London Marathon (Week 12 of 12) - Race Week

London Marathon Race Week

The final week of the 2015 London Marathon build up started with us still 15,000km away in Perth enjoying 30c temperatures. Since most London Marathons are a bit of a struggle due to a sudden unexpected heatwave on marathon weekend then we might just be at an advantage this time around, already being acclimatised to such conditions. Or then again .......

Week 12

Mon 20/4: 3.1 miles @ 8:50/mile Joondalup parkrun

Mon 20/4: 3.1 miles @ 8:51/mile Carine Glades parkrun

Tues 21/4: Rest Day - Flight from Oz

Weds 22/4: 6.6 miles @ 8:59/mile Bingley

Thurs 23/4: 3.1 miles @ 9:07/mile Bngley

Fri 24/4: 6.21 miles @ 9:06/mile Leeds Liverpool Canal

Sat 25/4: 4.0 miles incl. Market Harborough parkrun 20:42 (3.1 miles @ 6:41/mile)

Sun 26/4: 26.21 miles London Marathon 2:50:55 (26.21 miles @ 6:32/mile)

Total Mileage - 52.3 miles

Mon 20th April - Joondalup parkrun, Neil Hawkins Park

As the flights home were on Monday evening there was still time for another couple of new parkrun courses (making a total of 24 Australian parkrun courses visited over the 5 weeks).

About 12 miles north of Perth, Joondalup was first up. By this stage of the holiday it had become almost an expectation that the next venue would be set in breathtaking scenery, and sure enough Joondalup also delivered the goods:

After a second Freedom parkrun at Carine Glades it was time to set off for home.

Following a stop over in Doha, the final leg took a surprising route up the Arabian Gulf and into Iraq, flying over Baghdad and Mosul. Apparently Virgin, Air France and Emirates, amongst others, view flying over Iraq as too dangerous.

Apparently this is due a belief that ISIS militants in Iraq have possession of Syrian supplied weapons capable of reaching planes at 30,000ft+, so it was an interesting choice of route to say the least!

Saturday 25th April - Market Harborough inaugural parkrun (20:42)

The choice of pre-marathon parkrun venue wasn't made until we were nearly there but it turned out to be a very good choice. Wellands Park is quite small but works really well as a parkrun venue.

Unfortunately events were overshadowed by a medical emergency shortly into the run but the response of the new team at Market Harborough, the parkrun ambassadors Julie and Mark Thompson and the emergency services was exemplary. 

Saturday 25th April  - Carb Time

For the pre-race meal we met up with the remarkably calm Kerri French about to tackle her first marathon, Dean Allaway and  Stu Wallace fresh from his 3:05:04 PB at Manchester last week. 

Just to put that in context, since 2010 Stu's marathon times have progressed as follows : 

6:01:30, 5:05:48, 3:57:39, 3:17:02, 3:10:25 and now 3:05:04.

VMLM 2015 - The Race

As can be seen from below, our preparations for warm weather conditions were not fully utilised:

VMLM 2015 - The Race

The first priority as the race got under way was to get warmed up. It wasn't clear whether it was just down to being a shock to the system after the last 5 weeks or simply that it was actually bloody freezing but in the minutes before the start uncontrolled teeth clattering set in!

0-10k (39:59) (Hannah 40:48)

Anyway, after getting some initial warmth going it was a case of just relaxing into the early stages and ignoring the ridiculous frantic barging and jostling at unsustainable speeds that goes on at VMLM. 

The roll out down to Cutty Sark at 10K is an easy start to a marathon and is a chance to get everything warmed up without straining anything.

By now the 'tick over' speed had been established and gave an indication of how well recovered the legs were from Canberra 14 days ago.

Anything around 4:00/km was fine as that is 2:48:xx pace and would provide a solid base for launching a PB attempt later in proceedings. 39:59 couldn't be much closer to 4:00/km.

10k-20k (39:58) (Hannah 40:08)

20k is in the middle of Tower Bridge. Constant effort through this section will generally lead to going backwards a good few places as the Tower Bridge Surge takes effect.

This is where the overwhelming wall of noise and encouragement on the bridge can easily lead runners, especially first timers, into subconsciously lifting the tempo and getting carried away with the atmosphere.

It is still relatively early days so keeping it all nice and calm was the aim. Again, 4:00/km seemed to be bang on the default pace.

20k-30k (39:49) (Hannah 39:53)

The next 10k section loops around Canary Wharf and the Isle of Dogs.

It was feeling a good bit more relaxed than previous years through this section with emptier roads. It made sense once that I had realised that, although the pace was in line with the last few marathons, it was actually a good bit quicker than any of the previous runs around London.

Being about 10 mins ahead of previous London efforts makes a very big difference to the density of runners and so I was really enjoying being able to flow through this section relatively unobstructed compared to previous years.

30k-40k (41:19) (Hannah 40:20)

30k is usually the point where an initial sense of some kind of finishing time is established. 

Based on the very stable 2:48:xx pace up to this point there seemed like a good chance of pushing that into 2:47 or possibly 2:46 territory. Obviously, things can still change dramatically but those were the general thoughts going into the last 12k.

Through the next 5k, ie 18.6-21.7 miles, it was good to feel how strong the legs were feeling as this was likely to be where any lingering effects from Canberra were going to show up.

All was well until between 23-24 miles a general feeling of queasiness started to appear. It wasn't that bad and felt like something which would just pass but it needed a bit of easing back to help it sort itself out.

By 25 miles it hadn't got any worse but nor had it sorted itself out. This meant that even if it did now clear up, the chances of pushing on to a time in PB territory had now gone. Nonetheless, a controlled run down Birdcage Walk and into the Mall was still going to give a pretty decent time for the 3rd marathon in 7 weeks.

The picture below is at about 25 miles (in black to the right of the pic) and shows a face concentrating on trying to stop things getting messy :p

Over to the left of the picture in the red, white and blue Hannah is just about to come up alongside. A quick calculation suggested that even though I had slowed a bit over the last couple of miles, it was only by a minute or so and as such Hannah was probably going well into PB territory, 2:52:10 being the target.

40k-42.2k (9:50) (Hannah 8:58)

Hannah was able to push on well over the final 2.2k to land a 2:50:07 PB and 26th place. Not bad at all :)

Meanwhile, 2:50:55 for myself represented a triumph over the queasiness. However, when a finish line marshall immediately came over and squeezed around my stomach he got quite a frosty reception. Luckily Hannah was on hand to apologise on my behalf as I skulked off to recover in a corner.

Finish (2:50:55) (Hannah 2:50:07)

The Splits:

Other selected performances:

Julia Belyavin had a superb run to crack 2:50 for the first time with 2:49:39. After spending what seemed like an eternity doing battle with, before finally conquering, the 3 hour barrier she has now leapt forward a further 10 minutes with confidence:

This was Julia and Hannah in the same picture at about 25 miles:

Possibly the performance of the day goes to Lee Smith. After being hit by a car midweek he must have been doubtful even to make the start line.

However, after being rebuilt in true Steve Austen style he went on to smash his PB from Abingdon last year by 4 minutes with 2:43:39.

Here he is in the orange of Barnsley Harriers almost looking like an athlete ;)

And how did Kerri French get on with her first attempt at conquering the marathon? I'll let her tell you herself:

https://kezzabumpkinscanrun.wordpress.com/2015/04/28/well-i-only-went-and-did-it/

Recent Marathon Record

2009 April - Blackpool Marathon 3:24:17 (Age 42)

2009 September - Fleetwood Marathon DNF (Age 43)
2010 October - Amsterdam Marathon 3:04:27 (Age 44)
2010 November - Milton Keynes Track Marathon DNF (Age 44)

2011 April - London Marathon 3:18:30 (Age 44)

2012 April - London Marathon 2:57:04 (Age 45)

2012 October - Chester 2:55:36 (Age 46)

2013 April - London Marathon 3:11:29 (Age 46)

2013 June - Cork Marathon 3:06:19 (Age 47)

2013 October - Budapest Marathon 2:58:53 (Age 47)

2013 December - Lancaster Marathon 2:54:17 (Age 47) (1st)

2013 December - Pisa Marathon 2:54:09 (Age 47)

2014 April - Manchester Marathon 2:51:52 (Age 47)

2014 April - London Marathon 2:57:52 (Age 47)

2014 June - Rhyl Marathon 2:58:24 (Age 48)

2014 October - Yorkshire Marathon 2:47:34 (Age 48)

2014 October - Dublin Marathon 2:58:53 (Age 48)

2014 November - Town Moor Marathon 2:54:56 (Age 48) (1st)

2015 March - Wrexham Marathon 2:48:12 (Age 48) (5th)

2015 April - Canberra ACT Marathon 2:52:10 (Age 48) (15th)

2015 April - London Marathon 2:50:55 (Age 48)

Marathon Building Blocks:

15th Feb: 18.6 miles @ 6:16/mile

22nd Feb: 10.0 miles @ 6:04/mile

28th Feb: 3.1 miles @ 5:48/mile

28th Feb: 3.1 miles @ 5:50/mile

1st March: 13.1 miles @ 6:24/mile

8th March: 26.21 miles @ 6:23/mile

14th March: 3.1 miles @ 5:46/mile

14th March: 3.1 miles @ 5:36/mile

15th March: 20.0 miles @ 6:25/mile

21st March: 3.1 miles @ 5:45/mile

22nd March: 9.65 miles @ 6:18/mile

28th March: 3.1 miles @ 5:45/mile

29th March:  11.2 miles @ 6:08/mile)

4th April: 3.1 miles @ 6:00/mile

12th April: 26.21 miles @ 6:35/mile

18th April: 3.1 miles @ 5:40/mile

19th April: 5.8 miles @ 6:04/mile

Discussion Points:

Jumping back to the start of the 12 week blog, this was 'The Plan':

The Plan

As with previous build ups the plan is to keep things simple and relaxed. This means a good volume of slow mileage with no particular interest in what the actual pace is, just that it is relaxed. In practice this usually means that the bulk of mileage will be somewhere in the range 8:00-9:00/mile.

The other main ingredient is to race regularly with the emphasis on varying the distances from 5k - Marathon. So, even though this is a 12 week build up to London there will be another marathon, and possibly two, in the meantime along with races at 20 miles, 30k, 2 x HMs, 2 x 10 miles and plenty shorter races/parkruns.

The basic principle of 'run plenty miles and run a few of them a bit quicker' is complicated enough for me and has provided some brilliantly enjoyable experiences over the last couple of years.

Some people may think that this is very unscientific and probably sub optimal. They may well be correct but it really doesn't matter, what does matter is that it is a thoroughly enjoyable way to get a lot of varied and memorable experiences from this running lark :)

The Results:

'We are all an experiment of one' is an oft quoted, and very true, maxim.

However, as Hannah and myself are usually pretty closely matched and have the same training inputs that old maxim can justifiably be changed to 'an experiment of two'.

So, the last 12 weeks have produced the following marathons:

Hannah- 2:52:40 (1st), 2:54:26 (2nd), 2:50:07

Me- 2:48:10 (5th), 2:52:10 (15th), 2:50:55

The fascinating thing is that I couldn't have dreamt of running three marathons at those sort of times within a 7 week period training as per conventional training plans.

The Training

To summarise the last 12 weeks:

1. LSRs - 0

2. Interval Sessions - 0

3. Midweek runs faster than 8:00/mile - 0

The simple approach of slow, shortish runs midweek coupled with lots of racing at all distances has produced much more controlled marathon performances. 

Also, racing marathons more regularly has been a revelation in terms of how the body recovers. Twelve successive sub 3s in the last 18 months is way beyond what I thought was possible in such a short period. Going into a marathon now two weeks after the previous one feels more comfortable than previously when it may have been 6 months since the last one.

50 or so marathons gone and still lots to learn :)

Next

The next marathon lined up is in 5 weeks time, The Kent Roadrunner Marathon ........ that is unless something else comes up in the meantime!

London Marathon 2015 (Week 11 of 12)

Week 11

Week 11 was the penultimate week before the London Marathon but it was also, of course, a marathon recovery week after Canberra last Sunday. 

This actually made things quite straightforward with the emphasis on getting as much protein into the diet as was practicable whilst at the same time keeping runs short and slow to give the muscles and connective tissues a fighting chance of recovering full strength relatively quickly.

This was also our last full week in Australia so there was still plenty exploring still to do, especially after flying over to Perth on Monday, providing a whole new playground to run amok in :)

After 8 relatively short and easy mid week runs, the weekend consisted of a parkrun at Dawesville, about 40-50 miles south of Perth, on Saturday and a Gallipoli Remembrance 10k at King's Park in the centre of Perth on Sunday. The combination of the two would give a good idea how the muscles were coming along.

Mon 13/4: 3.1 miles @ 9:02/mile 28:01 Bowral parkrun Freedom (Bong Bong Common)

Tues 14/4: 6.21 miles @ 9:13/mile incl Claisbroke Cove parkrun Freedom

Weds 15/4: 4.0 miles @ 8:16/mile Heirrison Island parkrun Freedom

Weds 15/4 7.0 miles @ 8:30/mile Kings Park, Perth

Thurs 16/4 4.0 miles @ 8:47/mile incl Claisbroke Cove parkrun Freedom

Thurs 16/4 12.0 miles @ 9:00/mile Caversham to Perth

Fri 17/4 3.1 miles @ 8:57/mile Bibra Lakes parkrun Freedom

Fri 17/4 3.1 miles @ 8:40/mile Rockingham parkrun Freedom

Sat 18/4 4.0 miles incl Dawesville parkrun 17:39 (3.1 miles @5:40/mile)

Sat 18/4 3.1 miles @ 8:18/mile Canning River parkrun Freedom

Sun 19/4 7.0 incl Bankwest Gallipoli 10k 35:15 (5.8 miles @6:04/mile)

Sun 19/4 3.1 miles @ 8:32/mile Cottisloe parkrun Freedom 

Total Mileage - 59.7 miles

Monday 13th April - Bowral parkrun Freedom (Bong Bong Common)

The first post marathon run was a visit to Bong Bong Common on the trip up from Canberra to Sydney to have a look at the Bowral parkrun course. To be fair, even if there hadn't been a parkrun course there we would probably have been unable to resist running around a place with a name like that:

Wednesday 15th April - Heirrison Island parkrun Freedom

Wednesday morning involved a short run out to Heirrison Island, a parkrun venue with a difference.

Just across the road from the famous WACA cricket ground, Heirrison Island offers a chance to run  a parkrun with an audience of kangaroos. There's not much chance of them joining in though, 5k is far too energetic for their liking:

Wednesday 15th April - King's Park, Perth

Later in the day a 7 mile run around King's Park next to the city centre convinced us that we wanted to enter the 10k Gallipoli run that was due to be held here on Sunday. The phrase 'stunning setting' has been much used in the last few weeks but it would be difficult for anyone to argue that this wasn't one:

Thursday 16th April - Caversham to Perth

Thursday involved a bus trip out to Caversham Nature Reserve and then running the 12 miles back into Perth. 

The main discovery of the day was that kangaroos and Labradors have plenty in common. 'Please tickle my chest, Mr Human ........'

Friday 17th April - Rockingham parkrun Freedom

Rockingham must provide the ultimate in parkrun PB potential!

A flat, fast out and back course with the added bonus of snakes loitering on either side of the path. What more incentive could you need to get a shift on? :p

Saturday 18th April - Dawesville parkrun (17:39)

So, 6 days after the Canberra Marathon and the first opportunity to give the legs a bit of a test.

Surprise, surprise .... out pops the fastest parkrun of the year with a 5:40/mile 17:39 clocking. Then again, it may not be as much of a surprise as it first appears since the previous fastest parkrun of the year was a 17:54 at Melton Mowbray, which was 6 days after Wrexham Marathon.

This tends to suggest that upping the frequency of marathons has dramatically improved the recovery rate, especially of fast twitch fibres. In years gone by the next parkrun following a marathon tended to be a real struggle and a good minute or more slower than usual.....

In terms of unique features, Dawesville had dolphins in the bay next to the start/finish line breakfasting on the local fish stocks. Where else do you get that?

Sunday 18th April - Bank West Gallipoli 10K Run, King's Park, Perth (35:14 (13th))

ANZAC day is the biggest national day of the year in Australia, a day with commemorates the landings at Gallipoli in the WW1 and this year it is going to be bigger than ever due to being the 100th anniversary.

There will be no parkruns in Australia next Saturday (25th) to make way for all the early morning events taking place.

The 10k run in King's Park on Sunday was also part of the ANZAC remembrance events. It turned out to be a tough hilly course and was undoubtedly short, being about 5.8 miles, but that was of little interest once we started to learn of the background of the young man in the picture below with Hannah.

This is John Gilmour, a 96 year old ex POW, held by the Japanese for three years before returning to Fremantle after the war severely malnourished, blind and weighing about 40kg.

Despite the punishment his body had been through he became a legendary distance runner in Australia. He currently holds numerous age group world records including running a 1:17 half marathon as a V65. A bit of Googling and his story keeps getting more fascinating ....

Sunday 18th April - Cottisloe parkrun Freedom

As the Gallipoli 10k event kicked off at 7am, it was all over by 8am.

So another spot of Freedom parkrunning down the coast at Cottisloe, which held it's inaugural the day before, before an afternoon soaking up the sun down on the beach and then a spot of Mancester Marathon tracking down in Fremantle. At least that was the plan but the tracker seemed to get all it's bits and bytes in a bit of a knot and spewed out a pile of nonsense for most of the race.

Nonetheless, big congratulations go to stand out performances for:

Kelvin Dickinson 2:43:08

Steve Middleton 2:42:54

Ben Hartley 2:58:06

Keith Littlewood 2:50:02

Tony Aimon 2:52:27

Mark Ramsey 3:45:43

Chris Singleton 2:33:15

Christina Singleton 2:58:46

PBs all round except Kelvin who was a mere minute or so off :)

London Marathon next week ..........

So, how are things shaping up for London? With a near enough 24 hour flight between now and then it is difficult to tell. 

On the plus side, the marathon building blocks below look solid enough and the recovery from Canberra seems to have been pretty swift from the evidence so far but it won't really become too clear how well recovered until somewhere around the Isle Of Dogs next Sunday.

The Red Lion awaits .........

Marathon Building Blocks:

15th Feb: 18.6 miles @ 6:16/mile

22nd Feb: 10.0 miles @ 6:04/mile

28th Feb: 3.1 miles @ 5:48/mile

28th Feb: 3.1 miles @ 5:50/mile

1st March: 13.1 miles @ 6:24/mile

8th March: 26.21 miles @ 6:23/mile

14th March: 3.1 miles @ 5:46/mile

14th March: 3.1 miles @ 5:36/mile

15th March: 20.0 miles @ 6:25/mile

21st March: 3.1 miles @ 5:45/mile

22nd March: 9.65 miles @ 6:18/mile

28th March: 3.1 miles @ 5:45/mile

29th March:  11.2 miles @ 6:08/mile)

4th April: 3.1 miles @ 6:00/mile

12th April: 26.21 miles @ 6:35/mile

18th April: 3.1 miles @ 5:40/mile

19th April: 5.8 miles @ 6:04/mile

London Marathon 2015 (Week 10 of 12)

Week 10

The 10th week certainly goes down as another memorable one, both in terms of running locations and for the little race that we took part in as our final run of the week, The Canberra ACT Marathon.

The midweek runs were mainly Freedom parkruns at some stunning locations around New South Wales apart from Monday's 6 miler around Centennial Park and Sydney Cricket Ground, little did we know at the time that this venue was going to be at the forefront of world attention a couple of days later.

Although the week looks like a planned parkrun tour, it was more a case of parkrun courses happening to be nearby as we went about our exploring of Australia. It really does hit home just how parkrun has caught the imagination just as enthusiastically in Oz has it has back in the UK.

Week 10 of 12 (Mon 6/4 - Sun 12/4)

Mon 6/4 : 6.0 miles @ 8:45mile (Centennial Park and Sydney Cricket Ground)

Tues 7/4 : 3.1 miles @ 8:36/mile (Parramatta parkrun Freedom)

Tues 7/4 : 3.1 miles @ 8:34/mile (Penrith Lakes parkrun Freedom)

Weds 8/4 : 3.1 miles @ 9:28/mile (Blackheath, Blue Mountains)

Thurs 9/4 : 3.1 miles @ 8:53/mile (Lawson parkrun Freedom)

Thurs 9/4 : 3.1 miles @ 8:47/mile (Campbelltown parkrun Freedom)

Fri 10/4 : 3.1 miles @ 9:00/mile (Shellharbour parkrun Freedom)

Sat 11/4 : 4.0 miles incl  Ginninderra parkrun 20:00 (3.1 miles @ 6:27/mile)

Sun 12/4 : 26.21 miles @ 6:35/mile Canberra Marathon 2:52:10 (15th)

Total Mileage - 54.8 miles

Mon 6th April - Centennial Park & Sydney Cricket Ground :

The famous Sydney Cricket Ground was taken in on our final run in Sydney before heading off for a couple of days in the Blue Mountains:

Tues 7th April - Parramatta parkrun :

On the way to Blackheath in the Blue Mountains there was an opportunity to take in a couple of parkrun venues with an Olympic connection.

Firstly, Parramatta parkrun is directly on the other side of the Parramatta river to the Olympic Park for Sydney 2000. It may not be too apparent from this photo but trust me there is a fully fledged Olympic park hiding behind those trees:

Tuesday 7th April - Penrith Lakes parkrun :

A couple of hours later the venue was Penrith Lakes, which was the event centre for the rowing events at Sydney 2000.

Now this is my kind of parkrun course - a 2km long course which provides a full 5k by running one loop. A parkrun where it is impossible to get lost, nirvana :) :)

Wednesday 8th April - Jenolah Caves :

While in the Black Mountains, it is a must to visit the underground cave network at Jenolah. This is nothing to do with running but is included here simply because the two tours that we undertook involved approx 950 steps according to the guides.

This may have either a negative or positive effect on a marathon 3-4 days later so is worth noting for future reference:

Sat 11th April - Ginninderra parkrun (20:00)

After another three Freedom parkruns at Lawson, Campbelltown and Shellharbour on Thursday and Friday it was then on to Canberra for the official parkrun at Ginninderra, a course set in breathtaking scenery. The photos don't really do it justice but this was one parkrun you just didn't want to end.

A time of 20:00 was in line with the kind of time run in other recent pre marathon parkruns, ie approx a dress rehearsal of the first 5k of the marathon the next day.

Sun 12th April - 2015 Canberra ACT Marathon 2:52:10 (15th)

As we hadn't run a marathon since Wrexham on 8th March, a whole 5 weeks ago, a ready made opportunity to enjoy a 26.2 mile tour of the Australian capital was too hard to resist. London may be  only 2 weeks away but, from recent experience, quirky build ups can often be more informative than the text book alternative.

So onto the race and the earliest I've ever had to get my carcass to the start line of a marathon- 6:25am!

At least that was the aim but at 6:22am there were still 3 people ahead in the loo queue. Was I really in the Australian capital early on a Sunday morning trying desperately to calculate the average time of a runners pre-race poo?

Starting between the old parliament building, a very impressive place to have a look around, and the Aboriginal tent embassy this promised to be a marathon course with plenty of interest.

The course

The course had been changed from previous years to make it more interesting:

However, as a result of these changes there was now a pretty testing second half and both Hannah and myself found the road surface to be hard going in comparison with other road marathons.

There were also a whole host of turnaround points, which ordinarily would be bad news for me but thankfully most of them were actually large roundabouts which were fine for accommodating my oil tankeresque turning techniques.

When you get views like this mid run though the changes were probably worth it:

(Photo courtesy of Becky Chant)

The race

So off we went at 6:25am in perfect conditions, still and about 8c, but with the prospect of mid 20s temperatures by the time the finishing line was reached.

It was hard to know what kind of shape the legs were in as we haven't raced for two weeks and there has been a lot of walking around exploring for the last 4 weeks, which may or may not have helped.

As such, it was reassuring when the early kms were ticking over at around 4:00/km or just under.

With around 1,000 runners there was plenty space on the course and by 10km it was well strung out but the various turnaround points provided lots of opportunities to see how the race was developing both at the front and a bit further back.

0-10k (39:41) (Hannah 41:06)

The first 10k was untroubled and a bit downhill overall so provided a good roll out to get the event under way. The first chance to see how the ladies race was getting on was at the turnaround point at about 10k.

There were 4 ladies in front of me at this point and Hannah was 1:25 back in about 8th position. It was early days though and it was quite tightly packed at the front with all the leading ten moving along at between 2:50-2:55 pace.

10k-20k (40:12) (Hannah 40:41)

This section was a long dual carriageway which would have been fine except for the previously mentioned surface, which seemed harder and more energy sapping than usual. It gave the perception that you were moving a lot slower than you actually were. Still, it was the same for everyone so head down and concentrate on the rhythm.

The next turnaround point was at 19k. I had just overtaken the lady in 2nd place before the turnaround so was encouraged to see Hannah coming the other way not long after. If my counting was right, she was now up to 4th. 

This was getting interesting as if Hannah could gain one more place over the second half of the race then there was a $500 prize (about £260) for 3rd place, although she herself was totally unaware of this during the race.

20k-30k (40:02) (Hannah 41:04)

The third 10k was starting to go up and down a bit more than had been bargained for. It was feeling tough compared to the same stage at Wrexham but despite the increased course severity the pace was holding up and positions were being gained, so there wasn't much to be concerned about really.

There was a turnaround point at about 23.5k just after I'd overtaken the leading lady. Hannah now seemed to be a bit closer to the leader and possibly in 3rd but at this particular turn point it was quite difficult to tell.

30k-42.2k (52:12) (Hannah 51:32)

Now for the final 12k and it was becoming a grind on some of the climbs. Nevertheless there was still reassurance coming from the fact that on sections that were relatively level for a while the legs were coming back to life and re establishing a comfortable rhythm, so I was happy that there wasn't a major falling apart type death march coming, just a course induced leg wearying grind.

37k offered the next view of the ladies race and it looked from my viewpoint that Hannah was now in 2nd place and nowhere near as far behind the leader as the last time I saw them. It was hard to estimate but possibly a minute gap now, which was a lot smaller then previously but still a huge gap to close over just 5k.

It was extremely unlikely but if the leader did run into a bit of trouble you never know.....

The Finish

Unlike the parkrun the previous day I was counting down the last few kms of this one and was going to be quite happy to see the finish line after the graft of the second half.

The 42km marker is usually quite close to the finish line, 200m would be about right. Not on this occasion though, the finish line was nowhere to be seen. There was a good 300m before turning into the finishing straight which was itself another 200m or so.

2:52:10 was better than expected after feeling so slow on the unforgiving road sections. When the results came through, they showed that the position had improved from 20th at halfway to 15th at the finish. And all done before 9:30am :)

After crossing the line I then proceeded to incur the wrath of the funnel managers by loitering alongside the photographers and TV crews to see the end of the ladies race. It wasn't going to be more than a minute or two after all.

The announcer started building the crescendo towards the first female finisher and as she appeared with about 50m to go I could already see Hannah in the finishing straight behind her. Not close enough but that gap had really closed over the closing stages to a mere 32 seconds.

2nd place was rewarded with $1,000 (about £520), which as Hannah's biggest ever prize just about trumps my biggest ever cash prize of £20 in the 2013 Spencer's Arms series in Barnsley :p

32 seconds is 32 seconds and you can't just find that sort of time at the end of a marathon if the legs say no but I think Hannah is still asking herself some what if type questions - if only she had known that she was in 2nd earlier, known where the leader was and actually known that the 32secs was worth another $1,000. Good questions to ask but this Canberra performance can go down as nothing other than a hard fought for success story :)

On Saturday we had breakfast with Becky Chant, a parkrunner from Queensland. 

After driving 1200km to get to Canberra this was to be her first ever marathon. We all know what can happen in first marathons and how everything you have ever read can turn to absolute nothingness once the reality of what happens at 20 miles and beyond sets in.

But it appeared to me that Becky didn't seem overly apprehensive about the task. Her apparent confidence was well placed as can be seen from the results below. For a first marathon that consistency of pacing is brilliant. It took me about 30 marathons to get one anywhere near that consistent. Congratulations Becky and good luck with the next effort at the Gold Coast Marathon :)

This is now the updated list of marathons on the comeback trail:

Recent Marathon Record

2009 April - Blackpool Marathon 3:24:17 (Age 42)

2009 September - Fleetwood Marathon DNF (Age 43)
2010 October - Amsterdam Marathon 3:04:27 (Age 44)
2010 November - Milton Keynes Track Marathon DNF (Age 44)

2011 April - London Marathon 3:18:30 (Age 44)

2012 April - London Marathon 2:57:04 (Age 45)

2012 October - Chester 2:55:36 (Age 46)

2013 April - London Marathon 3:11:29 (Age 46)

2013 June - Cork Marathon 3:06:19 (Age 47)

2013 October - Budapest Marathon 2:58:53 (Age 47)

2013 December - Lancaster Marathon 2:54:17 (Age 47) (1st)

2013 December - Pisa Marathon 2:54:09 (Age 47)

2014 April - Manchester Marathon 2:51:52 (Age 47)

2014 April - London Marathon 2:57:52 (Age 47)

2014 June - Rhyl Marathon 2:58:24 (Age 48)

2014 October - Yorkshire Marathon 2:47:34 (Age 48)

2014 October - Dublin Marathon 2:58:53 (Age 48)

2014 November - Town Moor Marathon 2:54:56 (Age 48) (1st)

2015 March - Wrexham Marathon 2:48:12 (Age 48) (5th)

2015 April - Canberra ACT Marathon 2:52:10 (Age 48) (15th)

2015 April - London Marathon ??:??:?? (Age 48)

Marathon Building Blocks:

15th Feb: 18.6 miles @ 6:16/mile

22nd Feb: 10.0 miles @ 6:04/mile

28th Feb: 3.1 miles @ 5:48/mile

28th Feb: 3.1 miles @ 5:50/mile

1st March: 13.1 miles @ 6:24/mile

8th March: 26.21 miles @ 6:23/mile

14th March: 3.1 miles @ 5:46/mile

14th March: 3.1 miles @ 5:36/mile

15th March: 20.0 miles @ 6:25/mile

21st March: 3.1 miles @ 5:45/mile

22nd March: 9.65 miles @ 6:18/mile

28th March: 3.1 miles @ 5:45/mile

29th March:  11.2 miles @ 6:08/mile)

4th April: 3.1 miles @ 6:00/mile

12th April: 26.21 miles @ 6:35/mile

Just two weeks to go now before 35,000 line up on Blackheath common. There won't be much training as such between the two marathons but there will be some sort of running every day to keep everything working.

First of all though there will be a week in Perth followed by an attempt to unjetlag in time for VMLM.