Dead Runners society race report
Sheffield marathon - Sunday 28th April
1996
In spite of (or maybe because of) my Xmas "break" from running I got myself pretty fit by the early spring so I decided to make my annual trip to Sheffield a full marathon rather than the usual half this time.
Hi folks
Are you sitting comfortably, OK, heres the
long version of "Tony and Shelley have fun running in
Sheffield".
As I've mentioned several times before Sheffield is a
very important place for me as its where I went to university (for the first
time) and its where I started running. Way back in 1983, just after the last ice
age and as dinosaurs roamed the earth an overweight teenaged chemistry student
with the initials AMTB took up running. My first race was the 1983
Sheffield
half-marathon (held in conjunction with a marathon, this was the time of the
marathon boom). I've run the Sheffield full/half marathon every year since then,
this year was my 14th consecutive run.
After I fractured my
shoulder in December and broke my (in)famous running streak I started running
again in January. I was running short distances pretty slowly throughout
January, I was offered a place in the London marathon but I turned it down as I
thought I would be nowhere near marathon fit in April. However by February I was
starting to run fairly quickly again and when PJ mentioned he was thinking of
running the Sheffield marathon I said I'd pace him round the first lap as my
usual Sheffield half-marathon fast training run. As the year progressed my
training was going better and better and I thought I could run all the way round
the Sheffield marathon with PJ and by late march I was flying along and decided
I would have a go at really racing Sheffield this year, PJ entered the race but
he wasn't well enough to run :-(
I managed to persuade Shelley into
running the Sheffield 1/2 marathon so we left the flatlands of Cambridgeshire on
the saturday for the hills of South Yorkshire. After we arrived at the B and B
place we went out for a carbo-loading meal and ended up in a pizza hut in a
student area of the city, it brought back memories of my younger days when I
used to go out with my university friends in this area.
We awoke on
marathon morning to see the sunshine we'd had in the south had followed us
north, we were both worried that we'd get a warm day like they had for the
London marathon a week ago. By the time we got to the Don Valley stadium
for the race it had clouded over and it was a bit cold. Shelley got our
"ChampionChips" for our running shoes and after a lot of nervous waiting
around it was time to line up for the race. I was
shivering in my
racing gear just before the start.
Bang and off we went with the sound of
1300 (1000 1/2 marathon, 300 marathon) chips beeping as we crossed the start on
the track in Don Valley. Soon out onto the road, this was it. Didn't feel that
comfortable for the first couple of miles, lots of runners streaming by, mostly
half-marathoners. The marathoners had numbers on front and back unlike
the
half-marathoners and they seemed to be running at a more sensible pace. I
felt a bit easier after 2 miles but I wasn't trying to race anyone yet, the
gradual uphills had started by now and a few runners were coming back to me. Got
to 5 miles in 35.37, by now I was running with a lady marathoner, she seemed to
going at the right pace so I stuck with her, I didn't want to race the first
lap. On through a mostly residential area for the next 5 miles, good crowd
support in spite of the cold, windy and damp weather, still gradually climbing.
The worst of the uphills was at around 9 miles and I felt a bit tired by now, I
knew that soon after this the downhills started. Soon enough there was a steep
descent, went past 10 miles in 1h11.32, downhill for the next 2 miles, passed a
couple of marathoners. The lady running with me was in 4th place at this
stage. Lots of 1/2 marathoners coming past as they speeded up for the
finish, at 12 miles I could see the stadium in the distance got to halfway in
1h32.31, just about on the schedule I had set for myself.
Now the
real race had begun, a rather twisty 1/2 mile though some parkland near the
stadium then back on onto the road for lap 2. There weren't many of us left by
now, I could only see about 6 other runners, there wasn't much shelter from the
cold wind. 15 miles in 1h47.15 and I was feeling tired but the runners around me
seemed to be slowing so I decided to start running at my pace now and left the
lady marathoner behind and pushed on and very gradually started to work my way
through the sparse field. It was
hard work on the uphills, not too many
runners or spectators around now and it had started to rain hard. At 18 miles or
so I saw another lady marathoner standing at a drinks station, she had obviously
dropped out, only 2 ladies ahead of me now. Still moving along at about 7.10
pace although as Shelley said the mile markers were a bit erratic. 20 miles in
2h23.05, I'd only lost 1 second over the 2nd 10 miles, by now I thought I had a
new pb, all I had to was keep going for a couple of miles up the hills then all
downhill to the finish.
I was pretty tired by now but still moving
well, it was as good as I'd ever felt in 20 miles in a marathon. I passed
another runner at 21 miles but by now the cold, wind and rain as well as
the distance was getting to me and I was slowing down. 22 miles in
2h38.55, just over 1/2 hour left for a new pb and it was all downhill in
just under a mile. At least the
rain had stopped. Finally got over the
last hill. Brain to legs "speed up now!", legs to brain "no chance mate"
:-(
It wasn't much fun in down the hills to the end, by 24 miles I knew
the pb had gone, a couple of marathoners came by but I'd given up on
caring by now. 25 miles in 3h03.05, the last mile seemed to take a long
time but eventually into the stadium. Onto the track and the clock said
3h12.xx, I wasn't bothered by now and I crossed the line in 3h13.00
extremely tired and disappointed :-(
Shelley had a good 1/2
marathon debut in 1h53.47 and she helped me get my shoes off at the end, I
mustn't have been been good company for her just after the finish but she
looked after me after the race.
Still in the conditions it was a pretty
good run, if somebody had told me that I'd run 3h13 for a marathon in April back
in January I wouldn't have believed them! In retrospect I pushed a bit too hard
between 15-20 miles and missing a month of training after my shoulder fracture
meant I didn't get in enough long runs for this marathon.
Time to
take it easy for a few weeks, when I recover I'll try racing over some
shorter distances. Next marathon London 97.
carpe
recovery
tony....
tony bell
ageing chemistry student and
marathoner
department of chemistry
university of
cambridge
amtb2@cam.ac.uk
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