Gloucester marathon, #98 (it was #49 last year)

And here's the report from #98, two weeks ago. Yesterday I ran a 1/2 marathon and rather enjoyed it, it was long enough to feel like a decent amount of exercise and to require a bit of strategy (ie. bombing off straight away) but not so long to bore you. Hmm, 100 halves next???


Gloucester was number 98 and I'm well on track for Malta. Luck has definitely been on my side, there have been a few people who've had to struggle through injuries to get to a planned 100th and I currently (touch wood) have no niggles at all. Just proves that it is possible to run 52 marathons in a year without damaging yourself more than the usual overtraining symptoms. 

The marathon was pretty uneventful, it was an easy paced race until the last few miles where my legs started running away with themselves for a speedy finish and a reasonable time of 4'06. The closer you get to the 100, the more tempting it is to look back over them, but you don't want to count your chickens too soon. Now it feels pretty certain that I'll get there. It's good to have an event I'm a little unsure of as my 99th (the London 50k) to add a bit of pressure and interest to it, and the desire to put in a decent race at Malta has picked up my enthusiasm a bit. My favourite maras have been the stronger ones so that's good enough incentive to do some proper training.

Anyway, looking back. In a way, doing the 100 so quickly with 34 in 2009 and 52 in 2010 has meant there have been a lot of races that I can barely remember. Most of those are LDWA style events. Now, I'm not slagging them off, they serve an excellent purpose for time on your feet, more challenging running, cheap entry fees, low key atmosphere yadda yadda yadda, I just don't like them and wish I hadn't done so many. They make my 100 feel slightly false, like I've cheated. More importantly, it would be nice for each marathon to stand out in some way and have its own character. It's hard to differentiate when you're averaging one a week. 


Wokingham 1/2 marathon next weekend to see if there's any speed at all in these legs, then the London 50k, then Malta. Very very happy to see so many people plan to be there.