This was technically my first "proper" marathon, I had twice before ran up to and over marathon distance in the two Ultras I had ran but was excited to see how well I would do knowing I could stop at 26 miles and also having the extra boost of my fast half marathon time two weeks earlier.
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| Is it Enigma? Grimsthorpe? No it's Rutland!! |
I met up with the usual suspect at all races Ria and we made the short walk to the starting point where I soon met up with my running buddy for the day again Stewart and some of his friends. Ashley who had also ran the Grim reaper and Anna and Mark both of whom were running this as their longest distance. This was to be both mine and Stewarts first marathons and it was nice to be in it together. One thing I might add in at this point is how bloody cold it was, I was sporting my black long sleeve top with my purple vest top above, running gloves and my woolly head buff. I could barely feel my hands or feet. Before we set off I was approached by a lady that turned out to be Liz who had also ran the Grim. We had probably ran best part of 8 miles along side each other in that event but hadn't spoken a word to each other but later made friends on facebook. It was nice to finally meet and talk and it shows what a small place the running world is!
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| Liz and I at the start |
Shortly after the pavement stretch we took a left turn to run around the peninsula back on the cycle paths. It wasn't long before Stewart caught me up and we decided to stick together. I don't remember much from there except being very cold and very wet and not really enjoying myself much at all! We spent around 20 minutes discussing what a peninsula actually was which was amusing for a short while. Then at around mile 13 I decided I'd had enough...I wasn't feeling well at all, I had decided I probably should have just stayed home in bed, I was cold and I was soaked through as it was still raining. I know you will probably say man up but I could think of nothing else but quitting. Then my saviour came along in the shape of Liz! She ran along side me and I told her I didn't want to continue but she kept me talking and made it seem like we only had small chunks to deal with, I also learnt to run up hills too! Having Liz there gave me a real boost and before I knew it we were coming up to mile 17. Liz ran on then I think she felt she had worked her magic on me and she certainly had. Stewart by now was struggling and the course had become quite frankly abit of a joke! I could post the same pictures from Grim and you wouldn't tell as it was muddy, boggy and waterlogged. This had a massive negative effect on my mood and we both agreed it was too much like Grim, we also both decided at that point we may not do the Grim next year and may never come to that part of the country again or do a Fat Feet event ever again! (can you tell we weren't happy) From mile 19 we had resorted to a power walk as neither of us could run... it was too cold and I wasn't feeling good. Our aim was to finish, then the icing on the cake was to finish in under 6 hours so we plodded on.
The route got worse and worse and at one point the whole pathway was completely waterlogged with only a very narrow muddy slippy ledge to walk over, Stewart very kindly offered to walk through the puddle and hold my hand on the ledge so I wouldn't fall.. I did tell him not too but he walked on through anyway and was horrified that the water came nearly over his knees! I felt really bad for him but it did make us giggle a little too... At this point I decided I needed to eat and said I was really hungry. Stewart chose this moment... 6 miles from end to announce he had loads of food with him and what did I want?!? Well I could have murdered a Big Mac meal right then but was just as delighted when he pulled out a chewy caramel bar... oh it was a little bit of heaven that for a few moments made me feel alot better about everything.
Then the rain kept coming and the course kept getting worse! We ended up running past a massive pile of crap (cattle pooh to the posh people that read my blog) honestly it was half the size of a house and I really wish I had taken a picture of it as it would have summed up the event really well... a massive pile of crap!
The only way to get through to the finish was to keep talking about how well we were doing and the lovely food we would eat when we got home. Stewart had a nice little image which he shared with me of me at home sat in a chair with my granny blanket over my lap eating pizza!
A theme of the day was people mentioning my corgi hallucinations from the Grim Reaper and Stewart made sure he kept reminding me of it...when we ran through a flock of sheep he had to comment saying "Oh my gosh I'm seeing things! There are sheep everywhere.. with red bums!" this made me laugh but the best part was later on in the race when we came across a herd of black sheep/goats, I actually think Stewart was being serious when he asked if they were black hamsters? But soon set him straight that they were black sheep crossed with goats.. aptly named shoats!
Eventually after nearly 6 hours of running in the cold and wet we arrived at the home straight doing the Rutland Shuffle (imagine the plastic toy soldier toys you get that rock from side to side to move) and welcomed by..... no-one! We crossed the line in 5 hours 56 minutes so had done what we set out to achieve finish our first marathon in under 6 hours but we were a sorry state to look at. We ventured into a big white tent and were handed our goody bag that we already knew didn't contain a well deserved medal... don't even get me started on that! We then hobbled to the car where Stewart presented me with a medal that he had bought and even had engraved yay!
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| Technical vest, certificate and medal |
Back at my car I couldn't even open the door I was THAT cold my hands just wouldn't work. I finally got in and opened my goody bag to find the award...a fat feet certificate of completion which you had to fill in the details on yourself! Great.... now you see why I bought myself a trophy for the Grim reaper! When I eventually got my gloves off I was horrified to see that my hands had swollen to 4 times their normal size, I looked like the nutty proffesor! I quickly made my way to the ambulance and with my hands held infront of my face asked if it was normal? Apparently for the conditions and the amount of time I was out in the elements yes I was meant to look like a freak with balloon hands! After around 30 minutes in the car with the heaters on my hands I could just about use them to get my wet clothes off, I then ventured into the cafe and had a well deserved cup of tea and a bowl of chips with Stewart, Ashley and the rest of the gang. One thing I did like about my first marathon was meeting new and old friends again.
A quote from Stewart when asked what he thought about his first marathon " F***ing AWFUL!"
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| The gang at the end |
