Hastings Marathon (100th Anniversary)

[Fiona P]

[FONT="]I can’t stop talking about Sunday so, to give my colleagues a break, I’ll pour it out on here![/FONT]
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I got very nervous in the 2 weeks leading up to Hastings – the weather looked like it could be horrendous and I had no notion of how I’d cope on the course. My aim was to beat 3.28 (from FLM) but I had no other target or expectation.[/FONT]

[FONT="]Being part of the team made a huge difference to me and the aim of raising money for a worthy cause is always motivating. It has been great to raise so much with it still coming in.[/FONT]

[FONT="]I started the race lining up with Steve - apologising for bullying him into running - I now owe him a few beers! The ‘Chariots of Fire’ theme tune was playing as the gun fired and that got the blood pumping but I thought we started too fast. Our first mile was sub 3.15 pace and we seemed to be doing a lot of overtaking. I was trying to slow Steve down but I’m sure he sped up. I think his words were “ what can go wrong?”…fair play, I thought! We saw Simon and caught up with him – Steve shouting “track” as we went past which cracked me up. Near the start of the major hill Steve must’ve decided to stop overtaking but I was in a rhythm and felt comfortable keeping to the same pace. I still had his words ringing in my head and I seemed to overtake a lot of people on that hill.[/FONT]

[FONT="]At around 4M I saw Matt on the side of the road - the first of many many supporters which made the day for me. At that point I saw a BHAC vest in front and caught up with Jason. THE hill was ok and it was nice to see a friend from work at the top, around 6M. To my intense surprise he shouted “I’ve only seen one other bird”…though by the time I’d worked out what he’d said two girls had gone past me. Going up a hill in the Battle area a mile or so later I overtook the same two girls but assumed I’d be overtaken again not very far down the road.[/FONT]

[FONT="]I think being a girl in such a race was an advantage – there were fewer of us so the crowd seemed to notice us and cheer us on even more which was great. I think it was around 9 -10M when I caught sight of another girl, who turned out to be the leading lady, and a few guys. I caught up with the small group and stuck to the back of them. I’d been warned about the hill at around 12-13M in the Catsfield/Ninfield area so it was good to get that out of the way. Soon after the halfway point Annabelle (ladies winner) and I were running alone. I checked my watch just after 13M and was surprised, happy and a bit worried to see 1.34…I anticipated a lot of pain very soon![/FONT]

[FONT="]I lost track of how many times I saw Brigitte and co…both on the side of the road and driving up and down the course, honking, tooting, shouting and offering gels. I’ve never seen anything like it and it was fantastic – they were hilarious and you couldn’t help smiling going past them – a massive boost. I think Matt, Jeanette and co were also at about 16M, once again it was so great to have familiar faces cheering![/FONT]

[FONT="]At around 18M I started to feel a bit tired but all was still ok – certainly not what I’d expected after the fast first half. For some reason Steve’s “what can go wrong” popped into my head at this point and spurred me on. Hitting the seafront was great in the sense that the psychological 20M barrier was behind me but awful as I couldn’t believe it when another hill appeared, followed by shingle hell.[/FONT]

[FONT="]I ran with Annabelle until around 21-22M – she certainly seemed very strong and made it look like a stroll in the park. Running with her pulled me round the course far faster than I’d anticipated. It was brilliant to be at the front and a privilege to run with the eventual winner. Hearing people shouting “leading ladies” was certainly very motivating.[/FONT]

[FONT="]I’m not sure if the last 4 miles were run more by my head or my heart but my legs didn’t have much to do with it, they’d lost the plot. At this point the lead girl had opened up a gap and I was running on my own, though still passing a few people. I’d now realised that unless I really went to pieces I should achieve sub 3.15 so that kept something going. I couldn’t focus on the maths to get a closer estimate. I saw Ash somewhere around 22M but I wasn’t able to muster much enthusiasm at that point, as reflected in his photo![/FONT]

[FONT="]I almost cried when someone shouted ‘2 miles to go’ – it felt like I’d past the 24M marker an hour previously. Passing 26 miles was, of course, brilliant. Going down the home straight was fantastic with so many team supporters in the crowd. Cup of tea was very welcome and the beer even more so![/FONT]

[FONT="]It was an awesome day, I absolutely loved it. Being part of such a supportive and enthusiastic team of runners and supporters made the day. I enjoyed the actual run far more than I expected and to take 23 mins off my pb was a brilliant surprise. I am still on a high! I know we were all massively chuffed for Simon, who took a huge chunk off his pb (I TOLD you!), and Darryl, who practically halved his. Steve, who got bullied into running with only 2 weeks to go,…star.[/FONT]