching the track
– running too damn fast! Craig nearly ended up with an even faster time
when the clock stopped with 300 metres to go. I just about managed a
grin at Claire (after abuse was shouted at me for being miserable!) and
Ian even had time to try out his ‘smooth lines’ as he passed a young
woman on the back straight.
To conclude, we all met
our targets and took our revenge on marathons past! Anthony ran in at
3.01.31, Craig achieved a brilliant PB of 3.10.46, I took 8½ minutes off
my IOM time and ran 3.51.32 and Ian finished his 30th
marathon with 4.19.43. Just for those who missed it … Ian finished his
30th marathon …
Nicki
