Ugh, ok, so once I reached 100 marathons I stopped counting for a while. I’ve done a few races since, but since I stopped counting, I also stopped recording them. In the interests of keeping a complete record (of sorts) for me to read to my grandchildren, marathons 101-106 went sort of like this:
Raceways Marathon (14th November 2015): as bleak as ever, but it was Rich’s 100th which was amazing. Only thing I can remember though is the chicken we had with Nick at Jack’s in Wolverhampton afterwards. So. Much. Chicken.
Liverbird marathon (31st January 2015): Treated myself to only doing the one this year, was fun as usual and managed to drag myself around in 3:28.
Four Villages Half Marathon (17th January 2016): The idea was that having a half to train for would make me focus over the Winter and get fitter and faster for the Spring. The reality was I spent Winter getting fat and slow, and this race was truly horrible as a result. Ran like 1:35 or something but wanted to die for most of it. Which was nice.
Mad Dog 10k (7th February 2016): Windy, slow and horrible. I hate 10ks.
Longhorn 60k (6th March 2016): What better way to work yourself back to fitness than a nice 60k race? Lots as it happens. Went OK really though, bumbled around in 6:04 which was just outside the 6 hours I was aiming for (course was a wee bit long though), and managed third place. Got a silver plate which was ace. The jacket potato van had run out of jacket potatoes which was traumatic. My bad shoulder also re-exploded during the race and was murder for a few weeks after.
Canal Canter Marathon (13th March): Shoulder was still bad but I was missing all my running friends so I entered this on the day and ran it with Rich, Nick and Michael. Had an ace, if slightly uncomfortably paced day, shoulder didn’t get any better though.
Gin Pit Marathon (20th March): It was Gill's 100th, and between my bad shoulder and having the L2M Ultra the following week I’d entered the half. Which lasted until everyone called me a big baby in the car park, so I upgraded to the full. Was a nice day, ran with Rich who’d done Hardmoors 55 the day before and like me had only come to see Gill. We dragged ourselves round in like 4:20 or something.
Liverpool to Manchester Ultra (26th March): This probably deserves a bigger write up, but it was a fun day. 6am start at Aintree, and 47 flat miles along the Transpennine Trail to Manchester. I was aiming for around 8 hours, and hopeful of a top 20 finish which you got a different medal for. Ended up running the whole thing with Michael which was ace, hadn’t planned to and it’s not often you can run that far with another person without one or other of you struggling or wanting to push on, but we pulled each other along and finished in 7:48 in joint 15th place. Defo doing it next year (and the out and back 100 mile version they’ve just announced).
Raceways Marathon (14th November 2015): as bleak as ever, but it was Rich’s 100th which was amazing. Only thing I can remember though is the chicken we had with Nick at Jack’s in Wolverhampton afterwards. So. Much. Chicken.
Liverbird marathon (31st January 2015): Treated myself to only doing the one this year, was fun as usual and managed to drag myself around in 3:28.
Four Villages Half Marathon (17th January 2016): The idea was that having a half to train for would make me focus over the Winter and get fitter and faster for the Spring. The reality was I spent Winter getting fat and slow, and this race was truly horrible as a result. Ran like 1:35 or something but wanted to die for most of it. Which was nice.
Mad Dog 10k (7th February 2016): Windy, slow and horrible. I hate 10ks.
Longhorn 60k (6th March 2016): What better way to work yourself back to fitness than a nice 60k race? Lots as it happens. Went OK really though, bumbled around in 6:04 which was just outside the 6 hours I was aiming for (course was a wee bit long though), and managed third place. Got a silver plate which was ace. The jacket potato van had run out of jacket potatoes which was traumatic. My bad shoulder also re-exploded during the race and was murder for a few weeks after.
Canal Canter Marathon (13th March): Shoulder was still bad but I was missing all my running friends so I entered this on the day and ran it with Rich, Nick and Michael. Had an ace, if slightly uncomfortably paced day, shoulder didn’t get any better though.
Gin Pit Marathon (20th March): It was Gill's 100th, and between my bad shoulder and having the L2M Ultra the following week I’d entered the half. Which lasted until everyone called me a big baby in the car park, so I upgraded to the full. Was a nice day, ran with Rich who’d done Hardmoors 55 the day before and like me had only come to see Gill. We dragged ourselves round in like 4:20 or something.
Liverpool to Manchester Ultra (26th March): This probably deserves a bigger write up, but it was a fun day. 6am start at Aintree, and 47 flat miles along the Transpennine Trail to Manchester. I was aiming for around 8 hours, and hopeful of a top 20 finish which you got a different medal for. Ended up running the whole thing with Michael which was ace, hadn’t planned to and it’s not often you can run that far with another person without one or other of you struggling or wanting to push on, but we pulled each other along and finished in 7:48 in joint 15th place. Defo doing it next year (and the out and back 100 mile version they’ve just announced).
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