Halstead & Essex Marathon

Listed by fetcheveryone
  • Rated 82%
  • 26.2mi
  • Road
Entrants (7) Club PB SB Pred Time WAVA
alf_chac Colchester Harriers AC, Trail Running Association 2:33:23 2:39:00 2:47:00 73.75
daveski Cambridge & Coleridge AC 3:20:04 4:37:00 4:37:00 44.69
Deadliest Unaffiliated 3:09:28 3:16:53 3:16:53 68.60
Meldy Unintentional but first marathon none the less!! Unaffiliated 5:40:00 5:40:00 5:40:00 39.95
PieNapper One month after FLM so may find myself adjusting my target time. Unaffiliated 3:35:39 3:35:39 3:30:00 3:35:39 56.68
redordead Bib No. 160. Finishing position - 169/284

My first ever marathon! The preparations went very well for the big day and I felt pretty confident that I would be able to complete the 26.2 miles at Halstead without walking any of it! The drive to Halstead took just under 90 minutes and the race HQ was set in a school on the edge of the town which is between Braintree and Sudbury in North Essex. 

The marathon started at 10am and the field ventured out into the Essex/Suffolk borders through country lanes against a backdrop of a perfect blue sky. I ran the first half of the race at a steady pace and reached the halfway point in about 2hr:04m. I then decided to try to aim for a 4hr finish as I felt pretty good at the midstage so I upped my pace and managed to reach and maintain a 4 hour schedule by the 15th mile.

I started to run with an experienced runner (Mike) at the 17th mile but by this stage we were both starting to suffer in the “Halstead heat” and by the 20th mile we had revised our target to finish by 4hr 10m. Mike and I continued to run together and coaxed each other closer to the finish line determined that we would not give in to temptation and start walking! This was compounded by the number of runners who were taking this option near the end… Certainly, by the last drinks station I was very keen on such a strategy but Mike somehow convinced me otherwise. Thankfully, we did continue our epic and managed to reach the the 26th mile with a sub 4:10 time looking very possible!

Mike was extremely magnanimous on the run to the line allowing me to take the line first on account of it being my first marathon (it was Mike’s thirteenth)! My final time was 4:09:06 and although I am not quite planning the next one yet, I am sure that I will be looking to run another one later this year – I am keen to run one in much cooler conditions though! Unaffiliated 3:32:20 4:09:06 4:15:00 4:09:06 48.86
Ronnie Wibbley New PB by over 10 mins, but those last 5 miles almost killed me! Watford Joggers 3:41:39 3:55:03 4:30:00 4:14:09 50.94

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