So this past weekend, I finally completed my long time goal of completing a marathon. I did it at the Manchester Marathon in a time of 03:43:57. In this blog, I’m going to go over a post op evaluation of the race and the event as a whole.
Coming into the marathon:
The week building up to the race I was feeling relatively ok. I had a tight hamstring that I couldn’t seem to shake from football the previous Saturday. However, I still managed 5 miles on Monday, gym session and 4 miles with run club on Tuesday, 90 minutes football match on Wednesday, then rested up until Sunday.
The day prior to the race I drove up to Manchester and stayed with my mate Suneet. I enjoyed Nando’s for lunch, followed by a stroll round the city, and then some stretching and a pasta in the evening.
Sunday Morning pre-race:
7:00am
Woke up about 7am, scoffed two slices of toast with peanut butter, shower then out the door by 7:30am. Suneet lives pretty central so I hopped on the Metro at Piccadilly where hundreds of other attendants were gathered and headed 3 stops down to Old Trafford.
When I got off at Old Trafford, it was rammed. With race participants and spectators everywhere, I made my way to the bag drop off zone where I left my tracksuit and phone in a small bag. I was worried that it would be a bit sketchy leaving my phone at a bag drop, but it was super well organised under a huge tent and they assigned a numbered wrist band to match that of the bag.
8:20am
With 20,000 people supposedly partaking in the marathon, the start was arranged in a staggered system. Each participant had a category assigned to them on their bib, which indicated what time they would start. Each category was also associated with a pacer. I was in category E, with pacer 3:58:00. This is decided when you register to the race and input what time you believe you’re likely to complete it in.
With almost 40 minutes to go till the race officially started, I followed an old man into a KFC parking lot to join 50 other runners in shaking their legs, having a piss, and do whatever stretch the person next to them was doing to kill some time.
8:40am
With 20 minutes to go, a man over a speaker phone is urging everyone to get in their categories to assure the race start smoothly. In the distance, I see two girls on a small stage doing what seemed to be a Pilates class to get everyone warmed up. Everyone around me is just standing still, blowing their hands to try and warm up, and adjusting their watches so they don’t lose a second when the cross the start line in 20 minutes. I’m also thinking “If there’s 20,000 other people here doing it, it shouldn’t be that bad should it.”
9:00am
Race officially starts. No movement in category E.
9:20am
We’re finally at the front and we’re off!
Having no solid plan of how I was going to run the race, I figured I would try run the first 13 at around a 7.40 pace, and then just ride the rest of the race the best I could.
Mile 1
“Go, go, go, move, move, move, Jesus, there’s so many people I need to find some space”
Mile 2 & 3
“OK, let’s try and settle into that pace.”
Mile 6
“So far so good.”
“Wow, the support is really amazing, so many people have turned out to cheer us on”
Mile 9
“OK, still feeling good, only 4 more miles to the half way point. Can’t wait to get in the disgusting miles and see what this is all about”
Mile 13.1
“Half way! Wooh! OK, stay in the game Ryan, 13 more to go. It’s going to be rough but you should go through phases of pain and feeling alright. Just ride those pain waves.”
Mile 14
“OK, my pace is starting to slow a little but you’re still going strong, just ride it out.”
Mile 15 & 16
“Hmmm, so when’s this good phase scheduled to come”
Mile 17
“Why isn’t this good phase arriving, block it out, block it out, only 3 more miles till we’re in unchartered territory, keep pounding”
Mile 18
“These supporters are really starting to get on my nerves, they’re EVERYWHERE. Stop shouting ‘you look strong’ ‘keep it up’ “not that long to go’, it’s not helping!”
Mile 19
“Fucking Jesus Christ, why would anyone want to do this shit. I could be sitting at home eating croissants, I could be in bed, I could be doing literally ANYTHING but this shit right now”
Mile 20
“OK boom, mile 20, unchartered grounds just keep going. Really starting to get confused to whether this good phase is ever going to show up”
Mile 21 – 25
“Just don’t stop, Just don’t stop, Just don’t stop, Just don’t stop, Just don’t stop, Just don’t stop, Just don’t stop, Just don’t stop, Just don’t stop, Just don’t stop, Just don’t stop, Just don’t stop. Lord, why am I doing this shit, what’s wrong with me. What is actually wrong with my brain that I would actively choose to do this crap. Is my left leg going to fall off? Just keep moving, just keep moving, just keep moving, just keep moving, just keep moving.”
Mile 26
“THEY HAVE HUNDRED PERCENT MADE AN ERROR ABOUT THE DISTANCE OF THIS LAST MILE, but we’re nearly. Ahhhhhhh shit, your boy is about to complete this nonsense!”
Mile 26.2
“RELIEF IS IN SITE, RELIEF IS IN SITE”
Cross the finish line
“Wohh, what’s happened to my legs!? Where’s the relief… OK, focus on staying up right. Shuffle, Shuffle, Shuffle, Shuffle, Shuffle, Shuffle, Shuffle, Shuffle, Shuffle, Shuffle.”
Gives me medal
“Sweet, sweet medal”
“Well, that was awful. Now I have to get myself back to Suneet’s, do I? Oh, I have to drive back to Nottingham, do I?”
“I am well and truly fucked. There is no chance I’m getting these tracksuit bottoms back on my legs”
2:00pm
Get back to Suneet’s, proceeded to tell him the race was painful. Still not quite able to get over the pain I’m feeling in my legs and see the rewards.
6:00pm
Back in the car heading home to Nottingham. The pain has subsided and I’m starting to feel good about what I’ve accomplished.
Post-Race:
So, the race is now behind me. It’s a couple days on and my body is slowly putting itself back together. On the Monday, I got back in the gym and now (Tuesday) I’m feeling pretty ill with flu-like symptoms. (I wonder why that could be..)
All in all, I’m super pleased to tick off one of my goals and push on to the next. Will I run a marathon again? Yeah, I’ll probably do a few more for good measure. It was a great experience, at a great event and I hope to partake in more in the future. I was really happy with the time and I think with more focused training I may be able to improve on it also. Now, I just need to figure what the next thing is and keep pushing. Not sure if you’ll find this useful or not, but for me, it’s been a great exercise in analysing the race. Cheers for reading.
- Ryan