Run > Race

It was a hot september morning as I lined up for the nottingham marathon. So I was determined not to set off too quick and I had my garmin and it paced me perfectly for the first 13miles. There was some cheeky hills in these first 13 miles which I had not been expecting. I made sure to get fluids at every drink station. It was a bit demoralising when the marathon course took me passed the finish for the half marathon and you could see people finnishing; howver on I plodded. Went past 15 miles no problem ahead of time 18 miles still good but then I just started falling away; garmin kept alarming to tell me to speed up but I just couldnt. 20 miles I was still on time; but I was getting slower and slower. Last four miles was determination though I was now going at a sorry slow pace that I wouldnt dream of ever running in training. Last mile I had 10 mins to get my 4:30:00 target but it was really hard and in the end I was so glad to finnish. It was a very hot day and a lot of runners never made it to the end. I am very pleased that I completed it. Question is now how long will it take me to recover from it.