My 2018 Running Year...
Having completed my 100th marathon in 2017, 2018
as a running year was always likely to suffer by comparison, and so it proved
(after the Lord Mayor’s Show and all that)…
The weekend following the 2018 race also followed a
much improved path to the previous year.
Whereas in 2017 I had embarked on an unstructured/unofficial tour of
Oman with a dubious taxi driver who persuaded me to abandon the tour and join
him in a few beers midway through the afternoon, on 2018, Gill and I headed to
the salubrious surrounds of the Shangri La Hotel, where we spent a wonderful
weekend sunbathing, kayaking and dolphin watching. If this was the direction of future marathon
experiences, I was a convert…
In terms of organized events, a total of seven marathons
(including one ultra) was the lowest number I had managed since 2011, the year
of the nearly doomed Coast to Coast Challenge – see ‘How Not to Run 100
Marathons’ (just after Chapter 12) - https://www.amazon.co.uk/How-Not-Run-100-Marathons/dp/0244412073/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1538561380&sr=8-2&keywords=nicholas+turner+how+not+to+run. On the flipside, 2018 was a spectacular year
for general living and holidays with Gill.
I’m yet to consider in any detail whether there is a direct correlation
between these two matters. I have run just
under 2,900 kilometres during the calendar year (an average of just under 8
kilometers per day). An increase from
2017, but well below the levels I reached in each of the four years from 2013
to 2016 (inclusive), when I averaged more than 10 kilometers a day. I put this general decline largely down to
the ageing process, which has gradually meant that I have picked up more
injuries which I have not been able to run off as in previous years, and a job
which starts at 8am, meaning a 6am alarm is necessary if I’m to put in a
meaningful pre-work run.
A summary of the “highlights” of the organized events in
2018 is set out below.
·
Muscat, Oman, 19 January –
The entire experience of the Muscat Marathon 2018 was chalk to the cheese of
the 2017 edition. There was one crucial
difference in 2018 – the involvement of Gill in the trip. Whereas in 2017 I had arrived into Muscat at
1am on the morning of the marathon, travelled to the opposite side of the city
to the marathon for three hours kip in my modest hotel before just about
finding my way back in time for the start of the marathon, in 2018, Gill had
booked a lovely hotel maybe 200 metres from the start line of the marathon,
making for an altogether more zen marathon experience. My poorer performance in the 2018 marathon (3:55:15
as against 3:24:49 in 2017) was attributable to much poorer conditioning as
opposed to race day prep. The course
itself had been changed very slightly, but for the better. A long stretch on a road beside an industrial
estate had been removed in favour of more time running on a road running
parallel with the sea. I had started the
race well enough but ran out of gas somewhere on the second stretch along the
seafront and spent a large amount of time walking and giving myself a pep talk
which fell on my own deaf ears. It was a
huge relief to eventually return to the esplanade of shops and restaurants
where Gill was waiting to cheer me to the finish line (although I managed not
to see her amongst the crowd)…
·
Dubai, UAE, 26 January – The
2018 edition of the Dubai Marathon was my third running of the event. As with Muscat, the course had been changed
but, unlike with Muscat, in my opinion the changes had not improved the course,
at least not for we mortals not aiming for a world record. The out and back section had been replaced
with two laps of a short stretch of the course, meaning that the entire route
was now broadly flat, whereas there had been a short, sharp uphill over a
bridge in previous years. Given that the
race started around 10 kilometres from my apartment, I considered there was
little which could go wrong, although that was tested somewhat when I wandered
the kilometre or so to the Metro Line at 6am to find that the trains were not
running until 10am. This meant a quick jog
home to pick up cash before hailing a taxi and making it to the start line with
15 minutes to spare, despite the minor scare.
With this being my “home” marathon, I knew plenty of other people
running and this inspired me to set off at a slightly ridiculous pace along the
palace line Um Suqeim Road. There was a
rare fog in Dubai, making conditions perfect, so I was not unduly worried about
my speed, until after just under 5 kilometers I felt a sharp twang in my left
hamstring. I stopped for a brief while
before gingerly returning to a jog and eventually settling back into a moderate
pace, although I had changed my running style somewhat to seek to protect my
hamstring. By 9am the heat was rising
and between that and my concerns about my hamstring I slowed right down, all
the while keeping one eye over my shoulder to ensure that I was on course to
win bragging rights amongst the other people I knew in the race. They never materialized and it was with some
relief that I trotted down the wide finishing straight to finish in a time of
3:29:12, with both hamstrings still intact.
I’m sure Gill would have been cheering me home, were she not stood on
the opposite side of the road watching the end of the 10 kilometer race. We vowed to get the finish line logistics
right in the next event…
·
The Square Mile, DIFC,
Dubai, 7 February – I agreed to make up
the numbers in my ex-employer’s relay team for the Square Mile Relay in Dubai’s
Financial Centre. I collected the baton
with the team well placed and set off at a full sprint, which was brought to an
abrupt stop when I had the first section of steps in what was a very
challenging 1,600 metre course. In
addition to the steps were a series of 90 degree turns and my lungs were
bursting by the time I reached the halfway point. I managed to keep my legs driving forward,
knowing it would all be over very soon but felt the familiar sharp jab in my
left hamstring with around 200 metres and three turns to go until I would be
handing over the baton. I lolloped along
as best as I could and completed the mile in 6 minutes 2 seconds, but knew that
I had picked up an injury which would keep me out for a few weeks in the
process (as was confirmed when the entire back of my left leg had turned black
by the weekend after the run)…
·
Bahrain, 2 March – this was
a race which I had tried and failed to run twice in 2017, thwarted by rain the
first time and personal fallibility/a missed flight the second time. Again, thanks to Gill, arrangements went
smoothly for my third attempt at the race.
The slight wrinkle was that my pulled hamstring had patently not
recovered from the injury three weeks earlier and I had managed only two,
short, far from pain free runs leading up to the event. The race started on the finishing straight of
the Manama Formula One circuit, which was pretty cool. I felt some trepidation about my ability to
nurse my hamstring through 42.2 kilometres and set out with a short, gentle
stride around the undulating race track.
We completed a full lap of the track before leaving the stadium and
running the short distance to a quirky safari park where we ran amongst the
animal enclosures, meaning that the animal spectators – including emus,
orangutans, antelope, and various other creatures – outnumbered the humans. I was managing my injury quite well, save for
the odd stabbing pain when I over extended my left leg and was forced to return
to my tiny step shuffle. By the final
few kilometres, my enforced few weeks off training told and I was reduced to a
shuffling walk. Gill was there to greet
me on the return to the stadium, although there was sadly still a lap of the
circuit to complete before I would be finished.
This took somewhat longer than might have been achievable in a Formula
One car, but it did not matter to me.
What mattered was that I had finished, in a time of around 4 hours 15
minutes and could return for a day of lounging around the hotel pool before a
fascinating day tour of Bahrain on the Saturday followed by our flight back to
Dubai on Saturday evening…
·
Kuwait, 17 November –
3:28:42 for a 10th place finish.
See https://nickyt100marathons.blogspot.com/2018/11/it-was-alllooking-touch-and-go-by.html
·
Abu Dhabi, UAE, 7 December
– the inaugural Abu Dhabi full marathon and a respectable finish time of
3:27:40. See https://nickyt100marathons.blogspot.com/2018/12/abba-dabba-done.html
·
Al Marmoom Desert Ultra,
UAE, 15 December – nearly eight gruelling hours for a 12th placed
finish out of a starting field of 46, of which 11 people failed to finish. See https://nickyt100marathons.blogspot.com/2018/12/despite-usual-feeling-at-end-of-abu.html
·
Enigma Christmas Cracker,
Bletchley, UK, 24 December – 3:14:57 for a race win! See https://nickyt100marathons.blogspot.com/2018/12/the-christmas-enigma.html
In the long gap between the Bahrain and Kuwait Marathons, I
put the finishing touches to “How Not to Run 100 Marathons…And Other
Stories”. The memories dredged up as I
put the finishing touches to the book were fairly evenly distributed between
smiles and winces and I hope that my running from 1 January 2019 onwards adds
more to the happy category, but only time will tell…
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