Manchester considers itself to be one of the UK's best marathons. In fact in promotional material for the event it considers itself as having official status to that effect due to polls in Runners World mentioning its fast and flat course along with the friendly crowd support. Its often used by people who didn't get into London. I'd done VLM twice and didn't even try to get into the public or club ballot this year. I felt that the VLM was pretty much perfect the previous year and I don't want to tarnish memories of the truly great marathons I do.
I needed a marathon distance run around 3 weeks before The Fling and it looked perfect, apart from being the opposite of the terrain I'd find in the Highlands. A girl from the club, Anne, who I would be similar to in pace, had done this one the previous year with a superb time of 3h33m, a clear 5 minutes quicker than my PB. Initially it seemed as if there'd be a big crew from OAC doing it as well, but due to various reasons it ended up with just me and Rodney.
I needed a marathon distance run around 3 weeks before The Fling and it looked perfect, apart from being the opposite of the terrain I'd find in the Highlands. A girl from the club, Anne, who I would be similar to in pace, had done this one the previous year with a superb time of 3h33m, a clear 5 minutes quicker than my PB. Initially it seemed as if there'd be a big crew from OAC doing it as well, but due to various reasons it ended up with just me and Rodney.
I think on reflection there was somewhat of a jinx on this trip. The flight there was delayed significantly delayed meaning a tired and slightly inebriated late arrival at the hotel for dinner. I'd chosen a hotel near Heaton Park which had a fairly large parkrun (around 600) which I wasn't able to do when in town a few years previously.
It turned out to be a good idea. It was a lovely park with one of the best setups I've seen in the 40 odd venues I've visited for parkrun. There were loads of marshals with cheering supporters like it was a race, almost excessive signage and a great atmosphere. It was a huge park with varied terrain and great views from the edge of the city. To handle the numbers they had lots of extended funnelling and everything just worked basically. There was a celebrity visitation in the form of Gemma Atkinson, an actress in Hollyoaks and Emmerdale along with a Daily Mail photographer. No tea and buns at the end, but there was a decent looking cafe next to the lake in the park itself. I ran around 25 minutes and didn't feel fatigued. I was wearing new Asics Kayano shoes which I was a bit concerned about, but they held out fine.
Heaton Park
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Gemma Atkinson |
Upon completing this it was time to head down to the race village and pick up provisions. Yet again I'd forgotten to bring gels and Bodyglide. Upon getting to the Old Trafford site I was disappointed. I'm so used to the ritual of visiting big expos and marvelling at all the sights and expensive treats that I was miffed that all I saw were an Asics and an SIS stall. There wasn't even anything on sale. I resolved to meet Rodney and go to Sweatshop instead. After stocking up I met with Rodney's friend from school and had a couple of lagers in a swanky cocktail bar. I was pretty relaxed about all this drinking. I knew from experience that running marathons after drink is ok as long as I don't actually suffer dehydration. Besides, if I couldn't handle the odd pint I'd never be able to do something like the Marathon Du Medoc where getting slaughtered is all part of the fun. Despite all the flippancy eating a good meal and sleep is an important part of preparation and I got that sorted.
The next day it started to go wrong from the outset. I'd confirmed the previous evening with the hotel that breakfast would start at 6am. It actually started at 7am and I had to get a tram at 7.15 to get down to the start comfortably. As an alternative I went to the local garage and got coffee, a sandwich and some pastries. The sandwich didn't quite taste right. I knew I'd be fooling myself in believing this was enough fuelling for a marathon.
The tram was delayed due to adverse weather. This could only mean ice as it was a pretty chilly start which gradually gave way to a gorgeous spring morning. There were notifications about extra trams being on for the marathon, but it appeared that these were only on running from Altrincham on the opposite side of the city. I was imagining it would be like London with an efficient service and extra capacity for runners on the morning, but was clearly mistaken.
In the end I made it to the site in reasonable time, but more problems appeared. there were only about 4 cubicles for the toilets available. A number of the toilets in the stadium were locked. A marshal said there were more near the start but they weren't visible from the stadium and who's going to take the risk of losing a queue place.
There was also a problem with the bags. I spent a good 20 minutes trying to drop my bag into what turned out to be a shambolic scrum. In seeing this I decided I couldn't trust them with my phone and kept it. However, Id forgotten my headphones, depriving it of its main purpose, tunes towards the end of the event.
I then had to run to the start which was about 10 minutes walk away. When I got to the pens there was no segregation between pens and no marshals to organise anything. I found the 3h30m pacers but the start was the wrong side of the dual carriageway meaning a messy starting procession to the other side of the dual carriageway.
Once I started I immediately had cramping. I kept at an ok pace (8min/mile) for several miles and was just behind the 3h30m pacers. I spotted Rodney on the other side of the road and felt sure I'd see him later in the race
I got into the race a bit and gradually saw familiar faces. I saw someone in a Ards Peninsula Triathlon shirt and commented that I was sure I'd seen him in local duathlons. He responded that he sees me everywhere he goes, and spookily listed most of the major races I'd done this year. I also saw a couple of Dub Runners who I'd seen recently and they commented that I should be ahead of them considering how well I did in Carlingford.
The race itself went through industrial estate and then into Salford Quays where I saw the recently built ITV building and the BBC buildings in the distance. We then proceeded to go through Sale and into countryside. As promised the crowd support was mostly pretty good. Lots of loud cheering and having my name on the race number was a plus for this.
A problem was starting to present itself. There were traffic cones across the middle of the road. The crowds were still pretty deep and I'd stray across to the right forgetting about the infrequent cones nearly colliding with them. On lots of points throughout the course I'd see people collide with them and saw a couple of people on the ground after high speed collisions.
When we turned left into leafy suburban streets the crowds thinned out but the streets got more narrow. I was keeping up with Ards triathlon guy but the mighty Dubs were way ahead along with the 330 pacer. I could still see the flags though.
The cramping was still there. Decided for a brief toilet break and relaxed. I could still see the 330 flags. At that point I'd decided that 330 was impossible, but my PB was 338 could still be beaten if I held it together.
The best reception was at Altrincham itself where there was a relay changeover point at halfway. My time was 1h45m. I felt slightly fatigued and was slipping a bit. On the return from Altrincham I got to see everyone else in the marathon on the other side of the road. Eventually the numbers thinned out and at mile 17 we turned left and were free of the 2 way runner traffic. No more cones.
The route then went into countryside with a strong smell of manure. When getting back into urban areas at the 30k mat, Rodney finally passed me doing his bouncy stride thing which I think demoralised me a bit. I held on for a couple more kilometres after that before dropping back. My heart rate was too high, I was pissed off with the cramping and I stopped at one of the water stops and chatted with one of the girls.
Regarding the water stops, they were pretty frequent. They had little bottles which weren't very portable but did the job. There were some gels but they were spread out a lot more. I suppose I wanted something else like solid food. I didn't take as many gels anyway because my stomach was so unsettled. I just gently alternated between gels and shot bloks without ultimately taking enough fuel onboard.
After I stopped I saw a 345 pacer and decided to rejoin the race and picked up pace keeping them in sight. I was on autopilot after that. As soon as I saw the finish line from way off in the distance. I sped up towards the end and caught the pacer at the finish line.
The finish wasn't bad. A nice big medal and a decent Asics shirt along with the usual goodie bag oddities. They also had Alkoholfrei Erdinger which is always welcome. I didn't hang around and went straight to the bag drop remembering what the start was like.
On the way I saw Rodney lying helpless on the ground next to the ice cream unable to move. He had beaten my PB by 1 minute with a time of 3h37m but he was a spent force. I needed the remaining energy I had to queue for over 2h20m for my bag which it turns out was longer than it took the winner to run the entire race. After about 90 minutes the organisers picked up the pace and gave us space blankets and water, but it put a dampener on things.
The biggest problem with the race is that it was the location. It was a building site with a stadium for a cricket ground that we couldn't use. There was no Man United connection apart from the start being on Matt Busby Way. Not that I care about football, but it relegated the race to an unsuitable, uninspiring area with too much dual carriageway and double backing. A good comparison is with the Liverpool Rock n Roll Marathon which I did last year. It had a great route covering the entire city. It passed the Everton stadium, went through several nice parks, went past the Cavern Club in the city centre and had a band playing Penny Lane on Penny Lane.
Manchester was a fast course though. Primarily because of the breakfast mishap I'd blown my chance of getting sub 3h30m as upcoming marathons will all be hillier. Cork in June is probably my strongest chance of getting a marathon PB, but it has 900ft of elevation. I'll worry about that later. Until then its the mountain life for me where times don't matter. Only cut-offs and not getting lost.
The tram was delayed due to adverse weather. This could only mean ice as it was a pretty chilly start which gradually gave way to a gorgeous spring morning. There were notifications about extra trams being on for the marathon, but it appeared that these were only on running from Altrincham on the opposite side of the city. I was imagining it would be like London with an efficient service and extra capacity for runners on the morning, but was clearly mistaken.
In the end I made it to the site in reasonable time, but more problems appeared. there were only about 4 cubicles for the toilets available. A number of the toilets in the stadium were locked. A marshal said there were more near the start but they weren't visible from the stadium and who's going to take the risk of losing a queue place.
There was also a problem with the bags. I spent a good 20 minutes trying to drop my bag into what turned out to be a shambolic scrum. In seeing this I decided I couldn't trust them with my phone and kept it. However, Id forgotten my headphones, depriving it of its main purpose, tunes towards the end of the event.
 |
The bag drop queue at the start |
Once I started I immediately had cramping. I kept at an ok pace (8min/mile) for several miles and was just behind the 3h30m pacers. I spotted Rodney on the other side of the road and felt sure I'd see him later in the race
I got into the race a bit and gradually saw familiar faces. I saw someone in a Ards Peninsula Triathlon shirt and commented that I was sure I'd seen him in local duathlons. He responded that he sees me everywhere he goes, and spookily listed most of the major races I'd done this year. I also saw a couple of Dub Runners who I'd seen recently and they commented that I should be ahead of them considering how well I did in Carlingford.
The race itself went through industrial estate and then into Salford Quays where I saw the recently built ITV building and the BBC buildings in the distance. We then proceeded to go through Sale and into countryside. As promised the crowd support was mostly pretty good. Lots of loud cheering and having my name on the race number was a plus for this.
A problem was starting to present itself. There were traffic cones across the middle of the road. The crowds were still pretty deep and I'd stray across to the right forgetting about the infrequent cones nearly colliding with them. On lots of points throughout the course I'd see people collide with them and saw a couple of people on the ground after high speed collisions.
When we turned left into leafy suburban streets the crowds thinned out but the streets got more narrow. I was keeping up with Ards triathlon guy but the mighty Dubs were way ahead along with the 330 pacer. I could still see the flags though.
The cramping was still there. Decided for a brief toilet break and relaxed. I could still see the 330 flags. At that point I'd decided that 330 was impossible, but my PB was 338 could still be beaten if I held it together.
The best reception was at Altrincham itself where there was a relay changeover point at halfway. My time was 1h45m. I felt slightly fatigued and was slipping a bit. On the return from Altrincham I got to see everyone else in the marathon on the other side of the road. Eventually the numbers thinned out and at mile 17 we turned left and were free of the 2 way runner traffic. No more cones.
The route then went into countryside with a strong smell of manure. When getting back into urban areas at the 30k mat, Rodney finally passed me doing his bouncy stride thing which I think demoralised me a bit. I held on for a couple more kilometres after that before dropping back. My heart rate was too high, I was pissed off with the cramping and I stopped at one of the water stops and chatted with one of the girls.
Regarding the water stops, they were pretty frequent. They had little bottles which weren't very portable but did the job. There were some gels but they were spread out a lot more. I suppose I wanted something else like solid food. I didn't take as many gels anyway because my stomach was so unsettled. I just gently alternated between gels and shot bloks without ultimately taking enough fuel onboard.
After I stopped I saw a 345 pacer and decided to rejoin the race and picked up pace keeping them in sight. I was on autopilot after that. As soon as I saw the finish line from way off in the distance. I sped up towards the end and caught the pacer at the finish line.
The finish wasn't bad. A nice big medal and a decent Asics shirt along with the usual goodie bag oddities. They also had Alkoholfrei Erdinger which is always welcome. I didn't hang around and went straight to the bag drop remembering what the start was like.
On the way I saw Rodney lying helpless on the ground next to the ice cream unable to move. He had beaten my PB by 1 minute with a time of 3h37m but he was a spent force. I needed the remaining energy I had to queue for over 2h20m for my bag which it turns out was longer than it took the winner to run the entire race. After about 90 minutes the organisers picked up the pace and gave us space blankets and water, but it put a dampener on things.
 |
| Me and Rodney |
The bag drop queue at the finish
The biggest problem with the race is that it was the location. It was a building site with a stadium for a cricket ground that we couldn't use. There was no Man United connection apart from the start being on Matt Busby Way. Not that I care about football, but it relegated the race to an unsuitable, uninspiring area with too much dual carriageway and double backing. A good comparison is with the Liverpool Rock n Roll Marathon which I did last year. It had a great route covering the entire city. It passed the Everton stadium, went through several nice parks, went past the Cavern Club in the city centre and had a band playing Penny Lane on Penny Lane.
Manchester was a fast course though. Primarily because of the breakfast mishap I'd blown my chance of getting sub 3h30m as upcoming marathons will all be hillier. Cork in June is probably my strongest chance of getting a marathon PB, but it has 900ft of elevation. I'll worry about that later. Until then its the mountain life for me where times don't matter. Only cut-offs and not getting lost.
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