Shakespeare Marathon Review

I wish I could say that I had planned it exactly as it occurred. But what it all comes down to is a bit of luck, a lot of grit and faith in the 18 weeks of training.

The day started cool and overcast. Pretty much perfect conditions for running. I woke at 6am in the Premier Inn hotel in the centre of Stratford upon Avon and headed down for breakfast at 7. There were a handful of other runners in the restaurant nervously chatting about the race to come. I had a bowl of porridge and a couple of pieces of brown toast. One of the runners was tucking into a full English. I have no idea how that would pan out for him but the thought of a plateful of greasy food rolling around inside me for 26 miles is not on the top of my pre-race food!

Anyway, breakfast done and we headed out to the start which was a few hundred metres away in the centre of town. There were a fair amount of runners out and about. There were plenty of toilets available so I queued as no matter how much I don't think I need to go I always will want to.

Follow the arrow for 26.2 miles

I think there were about three thousand entrants this year but the majority were doing the half marathon and about eight hundred of us were doing the second loop for the full.

My wife captured a snap just before the off:

Our intrepid (stupid) hero

The race got under way on time and we ran the first mile or two around the city centre in a circle before heading out to the surrounding countryside. It was a bit crowded at the start which was a bit frustrating but also helped me not go shooting off too fast. Swings and roundabouts I suppose. There were no timing pens which I suppose would have been difficult to enforce with the two races going on at once.

Once out into the countryside it got easier as more space became available. I decided to go on a gel strategy of one every 6 km as that would mean about two every hour. Water stations were well dotted around the course so I would take a mouthful or two at each one. Gels weren't provided so I brought my own and stuck them on a gel belt around my waist.

The countryside around Stratford is rather beautiful and the course heads through several villages that had a chocolate box quality to them, Thatched roofs and old stone. Even the odd UKIP banner which I found amusing and slightly depressing in equal measure.

I had decided to take a gamble and attempt a negative split. I had never done this before in a marathon and the fact was that if it failed then my goal of 3:30 would be totally out of reach since my planned first half would be over 1:45 and I'd never be able to make it up again. I had been reading up on how to achieve this via an excellent site called the MARCO Marathon Calculator. It gives a good breakdown of the sort of pace you should be aiming for as well as some guidelines on what to expect and feel along the way.

Unfortunately a spanner was in the works. Since about mile 4 I had felt a greater need to go for a wee. I tried to put it in the back of my mind but it kept gnawing away at me. Especially after a long ascent at about mile 8. So after 10 miles I nipped off to the side and had a quick wee in the hedgerow out of sight of the rest of the runners (apologies to the organisers for not using their loos!). In all I reckon I used up about 30 seconds. Not ideal but I felt so much better afterwards and felt confident of making up the time over the next 16 miles. I didn't realise at the time how this would come back to haunt me.

We hit the greenway section of the course which is a dust trail that heads straight back to Stratford. After another couple of miles the half marathoners veered off towards the finish whilst the rest of us doing the full had to run a second lap.

I've run a lapped race before (Richmond Park 2013) and it's not as hard work as it might seem. In fact it can work to your advantage since you roughly know what to expect and when. No more surprises.

I gave a wave to my wife who was supporting me from a bridge over the route and hit the half way mark in 1:46:21. I needed to achieve that negative split!

I haven't run more than 16 miles in training using the Hanson method so I quickly sailed into unknown waters. At mile 18 I ran back up the long ascent after which there were no more inclines. There were considerably fewer runners now on the course and I appeared to be passing them more and more. My legs felt stronger than they ever have at this point before and I took a lot of encouragement from it.

After the steep decline the route headed back to the greenway section and the last six miles of the course. As I hit the greenway at mile 20 I felt amazing. I actually speeded up even more and thought I could run this as a pure 10k! Thoughts went through my head of how brilliant it would be to run a sub 45 minute 10k to end the marathon. This was a bit premature. After about 2 miles my body decided that what I was trying to do was ridiculous and I slowed down a fair bit. Not outside the range that I needed to run at but definitely slowed down. I started ticking off the kilometres (my watch is set to km since they go quicker than miles!). When I got to 4km left I tried to up the pace again. My body resisted but I kept telling myself that I'd run longer intervals in training and knew that I could do this. Again, I struggled. Finally I passed the 25 mile marker. I was shattered but knew there was only about 2km left. I started bargaining with my body, "let me get under 3:30 and we'll never do this again", those sort of lies!

The course looped back on itself and I ran into the final park area of the course. I passed the 26 mile marker with 1 minute 40 seconds left to get under 3:30. That's just about 350 metres. I couldn't let this slip now, not at this late stage. I started to rue going for a wee all those miles ago. I turned the corner and ran into the main straight. 100 metres to go and 25 seconds to run it in. Easy if you haven't run 26 miles previously! I sprinted like I've never sprinted at the end of any race and got over the line with 3 seconds to spare! 3:29:57! A banana, medal and bottle of water were thrust at me and I collapsed on the floor. Happy.

My wife had seen me and ran over with friends of ours who had come for the day to cheer me on. She had thought that I had missed out on my goal because of the time on the big clock but I showed her my watch and said "chip time" before sinking back onto the floor. Much shouting and cheering and I started to get my energy back. Our friends took a photo of me doing that biting the medal thing that Olympians do:

Neither chocolate nor gold

 So, goal achieved. Just.

Would I recommend the Shakespeare marathon? Definitely. It's a small, well run, well organised race that takes in beautiful countryside and has a great atmosphere about it. The inclines are not too steep and there's enough variety in the course to make it interesting. Also there was a fair degree of support out of town. Maybe I was lucky with the weather, In previous years people have come a cropper on the greenway if the temperature rises, but that's all part of the challenge isn't it?

Would I do the Hanson method again? Yes. Given 18 weeks and the opportunity to follow it properly then definitely. I'm planning on running the Chester marathon in October but due to the short time period I will be giving myself to train for it I will use the P+D 12 week plan. But for a spring marathon next year (London, fingers crossed) I would certainly use Hanson again. It's not necessarily easier than any other schedule and I ran more miles in total than ever before but I cannot argue against its results. I beat my PB by over 7 minutes, got under 3:30 and ran a negative split. Any one of those would have been good but all three? That's testament to the method.

Official times

Do the splits!

What's next? Well for the next two weeks, nothing. Absolutely no running. That's what the Hanson method prescribes post marathon and who am I to argue?

After that then I have a 10k at the end of May that I may or may not race properly depending on how I feel. Then it's back home to Swansea for a half marathon in mid June where I hope to beat my PB of 1:35:06.

A bit of a rest and then start 12 weeks of training for the Chester marathon which I might run as a pleasure rather than go for a particular time.

I will write again once I get back out on to the streets in a couple of weeks' time.