I booked this marathon last year with
absolutely no idea that by the time I ran it, I'd be living here. I love Liverpool, always have, and I thought
it would be a good excuse to visit. As
it turns out, I now live 5 minutes walk from the start line, so I had the
greatest ever pre-marathon lie-in especially as the race didn't start until
10am - luxury!
It was a gorgeous day for it, all blue
skies and sunshine. I'd decided to
dispense with the age-old wisdom of not wearing new kit on the day of a
marathon and try out my beautiful new pink Hoka trainers. I'd worn them once, for a 5k on Wednesday,
and they felt alright.... what could possibly go wrong, right?
The sheer numbers of people made getting to
the start line a bit of an effort. For
reasons unknown, the half marathon went off first so we had to walk round a few
thousand people corralled for that, then once in the right place, the race was
late starting. I finally crossed the
start line at 10.20am.
The whole race was a glorious tour of
Liverpool landmarks. It struck me later
that you'd never normally see all the landmarks in one go like this, at least
not as a resident. It makes me so proud
to call Liverpool my home, I constantly go on about this but I've wanted to
live here all my life and it is a never-ending source of joy. The people are so warm, the skies are so
huge, there's so much fun stuff to do and see.
There's beaches within 20 minutes, loads of lovely parks and it's
nestled between north Wales, the Lakes and the Peaks. I've got the best job I've ever had and I
live in an absolutely beautiful flat with a stunning view over the
waterfront. Lucky doesn't even begin to
cover it.
The marathon started at the Albert Dock,
weaving down past the Pier Head and the Liver Building and the Beatles statues,
up past Superlambanana and through town.
Then it headed out to Goodison Park and Anfield and Stanley Park. I knew this was part of the route and had
commented to Ian the night before that I'd never actually set eyes on Anfield
before. He's an Evertonian and I've
become an honorary one by default.
When I got to Anfield, to my horror the
race didn't just go past it, I had to actually go in through the gates and then
through the stadium, I could see the
pitch and everything. People were taking
detours to get a selfie (!) I steadfastly kept my sunglasses on and
bombed through as quick as I could. Ian
had some suggestions afterwards for what I might have done whilst I was there
that are unmentionable ;)
The race ran through the university and had
lovely views across the whole of Liverpool as we headed back down into
town. Past St George's Hall, then down
Stanley Street gay bars and Mathew Street (Cavern Club) before running back
along the front. This was about 11 miles
in and Ian was waiting literally right outside our flat. I stopped briefly to say hello and got him to
switch my speaker on. I was feeling OK,
it was warm but not unbearable. Up to
this point I'd just been plodding along.
My intention was to finish under 4:30, but I haven't run a road marathon
since Tromsø and all my training has been geared towards ultras so I really
wasn't sure if I was capable of it.
But there's something magical about
blasting out tunes.
As soon as my speaker was on, I started overtaking people. Other runners turn and smile, occasionally
they comment they're enjoying it too.
It's a totally different experience to wearing headphones, I feel like a
little mobile rave and I can't stop smiling.
I started with dance party anthems and I ran all the way up through
Chinatown and Upper Parliament Street despite the fact I'd been walking the hills
in the first half. I skipped through the
parks, seeing friends from running club and waving madly. I didn't even mind the detour out to Penny
Lane, where a DJ was playing "Penny Lane" on repeat, poor guy, that
would drive me totally insane!
From here onwards, the route was familiar
as I'd done it in reverse on one of my training runs. Once I'd got to the 30km mark, I felt
confident in keeping up a decent pace as I knew it wasn't too far to go. My Garmin announces my pace every kilometre
over the speaker so that was a good incentive too! I did quite a few 5:40 min/km's in the last
10k which was quite impressive as my goal was 6:20's.
The final straight along Otterspool Prom is
a familiar route for me and I had no difficulty with the final push to the
finish. I overtook soooo many people on
this stretch, there was a lot of walking going on and I was feeling fresh and
strong. My Strava fly-by is a joy to
watch, as opposed to Kielder where I was overtaken by literally everyone as I
took Hollywood rest breaks at aid stations.... lesson has very definitely been
learned!
My chip time was 4:15:29. I was delighted with this, not only because
it was significantly faster than I thought but also it was a hot day (Garmin
said the average temp was 25 degrees and the max was 28 degrees). There was also 276 metres of ascent (enough
to make a difference) and let's not forget I had run 80-odd kilometres the
previous weekend, so I wasn't exactly tapered.
I also wasn't pushing myself to
the limit at any point during this race.
Considering I ran Paris and Dublin in 2016 at maximum effort and
finished both in 4:12, it suggests I could potentially run a PB at the moment
if I actually tried/had the right conditions.
I'm not planning to - my focus is still very much on my ultras. But I still feel quite proud of myself! I also ran negative splits for the first time
EVER (first half in 2:09, second half in 2:06) woohoo!!!
Oh, and as for breaking the age-old rule
about not wearing new trainers on race day?
This was the price I paid for ignoring it... I'm spending the foreseeable
future in flip flops....
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