I have always liked the Brighton Marathon, I have taken part in all 9 that have been run so far and have my entry in for next year to make it the full 10.
I took my usual route to get to Brighton, drive to Burgess Hill and then get the train down, then a short walk from the station to the start in Preston Park which is always teaming with people taking part in their various routines to get ready for a little run around Brighton.
I dropped my bag at the lorry and made my way to the start coral ready to get cracking, soon after the official starter, Paul Sinton-Hewitt CBE - founder of parkrun, had us under way. I didn't think that I had started off too fast and was comfortable as the first few miles ticked by but then about mile 8 I started to struggle.
I had hoped that I would get close to 4hrs, Brighton has always been a fast course for me and my best Marathon time of 4:14 has been achieved there, but as the miles slowly passed I was more concerned that I would not make it under 5 hours.
The crowd were fantastic and got behind all the runners but at one point when I was feeling very low and walking along the route one spectator started to cheer me on and ran along the pavement next to me shouting encouragement, which was a massive lift to my spirits and sent me on my way out to Shoreham power station in a better frame of mind.
As I came back along the sea front the crowds again were amazing and without them I would probably have called it a day and gone home, I had not enjoyed this marathon, nothing against the event or the people who were amazing but my legs just didn't want to run that far but I made it and kept the collection of Brighton Marathon medals intact with my 9th!
Move on a week and it was the London Marathon and it was due to be the hottest on record, which was previously held by the 2007 event which was my first ever marathon! It was clear that this was not going to be a fast run!
I was starting at the Red start which completed the set of starts for me, I had previously started twice at the Blue start and twice at the Green start, this time I got to run through the iconic gates at Greenwich park.
I deliberately started slower than normal due to the heat and also the fact that my legs still felt heavy from Brighton a week earlier. As usual the atmosphere at London was amazing and boy did I need the support to get round.
I have doubled up and run Brighton and London 3 times previously but obviously with younger legs, indeed the first time I did it I ran about half an hour quicker in London than the week earlier at Brighton. It was not going to happen this time, in fact at mile 24 I wondered if I was actually going to finish. My legs had given up and every step was painful from the soles of my feet through my ankles, knees and hips, even my jaw had pain!
I managed to keep going and with a mile to go someone in the crowd shouted out "go on Andy enjoy the last mile" I must have given him a strange look as he then shouted out "ok endure the last mile" at this point I laughed and turned to give him a smile and thumbs up.
Crossing the line all I wanted to do was grab my bag and find my way to the station to get home, it was great to run in London again but it was very hot and very painful.
London Revolution:
OK so writing about the marathons has taken so long that I have since also ridden the London Revolution (Thanks to Cycling Plus), this is a 2 day cycle ride that takes place over a 300km route around London, coming down in to the Surrey hills and up in to the Chilterns.
Preparation was not great as I had a system going live at work the night before so had to re-arrange travel arrangements but managed to get a hotel not far from the start which actually turned out quite well.
Arriving at the start, parking the car and getting to registration was simple and soon I had all the tags and number etc that I needed setup on bike and helmet, all that was left to do was grab a coffee and get to the briefing.
The start process was slick and we were soon on our way, the first few miles are through London and across Tower Bridge.
The last time I was here was during the marathon, legs felt quite different on that occasion!
Leaving London we soon headed out into the countryside and onto roads that I actually recognised being close to home!
The pit stops were about 30miles from start and from each other which was great to break up the ride and provide much needed sustenance.
Just after arriving at the second of the stops it started to spit with rain so I grabbed a quick sandwich and some jaffa cakes, topped up my bottles and hit the road.
I was quite an early arrival at the base camp in Windsor where I was allocated my tent, given a camping mat and retrieved my bag. Dropping everything in the tent I headed for the showers and found one available immediately, nice and warm!
I found the food tent and was tucking into a nice Lasagne and pasta meal followed by apple & blackberry crumble with Custard, yum!
I went to the main field and grabbed a pint, charged my phones before collapsing in my tent to sleep about 8pm!!
Sunday morning arrived all too quickly and I headed out to get breakfast, on arriving at the marquee there was a rather large queue, I wasn't used to this, dinner had been so quick and easy but then I was there waiting for them to start serving. As we were waiting one of the team, who I think was Nick the CEO, came out with pastries to keep us going while we waited. This was typical of the event, if there was an issue the team were there doing what they could to alleviate it, lets face it with so many people all wanting to be fed at the same time it was never going to be quick!
After breakfast and packing my kit away and handing it in for transporting back to the finish I went off to find my bike, after several minutes looking at the wrong rack I eventually found it and was off to the start.
Again the pit stops were at about 30 mile gaps and just right for rest and fuel! Some of the hills were a bit brutal on the second day and unfortunately at one point an uphill kick followed a tricky descent and quite a few people were caught in the wrong gear. This led to me having to brake going up the hill to avoid running into the back of someone, not a great start to a climb.
Arriving at Lee Valley park for the finish was a welcome relief and the burger tasted great! Quick stop to get my bike cleaned by the team on site and then off to get the car and home.
All in all a great weekend and a bit of an eye opener for what is to come for the Ride Across Britain in September!
