On Sunday morning, I felt good - the legs were fine, energy levels were good and I'd slept reasonably well so, apart from a dicky stomach, everything looked favourable. The weather gods were smiling on us too, with bright clear sunshine, and the wind had dropped - hurrah! We were bussed up to the start to sit around for about 90 minutes, this was my only gripe about the weekend as there was nowhere for a cup of tea or any shelter, so thank heavens it wasn't cold or raining. The start was even more stunning than yesterday with the lake like a mirror reflecting the mountains.
A couple of pretty nippy ultra runners went past before we started, having run their extra 13.1 miles in 90 minutes. Allan was in the ultra too, and Michael and I were fractionally concerned about his threat to slap us on the arse as he passed us, he claimed he was going to run the first 13 in 1'40 leaving him only 10 minutes down. That was enough to make it seem like he was breathing down our necks and acted as a compelling motivator, we knew we would never live it down if we got dropped..
My targets were as follows: 4'08 = a tolerable average of 4 hours / day, 4 hours = nothing more than ok, 3'52 = equal to yesterday and a good result, any better than 3'52 = excellent, but theoretically the correct result as conditions were better and, at this stage, I shouldn't be slowing down on day 2.
So I started confidently, making the most of the easier first 6 miles and going through the first half in 1'49, 1 minute up on yesterday. The second half was where I could get the time back on yesterday since 1'50 is my standard first half pace. Yesterday I dropped 12 minutes up the hills and into the wind and on a still day I should be able to claw a bit of that back.
There were some real boosts in this race - a cyclist who passed me shouting "Yeah baby!" in proper Austin Powers fashion, another cyclist who recognised me from Runner's World, the look on runners' faces when you were have a bit of a chat, they asked if you'd run this one before and you replied "yesterday". And by the time we got to half way, the 1/2 mara runners had set off 19 minutes before so there was opportunity to catch some of them. It turned out there were hundreds of walkers to pass, and a lot of runners by the end. It's not very charitable but it picks you up to be moving quicker than the people around you.
I made a point again today of running all of it, particularly the hills, as walking sends your time plummeting. Without the headwind, it was much easier, and it was possible to run strongly off the top of the hills today rather than yesterday where even when the incline had eased off it still felt like you were running through a wall. It was much easier to maintain my pace, I'm feeling very strong at the moment. However, before the last hill at 23 miles, I didn't have much idea of my finish time, it could have easily finished me off.
The last hill was hard work, it went on for over a mile and was a long old drag. Good strength training though! When I got to the top, I knew I'd better yesterday's time if I kept concentrating - my attention was wandering a bit and the pace begining to drift off. A mental slap round the face sorted that out, plus the reminder that if Allan passed me, he was going to slap me very hard on the arse and give me a serious amount of abuse. He was NOT going to pass me in the last few miles. It was less than 20 minutes to go and, in one of my favourite sayings, any %^&* can run 2 miles. A few minutes out from the finish, I realised a sub 3'45 was on, so I pushed it a bit to cross the line in 3'44'34, an absolutely astounding result. On a tough course and on day 2, with people flaking out from the heat all over the place, I'd knocked 8 minutes off and had a blinder of a run, and finished feeling really strong. I was delighted.
I then received a text saying "Connemarathon prize winner. Please go to the finish area to collect your prize." Cool! A marshall said, "Oh yes, you're second or third lady, I'll go and get a camera and your crystal." Brill! Then she came back and said, "Sorry, I got it wrong. You were 3rd in your age category and there's no prize." Oh well! Still a great result, and I was 10th lady overall (of 120).
Very very happy with 100 miles in 6 days, averaging 8'36 / mile, with 2 very solid back to back marathons and a pair of surprisingly fresh legs. Two more good weeks of training, Brighton and London maras and then taper. I'm really looking forward to the 10 in 10 now!
As you may be aware, I'm raising funds for the Brathay Trust who put on both the 10 in 10 and the Windermere marathon in May. It's their biggest fund raising event of the year, so please help me make a good contribution to a very worthy cause. Link up top. Thank you!
How about this for a race start?!
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