This for me is what the marathon is about. It has always been my favourite event, the one where you can test your limits as equally as an elite, where tactics can come into it whether you are going for a time or a position, the one where anything is possible and the only race that is truly beautiful to watch when it is executed properly.
So onto the race itself.........
Over the last couple of weeks I had almost felt that the race was coming too soon for me. Not because of lack of preparation, but because I felt I was in the middle of some sizeable improvements. After Maidenhead HM at the start of September I speculated a 3:30/km (5:38m/m) pace, with the assumption that I wasn't quite in that shape yet, but it was reasonable (for me) to assume I could go from a 72:41 HM to a 2:27:42 full condition in 6 weeks.
About a week and a half ago I felt a 5:35m/m pace was within grasp, and settled on that as my target pace for the race as in and around that pace was feeling like MP. The only caveat was the weather, but irrespective I decided to go on feel on the day and take it from there.
The night before I came across an article about the leading Dutch lady and that she was hoping to go for the Dutch NR (2:26:34 apparently, though I've since found out that the record is 2:23, held by a naturalised Kenyan, so I guess the 2:26 is the record for somebody Dutch born?), so in the ballpark of a 5:35 pace. I figured she'd have pacers, so with that in mind I picked her out at the start and off we went.
0-5km (17:40 - though the mat and marker were about 5s apart, so 17:35 really): Sat in that group, as did a lot of others. I noticed that she was breathing very heavily from the off and we were a little off pace. I was feeling incredibly relaxed here and happy to sit and have somebody else set the pace. Coming to 5km I noticed we were off pace and deduced that she wasn't having a good day.
6km-10km: (17:16 - but really 17:21, as above). Just after the 5km we came to the water station and I got hit hard from somebody cutting too close behind me. For a few strides I thought my left hamstring was about to go, but I somehow managed to stay upright, provided a few words of advice to the offender, who didn't even have the decency to apologise. I start to leave some of them behind as I started to drop down to the pace I wanted.
11-15km (17:21) - metronomic. Feeling good. Pretty much solo throughout bar the attentions of an Ethiopian elite woman who was drafting too close for my liking and clipped me 3 times. She then clipped me a 4th time at which stage I expressed my dissatisfaction quite vocally.
16-20km (17:55) - I've now got two elite Ethiopian woman drafting me, and it's the windiest part of the course, so needless to say I am occasionally getting clipped from both sides.
21-25km (17:16) - a group of 7 or 8 (including the eventual second lady) caught us here and I took the opportunity to sit in and leave somebody else do some work for a change. I made a conscious effort to go with them in the hope that we would drop my shadows. We did. Through halfway in 73:58.
26-30km (17:34) - the group starts to fracture. Some pulling of the front. It was a bit windy here too, so I opted for caution and didn't go with those forcing the pace. I end up running solo, but not because I'm flying out the back, just more because I've calculated that some of them are going too quickly and will come back to me.
31-35km (17:34) - 2 begin to drift back and rally when I join them. We briefly act as a group of 3 taking turns doing the work before one drops off. The other guys pushes on, but, again, I sense he is working too hard.
36-40km (17:37) - I'm maintaining my 'control' refusing to push on as this is about getting a job done. I lose 8s in 1km as I hit the only 'hill' coming up from an underpass; it goes on for a little bit. My left hamstring is starting to stiffen from the earlier collision, so I maintain rather than push.
The last 2.195km (7:35) - I hit 40km and realise I could do around 8m/m and still break 2:30, but my desire to race is taking over. I've spotted 6 ahead of me who I reckon I can take, so I get to work whilst keeping an eye for any reactions from the hamstring. I catch the guy who had pushed on at 35km and there's no drafting this time.
He comes with me briefly and we split either side of another target before I push on ahead. Next up is the guy who clipped me early on and I take great pleasure in breezing past him without him reacting. 3 down, 3 to go. I catch the 2nd lady and her pacer and push on, passing both of them without a reaction.
I then catch the 6th of my targets with about 700m to go and he rallies. We're shoulder to shoulder for about 100m and the crowd are going nuts as neither of us are budging an inch. I think 'this is what the surge runs were all about' put my head down and pull out a full on sprint for 60-70m (apparently hitting a top speed of 4:01 per mile!!!), glance back and realise I've put about 15m on him in that time.
I pass the 500m to go sign with breathing room, round a bend, into the stadium to a wall of noise and give the crowd a couple of claps as I round the track, and cross the line with a massive smile on my face.
Job done!
The stats:
Total Time: 2:27:48 - an average of 5:38 per mile (or 3:30 per km).
I placed 31st overall out of ~15000 runners, only beaten by one women.
21 of the 30 ahead of my were Kenyan, Ethiopian or Eritrean, making me 10th European.
I placed 2nd in my age group (M35) for which I apparently win a prize :-)
And 1st Irishman :-)
And possibly my most favourite stats. Out of the 30 runners ahead of me, only 8 closed the last 2.195km quicker than me (though obviously I would have swapped that fact for any of their finish times!).
And what next? Well, my general feeling (backed up by other times) is that the weather probably added about 1 minute to times. I also held back for a long time, partially because I wanted to nail the sub-2:30, and partially because I was cautious about my hamstring after the collision at the first water station. All in all I reckon I have the ability to improve by a very large chunk over my coming marathons.
