St George's Day Marathon

Brighton Aftermath
The "run up" to this event was more like a painful shuffle.  Having got it into my head that I needed to try running on tired legs after Brighton marathon and also finishing that race so well, I was out on the Tuesday and Thursday for steady club runs and quickly found that I should have been doing a lot more rehab (massage, stretching) to get over the effects of that run.  Tuesday had me glad of other people's injuries so I could drop back and jog/walk with them nursing my own hip flexor and knee issues and then Thursday I felt some developing achy pain at the top of my right Achilles, which came from having very tight calf muscles and then going out for a hilly jog.  Time to panic!

I spent Thursday evening foam rolling and massaging my calves and booked a treatment session at Reform and Renew Osteopathy, vowing to spend every bit of free time between now and St George's Day doing rehab exercises and getting my calves back in shape. At least on Friday I managed to get out of bed without pain in my Achilles, just very tight right calf muscles.  It was starting to feel like a retrievable situation, but I knew I had to do a lot of work to get my legs right or I could end up putting the rest of the year's events in jeopardy.

My treatment at R and R Osteopathy with Abby resulted in a lot of needles going in to relieve tension in various bits of calf muscles, particularly the offending piece of the right calf that was pulling most on my Achilles.  I then got taped up on both my right calf and left hamstring (I had forgotten about that injury, but Abby found it again!) with blue tape, which slightly compromised my St George's Day colour scheme.

St George's Day
This year St George's Day, the 23rd of April, was on a Thursday and I took the day off work to do the marathon.  It was going to be another 5am start as the marathon was due to start at 8am and the trip down to the venue in Walmer in Kent would take about 2 hours.  I needed to be on the road before 5:30am to give myself a chance of getting there on time.  As I was also planning to make a detour on the way home to go to the London Marathon expo to pick up my race number and then head straight on to Abby's for a massage, I was going to have a very busy day.  This was a mission needing expert planning and precision timing!

I loaded up the motorbike the night before, so it was ready to roll and laid out my race gear so I could wear it all under my motorbike gear. Then I could just step out James Bond fashion ready to run.  The journey down (round the M25, down to Dover, then heading north towards Deal) went reasonably smoothly.  I arrived in the car park on Walmer sea front at 7:15 in time to get my kit sorted and have a loo break.

Kit for the day had to include lots of red and white, being St George's Day, which turns out to be quite easy for a Sandhurst Jogger. So, SJ race vest, newly purchased red/white cap, old London Marathon jacket to keep warm in case of inclement weather and red calf guards.  I was back in the Hokas since they had worked so well at Brighton, but left the quick-draw laces on, which turned out to be a bit of a mistake.

74 patriotic people at the start

This event is organised by SVN Marathons, run by Traviss Wilcox (also chairman of the 100 Marathon Club).  The event had 74 people taking part, so about as far away from a big city marathon as you can get, with just a few friends and family as official spectators and volunteers manning the one aid station at the start/finish.  We all gathered together at 7:50 for a briefing and announcements for Ed mills, who was running his 100th marathon and Elaine Dean who was doing her 99th and was presented with a Flake to go with an ice cream after the run (99! get it?).  Then, after a hearty attempt at singing Jerusalem, we were off.

Chasing the Dragon

At the pier, about a mile to go to the turn point

The course is a simple completely flat set of 5 laps of an out and back course, briefly heading west from the start to Walmer Castle about 200m away, then turning and heading along the seafront path to Deal, past the Lifeboat Station, the old Regent cinema, the pier and out to the turn-around point at a set of steps on the sea wall.  I set off with my watch set at 9:30/mile pace, which should have been quite comfortable, and found myself trotting along at 9:15/mile pace for the first lap.

I first met Karen Summerville just after she had fallen and
broken her shoulder at Thames Meander marathon in March.
She finished that race in a sling. Amazing woman!

Back at the aid station, I stopped for a drink, piece of cake and nutty fudge and to adjust my laces, as the right shoe was coming loose again. My pace continued like this for the next 2 laps, doing about 9:20/mile for 4 miles, then having a break at the aid station to eat and drink.  By the 4th lap, my loose shoe was becoming the same annoying issue as at Brighton and I was really regretting not sorting this out and changing the laces.  Even though my right leg and heel was taped up I could feel a blister starting to form on my heel and little toe.  I tried tightening the laces up again, but the discomfort in my right foot was starting to give me issues with calf muscle pain, which
worked up to my hips and pelvis too.

End of lap 2 coming in for more cake and squash

At the start of the last lap, I decided that I would jog/walk the last 5 miles and try to avoid doing any more serious damage - I had London Marathon to consider and that was only 3 days away.  The last lap was a fairly painful and slow trot and walk.  I had spent some time running with Jonathan Burton from Norfolk, but with me slowing down and a possible 4:20 PB on offer he had pulled away.  Just before I reached the turn I saw Jon walking slowly towards me, staggering a bit.  He sounded OK, just completely lacking energy and I handed him my bottle of squash.  After the turn I caught back up to him to check how he was and he was fine to continue the walk back for the last 2 miles, so I jogged on eventually making it to the finish for a time of

                                                                                   4:34:04.

At the finish with Janet (Greg Ward's better half),
Jonathan Burton (right) recovered to finish just 5 minutes after me 

I got a massive medal hung around my neck by Traviss, a well stocked goody bag and had some photos taken with Janet Foran in her medieval gown. I then spent an hour eating as many scones as I could while drinking squash and fizzy wine and cheering in the remaining runners.  Unfortunately I couldn't stay for Greg Ward and Ed Mills' finish and Ed's 100th marathon celebrations, as I was on a strict schedule and needed to load up the bike to head up to the ExCel in London to pick up my London Marathon race number.

London Marathon Expo

With my main rival at any big marathon,
the only runner I actually try to beat!

The bike ride up through London turned out to be another great way to get hot and even more
dehydrated, so once I had my number I made straight for the Fullers stand to get some free beer samples.  My St George's Day marathon medal was a great talking point for many people around the expo and was really useful in getting a few more free samples of protein recovery bars.  I managed to see Katy Mead and Emma Lewis, then at 4:30 I left the expo to head across town and Abby's treatment table for a post race check up and massage.  Either I am getting used to the pain, or Abby was being very gentle - I suspect the latter.

So, St George's Day Marathon, proved hard work.  The course was a bit dull, but the other runners were a really good friendly crowd and the aid station, volunteers, medal and goody bag were great.  I have already decided to sign up for next year at the bargain price of £30.  Next year it will be on a Saturday which I think will put it on the day before London, so it could be my first double marathon weekend!

Very impressive medal and a steady and sensible finish time

Contents of the well stocked
goody bag also included an England cap

(PS: just found out that SVN are holding another Wonderland Caucus Run (6 hour challenge) the day before St George's - so this could turn out to be a triple!)