Hi.
Well Saturday was very disappointing. I was feeling very strong and very fit. The hill was steeper than I was expecting, but it was short and sharp. This actually suited me fine as I have the strength to power up short hills with no bother. Some of the bean pole marathoners were struggling with it from the outset.
The first couple of hours saw me knocking out 7:45 miles, a bit quicker than planned but very comfortable indeed. I slowly moved up through the field from 7th to 4th and was looking forward to achieving 45 miles plus.
However, from about 16 miles onwards it became apparent that the hill was starting to hurt my achilles. The pain eased off during the remainder of each lap, but came back again with every hill climb. I started to think about how I was going to recover quickly enough to train properly and realised that I only have 12 weeks left until the 24hr race – of which 3 should be taper weeks.
I decided to retire at the 3hr mark, having run just over 23 miles. It was the hardest decision I have had to make in my running history. But it was the right decision.
The winner ran an excellent 50 miles or so. Had I continued I would have placed in the top 3, maybe 2nd.
The disappointment is weighing very heavily on my mind at the moment. I need to banish the demons, and banish them quickly.
To that end, I will be a) rehabilitating my achilles as best I can and b) running some miles.
On the plus side… I will be very surprised if there are any hills on the track at Tooting in October.
Beyond the marathon.... 