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| Wonderful Hugin Ship |
Brenda was there as normal. This is the 3rd time I have run with her this week and in a 3rd different country. She had just come off the evening marathon the night before and amazingly still had enthusiasm. She might loose some after the race as it took 2 days to get home including abandoning the airports and busing it to Holyhead for a ferry.
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| Brenda at yet another marathon |
This was a 6 hour timed run and I felt that I wanted to go longer than marathon but would have to see how it went. I was also trying out my new Hoka's but in truth I had only wore them as slippers around the house. We were off at 8:30am on the 3.275 mile loop around Pegwell bay in Kent. The first 2 miles were around the country park on a flat nice gravel path. The fog was still quite thick and visibility was around 50m so as the field spread out it was quite eerie. After leaving the park we followed the cycle track to Cliffside passing by the wonderful Hugin Viking ship which is just awesome. This was an uphill section which as the laps went on became quite noticeable, but was still runnable. Past the ship we went on for another 800m before turning right into an old Hoverport before a short field section back to the cycle track. We retraced our steps past the Hugin ship (passing others on the way out), then a downhill section back to the start finish area to the picnic aid station which has everything from Cake, Fudge, Crisps, Nuts, Sweets and fluid.
The first 3 laps were just under 30 minutes each. Mid way through the 3rd lap I felt the ball of my right foot get sore. This was not good and immediately the Hoka's were blamed. Fortunately I had a spare pare of Asics at the start finish line and I changed after lap 3. This couple of minutes had an affect and I just about managed to dip under the 2hr mark on lap 4 for a sub 2hr half marathon. I had found my place in the race at this stage and kept plodding on. Knowing that the field would thin significantly at the marathon distance I decided to go further. All the fast guys and girls stopped and I came through 8 laps in 4:13. This would have been good enough for a top 10 in the marathon but I decided to put a few extra laps in. The next goal for me was 50K and see what kind of shape I was in for Donadea. Given there was no pressure at all on the run I was pleased to come through 50K in 5:09. This was actually good enough to qualify for Donadea and I am sure given pressure on the day I would have dipped under 5 hrs. I am also about 10lbs over my racing weight which when sorted should help.
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| Wonderful Medal |
After I came passed 50K I lost enthusiasm a bit and walked up the hill. At this stage I knew this was going to be my last lap so free wheeled into the finish for 10 laps covering 32.75 miles and 5th out of the 90 finishers.
The medal was truly awesome and I think up there as my favourite with the Alice in Wonderland medal. The fog hadn't really lifted all day and the drive home was foggy and dank and I was very pleased to make it back home in one piece. The last bit of luck was the next morning when I arrived at the airport to see a sea of "cancelled" on all flights except Dublin which amazingly got off on time and was the only flight that left Southampton that morning. I really enjoyed this one and I really enjoy the 6 hour timed challenges.
Polar stats for today
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