My Best "Personal Worst": The White Peak Marathon, Saturday 17/05/08

 

From Allison Cook

 

It’s not often I’ll start a race knowing that I have no chance whatsoever of a PB, a good chance of having to walk some of it and an absolute certainty of discomfort. But I run because I enjoy running and I enjoy being out on the trails. So the White Peak Marathon ticks all the boxes for being “my kind of event”. And I’ve been looking forward to the third Saturday in May since the same time last year!

 

This is a small event. There is a half marathon too, which is a bit more popular. Marathon HQ is Matlock Rugby Club at Cromford Meadows. It is well organised, with changing and showers, plenty of parking and the option of pre-race fuelling (bacon butties) for those with strong stomachs. At 10am sharp, we were directed to a small fleet of buses and taken to the starts (the half starts halfway along the route). We set off along the Tissington Trail at 11am and I ran comfortably slowly for the first 12 miles or so until the turnaround point where we ran around a race marshal and headed along the High Peak Trail back towards Cromford. The going was fairly easy – some gentle inclines but no real hills – and the views were fantastic. Shame I forgot to get the camera out during the earlier part of the race!

 

ummm – somewhere on the High Peak Trail. There are more interesting views along the route, I was just too busy moving. Honest!

 

As I mentioned, this is a small event and by mile 15 my running companions and I had the trail almost to ourselves:

 

 

All byyyyy myyyyseeeelffff… don’t wanna be…

 

After the great FLM fiasco (well, a DNF due to blood glucose issues) I had plenty of food with me and by mile 15 I was having a small picnic and a walk break every two miles. We churned out the miles at an “increasingly comfortable” pace until mile 20. At about 20.5 miles there is the first of three sharp descents. Gravity did the work on these! The last descent is at just after 24.5 miles and is a long one. The Garmin told me I was doing 8:30 pace during mile 25 of a marathon which took me 5hrs 18 mins in total, which will give you an idea of the length and the gradient of the descent.

 

The last half mile is along the bank of a canal, and suddenly, round a corner, there’s the finish!

 

What do I have to show for it? A new PW, a commemorative mug, sore quads and a grin that will last until next May.