The Kent Coastal marathon

The Kent Coastal was the first road marathon in a long time, since Edinburgh in May and, while I was really looking forward to getting back on the road, I was a bit concerned that all these trail marathons had made me a bit lazy. They've definitely made me stronger, the hills today weren't too much of a problem, but I did have to remind myself to run them (they're a great excuse to walk in trail marathons) and to keep going at the water stations and not stop for a chat with the marshals. This was my first sub 4 marathon when I ran it last year so I wanted to beat that time of 3'58, but really it could have gone badly wrong since I could have lost quite a lot of aerobic fitness over the summer.

My tactic for this race was to run the first half a bit quicker to bank some time for the inevitable windy stretch in the 3rd quarter. Dave and I hadn't agreed to run together but, like Edinburgh, we found we were at a similar pace so we kept each other company in companionable silence, until Allan popped up to provide the commentary. It's a good race to run with other people, especially in that tough 3rd quarter. The first half is fairly hilly but along some nice sea front down to Ramsgate and back, then after you lose all the half marathon runners back at the start/finish, you head out through Margate and further up the coast to the turn around point at 19.3 miles.

This is the hard part, the wind picks up here and it's pretty exposed along a pretty unexciting bit of concrete sea wall. What kept me going here was the company, the thought that I just needed to get to about 19 miles and it would all get easier and the extra strength and endurance from all those marathons I've done this year. The aerobic side wasn't too bad, it did feel like I was pushing it a little bit, but I suspect that's because I've forgotten what it's like to run at that effort for that long without nice walking breaks. My pace had slipped a little as predicted into the wind, and I was finding it pretty tough, but things got much easier at the turnaround point.

Our little band of 3 broke up a bit, Allan was looking like he was in a greyhound trap and Dave was starting to tire a little bit (unsurprisingly, on his second mara), so Allan went on ahead and I left Dave behind. He claims he didn't want the company anyway. There was a reasonable cushion of time to get the course PB if I kept moving and happily the legs were obedient, nothing was hurting too much other than the standard bruised feet. I managed to overtake a few people in the last few miles too and got through Margate to run the last 0.2 mile at 7'44 pace which was rather satisfying. My finish time of 3'51 was especially pleasing as it was a 7 minute course PB, and also enough to get a prize for 3rd senior lady. I've never won a prize before, and was so far from expecting it that I was queuing up at the burger van when they announced my name! A cracking day out by the seaside then, and with a few weeks' more training and road marathons, the PB at Abingdon should be achievable.


Allan, Dave and me, and a bloke having trouble sitting down