Milton Keynes Marathon – 6th May
Today, the Milton Keynes Marathon took place along with the Half and Marathon Relay. The route made a return to the MK Dons Stadium after a year long hiatus, which serves as a great start and finish, with the finish line inside the stadium itself.
I was taking part with a clear goal. After Caroline’s surprise ballot place in the Chicago Marathon (deferred to 2025), I gave myself the challenge of running the qualifying time of sub 3hrs10. Having only run one road marathon before in 4hrs03, it was a long shot but figured I had nothing to lose!
After attending an evening class at the Nick Gant School of Marathon Running (post-Manchester, in the Hare!), I proceeded to follow his advice to the letter… Salomon belt? purchased. Pacing strategy? carefully planned. Overnight oats? consumed. This along with naive optimism had me stood at the start line, utterly bricking it, but reassured that if it worked for Nick at Manchester, it could work for me too!
The route leaves the stadium and heads to the city centre via one or two roundabouts, where it then snakes around Milton Keynes following predominantly cycle paths. Plenty of small ups and downs act as a reminder to keep pace and hold back for the final few miles.
I finished in 3hrs 5 mins, knocking 58 minutes off my previous best. Who knows, another 58 mins next year and I could be up there with Kipchoge!
All in all, a great, well organised race. Now to have a good rest and maybe continue with some more carb loading!
