Milton Keynes Marathon

I've had two attempts at Milton Keynes marathon in the past - it was the first stand-alone marathon I ever raced, and was most notable for all my nutrition gels dropping out of the belt loops of my new shorts in the first mile without me noticing, resulting in me having little choice but to keep going until I ran out of sugar. This happened at about 19 miles - I finished, but it was a much less fun walk after that point. My first lesson in what I now advise any new runner - never, ever, no matter how much you think it might help, use a brand new bit of kit you've never used before in a race. Ah well, you learn.

The second attempt is somewhere in these archives - and I still don't really know what went wrong. The wheels came off in a reasonably spectacular fashion at about 17 miles, and I ended up alternately walking and hobbling to the finish in a time we'll just call "not good".

So, this was attempt three. I chose it again partly for its convenience - its close enough to us that we can drop down on the day without needing a hotel, there is no issue getting a place for most of the year, and the date this year missed London marathon which Andy was doing. Manchester was on the same day as London this year, and so also not an option - and I needed a couple of weeks to recover before my running life gets silly in June. But it's a good event, well organised, at a reasonable price - it fitted the bill.

Parking has never been an issue in MK - we'd missed parking at the actual stadium that is the start and finish line, but the backup option was the loan of an industrial estate about 10 minutes away (at the beginning, that is - it took a little longer at the end!). Registration was simple, bag drop was easy and the loo queue was normal (ie depressingly and predictably long, but hardly unusual at marathon events).

The start was divided into four sections - I'd gone for the yellow section, which was times up to 4:20. That obviously seemed possible to me when I booked it - it seemed somewhat over-optimistic at half past eight this morning. There were about 3000 runners to start at 9am - there are full and half-marathon options, but we run the same route for the first 13 miles and so we start in the same pens. It's a nice wide start, so you get going pretty fast - my gun time was about 9:06. The wide start up both sides of a dual carriageway also makes it easy to get into your stride quickly, which is an improvement on some events that I've done (hi Brighton).

The first section takes you into Milton Keynes centre, which doesn't look too different to the rest of MK - presumably a higher grade of concrete or something similar. There wasn't as much music as there had been in previous years, which was a pity, but we still moved along. The first song I heard in the middle of town had a lyric that was along the lines of "fade away now" - someone hadn't done the course on encouraging marathon music. Bring back the cheesy eighties, that's what I say. On the way in, we met the front runners, who were coming out at the same time as we were heading into the centre - and had therefore already dropped us by the thick end of a couple of miles.

Back out of the centre, and heading over to Woughton, which is one of the greener bits of the route. The route was on tarmac paths and cycle tracks, of which MK does not have a shortage. The side effect of this was that it was occasionally a bit narrow, and there was rather more dodging around than there had been before. It also had rather more flies, which I sampled inadvertently. 

At Woughton I also caught up with my head supporter Andy for the first time, who had found a good place to support and take photos from. However, at that point we were still running with the half-marathon folks, and it was busy - until photo AI is good enough to take a photo of someone through someone else, it's still a bit random taking photos of marathoners in a crowd, as I had discovered the previous weekend in London. The support and cheers get through, though, and that sent me on my way happily.

On the first lap, because of getting the town centre bit, the green bit through Woughton and beyond is cut short, and we were soon back along side a dual carriageway (another thing MK does not have a shortage of). Running was still going well - my concern was that I was pacing faster than I'd wanted to, and still had the two hour pacer in view a few hundred metres ahead. I was mostly running without looking at my watch, and my body seemed happy, so I wasn't too worried about it. I was hitting the water stations regularly, and the Clif Bloks were going down every 5km, so things were going to plan. We went off through another park, hit another water station, and ended up at the University. If you haven't heard of the university of Milton Keynes, then don't worry, nor have I - this was a main base for the Open University. It was also a great cheering point - there was a lot of noise as we ran around it. Unfortunately, there were also speed bumps, which were a minor nuisance that time round and much more of a issue later.

At this point you could see the half marathon entrants pushing the pace a bit - they had 2 miles to go. I didn't, because I didn't. We hit some more bypass bridges, ran through a nice housing development, and then came to the village of Simpson. Which us nicely picturesque, meaning it existed long before Milton Keynes did, but also has a nasty hill up through it that is topped off by a hump backed bridge with an even steeper gradient. The positioning of this a mile before the stadium was definitely unfriendly! I made it (that time) and then we were spat out of another park onto the road to the stadium. The half marathoners abandoned us in the direction of the finish line, and we headed out on lap 2.

Lap 2 cut out the town centre concrete, as they had re-opened the roads by then, and replaced it with a longer loop round the lake - a trade-off I had no problems with. It did mean I got back to where Andy was rather sooner, and this time there were rather fewer runners around and photos could happen. No, I don't know who the smaller female runner on my left was - but I like the fact that as soon as she worked out she was going to be in a couple of someone else's photos she smiled at the camera. Definitely a runner skill - and not one I am good at!

The lake did introduce a few more uneven paths where the tree roots were pushing the tarmac up, and with legs now rather more tired you had to concentrate a bit - this wasn't going to be a good time for a fall. I didn't see anyone go down, but I did start to see people on the side of the route with leg cramps - the organisers seemed to have a team of people on bikes who would spot such people, administer water and massage, and get them going again - another excellent piece of organisation.

Nutrition and hydration were still going well, and the heart rate was holding, but my legs were letting me know that they'd done 17 miles a bit quicker than  planned, and the speed started to drop off. This was about the point at which the wheels had come off on the previous MK marathon, but this time was better - I slowed, but was still running, including the small hills up to each intersection.

There's a discussion in running as to whether it worth running up hills, or whether the energy expended simply doesn't get you enough pace to be worth it. On an ultra, I'd definitely walk the hills, but the trouble with Milton Keynes is that there are so many small rises as you come out of each roundabout underpass that any attempt to walk them all breaks up my rhythm too much. Many were doing this, but I was happier to keep plodding up just as I teach on the beginners' course - shorten the stride, maintain the cadence. 

We finished the lake section and picked up the route we'd run on the first lap, and saw the 20 mile marker go by - always a psychological boost for me, for no good reason I can think off. The legs were tired, but I was still running. I did slow to a walk for a few steps to make sure I got a good amount of water at the 21- mile feedstation, as I had thought that was the last one (proven wrong - there was one at 24 miles). But I was still moving. I'd been deliberately ignoring the pacers all day, as I felt that on previous marathons I'd let them drive my pace rather than listening to my plan and what the body felt like. So when the 4:15 pacer came by, it didn't worry me much - I knew I'd run the first half faster and the second half slower, so wasn't too surprised, and 4:15 hadn't ever really been a target.

We hit the university for the second time with a badly-measured parkrun to go, and found that the speed bumps had grown in the last couple of hours. Stepping over them required timing, stepping up onto them required a crane, and I wasn't unhappy to reach the end of that section. The support was still good, though.

Come on Martin, 4km to go. Still running, if slowly, which was better than the last three marathons. All I had to do was run it in - and for the first time I started looking at what time I could get. PB was 4:23, and the previous three attempts had been the wrong side of 4:30. This was looking better.

Ah yes, Simpson. And the hill. This was a time to break the 'keep running' rule, just for the length of that hill - I wasn't sure that I could run up it, and it was certainly going to finish me if I tried. I wasn't the only one - most of the people round me were walking at that point. Back over the hump back bridge, and everyone could sense that this was getting close now. 25 mile marker went by, and I checked my watch - 12 minutes to finish if I wanted to beat 4:20.

We could see the stadium up the hill (emphasis on 'hill' - it wasn't much of one, but any up was not a good up at this point). The speed started creeping up. But just as we got to the stadium, they swung us left - many marathon courses have a small out and back hairpin at some point, to enable the organisers to get the distance exactly right, so it wasn't unexpected, but frustrating when you can see the stadium. Out of the hairpin, into the stadium car park, and the clock is still ticking. Where did they put the finish line again?

We went down the ramp (which was exactly what my knees needed after 26 miles) and entered the stadium itself. 90 seconds to 4:20 - and I could see the finish line. On the other side of the damn pitch. Words happened. I told my legs to sprint, and they responded with a slightly faster scuttle - and even that was hurting lots now. Round the first corner, past a group of runners who had decided to finish together and were IN MY WAY (I'm usually more tolerant than that) and round the second corner at a more respectable run (check the Strava). Over the line, stop the watch - 4:19:51. That's a marathon PB at age 55. I'll take that.

For amusement, and because I'd just gone up an age category, I checked what the Good For Age qualification for London for next year was. I'd missed it by an hour and three minutes. So my little run today may not have been Good For Kipchoge, and obviously wasn't Good For Age, but I was happy that it was Good For Martin.

The final amusement of the day was when we were sitting in the Burger King after the finish. In a previous race at Gosport, we'd had a Spitfire buzz the route. Today it was a Lancaster - a little late for me but still am amazing sight. I'm now wondering what we're going to get next time!