Blackpool marathon - new PB!!

Yesterday was the Blackpool marathon (http://www.blackpoolmarathon.com/) up in the North West of the UK. It was actually a really nice weekend. I was getting very tired at the end of last week so I did no running on Friday and drive up to Manchester to stop off at my Dad's. I did no exercise at all on Saturday and spend a relaxing day vegging out on the sofa reading and eating a bit too much but I figured carbo loading would be good. On Sunday I was up at six for breakfast and the drive over to Blackpool. I found somewhere to park fairly easily (though it was a bit expensive) and then headed over to race HQ to drop p my stuff off. Baggage storage was a room in the Hilton hotel where I also bought some vegan friendly running gels and energy bar. There was a chap outside giving away free Lucozade gels which were going like mad as soon as he put them out.

The race itself was good. For some reason I was very apprehensive before the start. The race was two laps of an out and back course which went along the Golden mile and hen along the sea front. I didn't enjoy the first lap that much but after I had my first energy gel at mile 13 my body seemed to get in gear a bit more and things went better. I went faster, enjoyed the scenery and as the sun was out I even got hot and bothered for the first time this year. There was no chip timing for some reason (they wrote your time down when you crossed the line) but according to my watch I got round in 3:22.38 which is about two minutes of my personal best (set in Berlin last year) of 3:24.07 so I am quite happy with that.

After the race I limped back the hotel picked up my stuff and heading back to the car for the long drive back to Cambridge. I was quite tired but made it home OK. Next week I only have a 10k race planned but I may do a longer run as preparation for the Bungay marathon in two weeks.

Have a good week all and please feel free to add your comments to the blog. I'd like to know who is reading this and what thy think.