I have already shared details of a recent run along the Lincolnshire coast here. The race was advertised as a Marathon, but was actually 27.3 miles long (so technically it would be classed as an UltraMarathon). There was also a longer Ultra Marathon running on the same day for 35 miles, but I gave that a miss!
It was an interesting day with many highs and lows, but the organizers billed the event as an adventure on the coast. As this was my first time at attempting the marathon, my main aim was to complete it, and as such I took it on under the spirit of adventure it had been advertised as.
And preparing for the adventure required some thought. I've already mentioned the requirements in previous posts, but essentialy the bag needs to carry first aid kit, headtorch, waterproof coat, water and snacks. In the bag on the floor is spare clothes to change into as I'm gonna be soaking wet when I finish, whether that's rain or sweat lol
Speaking of which...
Weather forecast. Its been changing everytime I look at it, but at the moment the weather actually looks pretty reasonable. Slightly blustery at times, but mostly free of rain, and not too cold either. I'd be happy with this.
and as it turned out, it was actually much better, we had 3 very brief showers and some actual sun too... very lucky!
As it was an adventure, I decided from the outset to enjoy the occasion. I would take my time, and talk to people, and take lots of pictures.
It was a 5am alarm call (yuk) and parents gave me a lift out to Skegness for the start. We arrived at the start point at 7:30am, and I headed into the hall to pick up my race number
Cue a crap selfie of me featuring all my kit and the all important race number (including the timing chip).
At 8.15am we all started to walk round to the start line right on the Promenade itself...
Here there were several hundred runners milling around at the startline. There were supposed to be almost 400 participants, split nearly 50/50 over the two distances. There didn't seem to be that many people here (and the final results showed a total of 250 finishers. Either there were lots of non-finishers, or lots of people dropped before the start of the race?
Who knows... but anyway, I was here with a bunch of random strangers wearing a huge variety of kit. There was mumbling over a loudspeaker from the race director, but I couldn't work out what she was saying. Eventually I heard a muffled 3...2...1...Go!
And we were off!
I should at this point mention my planned finish time. I was hoping for somewhere around 4hrs 30m. I though this was a reasonable expectation due a selection of recent ish long runs. I usually run 13miles in around 2hrs 10m, and I've done 20 miles in 3hrs 30m.
All that was ages away though, so to begin with I tried to stick to a sensible pace and enjoy the view. We were right on the coastal edge at this point, with the North Sea out on the right hand side of the shot. It's a very different view to my usual routes, which includes lots of urban locations and the odd patch of countryside.
To begin with the path was relatively smooth and flat. My Garmin watch was vibrating with every kilometer completed, which was quite annoying lol!
'buzz'.... 3km completed
Don't tell me that! I still have another 41km to go!
I could do with a distraction... and I got one:
Oh? Sand?
Well yes, I know we're next to the beach, and that the wind blows the sand inland and stuff, but I didn't expect there to be quite this much sand. The information pack sent out by the race director mentioned a long 100m stretch of sand, but other than that the course was mostly clear.
By the time I found the 3rd section of sand, I decided that that was a blatant lie. As I'm sure you know if you go walking on soft sand, it requires alot of effort and forces the body, particularly feet and ankles to work much harder.
This where I made my first 'mistake': I carried on running through these sections of sand, trying to maintain my current pace. I should have recognized that by over working now I would suffer later... for now however, I just kept moving forwards.
After 7 miles of sand-infested coastal path, we turned off it and headed out along some small roads. As it was only a small local event the roads were not closed. There signs everywhere telling motorists to watch out for runners, and for runners to watch out for cars.
The next 6 miles looked like the picture above. Quite boring really, but I just kept my head down and tried to keep moving forward at a reasonable pace. I fell in with a group of 4 other runners at this point and we stuck together until we made out of the roads and back onto the coastal path.
In hindsight this was my 2nd mistake, as those runners were traveling a little quicker then I usually would for a long run like this. I guess I just got caught up in the excitement instead of running my own race.
Back out on the coastal path, we were approaching the halfway point at Sutton-on-Sea.
The weather by this point was clearing up, and we had actual blue sky! At this point in the race I was still feeling relatively comfortable, although my legs were nagging me and saying they were starting to get tired.
As I trundled up the halfway point, I spotted an Aid Station. There were several of these dotted along the route, providing water/snacks along with any first aid if required. I paused here for a moment and had half a glass of coke and a banana, and checked my watch.
Watch: 22km's completed, Time: 2hrs 5 minutes
Crikey! That's a good pace, er perhaps too good a pace! It was the first warning I had received that maybe I had gone out a little too quickly, especially as I was only halfway at this point.
After the race I checked Strava on my times. Sure enough I achieved the below personal records, all on the first half of this race... oops!
This would all come back and bite me later, but for now at least, I felt pretty good. Reaching 'Halfway' was also a small psychological boost. I left the aid station walking while I finished refueling.
Starting running again after 5 minutes of walking was hard, but after a minute or so I got back into a rhythm of sorts and got on with it.
With it being such a long distance, and such a small group of runners, we were quite spread out by this point. That's fine by me, I don't need to have loads of people surrounding me. Its one of the reasons why I picked a small local event compared to a big inner city marathon like in London or Manchester.
It's a more scenic route compared the city.
Oh good grief! More sand!
Pictured is just one of a series of long sandy sections broken by clear tarmac. The first one I tried to run through before I stopped and ended up walking through. From here on in I walked any section of sand, and in-between I ran on the tarmac sections.
My pace was starting to slow now. And the constant stop/start due to the surface conditions were taking its toll. Every single time i stopped to walk, it was harder and harder to get going again
Time for a change of scene. The route left the coastal path and headed inland on the edge of what looked like a small nature reserve. There was water, and reed beds among other things, and it was actually quite pretty.
And then we ran along the edge of a farmer's field... and this was quite pretty too...
And then I turned a corner and there was more flippin' sand!
Once again, I had no option but to walk it.
By this point I was approaching 28km and I was beginning to struggle. Both ankles were sore, I could feel blisters were forming on my right foot, and my left knee was becoming increasingly painful.
Only 16km to go!
I checked the watch. My expected finish time was rapidly slipping away, but I knew by now I didn't have much more to give. It was important now to keep moving forwards, but to make sure I took walking breaks as and when required.
I was still trying to enjoy it at this point, and the views were still amazing... but it was becoming hard work.
The next 7km was more of the same sandy trails. I ran what I could, and walked the bits I couldn't.
Yet more sand.... but at least I knew at this point the worst of the sand was over. The Marathon route was essentially a loop up to Sutton-on-Sea and then back down, but the first 9km, and the last 9km was the same path.
This meant I had already passed the North Sea Observatory once earlier today, and I was now heading close to the finish. But while I knew the worst of the sand was over, I was beginning to lose momentum.
I was walking more and more often...and anytime I tried to get running again my knees, ankles and hips objected furiously.
Slowly the minutes ticked by and slowly the kilometers ticked over... 37km, 38km, 38.5km...
I started just taking random pictures as I walked, just to take my mind off everything...
Oh! Finally! Skegness Pier. Almost there!
well, only 3km to go!
We then did a random loop around the outside of a golf course, and through a housing estate (which would have been boring, but by this point I was beyond caring).
I finally hit the promenade where the race had begin over 5 hours ago, and then with sheer unabated relief, I crossed the finish line.
I was greeted by my parents, who congratulated me. I received a medal and a t-shirt and also a flapjack thing which looked so tasty I immediately wolfed it down.
(no pictures of said flapjack as I was flippin' ravenous by this point!)
So there you have it. My first Marathon completed!
By the way, here is a graph from Strava that shows my pace throughout the whole race... the first 13 miles were consistent and awesome, and then my race unraveled. By the time I got to 30km I was walking more and more often.
I suppose the important thing is that I didn't stop moving... and that I persevered to the end to complete it.
Afterwards I was a little disappointed with my time of 5 hours 10 minutes, but after 24 hours to reflect, I'm now pretty proud of it. I've wanted to complete a marathon for years, and I've finally managed to tick it off. In hindsight, considering my current fitness compared to the unexpected trail conditions (I usually run on tarmac) its a pretty reasonable time. Besides, I now have a target time to beat next time.
and next time, I'll choose a Marathon that isn't full of sand!
Feel free to check this activity over on Strava for more details/stats
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Five hours odd of running! Holy moly, guy.
You did it! 👏
Outstanding :)
That's the rain jacket, huh? Nice to see it in action :D
My heart dropped for you at the first photo of the sand... and then more... beautiful run but that's most certainly not the easiest of marathons to start with.
It should mostly be downhill from here then! ;)
Thank you Nicky ❤️
It was beautiful, it was tough, and I'm really pleased to have finally completed a Marathon. Agreed it wasn't the easiest event to enter for my first one, but like you say the next one should be a bit easier lol.
Once I finished I said "Thank fuck for that, I'll never do one ever again!", and that lasted almost 3 days, and now I'm already looking for the next one to enter.
Note to self: Google the route before entering!
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:D Funny thing... we humans have this brain thing that helps us to forget pain!
You'll do another one. Of course you will!!
And it will be far easier than this one.
Well done, my friend! You are inspiring!
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I'll still say it's a great achievement and you are inspiring me to look at doing a marathon some time. I've done a few halfs. It seems pacing yourself is important, as well as avoiding sand. It looks like it was fairly flat at least. Running along the coast has to make for good views. I've just never taken many pictures on events I've done.
Hope you are recovering well.
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After a couple of days to reflect, I'm definitely feeling happier about my performance/time etc. And I'm also really pleased to have ticked of something I've wanted to do for ages.
Next time, yes I need to be more aware of pacing. But I was mostly thrown out by the ground conditions, if it had been pavement tarmac all the way I doubt I would have struggle quite so much. It was quite a pretty place, and as I was there for the long haul it was worth pausing to enjoy the view (and grab a picture too)
3 days later, I mostly feel ok. Legs still feel a little 'flat' if that makes sense and my right ankle seem to be quite sore. Will be doing some gentle walking this week and then at the weekend I'll try a little bit of jogging to see how it feels
Great stuff, congratulations. I have never done a marathon like that, no aid stations? and did the sand stay out of your shoes.
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Thank you... er no idea what should be on a marathon course. There were aid stations every 4 or so miles, but i didn't really mention them in the text I guess. For the first half i didn't really stop, and for the second half I stopped at every single one
I only had a small bit of sand inside the shoes, which was surprising given the amount I waded through lol!
Now to start planning the next one ;-)
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Very well done @dannewton. I've done two marathons in my life (10 years ago). Whilst reading your article I could feel all the highs and lows of such a run. What a great achievement, especially with those sandy patches!! Well done once again.
Thank you! I was disappointed initially, but in hindsight I can now recognize the achievement for what it is. And as hard as it was, I'm totally go for another event, preferably sand-free!
Which Marathons did you do? Do you still run now?
I did London and Malta in 2012. Did Malta with a friend of mine as prep for the London one. My time in Malta was 4:50 and London 4:20 or so. The atmosphere in London was just amazing. Shame I had a back problem as I had to stop running a few years back. Keep it up 😊
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