Write up ongoing.

Valencia well well well, what a place, what a race… where to start!? - Reflections on my Valencia marathon experience.

The truth is that, for me, it all began 2011 when I entered my first marathon, London 2012. After completing it I dreamt of one day achieving a sub 3 hour marathon! 4 years went by and I hadn’t run another marathon, then in 2016 I ran my second, third, fourth and the numbers have kept accumulating ever since.

In mid-2018 I knew that the time had come to take a shot at a sub 3 hour marathon. This was never going to be easy, in fact I knew it was going to be very hard. I was mindful that training was going to be difficult in October and November, when the days grew shorter and evenings got colder.

A glimpse of my training plan

My training plan was ‘loosely structured’. Working 3 different jobs meant that I would have to find routine. Every weekday after work apart from 1 day a week I would run, and the sessions themselves would vary from speedwork, to hill training, relaxed pace to hard going. On weekends I would run further and by the end of the week I would have accumulated about 56 miles.

Setbacks before Valencia

I wouldn’t be honest with you telling this story if I didn’t share with you the setbacks. 1 month before Valencia marathon I took part in Ljubljana marathon. 18 miles into the race my body took a turn and I ended up vomiting profusely (about 6 times?). Nevertheless I continued and at the 26 mile marker (Yes, 200 metres from the line!) I began vomiting again (another 6 times!). The achievement for me was just completing the race.

Another setback was 1 week and a half before the Valencia Marathon. What I began feeling in my leg whilst on one of my runs was a tremendous pain – A pain that felt extremely familiar to me, shin splints. I will never know what the medical reason was for this pain, however it really was a blessing in disguise. I think it was caused because I increased my mileage considerably the week before and ran much harder. To try to recover before race day I decreased my mileage quite substantially and took it a lot easier… This was the best thing I could ever have done.

The days before

The days before the Valencia marathon involved taking part in the Strava run and attending the Paella party – The Paella was SCRUMPTIOUS. There was also a LOT of anxiety… 'maranoia' they call this in the racing world!

RACE DAY

The day is here!! I caught the metro to as close as I could to the start line, which was still over a kilometre away, dropped my bag and got into my starting pen ready for the race. I was feeling ready as I'd ever be. I consumed 2 bananas for breakfast two hours before, which was part of the plan I had been working towards.

Go Go Go

The race was on! The initial 2 miles were quite congested, even when you start in the 3 hour to 3 hour 15 minutes starting pen.

YES!!! I’ve done it!!

I knew 10 km from the finish line that I had achieved my goal, providing nothing untoward happened. I could have cried whilst running the final mile… and, 100m from the line, not even god himself could have stopped me! I crossed the line at 2 hours 54 minutes and 28 seconds!

Time to share the happiness

Okay, this is the funny part. I wanted to celebrate with someone else in that moment but this was quite difficult at the finish line as everyone spoke Spanish and Italian. I still gave runners near me ‘high 5’s and we celebrated raising our arms in the air… We knew what each other meant. I checked my phone and there were lovely messages from people tracking me along the route.

Thank you everyone for your support.

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