Broadmeadow Valentine's Marathon

I recently remembered that I never did write a conclusion to Runuary. For followers of this blog you will remember that the aim was to run every single day of January. I tried to get others involved and said that on days that you really feel you need a break from running then a walk of at least 1 mile will count. I didn’t think that I would need to resort to any walking days, but I was ill on three consecutive days with a vomiting virus, so on those days I did indeed just get out for a walk of just over a mile each day. When I returned to running I was amazed at how great my legs felt, this really made me realise how important rest and recovery is. Anyhow, I managed 196.3 miles in total, which is 6.33 miles average per day. It made me realise that it is always possible to find enough time in the day for a 2 mile run, no matter how busy you are, and I was surprised at how much I enjoyed a short run.  Of course, once Runuary was over I immediately had the 66 mile Pilgrim Challenge to contend with (see last two entries), so my rest was delayed by a couple of days.

After the Pilgrim Challenge I had a fairly easy week, which I felt I needed.  Last weekend I only went out for a 9 mile run around Cambridge. Choice of route was affected by patches of flooding, and with the River Cam looking much higher than I have ever seen it. Then last week the only runs I did were with clients. You can tell Runuary is over!

That now brings me up to last Saturday, which had me running my fourth marathon of the year (with the Pilgrim Challenge counting as two), the Broadmeadow Valentine’s Marathon in Stratford-upon-Avon. Broadmeadow Runs (www.broadmeadowruns.co.uk) is run by Chris Seeney, who organisers a number of informal marathons each year. His events typically attract about 100 runners.

You might be wondering how a marathon can be informal. For a start the runner can decide when they want to set off. There’s usually a group start at about 8.30am for runners who aren’t interested in competing for the prizes on offer (which in December have included turkeys), and then the main start is at 9am, but people are free to set off when they like between these two times providing the time keeper knows.

Chris’s runs tend to attract people who aren’t actually that bothered about being competitive and treat them more as a social run. The first time I ran a Broadmeadow marathon was in 2011, and that year I ran the entire distance in a group with 6 other runners. Nobody in that group was too bothered about the time, even though we were all in the lead. However, towards the end we started to discuss what we were going to do about “racing” to the finish, as we knew there were prizes for the top 3 men. We all said we weren’t bothered about the prizes, but as we got to about 400m from the finish the pace started to lift and we all ended up in a mass sprint for the line. That year I walked away with third prize which consisted of a £10 voucher for a running shop and a bottle of mulled wine.

As we set off this year I was in the lead group with three other runners: Peter, Rob and Dan. We spent the first few miles chatting, talking about other marathons we’d run and a quick comparison of times. Are PBs were all in the same ball park except for Peter who had a PB of 2:44, compared to my 2:54.

The route of the marathon had to be altered at the last minute to avoid patches of flood water. We spent a lot of time running up and down the Greenway, a disused railway line on the outskirts of Stratford-upon-Avon. So from the start we ran two miles up the Greenway and then back on ourselves. At the turnaround point there was no road cone to run around, just a marshal who said, “You can turn around there lads”. We all decided we had to tap him on the shoulder.

We then ran past and onwards for the start for the second loop. This took us over the River Avon, up a hill of Cambridgeshire proportions, down to a main road for a short stretch, and then off on a concrete track up another Cambridgeshire sized hill past a farm and over the Greenway and on to a muddy footpath to the village of Welford-on-Avon. I should mention that the wind on the day was about gale force 5 (by my estimation!). The wind was in our face whenever we ran in a south-westerly direction, which meant the first section of Greenway and as we turned onto the concrete track past the farm. At this point I was leading the little group of four runners I was with. As I puffed and panted up the hill into the wind I looked over my shoulder to see Peter tucked in nice and tightly right behind me. Despite knowing he was a stronger runner than me, the b**tard was using me as a wind shield.

Welford-on-Avon was 9 miles from the start, and the first re-fuelling stop. Peter didn’t hang around. I was quite glad to see him take the lead. Our group was then briefly joined by Jamie. We headed back on ourselves back towards the Greenway. The nice thing about this run was that it did give you the opportunity to keep seeing other runners and saying a quick “hello and good luck”. On reaching the crossing pint of the Greenway we turned off the footpath to head back down the Greenway to the start. I was aware that Rob was starting to flag a little, as had Jamie. Dan and I continued as a pair for most of the run.

On reaching the start we did another U-turn to run 4.5 miles down the Greenway to yet another marshal, followed by another U-turn to repeat the same 4.5 mile stretch back to the start and then onwards for the final loop. As we headed back down the Greenway, Dan and I were passed by Martin, who was flying along. I certainly didn’t feel any motivation to chase him.

The final loop was a smaller version of the second loop. We went back over the same two Cambridgeshire sized hills, up the concrete track and back into the head wind, which was stronger than ever. It felt like I had to sprint in order to maintain a pace of about 9 minutes 30 seconds per mile. Up to that point I had been averaging about 7 minutes 20 seconds per mile. The wind was making my pace a good two minutes per mile slower. At this point I lost the will to stick with Dan. I let him go ahead as I just thought about making it the finish. The wind totally destroyed my ability to maintain a decent pace. When we reached the Greenway we turned back on to it for the final 1.5 miles to the finish, at least the wind was now on our backs.

I finished in fourth place. Chris had prizes for first three men and women, plus first man and woman over 40 and over 50. Peter was first overall and also the first man over 40, but Chris doesn’t give two prizes to one person. So I was awarded the prize for first man over 40, which I gladly accepted even though it wasn’t strictly the case. My prize was a £20 voucher for Argos.

Everyone also received a very generous goody bag that included a number of Biofizz sports nutritional products, a bar of Green and Blacks chocolate and a packet of herbal tea. Added to this little bundle was a really decent technical running T-shirt, quite a good deal for a low key marathon with just 99 competitors.

I now have a couple of weekends off which will then be followed by Cambridge Half Marathon on March 9^th, Pitsford Marathon on March 16^th and the 34 mile CTS Sussex Coastal Ultra on March 22^nd.

Broadmeadow Goody Bag