The Three to Go Marathon, Day 1 of a Sub 8 double attempt

The 3 to go was Day 1 of my first double (back to back marathons on consecutive days) since June, with Nottingham on Sunday. As a tester for the TiT, I wanted to run the two in a total of sub 8 hours, especially considering the 3 to go is fast and flat for a trail mara. It's off road but along good gravel towpaths and tarmac paths along the Lea Valley from St Margaret's to Hackney.

The first mile included a rather unwelcome footbridge over the level crossing, with dire warnings not to go over the crossing on pain of disqualification. The second mile included the diversion of removing my running vest and repinning my number to my sports bra top as it was already pretty warm. Unfortunately, I managed to spear one of my two gels with a safety pin (I stash them under the straps) so had to down it there and then. I must have looked a complete amateur taking a gel in the first 15 minutes of a marathon.

The field thinned out fairly quickly and I found myself about 20 yards behind a man in an orange vest, for about 8 miles. I wasn't bothered about passing him and didn't want to spare the energy talking (talking also makes me need more water, and the stations were 4-5 miles apart) so he inadvertently acted as my pacemaker, cruising along at about 8'30-8'40 pace. It really did feel like cruising, neither plodding like in a trail marathon, nor pushing hard like in a PB attempt, just a nice comfortable pace, legs turning over easily, breathing easy, enjoying no noise but the sound of your feet on the gravel, the breeze on your skin and the sun on your back. Just lovely.

The route wasn't my favourite, with about 6 miles of disorienting twists and turns through the Lea Valley Park and quite a lot in the second half past increasingly grim warehouses and concrete flyovers but it was prettier than I expected and overall not a bad little race. By about mile 16, I drew up alongside orange vest man and we were to play cat and mouse to the finish (I beat him in the end, purely because he'd threatened to take out a restraining order..). By 20 miles, I caught up with Joe to my great surprise, he wasn't having a good race so I pushed on. In the last few miles, all the recent marathons really paid off, I passed a few people while feeling good with no aches and pains. I was a bit tired but it's so much easier to push on mentally now, plus whatever I did sub 4 today was time in the bank for Nottingham.

I crossed the line in 3 hours 52 minutes, at an average of 8'47 per mile (last week was an average of 8'49 per mile) and in exactly the same position - third senior lady. This isn't good, I'm getting predictable......