Having worked out that I could potentially do my 50th marathon at Phoenix explorer I needed to get another one in and what better way than to do that with SVN and join Jon Ward for his 100th marathon on a very fitting day being as he is in the RAF. I met Jon while doing ten in ten marathons and he done all ten in I believe sub 3:30 he is a machine an incredible runner who has raised a lot of money in completing his 100 marathons well done Jon a fantastic achievement
For me the route was a familiar one being around the outskirts of the cyclopark track and I knew it would be quite challenging with the slopes on each loop. Each loop was 5.25 miles so 5 laps for a marathon and 6 for a 50k which was my plan at the start. I saw many running friends at the start and it was great to have a quick catch up and being as I live 3 miles away it was a easy driver there (not so easy back lol). We had the race brief and then we were off
I found myself running with Zoe, Lisa and Cat (woods) and we all got into a good pace and were happily chatting along. Me and Zoe gradually started pulling away and we kept a similar pace and it was my first time running an entire event with her from start to finish. She kept me going and I was thankful for the company. It was my first event since the 100 miler and my legs felt ok probably till around 21 miles and then I started to struggle. I decided then to stick with a marathon and not be silly and try for the extra lap. Louise arrived about 3 hours in with a rather special cake which was gone with in one lap luckily Gemma saved me a slice and Gemma had also done me my own cheese and marmite straws which are epic
These went down a treat and the cake was a big hit, peanut butter which was very moist and gooey
For the last lap were we joined by a gentleman that has recently started his own events check them out here
https://www.facebook.com/saturnrunning/
Zoe managed to keep me going and although a few walk run parts were creeping in she kept dragging me along and I am thankful for that or I would of easily just walked more
We got near the end and she sprinted off up the hill to the finish no idea how and not sure if she managed a sub 5 but it was close well done and thanks Zoe.
All in all a great morning out with great friends massive thanks to Louise for bringing the kids and for the epic cake and big thanks to Traviss Rachel and the volunteers thank you.
A great medal awaited us at the finish
Can you spot the tank
ianprunning 