Posted on October 30, 2014 by Jenny Cromack

So, a couple of weeks ago I blogged about not being able to run the Yorkshire Marathon due to being ill. As you can imagine after all of that training, sacrificing Sunday morning lie-ins and time with my husband, friends and family so I could do my long runs, I was pretty frustrated.

So, on Sunday 26th October (last weekend), two weeks after the Yorkshire Marathon I completed the Leicester Marathon. Some may say this is due to my determined character, some may call me stubborn and say I could have just waited until next year, some may just think I’m a bit mental….I would say the latter applies! I’ll be honest, it was a bit of a gamble. I was concerned I may have tapered for too long, after all it was five weeks since I had done my last long training run, therefore I was worried my legs wouldn’t have the strength in them for 26.2 miles…..but I thought ‘what the hell’ and entered the race. I had set out to complete a marathon in 2014, and to be honest I’m not sure I want to do one next year, I don’t like not achieving the targets I have set myself so I told myself I would run it and not worry too much about my time.

In 2013 I ran the Leicester Half Marathon and got a PB, I remember it being a nice route so I was actually looking forward to running the marathon. When I arrived on the Sunday morning I went to the information tent to pinch some safety pins for my race number and asked the one of the marshalls how many people were running. There were 2,500 people doing the half marathon but only 800 or so doing the marathon….I figured it might get a little lonely on the run with not many people around but to be honest I’m not a sociable runner so I wasn’t worried too much.

The race starts in the city centre and lulls you into a false sense of security as the first mile is down hill, you then run out of Leicester along a dual carriage way until about mile 6, so until this point it’s not very pretty! From memory at around mile 6 or 7 the marathon splits off and follows it’s own course until joining back with the half marathon route at around 19 to 20 miles. I remember miles 7 to 19ish being a bit undulating along country roads and through some villages. When you pick up the last 7 miles of the half marathon route you end up running through a park/nature reserve so this is much nicer. The last 2 miles of the route go through the city centre which is a bit weird…..running through the streets whilst people are shopping, but the shoppers were lovely and very supportive! However, at mile 25 you are faced with something you don’t want to see……a hill. From memory last year I thought the hill lasted about 1/2 miles…..oh how I wish….I think it lasted a full mile, not what you want when you’re legs are screaming in pain at you! But I ploughed up it, well in my mind I did, I probably looked like I was walking if I’m being honest and then I hit the final half a mile and attempted a sprint to the finish line!

So how did I get on? Well my concern about my legs came true! At around mile 18 they hurt, my right hamstring cramped up and to be honest they just didn’t have the strength in them which slowed me down massively. I’m not making excuses for a slower time than I wanted, I was worried this may happen and it did! My left achilles was pretty painful too and yes there were times when I considered stopping but at the point where I realised I wasn’t going to hit my target (I was hoping for a time of between 3:30-3:40) I decided I had two new targets….Target 1 = Not to walk (I’d never get started again!), Target 2 = High five any small children and enjoy it! I finished in 3:51 which many would say is a great marathon time, for me it’s one my my slowest times but what the hell I completed it! And even with that time I was in the top 20 women so I’m pretty chuffed with that!

Did I enjoy it? In a sick way yes! Whilst I was miles off my PB (my fastest marathon is 3:28:28) I felt a great sense of satisfaction for ticking off another marathon and achieving one of my goals for this year. It was pretty mentally tough to keep myself going at some point when my legs were hurting but I think that is good as it makes you mentally tougher for other events life throws at you. I must also say the marshalls were amazing! Compared to other marathons, the Leicester Marathon doesn’t have huge amounts of spectators and the marshalls were so encouraging they really kept you going.

Will I do it again? If I do a marathon again then possibly but I’ve decided that 2015 is the year to get my half marathon and 10k times down and also complete a sprint distance triathlon so watch this space!