Run > Race

Thames Meander Marathon

Eddie suggested this marathon as a training run. It is not my usual fare. Flat as a flat thing and most tarmac/concrete. A lovely out and back route along the river, though.

Eddie said: Just enjoy it! Go really easy, treat it like a purposeful training run, so nice and relaxed, no pressure, but moving forward with strength and a smile. Practise a race breakfast and fuelling throughout and after and aim to run the first half super easy and the second half easy.

OK so I failed in the whole super easy/easy negative split thing. Ran the whole thing without looking at my watch (apart from the time for gels etc) and knew I had set off a tad too fast as I really wasn't enjoying myself. Not working especially hard just maybe giving it a couple of beans rather than none.

Had a word with myself (and you can see when in the splits), put the beans away and just ran really easy. Started to enjoy myself at the turnaround point and picked off loads of people on the way back.

Did not walk a single step and am proud of this because I'm so used to having hills to hike up. Really proud of my steady pacing once I'd got myself in the right headspace. Felt strong at the end.

It was somewhat windy!!! Rained a bit but was actually really muggy

If you fancy a well-organised small marathon/half that is scenic (it's by the river the whole time) with numerous well stocked CPs then you could do a lot worse than this.

Cool wooden medal too. Will post a pic.

Split Summary
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1) 1m - 9:05(9:05/m) 85cal 6.6/8.25mph
2) 1m - 8:48(8:48/m) 84cal 6.82/7.6mph
3) 1m - 8:56(8:56/m) 86cal 6.72/7.47mph
4) 1m - 9:27(9:27/m) 83cal 6.35/7.26mph
5) 1m - 9:26(9:26/m) 87cal 6.36/7.1mph
6) 1m - 9:13(9:13/m) 85cal 6.51/7.06mph
7) 1m - 9:48(9:48/m) 84cal 6.13/6.95mph
8) 1m - 9:40(9:40/m) 86cal 6.21/7.68mph
9) 1m - 9:49(9:49/m) 84cal 6.11/6.78mph
10) 1m - 9:50(9:50/m) 85cal 6.1/7.33mph
11) 1m - 10:13(10:13/m) 87cal 5.88/6.59mph
12) 1m - 10:19(10:19/m) 83cal 5.81/8.43mph
13) 1m - 10:10(10:10/m) 85cal 5.9/7.62mph
14) 1m - 10:22(10:22/m) 85cal 5.79/7.12mph
15) 1m - 10:31(10:31/m) 81cal 5.71/6.41mph
16) 1m - 10:32(10:32/m) 88cal 5.7/6.43mph
17) 1m - 11:06(11:06/m) 82cal 5.4/7.31mph
18) 1m - 10:26(10:26/m) 83cal 5.75/6.55mph
19) 1m - 10:58(10:58/m) 80cal 5.47/6.32mph
20) 1m - 10:42(10:42/m) 84cal 5.61/6.49mph
21) 1m - 10:18(10:18/m) 79cal 5.82/6.62mph
22) 1m - 10:47(10:47/m) 85cal 5.57/6.3mph
23) 1m - 10:19(10:19/m) 86cal 5.82/6.87mph
24) 1m - 10:11(10:11/m) 84cal 5.9/6.53mph
25) 1m - 10:13(10:13/m) 88cal 5.87/6.7mph
26) 1m - 10:31(10:31/m) 82cal 5.71/7.08mph
27) 0.26m - 2:24(9:14/m) 21cal 6.49/6.8mph