Brighton Crock?

Picking up from the last instalment of Run Reece Run, the decision had been seriously in the balance through the whole week…  Either way, Lesley and I were both heading to Brighton on that Saturday morning, but would I would be joining her with the Bearcat Running Club cheer team or be one of the 20 plus Bearcats actually taking part in the Brighton Marathon?

The fact that I managed to run 400 metres that morning without any noticeable pain in my right knee had decided the matter… I was on my way to run!

The rest of that weekend has left me with an absolute vault of memories… quite a number of weeks have gone by and yet I’m still not sure I’ve got my head round it all! 

One vivid memory I have says a lot… On the morning of the marathon, Lesley and I were walking up from our apartment near the seafront to the start area at Preston Park, about two miles away.  The walk started quietly enough, as would generally be the case early on a Sunday morning, but before long we found ourselves a part of a throng of marathon entrants and their supporters heading purposefully to the start area.

The building anticipation that I could feel in myself and witness in the mass of people around me is one of the great things of the bigger marathon events – I am still a long way off from feeling apathetic about that feeling and in that experience alone I knew at the time I had a reward for persevering through the previous week and not withdrawing my entry!

There are also great memories of the evening before… For weeks the anticipation had been building among a large contingent of the Bearcat Running Club with so many of us having entered the Brighton Marathon.   On the eve of the event many of us were already in Brighton and we rendezvoused for a pasta party… making a pretty good effort to take over Piccolos for the evening!  Obviously, for the majority it was a meal unaccompanied by alcohol (despite some photographic evidence!), but I’m sure I wasn’t alone in feeling high from the anticipation shared with so many friends!

Back to the morning of the event and we certainly couldn’t have asked for better marathon running weather.  A massive contrast to my experience at the Thames Meander Marathon in November – the temperature was on the cool side, it was dry and bright and there was not much more than a breeze in the air.

Lesley and I reached Preston Park and scanned the crowd for a sign of the Bearcats.  It didn’t take long to see the club banner being held high!

We joined the group that grew steadily larger as the Bearcats converged, almost as many having travelled from home that morning as had stayed overnight locally.  Nerves, excitement, resolve – a pretty heady mix of emotions was brewing!  The Bearcats were in a mood to leave their mark on the Brighton Marathon!

After a while I felt the time was right to extricate myself from the Bearcat crowd and make my way to the start pen.  I’d resolved to back myself in an effort to attain something near to the target time I’d had in mind for months, 3h45m.  Five weeks earlier I’d started the Spitfire 20 with doubts in my mind having been unable to run through most of the two previous weeks due to my knee and ITB problems.  That day had gone incredibly well for me and, if that was any indicator, I felt that I would be in good shape to reach the 20 mile mark in a time of about 2 hours 50 minutes.  I felt that if I managed that then things were on for my target finish time.

The pen for runners aiming for a finish time of 3h30m to 4h00m was steadily filling but I pretty comfortably squeezed myself to about a quarter of the way from the front of the pen.  

These are great moments… drawing strength from the building emotion and tension in the air while focussing on the effort about to be exerted.  If the feeling arising from the crowd wasn’t enough, the anthem of David Bowie’s “Heroes” playing over the PA definitely had me primed and ready to start.   For the umpteenth time I resolved… keep the pace at 8m30s to 8m40s per mile.  This was slower than I’d sustained at the Spitfire 20 and was there to be done... get to mile 20 and then each mile as it comes!

And then there was the  start countdown with a cheer emanating from some way ahead as, out of my sight, the first pen was opened and the marathon started.  The crowd of which I was part started inching forward and gathered momentum over some minutes until the start line came into sight… through the start, activate the Garmin and focus on getting the pace right….

The first couple of miles at Brighton are not the easiest in which to settle into a pace as the course has a pretty sharp climb at the start before an equally significant descent.  My first mile took 8m46s and my second 8m16s and then, even though the course continued to undulate, particularly until the halfway point, I had found my groove.  Seeing my split times after, I’m pleased to see that from mile five to thirteen I kept within a pretty tight range of 8m28s to 8m39s per mile.  Overall, at the half way point I had an average pace of 8m33s per mile – pretty much spot on!

I was feeling pretty good throughout the first half and all the better when within the first five miles I heard a call and, looking round, saw fellow Bearcat runner Andrew.  He looked in great form - some way ahead of me in the field but coming up on the other side of the road as the course looped round.  This prompted me into the welcome distraction of Bearcat spotting along the significant parts of the course where it looped on itself.  I saw Andrew and Anna, both well ahead of me, a few times and likewise with Jess, closing in from behind, and there were numerous other Bearcats that I got to call out to. As I went past mile 13 I got a call from the crowd and there was Roger (and presumably Emma) and about a mile later there was the Bearcat banner held proudly aloft, crewed by group of Bearcat supporters which I guessed (correctly) included Lesley.

Sadly, it was around the mile 13 to 14 zone that the wheels started to come of the Reece machine, though I didn’t really fully recognise the problem for a while.  In hindsight, I had been aware of a troublesome pain on the outer edge of my left foot from about mile 7.  I had been trying to manage this, for example by running as much as possible along the middle of the road where the camber wasn’t so steep as at the sides. This had been steadily getting worse but I don’t think was the main reason why mile 14 was notably slower (8m44s).  I recall noting this and not being too worried at the time and simply trying to bring my pace back up to the average I’d been sustaining.  However it became evident that whatever extra effort I was trying to put in wasn’t having the desired effect as mile 15 took 8m50s and mile 16 took 8m57s.  The pain in my foot was becoming a lot less tolerable as I realised that my target time was slipping away and I had a further rough couple of miles where I continued to lose pace.

Serious doubts were nagging away at this point about any damage I might be doing to my troublesome knee (even though that didn’t seem to be the source of the immediate problem) and I contemplated the possibility of withdrawing at mile 18.  At that point I was well aware that  the course takes a turn, heading out east and further away from the finish line.  One way or another I knew I had to get to the finish to collect my baggage, so if I had to withdraw I knew it would be better to do so at mile 18 rather than mile 21, from where I’d have an extra 3 miles to get back from!

However, during mile 18, while I found myself unable to halt the decline in my pace, I somehow felt less uncomfortable (seeing Lesley at mile 18 no doubt helped!).  Perhaps this was through accepting to myself a much less ambitious target time.  I’m pretty sure that by then I wasn’t even thinking of a sub 4 hour time but was reckoning on being able to average the rest of the course at between 10 and 11 minutes per mile which would have seen me finish inside 4h10m.  Miles 17 through to 19 saw me hold that line pretty well as, though my pace continued to decline it was still faster than 10 minutes per mile pace.  However, things definitely slumped during mile 20 as I lost almost a further minute off my pace.  By now I was certain that my right glute was not “firing” (a term picked up from a chiropractor I’d been consulting!).  There was a very serious debate going on inside my head over the next couple of miles and having completed mile 22 at a pace of 12m23s and with my watch indicating I was slowing even more (I thought at the time, perhaps mistakenly, that I was down to 15 minutes per mile pace), my resolve snapped.

Having run, however slowly, for 22.37 miles there is no doubt I’ve found it difficult to come to terms with walking the final four miles!   If it wasn’t for the need to collect my belongings from the finish area I might well have taken myself off at that point to the pub where the Bearcats had agreed to meet.

However, I was able to walk and I just carried on.  One thing for certain, once I’d stopped running, there was no way I was able to re-start running, whatever the pace.  I did try for one brief ten second spurt but by then, having stiffened up further, my legs and particularly my right knee literally felt brittle and ready to break!  Rationally, I knew there was every chance that if I continued to run I would pick up or worsen an injury.

There’s no denying that most of what I feel about the experience of walking four miles to finish is negative.  I know how annoyed I felt about the performance of a certain football team close to my heart in the last two games of the season just ended!  They had played brilliantly and well above expectation for months but when winning the league ceased to be a possibility, though they continued to have 11 players on the pitch getting paid as normal, they seemed to more or less stop playing football.  The inner chastisement I’ve given myself about walking for four miles at the end of a marathon is pretty much on par with my thoughts about that football club during those two games!  Nevertheless, I’ll be supporting them with restored passion at the beginning of next football season (COYS!) and likewise I’m sure I’ll be backing myself to achieve whatever target I set myself the next time I run a marathon!

There are still positives to draw.  Genuinely, overall I’m glad that I gave myself the chance to compete.  On another occasion I’ll start an event with similar uncertainty and things will work out!  As I’ve said earlier, the experience of so much of the weekend was brilliant and I’m sure wouldn’t have been anywhere near as good if, after all the training I’d done over the last few months, I’d had the anti-climax of not running at all.  

Another thing is that, however much regret there is about only being able to walk that last four miles, the support was absolutely fantastic.  If anything you get even greater support from the crowd if you’re walking as you become the focus of more people encouraging you to carry on!  

The best encouragement I had was when I finally reached the point where Lesley was looking out for me and for a while she joined me in my walk towards the finish.  It was also great to see so many of the Bearcat runners doing so well in the final miles and checking I was alright – in particular Sarah and Mel who kept going through their own big problems on the day.

It was sad to go through the marathon finish line with no great feeling of celebration – just relief to get finished (in a time of 4h49m)!  But I still had a further finish line to find… the pub that was the rendezvous point for the Bearcats.  That was a finish line I reached with much greater enthusiasm!

Big congratulations to the brilliant achievements of so many of my clubmates - huge numbers of PBs and many first marathons completed.  In contrast to the previous night the evident intoxication at the pub had nothing to do with anticipation!

Seven weeks on from Brighton I can report on having made a cautious return to running over the last few weeks, enabling me to take part in the biggest Bearcat party of the year, the Turks Head 10.

  

It was particularly special in being the first time that there were three of the family taking part in an event with both Lesley and Carmella joining me in a medal shot…

My knee still isn't entirely right but an X-Ray gave some reassuring news last week.  I’m hoping to see some continued improvement over the next few weeks as I’d like to be fit to start a serious training campaign by the beginning of July that would enable some further challenges in the autumn.  

All being well Run Reece Run will be back later this year!

Brighton or Bust?

Picking up from the last instalment of Run Reece Run, my planning for Brighton Marathon started last November in the wake of completing the Thames Meander Marathon.

As with my previous three marathons, there were some useful lessons to take on board from the TMM.

One lesson is to never underestimate the importance of adapting to weather conditions!  On a day of heavy showers when the course was already saturated from a week of heavy rain and with winds that, for the most part, were 20mph and at times 40mph, in hindsight I realise I should have started at a more cautious pace.  Instead I probably went out slightly quicker than would have been wise even if the conditions had been perfect!  

I think a factor that contributed to this was that on the three previous weekends I had gained PBs at half marathon, 10 miles and 10K distances and any internal metronome I have was probably set at a faster pace than ideal for a marathon!  The outcome was that, while I felt very comfortable in the first 10 miles running faster than 8m20s per mile (no great surprise as this was significantly slower than the sub 7m20s pace I’d run throughout the Great South 10 mile run two weeks earlier), by the time I reached the turn point on the course and found myself running into a 40mph wind I was definitely more fatigued than I would have wanted to be with 13 miles still to run.  By mile 16 I was seriously struggling!

At the time I considered an even more important lesson was to ensure I built more long training runs into my next marathon schedule.  While my training for TMM had included two twenty mile runs (four and five weeks before the marathon), I’d only squeezed in two other runs of 16 miles or more.  Prior to my three previous marathons I’d done significantly more runs of 16 miles or further and I had to acknowledge that while my training in advance of the TMM had been great for 10K to half marathon distances, it was far from ideal for a marathon.

For the six weeks following the TMM I gave myself a relative rest with just one “heavy week” (that included a 16 mile run) in the middle of this period.  That took me to w/c 20th December when my 17 week programme for Brighton was seriously launched.

The first three weeks of training went as perfectly as I could have hoped for with a combination of interval sessions, tempo runs of 3-7 miles and longer slower runs.   However, Saturday 9th January marked a turning point.  That morning I had the very unwelcome experience of finding I could not put any weight on my right leg as I went downstairs without significant pain to my knee.  Strangely, there was no indication of any problem when I was walking on the flat.  I tentatively ran a short distance with no noticeable pain in my knee and came to what may well have been an unwise decision to go ahead with Parkrun.  The almost equally strange occurrence was that I then proceeded to take 23 seconds off my 5K PB, finishing in a time of 21m00s!

Over the previous six Saturdays I had been pushing myself pretty hard at Parkrun with finishes ranging from a PB equalling 21m23s to 22m01s.  On some of those runs the conditions hadn’t been ideal so I felt there was a chance that on a day with less wind and/or less slippery conditions underfoot I might be able to take a second or two off my PB.  In the final kilometre I was pretty confident that I had a PB time in the bag if I kept pushing hard to the end but I didn’t have a clue that it was such a big improvement until I went through the finish and checked my watch.  Of particular satisfaction was that I once more had bragging rights in the Parker/Reece household!

While Lesley had started running only in January of the previous year she had made incredible improvement.  Compared to my training programme, Lesley was doing only a fraction of the runs and none of the strength and stretching exercises.  Nevertheless within a year she had attained a PB with an age graded (“WAVA” or now “WMA”) score that was better than 70%.  At last with my new PB I had achieved my first 70% WMA score at Parkrun (only my second 70% score at any distance, the first having been the Trick or Treat 10K in November).  I daren’t make too much of this as I know only too well that if Lesley did ever decide to take training more seriously, she might be pushing towards 80%, certainly way beyond my capability! [For more information about age graded scoring: https://support.parkrun.com/hc/en-us/articles/200565263-What-is-age-grading- ].

My training through the rest of that week continued to go to schedule but by the end of the week I was getting the impression that there were issues with my knee that were more than just a temporary niggle.  Matters then took another turn at the end of the week when Mum had a bad fall and was rushed into hospital.  While I would desperately have wished for different circumstances, the fact that I had an enforced week off from running was not at all a bad thing for my knee at that time.

Looking back now, the training picked up again very well in February and I also had a few physio and chiropractic sessions.  By the end of the month I’d completed the Hampton Court Half Marathon in a 1h41m time and my first 20 mile run of the campaign.  However, the completion of the latter coincided with a further flare up of my knee problem and an associated ITB issue.  This led to another couple of weeks where I had to rest up.  Once more I had relatively reassuring sessions with physio/chiro and I ended the two week rest period on 13^th March with one of the highlights of my spring campaign - the Spitfire 20.

The Spitfire 20 is a challenging course of two ten mile laps that include some serious hills.  I’d previously completed it in 2014 in a time of 3h06m when the last two hills had seemed like Everest!  This time I felt far more in control and finished in 2h48m!  During the run and over the next day or so, I had no particular reaction from the knee or ITB but then later in the week I found myself having to abandon a run because of knee pain.

There then followed what in terms of my hopes for Brighton Marathon was a mistake.  One week after the Spitfire 20 I took part in the Hampton Court Palace Half Marathon.  I’d been allocated a place among the first wave of runners and against my better judgement went along with this placing and found myself swept along in an adrenalin fuelled tide of enthusiasm which led to just my second sub 1h40m half marathon time (about 30 seconds slower than my PB of the previous October).  While this was very satisfying in itself, the effort clearly had its consequences on my troublesome knee!

I found myself unable to do any running through the rest of the week and over the following Easter weekend my hopes of undertaking a final 20 mile training run were thwarted after just 2 miles by the discomfort in my knee and ITB.  A second week of relative rest which included a somewhat “clunky” 5 mile run and I decided that I had to take my place at the Richmond Half Marathon to keep myself in reasonable shape for Brighton, just two weeks away.

This time I maintained good discipline and ran at not much faster than my intended marathon pace.  My leg was fine through the run and, though it stiffened up through the rest of the day, I thought the signs were reasonably positive.  Nevertheless, over the week I didn’t feel confident enough to test it any further.  

In the final weekend before Brighton I ran Parkrun on Saturday which went well and on Sunday a 7 mile run with the Bearcat Running Club.  The knee felt absolutely fine for most of that last 7 mile run but within the last 100 metres, as we went over a footbridge, I felt the knee suddenly stiffen up.  I wasn’t particularly concerned at the time but by the end of the afternoon the knee was causing more pain than it had throughout the whole time since the problem first occurred in January.   For the next 48 hours I judged that the likelihood of me being able to run a marathon less than a week later was less than 20%!  

I resolved to avoid making a final decision until as late as possible and from Wednesday morning onwards there was definite improvement each day.  On Saturday morning, the day before the marathon, I took a cautious run round the block (about 400 metres) and didn’t feel any significant discomfort…

Brighton or bust?  I'd come up with an answer - not bust enough to stop me getting to the start line! I was going to Brighton to compete and not spectate!

Next instalment of Run Reece Run – Crunch time at the Brighton Marathon! 

Training Hard... Running Faster

It’s been a long while since I put pen to paper for Run Reece Run, in fact just over a year with the last occasion being in the afterglow of my first sub 4 hour marathon achieved at Paris in April 2015.

I did have every intention of getting the blog going again in January 2016 to track my training for the April 2016 Brighton Marathon but other matters took over…

The most significant was Mum having a fall that led her to being rushed into hospital in mid-January.  Mum has remained in hospital from then right up to now in May.  The other matter was an injury I incurred, also in January, that has troubled me throughout my training and led me on at least three separate occasions to seriously contemplate having to defer my Brighton entry.

For a combination of reasons these matters left me with no particular enthusiasm for resuming the blog until now.

The difficulties I encountered from January were in marked contrast to the period between Paris Marathon in April 2015 and the turn of the year.

Things really got going in that period on the back of the Turk’s Head 10K event in June 2015.  Between the Paris Marathon in April 2015 and Turk’s Head 10 in June I changed my approach to training, focussing much more on sprint intervals and pushing myself a bit harder at the 5K distance at weekly Parkrun events.  Another important feature of my training at that time was doing strength sessions about three times a week.  This was not exactly sophisticated but it seemed to be pretty effective.  This involved doing three to four cycles of a programme involving press-ups, squats, steps and a combination of core exercises.  Overall this took about 45 minutes and was completed in my front room three mornings a week for two to three months before being reduced to one session per week.  On the mornings that I didn’t do the strength sessions I did a somewhat less strenuous but nevertheless important set of stretching exercises that took about 20 minutes to complete.   The 20 minutes of stretching exercises were also a feature of my evenings other than a Wednesday when I would try to get to a Pilates class and swim session. 

The Turk’s Head 10 went as well as I could have hoped for as I finished well inside the 48 minute time I’d targeted.  More than that, it gave me a marker for what I wanted to achieve over the rest of the year.  

My most immediate target was to improve on my 22m17s PB for 5K, achieved at my regular Parkrun event (Crane Park).  On the back of my training, I succeeded with this objective on two occasions in July, both times getting below 22 minutes.  Then in August I achieved another two PBs at the distance, getting down to 21m23s.  That was almost a minute less than the best that I’d set in September 2014, which at the time I’d considered would be a major challenge to improve upon.

With my 5K performance improvement well in hand, what then helped to raise my ambitions for the longer distances was a combination of seeing the achievements of some of my Bearcat Running Club friends and also checking out websites such as www.goodrunguide.co.uk/RacePredictor.asp  which provided a means to identify the realistically achievable times for longer distances projected from inputting my finish times at 5K events.   The fact that at this point in August/September I was consistently achieving  5K times of around 21m30s seemed to indicate that I could realistically aim for a half marathon of about 1h40m (my PB stood at 1h44m).

As the summer progressed and going into September, I reduced the strength and sprint interval sessions but increased the number and intensity of my 5 to 10 mile training runs.  I had a hint of what my training was going to enable when in September at the Richmond Running Festival I found myself smashing my Half Marathon PB while still feeling I had further capacity for improvement. Eighteen months had passed since my previous Half Marathon PB of 1h44m and in that time I’d run eight half marathons with none better than 1h48m.  My new PB was a time of 1h40m25s (though my Garmin annoyingly showed a distance of just 12.97 miles!).  For me, another memorable aspect of the Richmond Running Festival was that it marked my partner Lesley's first race event after she had started running in January 2015.  She did the Bearcat Running Club proud by earning her first 10K medal!

This set the scene for a period in October/November which may turn out to be the best three weeks of running I ever achieve.  

On 18th October I completed the River Thames Half Marathon in 1h39m09s...

On 25th October as part of Bearcat Running Club friendly invasion of Portsmouth, I completed the Great South Run (10 miles) in 1h13m13s...

On 1st November I completed the Trick or Treat 10K event in 43m15s (hotly pursued by Catwoman)...

Three PBs absolutely smashed in three weeks!  The only relative disappointment was that one week later my effort in the Thames Meander Marathon was about 15 minutes outside my marathon PB.  

There were a number of factors that contributed to that and I was more than happy to end my autumn campaign with the three PBs plus a completed marathon and added resolve to achieve a 3h45m time at the Brighton Marathon!

In closing my account of how I moved on from the Paris Marathon in April 2015 to the Thames Meander Marathon in November 2015 it is right that I also reflect on the charity I supported in the lead up to Paris.  As recorded in the January to April 2015 instalments of Run Reece Run, my aim was to support Kaira Konko Scout Active Support.

I was inspired to do this particularly by the work my daughter Carmella has been involved with in The Gambia since 2008.  Carmella’s association with The Gambia arose initially from a link between the school at which she is a teacher, All Saints C of E Junior School in Fleet, and The Soma Lower Basic School, located in Soma, a town in The Gambia.  This link was itself developed from work that had been initiated between scouts groups based in Soma and Hampshire and Carmella has become increasingly involved with this as well.

I hugely appreciate the fundraising support I received which provided £1,120 to the charity.   This supported the construction of a borehole at Soma Lower Basic School, part of the school orchard project.

Carmella along with colleagues from her school visited Soma again in February 2016 and her report included the following….

This year, we were absolutely delighted to find the school orchard, once barren land, transformed as a fully operating women’s garden.  Two years ago, our school community helped raise funds to build a wall, crucial to the success of this project, and over the summer a bore hole was built allowing mothers to cultivate the land and grow crops.  The vast amount of land at the back of the school is now a fully functioning women’s garden, tended by hundreds of mothers, which impacts both the school and local community.

With all that has gone on since January, I failed to get myself engaged in a coordinated fundraising campaign but I have belatedly started raising funds for the Education Support Partnership.

This is an organisation that provides practical and emotional support to staff in the education sector and their families. They provide independent, confidential support, to help people deal with stress and anxiety, bullying, career and money worries, and a range of other issues.

In view of the fact that I have not given the Education Support Partnership the attention that I would have liked to in the lead up to the Brighton Marathon, my current thinking is to continue with my support of the charity in association with my next running campaign (the timing of which is a little uncertain with my current injury!).  In the meantime any support to the charity through my fundraising page  https://www.justgiving.com/John-Reece1 will be very gratefully received! 

The next instalment of Run Reece Run will bring things up to date with the highs and lows of my Brighton Marathon campaign and hopefully some news of improvement on the injury front!

With very best wishes...

Un Voyage Incroyable (An Incredible Journey!)

There may well have been a look of despair on my face as I checked my GPS watch.  The seconds continued to flicker by… 3 hours 19 minutes and counting… but the distance count had come to a halt at 22.73 miles.  Without doubt I had reached the defining point in my quest to complete a marathon in under four hours!

Up to this point I could have no serious complaints about how things had gone.  Yes, the day had started earlier than was ideal with a 5.30am alarm to make sure I had good time to go through my normal stretch and roller routine, eat my usual pre-race breakfast of porridge and banana and sink about two pints of water.  However, considering the time in the morning, I felt remarkably alert, certainly much more so than I recall being a year earlier at the London Marathon.  There I had arrived at the start zone in Greenwich Park with the feeling about me that might have been more appropriate if I was attending as an extra at the shooting of a zombie movie!

My brother David, with whom Lesley and I were staying at his apartment in Viroflay (near Versailles), had the travel plan sorted.  Lesley and I were happy to have him guide us through an easy train journey that had us arriving just a short walk from the marathon baggage area at 7.40am.  This gave me a clear hour before I was due to enter my start pen.  Now is not the time to go into the gory details of the next hour (I’m not doing a review of the toilet facilities!).  Sufficient to say that by 8.40am I was as best prepared as I think I could possibly have been as I stood at the threshold of the start pen of those whose race time was expected to be in the range of 3h45m to 3h59m.

 

At this point I left Lesley and David who had now joined up with Natalie from the Bearcat Running Club.  Natalie was there to cheer on her partner Lee who was already deep amidst the mass of people congregating in the pen.  I hoped to be seeing the “support team” at specific points we had identified on the course at approximately the 5.5 mile, 12.5 mile and 18.5 mile points.

As had been forecast, the sky gave no suggestion of rain and it was reasonably cool, though, at about 8˚C, nowhere near as cold as the conditions in which I had completed much of my training.   The temperature was expected to rise to about 11˚C by about 11am with an eventual maximum for the day predicted to be 17˚C (worryingly warm!).  Regardless of the air temperature, the sun was expected to shine brightly and I knew this was going to make it feel even warmer.  Water stations were placed at 5KM intervals and I intended to make good use of each of them.

Having entered the pen, I made my way as far forward as I could squeeze myself without causing offence.  This was on the basis that, while I did not expect to finish in a time of 3h45m, it was my intention to go out for at least the first couple of miles at the pace commensurate with such a time (about 8m30s per mile).  I had this in mind as I wanted to avoid the congestion there can be at the beginning of such a huge event if you find yourself behind a significant number running slower than your intended pace.  I had my Brighton experience from two years previously as a point of reference (and quite a few half marathons since then) when I had been faced with either having to do a lot of weaving between and around other runners or accept running for a significant time at a slower pace than I had planned for.

At 8.45am the announcement was made to a great cheer that the marathon was officially starting – just 30 minutes more and my starting pen would be released! There was no doubt that I felt part of something immense and the panoramic photos clearly emphasise this!

For the umpteenth time I reflected on my relatively simple plan which was to take the run in three distinct stages.  Part one would be to the half way point; part two would be between half way and mile 20; part three would be the final 6.2 miles.  For part one I had in mind a pace that would see me complete 13.1 miles approximately five minutes slower than the two half marathons I had completed in March.   For part two I aimed to reach mile 20 at about the time I had achieved in my two recent 20 mile runs (in the region of 2h52m to 2h55m); for part three I resolved to take each mile as it came and hope to hang in on an average pace for this stage of about 9m30s per mile.  Allowing for the fact that I anticipated that, by my GPS watch, I would run more like 26.5 miles than the official 26.2 miles, I felt that by sticking to this plan I would finish in a time of 3h55m.

Everything was in place and at 9.15am the group of which I was part started moving forward.  Within a minute I felt myself released as I hit the start line, making sure I checked my watch, which with some relief I saw was functioning correctly.

Immediately I could sense that the first element of my plan was working effectively as the runners fanned out across the width of the Champs Elysees and there seemed quite reasonable room in which to manoeuvre.  In any case there seemed to be very little difference between the pace of the vast majority of runners so there were no frustrating hold ups.

 

The one thing that I soon knew was not quite right was that my pace was a touch quicker than I felt was entirely sensible.  However, at 8m25s per mile I did not feel this was a ridiculous pace and I could not raise sufficient self-discipline to rein myself back even as I went by Place De La Concorde at mile 1 and Place De La Bastille at mile 3.  My left calf, that had been something of a bother for at least a couple of months, was giving only the faintest of suggestions that it might cause trouble.

 

 

With all going well, I carefully scanned the watching crowds from mile 5 and before long I took strength from seeing Lesley, David and Natalie and blowing them a kiss as I went by!  Not long after this I cursed myself that in my enthusiasm to look out for the support team I had let my mind waver from my gel strategy – I had meant to take the first at mile 4 and thereafter at four mile intervals.  I wasted no further time and had consumed the first before reaching the water station at the 10KM point.

The course entered a park, “Bois de Vincennes”, at around mile 6 and traversed around this for approximately six miles.  I found this to be a particularly good part of the course.  The road was still suitably wide to avoid excessive bunching of runners and it provided a very sure running surface.  One thing that was noticeable by the end of this stretch was that the temperature was definitely rising.  Even at the 10KM point, having eagerly grabbed a bottle from the water station, I poured at least as much of the content over my head as into my mouth!  I maintained this strategy at each subsequent water station at every 5KM point. 

I questioned myself over my pace regularly but the momentum was definitely leading my decision making.  At 10 miles (01:24:14) I could at least congratulate myself for the consistency of my pace which I’d maintained at 8m25s per mile.  I made no mistake about my gels at mile 8 and 12 and was still finishing the second of these when I had my second rendezvous with the support team having just left the Bois de Vincennes.  It was certainly easier than at London to pick out the faces in the crowd.  While there was good spectator support, it was not anywhere near the absolutely huge numbers that turn out for the London Marathon.  As in London, there was no shortage of entertainment along the course with all sorts of live music.

 Stage one of my run was fast coming to an end with my official half way time (c.13.25 miles by my watch) being 01:51:14.  My focus now moved to the stretch taking me to mile 20.  Despite a growing doubt about my pace I was pleased that through mile 14 and 15 I found myself keeping almost to the same pace I had sustained thus far.  The course was by now running along by the River Seine and the bridges and sights across the river provided a fantastic backdrop, though I’d enjoyed the view far more on a Bateaux Mouches river cruise two days earlier!

 I was now steeling myself for a part of the course for which I was particularly nervous.  I wasn’t sure exactly where this came other than it was in the river side section, but I knew the course would be going into a lengthy tunnel (half a mile to a mile in length).  Sure enough, almost at the point of mile 16, as I reached for my fourth gel, I could see I was fast approaching the mouth of the tunnel.  A particular concern I had about the tunnel was the effect it would have on my watch which had developed an occasional habit of shutting down when losing its satellite signal, as it inevitably would in the tunnel.  I also knew that in the dark my sight would not be good enough to read any warning signal or guidance message on the watch that would help me prevent a shut down.  Added to this, the point on the course at which the tunnel fell could hardly have been a worse place for me.  I recognised mile 16 as a stage at which I had suffered on a number of runs in the past, most particularly this had been the point at London where my injury had reduced me to a hobble!  The music and disco lights in part of the tunnel did little to lighten my mood and it was with massive relief that eventually I could literally see light at the end of the tunnel!  As I emerged I realised as well just how relatively airless the atmosphere in the tunnel had been.  My relief at drawing in gulps of fresh air was further increased when I checked my watch and came to a tentative conclusion that it seemed to have kept functioning and had pieced in reasonably accurately the distance missed from losing satellite connection.  However I was not surprised to see that mile 17 recorded as a 9 minute mile.  I sensed there would now be a real struggle to maintain my desired pace to mile 20.

For a further 2½ miles the course continued by the Seine.  Further tunnels came and went, all thankfully short but each with a very unwelcome incline to be breached in order to escape!  While the Eiffel Tower had been on the skyline for a while, I had avoided looking at it for fear that I would be intimidated by the illusion that it was not getting any nearer!  However it was now becoming a dominant view on the other side of the river and at mile 18 I was almost parallel with it.  I steadied myself as best as I could at this point beginning to look out again in the crowd.  Before too long I saw Lesley and Natalie and did my best to look in good form (David, now joined by wife Mieke and son Chris, had taken a higher vantage point here).

Grim determination now kicked in as I sought to hit my target time for mile 20.  Focus was very much on the road and my surroundings were increasingly a blur.  I was aware that mile by mile I was slowing to just above 9 minute mile pace but I knew that this was no disaster as long as I did not slip much further.  I had come with an extra gel and decided to take one at mile 19 and keep the final one for mile 22. 

The fact that I was not in the most tolerant of moods at this point was evident when I had a peripheral sense that ahead of me a smartly attired spectator was starting to move across the road.  Very assertively I put my hand up and felt a stern expression mould itself on my face.  This had the desired effect of stopping the person in their tracks and I was able to continue without slowing. As I ran past I reflected on whether I had ever before made such an assertive gesture to a police officer, let alone a gendarme!

With a reward of no small amount of self-congratulation, I reached the 20 mile mark (by my watch I reached 20 miles in 02:52:11 though by this point the official mile marks were coming up about 0.2 of a mile after my watch).  Whichever mark I used, I knew I had met my stage two target by achieving a time that was pretty much on par with the PB I had gained at the Kingston Breakfast run four weeks previously.  However, I recognised that a combination of my earlier pace and the increasingly warm temperature had left me with less energy than I had felt at the end of the Kingston run.  Tempered against this, I knew that I only had to see out the rest of the course at about 10 minute mile pace in order to meet my sub 4 hour target and have about five minutes to spare.

Every water station was now an absolute mercy and something of a scramble.  One of the few issues I had about the course was that the water stations were placed at just one side of the road which concentrated the runners into a more limited space.  The confusion arising from this was increased by the fact that at this point it was evident that a lot of runners, including me, were less well co-ordinated than they had been earlier!

Mile 21, coming into another park, "Bois De Boulogne", was reached in a split time of 9m21s.  I was happy enough with that!  I definitely had the sensation of emptiness in the legs – indication that I had used all the stored glycogen in my muscles (even the carb loading pasta extravaganza cooked up by Mieke the previous evening couldn’t quite take me all the way to 26.2 miles!).  The brain gremlins were now having a field day – they seemed to have been inspired by the live music on the route as there now seemed to be a choral society of them incessantly chanting “stop and rest… stop and rest!”  Combating this I kept on drawing on each image of motivation I possibly could.

Mile 22 reached in a split time of 10m04s.  Disappointed to slip slightly above the 10 minute mile marker but I felt I could hold on without too much more slippage.  I hoped the last gel would give me a boost.  I now started to think of the familiar distance of Parkrun – it was now little more than that distance (5KM) left until the finish line.  Amidst these random thoughts flitting in and out of my mind suddenly… BANG!  Not literally a noise, but something almost as profound!  Pain stabbed into my right hamstring, a loud and despairing yell was drawn from my mouth and I was stopped dead in my tracks!

I kept sufficiently controlled to take myself as best I could to a tree adjacent to the course and lean into a stretch against it.  Various images might have gone through my mind – the vultures I had encountered in The Gambia could easily have been one of them!  However there was another thought associated with The Gambia that came to the foremost of my mind. 

A day or two earlier, Carmella had let me know she had received a message from Ousman Gaye, one of the Kaira Konko scouts I had met in The Gambia, saying that the boys would be praying for me.  I thought of them and the photo I had of us all together wearing Bearcat shirts and with this in mind I came out of my stretch and limped back on to the course.  After about ten paces, with every proverbial finger crossed, I broke into as cautious a run as I could.  A feeling of absolute massive relief flooded through me as I felt my right leg standing up to the challenge (realisation eventually dawning that I had suffered a cramp rather than a tear).  I ploughed on, doing fresh calculations and reassuring myself that even 11 minute miles would get me to the finish in time.

Mile 23 eventually reached in a split time of about 10m50s.  Now genuinely in Parkrun territory and thinking it would be good to have Lesley in front to pace me home!

Hanging on in there and mile 24 reached in a split time of under 10m20s.  Confidence now reasserting itself, particularly as around this point a band was playing a cover of one of my favourite songs, “Won’t Get Fooled Again” – there was no way I was going to be!

Mile 25 reached in a split time of just over 10 minutes!  A fresh calculation and I felt that, even if I had to limp to the end from that point, I could still make it.  I sensed some easing off – I wasn’t going to make it in under 3h55m and so why push myself too hard and make it more difficult to achieve a new PB in the future?

If nothing else, the growing noise of the crowd was telling me I was closing in.  Once again I scanned the crowds wondering if I would see the support team one more time before the end – a glance at my watch, now saying 26 miles and suddenly I could hear from the crowd just behind me a yell of “Bearcats!”  My arm shot up in acknowledgement and reality was now well and truly kicking in that the finish line was near… 

 

 

Thumbs up and a blown kiss to the first camera I saw... 

 

 

... and, as I reached the line, hands in the air, in a gesture of combined relief, gratitude and celebration!

A tide of emotion hit me – much more so than even at my first marathon when for some absurd reason I had been disappointed with my time.  A pace or two beyond the line I stopped my watch at 03:57:11.  As well as the feeling for this moment in Paris, my emotions linked back to London as I realised that with the 4 hour monkey off my back my London Marathon finish somehow seemed more special to me now.

So much more to say… the kiss to the woman who gave me my Paris medal, the text message I sent to Lesley once I had reclaimed my bag, eventually reaching the Bearcat’s agreed post-race meeting point and the hug with Lesley when I arrived there; the shared achievement, first with Lee, who had finished a couple of minutes ahead of me, and then with Ali, Geoff, Chris and Leo; eventually exchanging messages with Sarah and Nicky who had also finished but not got to the meeting point; later on, after a cold bath, getting on to Facebook to check how the Bearcats had done at the Brighton Marathon held the same day.  Finally a celebratory evening meal with Lesley, David and Mieke!

Such an amazing experience - the pinnacle of a 19 week period that started with a 6½ mile run with the Bearcats on 30 November!  I am definitely up for more of this and have signed up for the 2016 Brighton Marathon already!

As this series of Run Reece Run reaches an end, my current fundraising for Kaira Konko Scout Active Support is also heading towards a conclusion.  As I write, the total raised is at the threshold of £1,000!  I am very grateful for the generous contributions that have brought this about – I am in no doubt that this support was one of the key motivators that kept me going in the tough stages of the Paris Marathon and the training and other events that led up to it.  Most importantly the contributions will touch the lives of the people of Soma in The Gambia.  As was set out in the last installent of Run Reece Run, the money raised will go towards a project that will see the constuction of a borehole at Soma Lower Basic School.  This will have long lasting impact for the school, its children and the local community.  The school orchard project, once complete, will provide a sustainable income for the school, food supplements for school meals, as well as space for the children to learn and a place where they can make their own contribution to the development of their school.

Up until 12 June 2015, donations can still be made and will be gratefully received through my fundraising site:

http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/JohnReece  

I close with thanks and best wishes and also congratulations on your own marathon effort of persevering to this point with Run Reece Run!

John