Brighton Marathon - with a doubt, the hardest
hottest
but most amazing thing I've ever done
The race is only in its second year but organisation is fantastic and the support on the streets phenomenal (it's the second highest spectated race in the UK after London with estimated 100,000 people on the street). The race kicked off at 9am with a lap around Preston Park and then onto the streets of Brighton - heading all the way east to Ovingdean and all the way west to Shoreham so you're running along the sea front for most of it. The temperature was an absolute killer - over 20 degrees and relentless sunshine from the word go, and no real shade as you're so exposed on the seafront.
I'd set myself 2 targets prior to the race - to do it in 4 hours 30 minutes and to run it all but I started to re-evaluate those - it was weird because the distance didn't feel 'that' long - ok 26.2 miles is a long way but I wasn't even thinking about the distance, just the heat which was absolutely destroying me
The first half went really well and I felt really rehydrated and my legs felt fresh and my half marathon split time was just over 2 hours 2 minutes. From about mile 15 onward was an absolute killer just because of the heat, and I was so paranoid about dehydrating that I went a bit overboard with the Powerade and felt like I was running with a belly-full of glucose and came close to being sick a couple of times
But somehow I managed to run it all and my finishing time was 04:29:16
- you can tell from my half marathon split how slow my second half was
but I did it
I can't believe that this ex fag Ash Lil/wino/waster has actually run a marathon
A huge thank you to my lovely friends who supported me on the day and all those who sponsored me and helped me raise £1,000 for Dogs Trust - thank you!
And big congrats to my fellow runner Andy JB who I met at about the 20 mile mark
PS Entry for next year's race opens at 9am this morning if anyone fancies it!
