I guess the title says it all. One of those numerical wonders, the last until 01/02/(21)03. Not sure I’ll still be running then?
So, here we go again, 7 laps and a bit, around Caldecotte Lake in Milton Keynes. The weather was good, if a bit on the cold side at about 5°C. Tarmac underfoot, so a bit weary towards the end. I realised after 5 laps that a sub-5hr run was not on the cards, which was a shame as I’d only done two sub-5’s in 2013, but kept up the pace with a view to finish just over 5:05. Two laps from the end it looked likely with 1:30 to go at around 44 mins for the previous lap. A quick peep at the drowned fox on one of the bays (it took 4 laps to spot something in the water, and I just had to know whether it was an otter or fox – it had probably leapt in after a duck? Who would think a duck would be smarter than a fox, eh?) took 5 seconds off the lap, and the tension mounted. Just a quick cake stop at that checkpoint, with 45 minutes to go and picked the speed up a bit for the last lap. Tried to chase down the guy in front, but he got within yards of the line before me before he slowed to a crawl. As I neared the finish, I shouted for a timecheck, it was 5:04, so I slowed, 5:04:30 so I slowed a bit more, 5:04:45 – ten more yards, slowed to a walk, 5:05:00 – a shuffle, 5:05:05, tension building, cameras poised, the chap in front edged closer to the line, 5:05:10 left foot, 5:05:11 right foot, 5:05:12 left foot, 5:05:13, clench fist, grit teeth for the final push, 5:05:14, a smile breaks out, we can do this, 5:05:15, we both punch the air in unison, 5:05:16 we cross the line amid cheers and hoots from the assemble crowd (of two timekeepers, one organiser, his partner and three recent finishers collapsed on the floor).
We had done the 9:10/11/12/13 marathon and finished at…..14:15:16.
Beats a sub-5 any day.
So that’s it for 2013 now.
22 marathons done in 2013. One DNS. Still no DNF yet, although one is bound to happen sometime. 57 in total now, in 25 counties, and with 35 consecutive months of marathons I guess I must be doing something right.