Race report - Great Welsh Marathon

Now I've taken a couple of days to mull this one over...

Did I enjoy this? Yes and no, things went against me on course, diabetic hypo, which lead to a few stomach cramps and an emergency... comfort break at mile 16/17ish which left me somewhat drained. After that I couldn't get going again and my resultant poor running form ended up giving me some quite bad hip pain.

Up until then I'd been solid, slightly (3/4 mins) to fast over the first lap (we'll come to that) but regulated my pace onto the second to just about 9 a mile, even while quaffing jelly babies to keep my sugars up.

The first half marathon was solid in around 1:50, at which point I felt fresh as a daisy, but then, well check my splits!

The course was scenic enough (except for an industrial estate, but you always get something like that) but 2 laps. Now I didn't think that laps would bother me. I thought wrong. As soon as I got onto the second lap I suffered mentally, shortly after the shakes started, I'm confident they're not connected but the timing... As a half marathon this would be outstanding but the retread of the same area twice means I don't think I could recommend the full race.

Also running with the half runners the first lap was odd, as obviously very different pacing going on, and it also made the 2nd lap feel, empty, at the time where most runners need that extra energy around!

So how did I do? Targets were:

Baseline:
Not bother the nice St Johns people too much... (finish)



Achievable:
4:20:00 (9:55 min/ml)



Would be nice, but maybe beyond me this time:
4:05:00 (9:21 min/ml)


and I did:



My actual time was 4:15, due to the aforementioned reasons... watch stops when I do!

The rewards were a very nice medal and possibly the nicest running shirt I now own. Thing is beautiful and deserves to be on a better runner than me!

Overall, I didn't deserve better for the prep I'd done. But on course I felt I could have done if all was well. Mixed feelings bordering on disappointment and keen to do another, looking at Tenby in a couple of months... work hard and I'll get better results.

Be the Treforest 10k next out though end of the month.

Edit!

A note to the marshal I rushed past when he was trying to give me a gel. Toilet was calling. Leaving the gel and water outside the loo  for me when I come out was a genuine nice act. You deserve my medal more than me!