White Peak Marathon 2008 Special

Hello folks,

A rather special marathon for me, the quick results below.
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Time Position Age Grade %
3:36:33 61 out of 197 57.7%
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The meeting point for this race was near Matlock and this was 25 minutes drive from my good friends Justin and El, and so the night before I went and stayed with them and had a wonderful pasta bake for tea, so a big thanks to both of them for a wonderful pre-race build up!

The organisation for this race was something quite special for a club organised run. They bussed us from the finish where people left there cars to the start which was near Thorpe in the middle of nowhere! The weather was close to perfect for running, overcast, only a light wind, and occasionally a very fine light rain. After my experience at London I had gone dressed more in my winter running gear with three layers and joggers on. We started off following the Tissington Trail and there are some spectacular views from this, the English countryside at its best with beautiful greens and stone walls dividing farmers fields over an undulating landscape. After a few miles I was warm enough to take my running jacket off and wrap it round my waist which also had my bum bag full of goodies, making me look like I had a massive layer of flab! In my hand I had an old bottle of Orangina with some fresh orange juice and water mix in it.

As the race progressed I got chatting to some great people. One chap was running this as his first marathon to raise money for the specialist cancer hospital treating his brother, he had a strong support crew out to hand him bottles of lucozade and seemed to have a level head and looked great for a 4 hours finish. With his reason for running I knew there would be nothing that could prevent him from finishing. Another chap had a running vest of the “100 marathon club”… an achievement I’m in awe of. It turns out he’d had one rest before running this after running 6 marathons in 6 days around the 6 counties of Northern Ireland! As I moved up the field I had a bit of banter with a lady from Buxton Harriers and it turns out she to had talked to the 100 marathon man… and that this was actually his 475th!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Time flew by and I was quickly at the 11 mile mark which is where we did a quick 180 round the marker and ran back, but on the High Peak trail and past some more beautiful scenery.


I still felt strong at this point and was slowly overtaking some of the people who had overtaken me earlier on. From my time I knew I was going fast, but this counts for nothing in a marathon unless you’re strong enough to maintain that pace and I had a habit of crashing after the 20 mile mark, and as this marker approached I grew increasingly nervous. I was still overtaking people, and some club runners too, and this made me think again I was going too fast, but I kept checking my running gizmo and my heart rate was still around the 167 mark consistently and so I persevered. It was during this stretch between the 11 and 20 mile marker that I grew unhealthily attached to my Orangina bottle and I suppose you could say I started to view it as a friend!

Sadly the 20 mile marker meant that the Orangina bottle was empty, and so there was an emotional parting at the next drink station. The next 6 miles were a blur. There were 3 huge downhill sections (1:8 slopes) where my legs still having energy in them were really able to capitalise on them. All the time though I was waiting for the energy levels and legs to collapse but it didn’t happen! As I passed the 25 mile marker I knew I was on for a great time. The legs didn’t have the energy for a sprint finish, but I didn’t need one, and crossed the line and smashed my PB by over 22 minutes!

(the last bar is off because in my post marathon state I didn't knock my gizmo off properly)

Overall the White Peak Marathon is a great course and it was kind enough to allow me a fantastic time, but make no mistake, on a different day with bad weather or slightly less fitness at the downhill stages, this course could really have chewed me up. A huge thanks must be given Matlock Athletic Club for excellent organisation. With the wilderness factor, the opening of the Rugby club to allow us to shower after the race, and the start and finish being in different places meaning they had to lay on buses for us I couldn’t give them enough praise. Truly excellent organisation. I'm still not entirely sure why my time was so much better than London which was only one month previous. I suspect lots of little things all combining together which over 26.2 miles makes a big difference. I did pop two ibuprofem over the course when I felt the old left knee starting to swell, and this seemed to do the job.

At the end there was one last surprise as I also randomly bumped into Marple Phil who I hadn’t seen in a few years and had a quick chat with him. I can’t remember his exact time, but he’d done brilliantly and got round in the middle to high 3:20s mark,

Cheers

Andy