Cambridge Boundary Run

The 12 noon start for today's full marathon had me wondering how to best go about fueling for the run.  It did strike me as an odd time to start a long run.  Others I spoke to at the start were also convinced that the run had started earlier in previous years.  I opted to have a couple of slices of toast for breakfast, followed by a bowl of porridge at 10 o'clock and then a banana just before leaving the house at 11:00.

The main pack.  I'd end up overtaking most of these people.

Waiting at the start with John & David.

I met several people I knew just before the start, which is one of the nice things about a local race.  The weather looked promising; cool but no wind.  It's always difficult to know what to wear on a long run at this time of year.  Several people were in shorts and vests, which I thought was a little optimistic, but by halfway I felt really warm and wished I'd copied them.

I started quite far back in the pack at the start, making me start off nice and slow.  Nice and slow meant running the first mile in 8 minutes 34 seconds, which included a bit of walking as we had to negotiate a couple of pinch points on the path through Cherry Hinton. But all the good I did by not setting off too fast on the first mile was then undone by running the second mile in less than 7 minutes.  Over those first 2 miles I ran past a few friends so got the chance to shout a quick "hello" and "good luck" as I passed them.  By mile three I settled into a nice manageable pace and pretty much continued to overtake people all the way to the half marathon finish.  I like having targets ahead of me to chase down.  

I took my camera with the intention of taking a few photos, but failed miserably.  I did stop for a few pictures through Grantchester.

Approaching the second feed station at about mile 10.

Typical Boundary Run feed station with biscuits, fruit and water
manned by volunteers from Cambridge University.

Grantchester Meadows at about mile 11.

I saw a few familiar faces out supporting, which is always greatly appreciated.  The wonderful Jamshid was armed with a camera and took a few snaps of me.

Just before the half-way point of the marathon.

Passing through the half marathon finish at Coton can be a little dispiriting, as well over half of the runners stop here.  All of a sudden the roads and paths become very empty and the gap to the next runner ahead can be 100m or more, making chasing people down seem a tough task.

I felt quite knackered at about the 17 mile point, so I slowed to a walk and ate a few of my Shot Bloks gel sweets.  The little walk and the gels seemed to have a good effect.  I was also caught by a first time marathoner at this point, so we ran together for a short distance and had a little chat.  I tried to give him some words of encouragement.

By mile 23 I seemed to get my second wind.  I was also on more familiar territory by this stage so was able to visualise the miles to the finish.  I must have overtaken about 6 or 7 runners in the last few miles who all looked like they were really struggling. 

I then saw Jamshid and Mike just before the finish, which gave me a massive boost.  As I rounded the last bend the coach bringing half marathon runners back from Coton was also just arriving at the race HQ, so I got a big wave from a coach full of runners.  This wasn't the time to look like I was flagging, so I put on my best poker face and lifted the pace for the last few hundred metres.

One happy runner at the finish

Waving to Jamshid and Mike
with just less than 1 mile to go

I finished in a time of about 3 hours 22 minutes.  I need to confirm this once the results are published.  This is well outside my personal best, but a little faster than I'd expected to run on this course.  All-in-all I was very happy with my result.  I hung around for a short while at the finish and saw a few other familiar runners cross the line.  Some of these were locals, as well as a couple of marathon runners I've met at other events around the country.  It can be very sociable this marathon running lark.

After a change of clothes and a quick bite I hobbled home, believing the 1 mile walk would do me some good.