Marathon Time

Marathon Time

Welcome back... you find yourself here again, good work, you know it makes sense. Always like to say thanks for spending the time to have good read of me rattling on about my running, every credit to you. This will be my shortest blog ever I think, so you're in luck this time round. I would like to thank to every who has sponsored me recently, the total is slowly creeping up towards my target of £500. Yes I will admit that I have found a passion for running and setting myself challenges, 2 marathons in 2 weeks could possibly be the biggest challenge to date. Not only do I want to complete them, I want to run them in less that 3 hours. I know for a fact that if I don't reach these targets it will play on my mind for a long time, so I am risking part of my sanity with these challenges. At the end of March my total mileage stands at 383.8 miles. Running every day last year it took me until 17th May to reach this figure, so it clearly shows I am grafting. With the times I want, I have had no option but to commit to the training to reach these goals. By running a sub 3 hour marathon, I can definitely qualify for a good for age place for the London marathon. Then there are also options for Chicago, Tokyo, New York and possibly Boston depending on how fast I can go. I would have to apply still and go into a ballet for a few of these, gives me targets for the future and other potential marathons I may want to get involved in. Anything under the 3 hour mark I would be more than happy with for sure, I have confidence in my ability and I am hoping to smash this time. These are the first set of Marathons I will have properly trained for so it will be a great test to see how far I have come since my first marathon in October 2015, 3:27:28.

Week 13 - Marathon Training

On to the training and it was back to business as per usual. Week 13 was pretty steady, only doing a couple of easy runs. With parkrun arriving on Saturday 2nd April, I was no on my 5th day of no smoking. I had mentioned in the last blog that I was battling with this habit and it was still the case. It was hard, mentally it was so challenging. I was staying focused with it and was impressed with the progress I was making that week. So I thought I would test the lungs out at parkrun to see how there were.  I smashed the first 2 miles and was on for a PB but then I decided to back off, I don't know why but instinct kicked in and I settled into the last mile. I was the first finisher with a time of 18:59, still a bit off my PB but happy with under 19. I should have been tapering so pushing hard in runs was a bit silly, I couldn't help myself. The battle for the parkrun crown was in full flow and I was out in front opening up a good lead from the rest. Myself, Andy, Pete, Chris, Ian, we had no interest in this leaderboard at all. I only noticed it when Pete pointed it out to me one day. For those mentioned above, you will have to turn out every week to try and keep up with me. I only joke, a nice bit of healthy competition adds to the fun of running. With the Manchester marathon on the 10th April, I just had a small matter of the Darwen half marathon on the 3rd April. 7 days before possibly the biggest run of my short career so far, I was taking part in a 13.1 mile race with 1300ft of elevation. I thought tapering involved half marathon a week before the full marathon. I had debated all week on whether I would run this race and was advised not to by many people. If I was going to run it, I needed to take it easy. The only problem was this was part of the Red Rose Championship, so I couldn't miss out. I suppose I could but I wasn't going to. Plus I didn't want a certain Duncan Anderson opening up a massive lead over myself.

This being the 3rd race, the previous 2 I had finished with a 1st and a 3rd, lying on 4 points. Duncan had turned up to 1 and won 1, with the one point. Only having to attend 4 out of the 8 races, I had us even just on the first places. I wasn't racing Darwen, I was using it as a training run, so with the line up I knew Duncan would be taking another 1st place as long as nothing went wrong. I will have to admit deep down this got to me, my competitive side, I didn't want to let Duncan just have a free ride, I had to though with the marathon coming up. If I could secure 2nd spot I would be happy but I knew I had competition on the day. Even though I was annoyed that I wasn't racing, I knew it would be make a good change just to enjoy the run and I could settle into the race without pushing too hard. Before I knew it, we was off, up a massive hill to start. The leaders went off at one hell of a pace and Duncan wasn't far behind at all which was great to see. I just nicely settled into the race myself and tucked in behind 2 runners from Trawden that kept me at a very steady pace. It was a tough start, the first 3 miles up hill climbing 400ft at least. It soon went and then it was time to let gravity to do the work for the next 3 miles. It felt strange holding back on the down hills as this is usually the perfect time to make up ground and take off vital seconds. I kept within myself and just tried to stride it out. I was settled in now at a pace in which I knew I was working but everything was controlled. Once at the bottom, it was then back up a hill for 2 miles followed by a bit of a breather for another mile down hill. At mile 9 Duncan had well gone and he wasn't in view, from the way he set off I knew he was in for a top 10 finish and hoping he would do well. Richard, another fellow Red Rose started to make a move on the next uphill and was pulling away from me quite quickly. I watched him go up a couple of hills and he had me every day of the week on the climb which got me worried. I needed this 2nd place in the championship, every point counted in my eyes. We climbed for 2 miles pretty much neck and neck until the 11th mile then it was all down hill. I could see that a few people in front were tiring and I felt very good at that point. I decided to open my legs up just as a bit of a test, plus I had stayed steady for 11 so I was allowed. I had caught about 3-4 people on the last couple of miles, finishing with a 5:31 and 5:25 mile to take 12th spot. I thought I raced it well with the marathon coming up and held back as much as I could. I finished with a time of 1:25:32 which I was pleased with, it put me in great shape and gave me confidence for next weekend knowing I could run a hilly half in the time I did. Once again it was another great turn out for the RRRR gang with prizes awarded to some of the men and women in their categories. With Manchester only a week a way I was feeling good and really looking forward to it.

28.03.2016 - Run #58 - 3.3 Miles - 24:38 - 7:26 /mi - Easy 5k
30.03.2016 - Run #59 - 6.2 Miles - 39:50 - 6:23 /mi - Steady 10k
02.04.2016 - Run #60 - 3.1 Miles - 18:59 - 6:07 /mi - CV parkrun
03.04.2016 - Run #61 - 13.1 Miles - 1:25:32 - 6:32 /mi - Darwen 1/2 Marathon

Weekly Total - 25.7 Miles

Week 14 - Marathon Week

So after 14 weeks of training, sacrificing the poor social life I have, the Manchester marathon was here. After pushing myself a little harder than I should have in the previous week, I thought it was time to take this tapering business seriously. In the week leading up to the marathon I only ran three times, covering 8.3 miles, all very easy. I did my usual parkrun to see all the pretty faces. Two of those being Pita and Debbie, they were both celebrating their 50th runs which was emotional to say the least. They are both absolutely bonkers which is brilliant. They had both put in so much hard work to the CV parkrun and it was great to see everyone appreciate their hard work and how they had contributed to changing so many peoples life's for the better. This alone gave me a big boost knowing I was involved in such a good running community with inspiring dedicated leaders. Even though it was their big day I was wished well by everyone involved in the Valley. It was great to have so much support leading up to the race. In the morning Natalie had suggest that I run with Simon in the Marathon as we was both after running Sub 3. The seed had been planted, I messaged Simon later that day and that was that. We would both run together, which would give us both a great chance of reaching our target times, plus we would be able to push and motivate each other through the hard times. The night before I wasn't nervous at all, I had done all the training and I was very confident I would run a sub 3 hour marathon, the question was how fast I would do it. I do put a lot of pressure on myself when it comes to running, I need this to keep motivated and focused. I want to push myself and see how fast I can get. The night before I was in bed by 10 and asleep by 10:30, I was delighted with this as when my alarm went off at 5:45 the following morning I felt fresh and ready to go. For breakfast I had my usual 4 egg omelette with 2 slices of toast and a banana. I decided against the cup of coffee, I didn't want any additional liquid swilling around. Anyhow, a short drive to Manchester, quick toilet break and it was time to race. I felt no pressure and was relaxed on the day, I strolled towards the start line and came across Simon, then it was time to go. We made our way to the start line, a short discussion that we wanted to run between 6:35/6:40 miles, game time. We started about 15 rows back from the start, which was good for both of us as it meant a nice steady start. It was a nice start and I felt reasonably good, passing the 10k mark in just over 40 minutes which was a comfortable pace for both of us. Just a couple of miles after at mile 8, it was time for the 2nd biggest cheer of the day. Team Red Rose where out in force to cheer on everyone involved. I must admit got goosebumps as they cheered me and Simon on, it was a great feeling knowing so many had made the effort to come and support our efforts.

They were up earlier than myself, so much hard work had been put in and it was massively appreciated by everyone involved. After going past them the support was still good but it was kind of a low point for a couple of miles after that. We hit the 10 mile mark at about 1:06, which was target pace and was still well on for our time. I was struggling by this point, my legs seemed heavy and it was much harder than it should have been. Crossing the 1/2 way mark at around 1:26:00 I started questioning whether I could keep up the pace. I was getting pain down my left leg and I could feel my running technique was being upset by this. I soon blocked the negative thoughts out of my head and realised where I was and how far I had come. 1/2 marathon done, we had now had 1:34:00 for the Sub 3 target. At this point we was both working well together, just like the Kenyan boys do. Simon would get a drink, pass it do myself, I would dispose of it. Saving vital energy this way and sharing the workload. I had noticed even at the half way mark, we had started to make a move on people ahead of us. It seemed that we had practiced running together before, which we had raced against each other previously, Simon was 6-2 up on previous meetings (runbritain gives some good stats). Overtaking people, Simon would go left, I would go right, then we would meet up again and continue the onslaught of the people ahead that had set off to fast. Back to it, the next 7 miles seemed to fly, we encouraged each other all the way, at 16 miles we only had the Caldervale 10 to run, at 20 miles, it was the Trimpell 20 down and just the 10k to complete. We had reach the 20 mile mark at roughly 2:11:30, which left us 48:30 for the last 10k, it was easily doable but we just had to keep up the pace and knuckle down. It was steady going but I was starting to feel it in my legs, by the time we had completed mile 22 I knew I was slowing and was going to struggle to keep the 6:40/mi pace. Mile 23 and 24 we completed in 7:04 and 7:02 but I couldn't keep it up. Simon had stayed with me for those 2 miles, pushing me on and making me dig deep. I was working harder than I had ever done to keep up but I couldn't. It was at that point I told Simon to push on as I felt bad I had already slowed him down for 2 miles. At first he didn't want to and said we need to finish together. After a short chat it was for the best that he powered on to finish in the fastest time possible. Even though I was running at just over 7:00 /mi pace, Simon flew off and within a few moments he was pretty much out of my view. I watched him just glide past people with ease and at that point I knew he was on for a great time and was definitely hitting Sub 3 with only a couple of miles left. It took my mind off the pain for a couple of minutes, but then I realised I had over 2 miles left of the race and I was slowing. In my head at this point I knew I was going to smash the sub 3 hour mark. After 24 miles I was roughly at 2:39:30, leaving me 20 minutes to run 2.2 miles. It was on, all my training and hard work had paid off, I just needed to get to the finish. The last 2 miles I felt like I wasn't moving, the 25th mile I covered in 7:15, so I was still moving at a good pace, just 35 seconds slower a mile than I as moving just a few miles ago. Before the 25 mile mark I saw Steve and Lorna Taylor who shouted encouragement at me and told me I was well on to beat my time. This picked me up massively and I really started to enjoy it. The lack of smiling maybe didn't show it but deep down I was buzzing, I just had no energy to show it. At 25 miles the full crew that had been at the 8 mile mark, had made their way to cheer us on again. It was a great site approaching them, knowing I would get that buzz again with just over a mile to go. I cant remember seeing many faces at that point but I distinctly Gareth pretty much running next to me for maybe 5-10 seconds, I have no idea what he said but it kept me going. Heading down the 26th mile I started to pick up again, my pace didn't, just my enthusiasm for the day had. It was a tough last mile as quite a few people started to over take me, which didn't play well with my competitive side. I think I had stopped caring about what time I was going to end up with, I knew it was well under 3 hours and I was going to hit my target. At mile 26, which there wasn't a marker for - Don't get me started on the mile markers.

They were poor all day long, at one point it was over 0.5 of a mile out, which didn't do me any good after 19 miles.... at mile 26, I started to put my foot down and with about 100 yards left I picked up the pace and found my usual race sprint finish. I managed to take over about 4-5 people in the last 20 yards, at the time I didn't know but that would put me into 199th place. With over 9000 runners I was more than happy with that stat. I don't know where the sprint came from, think it was just the fact I wanted it over. I crossed the line in a time of 2:55:12, which I was ecstatic with. I had smashed my target and was well under 3 hours, did I mention I wanted to run under 3 hours? As soon as I had stopped running my legs seized up, all my muscles started to ache and throb. I didn't care, top 200 in my first proper marathon with a PB of over 32 minutes. Smashed it. Walking on from the finish line I caught up with Simon who had finished with a sub 2:54 time and beat his PB by over 9 minutes I think. Well and truly a successful day for the both of us. Just like to thank everyone at RRRR for their support and the day as this was a massive help and pushed me through the hard times. I had done it, Sub 3 hour with plenty of time spare. It was only the day after I found myself beating the deadline to apply for the Chicago marathon in October 2016. I was officially hooked. Why would I want to put myself through it again? I have no idea, whatever it was that was driving me I wanted more of it. Before I could even consider Chicago, I had the small matter of the London marathon in two weeks time. It was time to rest up and taper so I could try and replicate my performance in London. Did I mention I don't know the meaning of taper.....

07.04.2016 - Run #63 - 2.2 Miles - 17:20 - 7:34 /mi - Steady 2 Miles
09.04.2016 - Run #64 - 3.1 Miles - 20:15 - 6:30 /mi - CV parkrun
10.04.2016 - Run #65 - 26.2 Miles - 2:55:12 - 6:40 /mi - Greater Manchester Marathon

Weekly Total - 31.5 Miles

Week 15 - Taper Week

With my first marathon over and only two weeks to London, it was time to rest up and recover. The day after I didn't ache as much as I thought I would be but I was definitely feeling tired and dehydrated. I had a few days off and did my first run on Thursday that week, which went ok but I could feel I was still tired. I was enjoying the recovery as I could eat as much as I want and not have to worry about it, it was part of the plan. My next run came on Saturday morning at CV parkrun. I was meant to be taking it easy but still clocked a time of 20:15, it was nice to just stretch the legs out and put on some bursts to make sure my legs were recovering well. The week before there had been a whole debate and a decision that the local council would be charging £1 at the Little Stoke parkrun. I found this ridiculous, the fact parkruns encouraged fitness and changed peoples life's for the better, it was a silly decision that they may regret. Anyhow, that morning it was decided to support Little Stoke by joining hands with someone as you crossed the finish line. As you can tell from the photo, myself, Neil and Stuart all crossed the line together - You can also see Stuart putting on a little burst to get that first finish spot, which he claimed in all it's glory. On the run I have to say my legs felt pretty good and was looking forward to next weekend for sure. As it was taper time, I decided on the Saturday night that I was going to go and run the Valiants 1/2 marathon on the Sunday. I ran this race two years ago in over 1:47:00. I remember stopping to walk a couple of times. This was the first ever half marathon I had ever done, no training, plus I wasn't living a healthy lifestyle at all. So even though I had the London marathon the following week, I decided I would run in this just to prove a point to myself and to see how far I had come in that time. I felt quite bad doing this race as I had been advised strongly not to push myself and take it easy, never mind race a 1/2 marathon. The night before I had done my research and I knew that anything below 1:20:00 would potentially get me a 3rd place spot. This was obviously depending on who turned out on the day, with London and other marathons approaching, I was hoping for a small field and take it from there. I arrived on the morning feeling fresh and the legs felt good. As I pulled up onto the car park, Rob Danson was also pulling up, straight away I knew 2nd place would be my best finish. As I went to sign up, I recognised another face who I knew was a very good runner, 3rd place was going to be the highest I could finish. 3rd place it was then, I would go all out for this against the other runners. Thinking I had got away with sneaking to the race, I then saw Alison crossing the car park who was also part of Red Rose. I had been busted, Alison wasn't bothered I was running so we got a quick team photo for the fans.

With the race being a small one and only 90 people signed up, it was a quick warm up and stretch then straight to the start line. Off we went into a fairly strong headwind, the sun was out though so I was more than happy with the conditions. Setting off after the first mile places quickly started to take place. The two runners like I had predicted starting moving away from the crowd and I was left in 6th place. I knew it was going to be a battle for the next 12 miles so I settled into a pace that I was happy with, around 6:05 /mi, then it was up to the rest to maintain that pace until the end. Like never before after about 5k I found myself in a race with very similar runners to myself. I was loving it. I reached the 10k mark in about 37:20 which was fast and I still found myself in 6th place. At about 7 miles I made a bit of a move as the person in front was tiring, I managed to pass him quite easily even though he wasn't for letting me go. With 4th place not being to far head I felt comfortable that I would finish in the top 5 at least. As I approached 8 miles there was a long straight and from nowhere I could see 3rd place and he was slowing. I don't know if he had gone out too fast, was injured, I wasn't rightly bothered. He was now in my view and I was catching him at pace. I got a buzz I had never had before in a race, I could now possibly finish in the top 3 which I had never done before. Still with 5 miles left I had a lot of work to do but I was going for him. It was at the 10 mile mark it all changed, I went for a drink at the drinks station the from nowhere I found myself in 3rd. One of the guys had stopped and the other had slowed down massively. With 5k left I had to stay strong and keep pushing on. I had completed 10 miles in 1:00:34 which was the fastest I had run over that distance and I was feeling good. 3rd place didn't last that long as after about 1/2 mile I was caught and passed, it was then I just sat right next to him. My competitive instinct came in and I took up the line just to the left of the centre of the road. I knew this was flattest, with him being on the inside he was going to face potholes plus an uneven service as the previous 10 miles had been. We battled side by side until the 12 mile mark. I knew he was blowing and I was settled in to a good pace and had a lot left to give. I was confident in my ability to finish a race fast so I just had to stick with him. Still being side by side, just before the 13 mile marker I made my move and left him behind. After about 100 yards I checked behind and I had made up enough ground to relax as I approached the finish. I crossed the finish line in a time of 1:19:33, which was 21 seconds off my PB. I wasn't bothered about the time, I had finished 3rd. I raced the perfect race, even with a marathon in my legs was the week before, I still had enough to hold off some good runners. It wasn't my brightest idea running this race, I wasn't bothered though. I was well happy with my 3rd place spot in which I picked up £10, did I mention I finished 3rd? I had nearly beat my best 1/2 marathon time, I came out of the race injury free and full of confidence for the London marathon, all was looking good. A quick well done to Alison who finished 1st in her category and capped off a successful day for Red Rose.

14.04.2016 - Run #66 - 2.9 Miles - 20:43 - 6:58 /mi -  Easy 3 Miles
16.04.2016 - Run #67- 3.1 Miles - 20:15 - 6:30 /mi - CV parkrun
17.04.2016 - Run #68 - 13.1 Miles - 1:19:33 - 6:04 /mi - Vailiants 1/2 Marathon

Weekly Total - 19.1 Miles

Just to finish off and explain a few things on why I am doing these marathons and why I push myself all the time. Today being Wednesday 20th April, it was 10 years since I was diagnosed with cancer as a 17 year old boy. 10 years later being a 27 year old boy, I have an opportunity to prove to myself and others that you can push yourself further than you think. I never thought I would ever run a marathon, I am sat here now after running two 1/2 marathons and a full marathon within the space of 3 weeks. I had an appointment at The Christie hospital today, standard ECG, blood tests, general body checks etc. It was confirmed that I was fit and well and I would be around for at least another year until my next appointment. I don't get nervous about the appointments at all any more, it's part of my life. I will admit though there is that little part of me that thinks, 'what if?'. What if the test results don't come back negative? What if there is something wrong with me? What if it does return? These thoughts rarely come into my head but I am glad they do. It gives me all the motivation I need when I am running and it will keep pushing me until I reach my limits. In the Manchester marathon for example, 21 miles in and struggling. I knew that The Christie hospital had saved my life. With this only being about 5 miles down the road, it brought back a few memories which kept me occupied. Yes I was in pain, it could have been hell of a lot worse though. I soon began to enjoy the pain and actually take in race, remembering a few of the moments both good and bad. So my advice to anyone running a marathon or just any race in general. Yes at times it will hurt, you will struggle, you may not want to carry on at certain points. When these thoughts come around just think of the good times, take in the moment and realise what you are doing and why you are doing it. We all have our own stories and no one has any easy life, bad things and scenarios happen to all of us. Use these as motivation to push yourself and reach the goals you have set. For those running the London marathon, leave nothing on the course, give everything you have got, don't go out to quickly though.

Well Cheers for reading once again. London will soon be here and I have set myself a goal of beating my last time of 2:55:12 and I am looking at smashing this time if everything goes well. See you on the other side.

If you want to share, please share. If you'd like to donate, please donate.

Thanks as always.

https://www.justgiving.com/Karl-Hodgson2LONDON?newPage=True

Facebook - Karl Hodgson
Twitter - @teddyhodgson
Instagram - teddyhodgson1
Strava - Karl Hodgson

Thanks
Karl Hodgson