Chester Marathon
6th October
2013

 

Official Results

  Official Unofficial
Nicholas Beardow 3.34.11  
Emma Parker 3.52.50  
Sarah Wanden 3.57.56  
Tom Brassington 4.29.37  


Chester marathon - race report

I travelled up by train and walked a mile or two to the station.  After a couple of local ales and an early night i woke quite early on race day. I headed nervously to the sub four waiting area. All too soon we were off, a clear blue sky and no breeze made for warm conditions. The four hour pacer was mobbed so I decided to tuck in the big space just in front of him.


I happened across a quite a few Ampthill and Flitwick Flyers and had a nice chat, some of them knew me from my recent 'getting lost' exploits. Infamy! Pushing on I think I hit halfway at around 1.54 which is about my half time so was happy with that. Most of the lovely scenery passed me by I'm afraid - focus was on the running and the social chit chat, although i do remember a brass band at some point and some fab locals in all the little villages cheering us on.  As I approached 17 miles I fell into line with a chap called Ronnie from Liverpool, it was his first marathon and we had a nice chat till about 22 when he forged on, amazing, 54 yrs old and a new runner too - some people really inspire you. Around this time I began to start feeling tired, an energy drink from one of the plentiful water stations and a couple of jelly babies helped but the legs were starting to argue back.

Head was good, all the way my thoughts were mainly positive as I knew this was a good chance to get a PB. The last four and a half miles were ran alone in my own headspace and with as much guts as I could muster. As we approached the racecourse I allowed myself a glimpse of my watch and was totally chuffed to still see a 3, this gave me the last push I needed to bag a sub four. Was great to see Marcus Cookham who was unfortunate enough to be the nearest person that i knew and the poor chap got a sweaty hug from me, must have wondered what was going on! A few beers with some friends finished off a pretty perfect race day!

Bumped into Tom Brassington who was smiling all over his face, a first marathon and a cracking time. A stunning marathon experience, loads of fab marshals, tons of water stations with gels and sports drinks, technical top, goody bag and medal. Garmin time 3.57 Official time 3.57.56  -  a huge PB for me

Sarah Wanden

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