Fairlands Valley marathon

I don't know about you, but these race reports can get a bit boring no? Haven't you heard enough of: I ran each 5k in the following splits, had a gel at the following miles, hit the wall at 18 miles, thought of my kids / cat / dead Great Auntie Florence to get me through the last few miles, pulled a hamstring / got cramp / had my leg gnawed off by a rabid cow, had to stop for a comfort break (far too frequently supplied with all the associated and unnecessary detail), got competitive in the final 100 yards to finish one place higher in a field of 10,000 runners and half kill myself in the process etc etc. We've all done it, and it's important to you, of course. But there's a limited amount of things to say about a marathon and an even more limited amount of interesting things to say about a marathon. I'm not sure why I keep writing about them, some of my races are so unmemorable I'd be quite happy to let them slide into the deepest corners of my memory, and be forgotten. So if you're bored by reading about marathons, here's your Stop sign.

Fairlands Valley was infinitely better than I expected. It was much more runnable than Tanners with smoother, wider paths, fewer hills and lots of blissful tarmac. So runnable, in fact, that I got through the first half in just over 2 hours. Unfortunately I did hit the wall around 18 miles, having omitted to eat anything at the checkpoints. Walking a few miles meant that lots of 100 clubbers and Fetchies went past me, it was an excellent turnout, and things got much easier in the last few miles once a few sticky, stodgy, almost indigestible lumps of bread pudding at the last checkpoint worked their magic. I think that's the first time I've gone sub 5 in an LDWA style event.

There is a reason to celebrate. Having planned all my races through to my 100th, I don't have to do any more seriously off road events. There's still the Enigma, the 2 to go and the Grantham double, but the canal stuff is trail-lite (don't you just hate deliberately mispelt words?), nothing like Langport or Tanners or those horrific coastal things. I might not have to be out for more than 5 hours ever again.