The Broadway
Marathon offers runners the opportunity to challenge themselves and each other
amid the stunning scenery of the northern Cotswolds. Starting and
finishing in the scenic Broadway village, the route follows trails and roads
among picturesque villages, woodlands, and (most importantly) hills - total ascent 2800feet. The
majority of the course is trail or unpaved track, including some challenging sections
of the Cotswold Way; a few minor road sections are included to link the trails.
The route is marked with marshals at a few key points along the way,
making this an ideal first ultra-marathon.
I was hoping to hold 10min/mile for the
race (my target pace for the A2A run) which would give me a finishing time of 4hrs
33mins for the 27.5miles. I was pretty
confident that I could maintain that pace for 21 miles as I’d managed it
comfortably in a couple of my long training sessions (I’d done two 3.5 hour
runs as my longest preparation runs). I
was trying not to get too competitive as I didn’t really feel in my heart of
hearts that I had done as much mileage as I should have in preparation, and
also it was my first attempt at anything over marathon distance on such
challenging terrain. However, the
competitive animal inside me could not resist ‘anoraking’ the 2013 results and
I saw that Sheila Barbour from Evesham Vale RC (who had placed a very close 2nd
in 2013 in 4:21) was perhaps the lady to beat!
I was therefore really pleased to find that I was running just behind
her when I reached the top of the first big climb up to Broadway Tower. About an hour and a half or so in to the race
I was starting to feel a bit fatigued and had dropped back off Shelia’s pace as
we climbed up the road out of Snowshill.
I checked my Garmin and noticed that I had not really been paying much
attention to my pace and has started much faster than the intended 10min/mile
pace. I decided not to worry too much
and just pushed on (I was keen to try and hold on to 2nd
place). ‘Embrace the discomfort’ I told
myself, ‘nothing worth achieving comes easy!’
I’d not been running for much more that
another 30minutes or so when I took a wrong turn at a gate and ran across a
field in the wrong direction. It was
only an error of about 500m as I realised my mistake when I reached the gate at
the other side of the field and there was no direction arrow to follow. However, by the time I had turned back and
got to the gate where I made my mistake there was another lady in the field
just ahead. I got really cross with
myself for making this mistake and losing another place and this is there I
made another error. Instead of trying to
lock on to this runner and use her to help me push on I let my head go down
and, as I was trudging across a uneven field feeling grumpy, she disappeared
into the distance! Fortunately, not long
after that I came across Paul at a gate and he gave me lots of encouragement
and cheered me on, really lifting my spirits.
However, the final really big hill of the route (out of Winchcombe) had
really taken it out of me and I succumbed to walking through feed stations (and
a bit past them too!) and my target pace had gone well out of the window! I lost a couple more places too and it seemed
like a long slog (through a fair bit of mud) until I finally made it back to
Broadway. The last off-road section was
uphill through a field and I could see Ollie and Paul at the top cheering me
towards them. It was all I could do to
run up this last hill and they were both laughing at my bandy-legged, stiff
running technique. My hip flexors had
completely gone and for some reason there was no way I could run with my knees
together; Paul even commented that it looked like I was running wearing a massive
nappy!
So, first ultra completed in 4:41.17 and 5th
lady. A bit slower and further down the
field than I would have liked but lots of lessons learnt – the main one
regarding pacing and going off too fast at the start. Congratulations to Sheila Barbour who held on
to the lead and finished in 4:07.48 knocking a massive 14 minutes off her previous
time! Thank you to Cotswold Running for putting
on a fantastic event and I would thoroughly recommend this race – follow this
link to their website to check out their other events. I’m already planning to go back to try this
race again next year – but next time with a bit more knowledge and experience
under my belt!
