@apullum: Congratulations on your first half-marathon. Hopefully, the conditions were not as hot (being in the mountains and all).

So after a couple of days to recover, some thoughts on my first marathon.

I raced the Giants Head Marathon on Saturday, a hilly trail race with about 1000metres of elevation over about 28 miles of mixed terrain. Nine hills, covered in a range of deep grass, rough gravel, flint and rocks.

I camped on site, driving down on Friday evening and back on Sunday after a short, 4km, race as a bit of fun.

There were maybe 8-10 doing their first marathon, and about 350 starters. Only three DNFs. Right at the beginning the RD asked about those of us doing our first marathons, which led to a fair amount of comment about not reading the course description, although someone else observed that I was clearly a trail runner... We also had someone doing her 100th, and a fair few rapidly approaching that point.

My plan was to stop at every aid station, and to keep a close eye on my pace throughout. So the latter point was all about identifying runners in the same pace range, and sticking with them.

I managed to maintain a steady average of 6:30/km for about the first 21 miles, walking the steeper climbs and running the flats and descents, I then struggled a bit, pretty much as expected. The next mile was the worst, really feeling down and with a bit of hamstring pain. At that point I reached the final big aid station, known as the Lovestation. So I stopped for a few minutes, and replenished with some cider, flat coke, flapjack and cake, before starting on the move again. I think the rest did me some good, as I managed to pick up the pace again, although not as fast as before. That lasted about 2 more miles before I was hit by another steep uphill that I really didn't recover from. We also had some quite cold rain, which didn't really help the motivation.

While the uphills were very hard work, the descents were as bad. Many were very steep, so fast but quite jarring.

So with three miles left to go I was walking fast, and picking up the pace on occasion. At this point I was very fortunate that others were in a similar situation and we ended up chatting, and moving one another along.

At the final aid station, at about 25 miles, there was a brief stop, and then from there it was another three miles pretty much straight downhill.

The finish line was a big relief, but it was an excellent race. Very much a huge challenge for the first one, so lots of lessons to reflect on moving forward.

Putting the experience in perspective, the fastest runner as 3:57, and the only sub 4:00. I landed in the middle of the pack with a 6:08:03, which was initially a bit disappointing. Given the race, it was a solid result, with the final runners coming in beyond 8 hours.

On Sunday morning we had a small race, raising a bit of money for the local church fund. A short, sharp uphill, a challenge at the top and then get given our medals; a proper cowbell. Followed by a run down the descent with the cowbells ringing away.

It's worth higlighting that the medal is the Cerne Abbas Giant, that we ran past on the route, and part of it spins round...

two weekends ago i volunteered as a duracell bunny pacer at the Great North 10k.
5000 runner field.helped a few to sub 70 min pb's.
last weekend i volunteered at parkrun (free weekly 5k) and on the sunday was tail/runner at great run local gibside (weekly sunday free 5k).
this weekend i repeated volunteer roles and continued on to a 10 mile pb in prep for HM in 8 weeks.
tech shirt and medal from 10k,but the important bling was the thanks of newer runners i helped home.
karma repaid with my own personal pb,i feel.

5K Packanack Lake (Wayne) NJ. 29:04. Hot, Humid and had a large hill. Second among Males 60-69. Got a medal!

Finished 2nd in my age group. It was almost 90 F at 8:30 AM when the race started. They humidity was very high and the sun was bright. Needless to say, this was not my best effort. Of course everyone had to deal with the weather....

@Mobycarp - Damn impressive!

First race of the fall XC season! Ran a hilly 4.1 miles in 26:15. Super competitive race, so happy to finish in the top-ten for my age group (50+). Perfect conditions. (Cool and overcast.) I felt fantastic throughout.

Bad Cow Half this morning. The Bad Cow is a weekender, Marathon and 10K on Saturday then Marathon and Half on the Sunday, with lots of people doubling up the fulls, and one runner doing all four this weekend.

It's coastal heathland on a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), a 5.5Km circuit with two waterstations. With the full and half going on at the same time it fairly quickly becomes unclear who you're with, and I lapped a few people, as well as being lapped myself. Hard packed trail so I used my Inov-8 Race Ultras.

I didn't race it hard as I've got a 12 hour race next Sunday and didn't want to thrash myself, so was happy with 2:06:58. 37th of 127 and fourth in age group.

My first long race on repeated circuits, and next week is on a 7km loop, so it was quite good practice for that. My first circuit was a little fast, then reasonably consistent afterwards. The advantage was being able to make an assessment on the first circuit of how to manage the effort afterwards.

Resort to Rock 32K, 11th overall, 1st in age group. The first 17 miles went pretty well, then came a pretty rough climb, calves and feet were getting all cramped up. Managed to get through that and the rest was downhill to the finish line. Overall I fell pretty good. 50K coming up in a month.

Last Sunday was the East Farm Frolic, a new event in the calendar this year from White Star Running. A 12 hour event on trails in Dorset, around dairy farming land and a bit of forestry. The farmer hosts the Dorset Invader Marathon and Half Marathon event, and having done the Invader Half last year I knew what it was like.

I booked my place about 6 months ago, although don't think I appreciated that it was only 8 weeks after the Giants Head Marathon, so it was always going to be a bit of a challenge. Notwithstanding that I set myself the goal of 50K minimum.

So an early start, with the car boot full of kit and food, and my partner to provide some support. A 90 minute drive to get down in time to register for an 0800 start.

The route started with a shallow climb, before a flat stretch, then into a fairly steep hill. So 750 metres in and walking for almost everyone. Then about another km of shallow climb before a sharp, steep, descent a long climb and then another sharp descent over a very rocky path. Another climb up to the aid station, that was about 4km out, followed. As ever with White Star well provisioned with flapjack, shortbread, fruit, jelly beans, flat coke, cider and beer. A cider each time round was bound to help dull the pain. That was followed by about 2.5km of descent down to the timing mats, and changeover point for the relay runners. A second aid station set up with Tailwind was at the bottom.

There were about 80 solo runners and a total of about 400 relay runners in teams of two, three or four. So out onto the second session meant a few fresh pairs of legs being introduced to the course. That was both disheartening and quite motivating. Someone romping past was bound to frustrate, and it was an effort not to get caught up in it. Equally the teams all had to carry a baton, a rubber squeaky chicken. Most of the relay runners ended up squeaking their way round and were all very supportive as they passed the soloists.

Four times round gave just over a half marathon, and seven gave just over a full marathon, with many soloists pulling out at that stage. Once I'd started running I talked myself into aiming for one and a half marathons, because that's a good idea eight weeks after your first marathon. I'd also planned to stop each circuit for a few minutes, which helped to maintain my endurance.

It was wet all day, and fairly warm for much of the time. I was fairly surprised that I managed to fairly comfortably finish the seven laps for a marathon without the emotional barrier I'd hit at the Giants Head, and the fueling crash I'd experienced then as well. I'm not sure what to put that down to, but I'm thinking a few cups of Tailwind probably contributed, as well as the cider and cake

Eight times was getting hard and I was slowing a bit, and by this time the field had noticeably thinned as both soloists and some smaller teams were winding up. As a result it was more challenging, although everyone still out was extremely supportive.

By the end of the ninth I was suffering a bit, sore feet, moderate shin pain front the stony descent and hitting the final reserves of energy. I'd twisted my ankle about three weeks before and was starting to feel that, so chatting to someone on her first marathon distance, motivated me to wok through that. Having avoided the wall at Mile 20, it hit me badly at mile 32 and I walked to the car at the end of circuit 9 close to tears, leading my partner to stick a coffee in my hand and tell me to sit down. A banana, and a second coffee, led to a bit of a recovery, and a realisation that I'd burst through my initial goal of 50km and I was close to my aspirational goal. So once more round.

I shuffled off, feeling the pain in my feet. I'd worn my Inov-8 Race Ultras but had Saucony X0dus and my Ino-8 Road Claws with me as alternatives. The Race Ultras have limited forefoot cushioning and the balls of my feet were feeling everything by this time, so it was a struggle. But I managed to finish the tenth circuit and come in after 9:23 with a distance of 62km. One km short of my one and a half marathons, but I really didn't think I had another 6km in my legs to do an eleventh.

A really good event, challenging and a test of my capacity. I wasn't the only one that pushed through. One runner came to do her first half marathon, and kept going for seven loops. Another, whose longest distance had been marathon kept going for 62 miles. The success of the weekend means that WSR are adding a couple of other 12 hour events to their programme, and I'm looking forward to the Woodland Frolic, although I've now got another marathon in 5 weeks and a half in December.

Also, epic bling. The pendant was different for solo, pairs, trios or fours.

Ran a one mile race on Thursday evening. It was just for fun with my son's middle school cross country team making up a bulk of the entrants. I was first female at 5:48. I was ok with my time since I am NOT in one mile racing shape, but I still got beaten by 3-4 8th grade boys. One of our boys ran a 5:14 mile. At age 13. Wow, I was impressed!

5K 28:18 (PB) second in age/gender group.

Finished the Air Force Marathon in 4:29:01 on Saturday. Nowhere near a PR (didn't really expect one considering the warm humid weather), but I did get a cool finisher's medal.

jppage67 wrote: »

Finished the Air Force Marathon in 4:29:01 on Saturday. Nowhere near a PR (didn't really expect one considering the warm humid weather), but I did get a cool finisher's medal.

Cool medal!