Final Post: 10/5/10 - Race Report!

Wow - it's all over. Since October, when Stephan set me up for the Mainz marathon (without my knowledge!), I have been wondering whether I could actually run a marathon. I'd only been running for about 7 months when I ran Peterborough. When I set my target of 4 hours, I wondered whether it would be too ambitious. Turns out that I can run a marathon, and 4 hours wasn't ambitious enough!

In October last year I ran my first ever half marathon for the Railway Children with some German friends. The return leg was the Mainz full marathon (26.2 miles) yesterday. The medieval city I was expecting is actually a small industrial town with little in the way of scenery to distract; the hot punishing race I anticipated could have materialised, but it was actually cold and initially quite wet, though warming up and drying out later. Other than the initial rain, it was almost ideal running conditions and despite the exaggerated profile, the circuit was actually very flat.

I'd received loads of advice to "take it easy at the start" so my plan was to clock 8m30s miles for the first 20 miles or so and then try to keep the pace going as long as I could, giving 3h42 or so as my theoretical minimum time. For me, 8.5 minute miles is a comfortable pace, though whether I could maintain over 20 miles is another question. However, the plan was that this first 20 miles should give me enough of a buffer to get me under 4 hours almost regardless of what happened in the last six miles. Or so I thought.

Well, the plan was always going to be tough to stick to (as I tend to train short runs at about 8 minute mile pace) but I saw my roving supporters (thank you girls!) bang on schedule, and the clock as I crossed the half Marathon point was at 1h51 - on target. Or so I thought. I'd forgotten that I'd started about 3 minutes after the gun, due to congestion at the start, so I was actually 3 minutes ahead of schedule by half way! And since about 80% of the 8,000 runners were doing the half marathon, the field cleared, the weather dried out and I started running faster.

Of course, pain duly arrived at 21 miles as my legs seized up, but by now I was well ahead of where I needed to be for 4 hours and with 5 miles to go I was not going to lose out to a bit of cramp! A change of gait for half a mile or so and my legs were back, though the process repeated with painful regularity for the final few miles as the race took it's toll - I was slowing down, but only by a few seconds each mile.

Oh, a side word about spectating - if you are ever a spectator at a race like this, particularly towards the end, the noise and encouragement really do help - but crossing the road in front of the racers really doesn't! Anyway, in the main it was applause, words of encouragement (or possibly abuse, my German is not great) that turned the last few miles and particularly the last mile in to a dash for the line - or as close as we runners could manage after 26 miles!

And then it was over - I'd trained for months to get through this - the cold, my knee (see below), the training runs and the four other half marathon races since October - and now I'd finally crossed the line. And what a time! 3h35m45s - an almost unbelievable 24 minutes faster than my target! 36 hours (or so) later and I'm home, somewhat sore, but not too bad - I can walk, if a little slowly, and my various aches are understandable. Will I do another? Maybe.

So, I achieved my target time. But I had two targets for this race: time and the money I've been raising, again for the Railway Children (railwaychildren.org.uk). They aim to get kids off the streets before the streets get to them. If you watched the recent Channel 4 Dispatches documentary (tinyurl.com/yeuak3s), you will have seen some of their work in Mumbai and just how much there is to do. There are some terrible stories and what you give will really be put to good use. My marathon is over and whether I do another is my choice. My pain is nothing compared to the daily suffering some of these kids endure, and not by their choice. They really have no way out without the Railway Children and you.

Every single penny you donate really does help offer a child somewhere in the world a chance for a better life. You can make a difference. I targeted raising £1,000. At the time of writing, it's at £860 plus change. Can you help me achieve my financial target? I'd really appreciate it and hopefully you've enjoyed reading about my trials, tribulations and,well yes, pain (see below if you missed out). So, please stick in a few quid - it takes less than two minutes - and if everyone I tell reads this and puts in a fiver or more, we'll make the target. And feel free to pass it on!

Anyway, enough. Thanks for dropping by (again if you've been before) and please do donate here - it's quick, safe and is the easiest way to reclaim tax and keep track of everything.

This will be the last update and the last time I ask you for money for MainzMarathon2010. Thanks for your support.

Tschuss! Duncan.

28/4/10: Over 70% there, but with only a week or so of fundraising to go, the pressure is on to reach my target! If you have been putting it off, please donate now. Or let me know and you can enter the competition to guess my chip time - there are still some very good times left. If you have already donated, or have guessed my chip time, thank you so much. It really has helped keep me motivated these last few weeks.

21/4/10: Wow, a big push over the last few days and some very generous donations has seen the total leap to over 50% of target - thank you all - more than half way! Big news today is the launch of a competition to guess my chip time. £5 a try, for a chance to win £50 prize. I'm putting up the £50 myself, so all of the entry money will go straight to the Railway Children. If you want to enter, please talk to or email me direct - donations on this website can't be taken as entries to the competition - but please donate anyway by clicking "donate now". Thank you!

To help you work out my potential time: training run tonight was 8.04 miles in 1h01m. Good luck.

19/4/10: A huge thank you to everyone who has sponsored me so far. It's great to know that there are so many generous people out there. With three weeks before the run I'm at 28% of my sponsorship target and need more - time to raise the game. I ran almost 21 miles yesterday to bring the training total to over 61 miles in 8 days! It took me 3h10, which is (just) on course for my target of 4 hours for the full thing, but I was suffering by the end of it, so there is a significant challenge in keeping the pace up for those final 5 miles. Taking on board enough water and electrolytes has also been a persistent problem, leading to leg cramps on all of the runs I've done over 15 miles or so. Thinking of the work the Railway Children does keeps me going. So, please, I'll let you do the easy bit and sponsor me! Deal? Seeing the sponsorship creep up really has helped keep my spirits going for the past few weeks when the training regime has been at it's toughest, so thank you to all the generous people out there - you really do make a difference to both me and to the Railway Children. Please keep donating.

16/4/10: Three weeks to go on Sunday and I've done over 40 miles this week, so feeling fairly tired today. A HUGE hello to the Cranfield MBA'ers - especially the part timers! EOS WAC out of the way (well done all) and with OSC presentation tomorrow it will be good to get to the end of this week. Good luck everyone! Fitting it all in has been a real chore, and my legs ache a lot, but Sunday is my last really big training run (~22 miles), then, the big one...

Please sponsor me - this is easy to do and it is really motivating to know you guys are behind me. Thankyou all.

6/4/10: Less than five weeks to go and I did a run of 19.5 miles yesterday in just under 3 hours - that rate puts me on course for 4 hours-ish. I ran out of water and had to ask one of the locals for a refill - thank you, whoever you are! I've just got two big training runs left to do - 20+ miles and then 22 miles - to get me used to running this kind of distance. Regular runs of 10-12 miles the rest of the time. Feeling a little stiff today, but in all, very pleased that I managed to keep going for 3 hours pretty much solid.

31/3/10: Thanks to everyone who has donated so far and a big hello to all the girls (and other boy) from Natasha's Keep Fit class. You're all stars!

It was the Stowmarket "Joe Cox" Half Marathon on Sunday and I am now on the official run in to the Marathon challenge. Stowmarket was quite warm, reasonably hilly (for round here) and I made some tactical mistakes, but I still made it round in a reasonably respectable, if somewhat disappointing, 1h44m18 (gun time). At least I'm getting these gremlins out of my system before Mainz. The 18 seconds was stopping to re-tie a shoelace. Hmm...

And please, do donate! I've a long way to go to get to the target. I'll put some new photos of me on here in a moment too - have a look.

22/3/10: A big thankyou to everyone who has sponsored me so far! This weekend I ran my first 26 miles - although it took me 2 days to do it - 10 miles on Saturday morning followed by a 3 mile jog for Sport Relief on Sunday (supporting my daughter) and then about 14 miles home from the venue. Very tired by Sunday night, but I am gaining confidence that I will actually be able to do the 26 miles when the time comes.

This week I'm going to find training tough to fit in - but with a competitive half marathon on Sunday (Stowmarket) I am on a light week anyway. I am hoping that Sunday may offer a good chance to beat my half marathon PB (and maybe even that magic 1h40!), as I am running faster and further in training now than I have run before. I'll let you know how it goes!

17/3/10: Bentley seems like a long time ago now and was 1h43m46s. Not bad. My training recently has been quite intensive and fitting it all in with work, Cranfield and other commitments is proving tricky. I have done a couple of long weekend training runs - 16.8 miles on road two weeks ago and 15 miles last weekend over rough green lanes - as well as shorter midweek sessions. Both long runs were about 2h15 - and although my knee ached, it was OK. Pushing the time and distance is important with only 8 weeks to get up to scratch (6 weeks of intensive training and 2 weeks of less intensive "taper" to the race itself).

This Sunday is Sport Relief and I am running 3 miles in Saffron Walden with my daughter, Georgia. I'll probably then run home, about 15 miles, so hopefully this will give me another long run.

The following Sunday is the Stowmarket Half - I'm now running further and faster in training than I've ever run, so a good chance for a PB - maybe even that magic 1h40! Funny how 13 miles doesn't seem at all daunting any more. We're then in to Easter and my plan is to run a short fast 10 miles Good Friday and then a more measured 18 miles on Easter Sunday or Monday, depending on the weather. At about 110 calories a mile, there's no need for me to worry too much about Easter egg over-indulgence!

7/2/10: Ow, that hurt! Great Bentley half marathon day - cold, damp, but at least the rain held off. I managed a good time, given that my knee is still not fully recovered and that I've found little time to train for the past fortnight. Official results are not in yet, but it looks like about 1h44. More when I have it!

31/1/10: I've been struggling to train recently - a slight knee injury picked up in early Jan has been causing me pain during and after running, and for the last week I've been away so it's been very difficult to find the time to train. I need to get out, though - May is only 4 months.

I'd like to say a HUGE hello to the Cranfield PT Exec and Modular MBA 2010 cohort. Wow, what a week!

Next Sunday - 7/2/10 - I will be running the Great Bentley half marathon - FEEL FREE TO SPONSOR ME FOR THIS AS WELL AS MAINZ! - it will be interesting to see how I get on with my knee. Hopefully it will hold up OK. I'll post my time here. Thanks for dropping by.

15/12/09: As part of my ongoing training, I have now completed two more half marathons since October - St Neots and Bedford - both in slightly faster times than Peterborough. However, my distance training for Mainz will really start in the New Year and I am contemplating a couple of longer distance races in the run up to May. I'll post the details in this space as they work themselves out. Feel free to sponsor me for each of these as well as the Mainz event and if you sign on for updates, I will keep you informed as to how I am getting on.

Sponsor me: Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and secure. Once you donate, the money goes directly to the Railway Children and JustGiving make sure Gift Aid is reclaimed on every eligible donation by a UK taxpayer. It’s the most efficient and secure way to donate - I raise more, you save time and the Railway Children save costs.

So please, dig deep, and donate now. Thank you.