My 17 lap marathon dilemma

Yesterday, we went to the newly built Cyclopark in Kent, for a Skyride event. 

The Cyclopark is a venue that houses various cycle tracks - BMX, mountain biking, road cycling and has a big kids play area, cafe etc.  As this was a Skyride event, it was free to get in, and there was a wide variety of people who came along - lots of famillies with young children, teenagers on their BMXs, couples like me and Francis on mountain bikes (although in hindsight I should have taken my road bike) and club cyclists in their co-ordinated lycra outfits. 

For a cyclist, there are very good facilities at the Cyclopark: the road track is pretty fast with a couple of inclines to make sure you're putting in some effort, the BMX area is a proper track, with a racing starting gate, and according to Francis the moutain biking section has areas with lots of rocks inthe way so it's good for all abilities,  but it is still a very new venue - the big trees that in the artist's impression of the track (above) are still meter high saplings, and everything is a bit dusty and bare, with no shade anywhere, and the only view is over the motorway! I've stolen a video that Maidstoneonbike (sorry, thank-you!) posted on YouTube so you can see what it's like....

So, it was fine for cycling, and we enjoyed ourselves to the extent that we have signed up as members and will go back to cycle at the park again.  The problem I have is that I am due to run a marathon there on Monday 4th June...17 laps of the road cycling track for the Kent Roadrunner Marathon.

This would be my 4th marathon in the last 8 weeks so it's certainly not a goal race, and I always knew that running so many laps would be hard, but having seen just how uninspiring the venue is, I am really thinking about whether this is something I want to do at all.  I only booked this marathon as part of the training for the ultra, and although I suppose that psychologically it would be great training to complete such a mind-numbing course, I'm wondering if I'm losing sight of what running marathons is about...you know, enjoying the experience...and thinking that maybe it's not worth going to a race that I'm pretty sure I'm not going to enjoy.

Comparison of the London Marathon 2012 medal &
the Roadrunner medal

So, what do you think? Should I blow off this race? I'd still get my mileage in for the week with unsupported long runs but it would mean not turning up to a race - a DNS - which I've only done once before because I had bronchitis - and it would also mean missing out on the fantastic super-sized medal they're offering for getting round the full 17 laps....

My Marathon RelayGB experience

With my all important medal,  and
the support crew's camper van in the background

I keep trying to write a blog post about my Marathon RelayGB run on Monday but I'm finding it very hard. I want to come up with a detailed but coherent account, so I can really explain how amazing the whole thing was, but so much happened, I'm not quite sure how to put it altogether. So for now, I'll just share a few of the photos, and the brief entries I added to dailymile.com when I got home on Monday afternoon so you can get a feel of what I have (very proudly) been involved in.

RelayGB leg: Chelmsford to Dagenham 

28.6 mi in 4hrs 14mins at 08:53 pace

Today was my leg of the Marathon RelayGB event, the second to last leg of the whole thing, which has seen a 24/7 relay being run around the whole of the UK.
http://www.relaygb.org/Home/Index/161   
I was awake at 3.30am this morning, and out of the house at 4.30am to get to my leg to start on time. Of the four people who were meant to be running, only I turned up, so I got to run the whole marathon on my own, with the full attention of the support crew, who couldn't have been more amazing at getting me to Dagenham in Monday morning rush hour traffic. We did take a couple of wrong turns, hence the increased mileage, but this is, by far, the best event I have ever done. It's nothing like a normal marathon, all on open unmarked roads, having to wait for traffic lights to change and cars to pass so I could cross the road, but running on open roads with a support car behind me, protecting me from other traffic made me feel like a celebrity runner, and to meet the guys who have been around Britain making this event possible was privilege. My Garmin had been playing up during the run, so it's only now, that I've got home, that I've been able to see the official time and distance. Couldn't be happier :)

Final mile of the RelayGB
1.22mi

After my leg finished, we drove to the end in one of the support cars, and met up with a load of other runners from other stages of the event, and about 30 of us ran the last mile to the finish line. Perfect end to a perfect day :)

Some more photos....

Running on the main roads with the support crew
protecting me from passing traffic

Finished!
So happy to see the Asda car park &
Steve (who's shaking my hand).
Still clutching the Powerade I started
the run with. Who needs gels?! ;)

The amazing support crew who helped me through my leg.
I love 'em all - my heroes!

The last mile that we all ran together in Wandsworth Park, bringing me up to 30 miles for the day :)

New shoes & fixing my blisters

In my last post, you found me recovering from the Halstead Marathon, which had given me really bad blisters, and I was planning to buy some new shoes to try and avoid it from happening again.  It's only just over a week later, and quite a lot has happened....

1) I bought the new trainers. I went to Run and Become, a shop near Victoria in London, and was very pleased to receive the most excellent service and advice, and came away with a pair of Brooks Adrenaline GTS 12 in a size larger than I usually wear, and in their limited edition, patriotic colours. 

I was also really impressed with the knowledge of the assistant who helped me, the questions she asked, and the information she was able to give me, and also really liked the vibe of the place - by the till were little motivational phrase cards - I brought home the one below.  Anyway, I took my new shoes home without the box, and ran back from the station, doing 6 miles straight off and they were great and have been since.  A really successful buy :)  

  

   

2) Before they got better, my blisters got worse, they burst and got infected.  I couldn't run for three days, and was walking with a limp.  With antibiotic cream and a lot of TLC including changing dressings twice a day, they healed, just in time!  I should have taken out shares in Boots with the money I was spending in there on first-aid kit ;)

3) As well as the new shoes, I've invested in some very cute Injinji toed-socks (which were recommended by someone who read my blog) to try and protect my toes from any new blistering (which arrived last night but I'm yet to try them out) and also some moleskin tape, which seems pretty sturdy for also protecting my feet.

4) And the biggest news....I've run another marathon! Well, a marathon plus a couple of miles, as part of the Marathon RelayGB event...but that is important enough for it's own post, coming soon! :)

Is this what ignoring the pain actually looks like?

I got emailed three photos from the Halstead Marathon today...I really don't look very happy, even as I cross the finish line. You'd never believed that I absolutely loved this race ;)

It may say "start" but the start & finish lines are across the same mats,
just run in opposite directions!

Halstead Marathon & my poor battered feet

The Halstead and Essex Marathon is a fantastic event and I really enjoyed my second run of it yesterday.  It's a race I'd recommend to everyone, and although I'd hate to see it grow much from the current numbers (it turns out from the results that 610 people ran yesterday) it's such a great day that I want everyone to experience it.

When I got home from the marathon yesterday, I added my mileage to the dailymile.com site and wrote this review:

Absolutely great race today. It's a hilly course (so lots of fast downhill bits that I love, although obviously an equal number of climbs), and although it got pretty warm, I can't complain about the sun being out - we were running around beautiful countryside, in lovely weather, and everyone was really friendly. I chatted to so many other runners as we went round which always makes my day. It's only a small event (about 800 entrants I think) but I enjoy it so much more than the really big marathons. Can't praise the organisation, marshals and local supporters enough. I think everyone should run Halstead at least once - it's a damn near perfect race :) I didn't really run the race I'd planned on - wanted to take it slow and practise a run/walk strategy for the ultra but it didn't happen, other than walking through some of the water stations - I just got a bit caught up in at all. Nice to head into a race though not thinking about trying to run for a time, and just running to enjoy it!

So, all very positive, and a fab day - I finished in 3:57:52 so although that was faster than I'd planned, it's reassuring to know that my time at Brighton wasn't a fluke - and we got an unusual and lovely medal which (for me) always makes a difference :)

However, my race wasn't all perfect...

I've been struggling with pretty bad shin pain since I started running again after the last marathon, and in the middle of last week, after trying everything else to resolve it, realised that the problem must lie with my newest trainers, the Asics Gel 1170s which I'd only really been using regularly since Brighton, having worn my old reliable trainers (my Asics Kayano 17s) for the big goal race.  I don't know why the new ones are causing pain, but it's the only explanation.  I realised that I wouldn't be able to get through the Halstead marathon wearing the 1170s but nor did I have the time to buy and break in new shoes in a few days.  I didn't want to revert back to my Kayanos because I got such bad blisters from Brighton that still haven't healed, so, I went through my trainer collection (I don't think I've thrown away any trainers since I started running!) and picked an Adidas pair that seemed to have decent wear left in them and decided to wear those. Stupid.

Fast forward to yesterday morning, wearing shoes that I'd never worn for further than a 10km run, remembering that I'd retired them as they were too narrow for me, as I started to get real pain from new blisters that had developed on the sides of my feet.  For the rest of the race, I frequently found my inner voice reminding me that "pain is just information", "I don't have to act on that information", "it's just a message and I can do what I like with that message" because what was I going to do...take my shoes off? No, I had to run through it and be thankful that at least I didn't have any shin pain ;)

Yesterday certainly wasn't the first time I've had blisters - as I said, I got a terrible blood blister on the side of my foot from Brighton, and every marathon I've ever run has resulted in bad blisters on the end of my toes and losing toe nails - but I don't remember the last time I was aware of any pain from them during the race.  I always tape my feet around what I know are the problem areas with plasters, and I wear running socks with extra padding on the toes and the sides of the feet, and although I always still seem to get damage, I don't usually feel it until afterwards. 

I'm concerned that not only have my wounds not fully healed since Brighton, I've now compounded them and I have another marathon on Monday which I can only imagine is going to be more painful that yesterday.  Although I'm really pleased that my legs feel fine today, I am getting pretty worried about my feet, and how I'm going to protect them enough to get through the next race when it's so soon.  I suppose more to the point, I'm starting to panic a bit about whether my poor feet are going to survive the pounding from my 50 mile race in July!

I have to get some new shoes (again!) and so this time, when I go to buy them, I'll explain exactly what problems I've been having and see what they suggest - maybe it's the size of the shoe, or the shape...or maybe I just need to tape my feet more thoroughly or start using duct tape?!  

Who knows, but, as I said on Twitter earlier, my feet are starting to look like they belong in a monster movie!