Run > Race

Barcelona marathon.

Actual time was 3:35:35 - collided with Stu and knocked my watch off, had to run back and fetch it and then didn't get it started properly for 30 seconds.

Am fairly happy with my time - ran all the way, took a good 8 minutes out of my PB and now have a fairly respectable marathon PB, but needed to go under 3:30 to be truly satisfied. Was perfect running weather, cool with no rain (was snowing next day, so we had a lucky escape with the weather) and a good course, first and last third were very scenic, some great buildings in Barcelona. On the downside, middle third was a bit grotty and it wasn't flat - always had a very gentle up or downhill slope which added up over 26 miles.

Ran with Stu for about 20 of the 26 miles which helped, but struggled on the last 6 miles as always, probably paid for some fast splits in the middle. Energy very low in last four miles, was dizzy/light-headed as always, am sure more gels would have helped, only took 3, should have had at least 5 and eaten them earlier. Other than that, only way I'm going to get faster is to train faster (need to increase my base-pace over time, so that 7:45 becomes my standard long-run pace). Would like to come into next marathon off a long period of uninterrupted training, will help me get to a faster base pace. Also should lose a bit of weight - 13 st at the start, should/could be sub 12.5 stone, would also help.

All in all though a great weekend, really good to have mates to do the race with and spend the weekend with, almost everyone came away happy with how it went and superb post-marathon drink-up!