The Christmas Enigma

“Twas the day before Christmas, when all through the house

Only one creature was stirring, a big, fat, man mouse…”

It is hard to explain what possesses a man to set a 5am alarm on Christmas Eve and scrape the frost from the car before embarking on a 2 hour 15 minute drive from the Peak District to Bletchley for the Enigma Christmas Cracker Marathon.  I put it at least partially down to wanting to erase the Ghost of Marathon Past, being the recent eight hour ultra marathon ordeal in the Dubai desert.

 

Bletchley is famously where the German’s Enigma code was cracked during World War II, a not insignificant event in determining the outcome of the war.  On arrival, I had my own code to crack, as I was travelling old school, with printed AA Route Planner directions, rather than a sat nav.  As a result of having missed a direction or taken a wrong turn at one of the countless roundabouts, I was somewhat lost on arrival in Milton Keynes and forced to adopt an even more traditional method of navigation, asking for directions in the already festively rammed Tesco.  Luckily, I was already relatively close to the marathon venue and arrived before 8:30am, more than half an hour before the appointed starting time…

It was a beautiful winter’s morning at Furzton Lake.  A light mist cloaked the surface of the lake as the weak winter sun took its low perch in the sky.  I guess it was mild given the time of year, but I was freezing and delighted to find the race registration was in the warm surrounds of the Hungry Horse (Furzton Lake) pub.  I was joined in the pub by a modest number of other runners, some of whom had decided that festive fancy dress was in order (several elfs and a slightly disturbing reindeer skin tight running suit).  There was also a world record holder in our midst – another Nick, who held various records, including most marathons in a single year, 253 in 2017, a record which he was seeking to extend with 270 marathons plus during 2018.  I know this because it was emblazoned on his running t-shirt ("Chasing World Records").  I quickly buried a brief moment’s thought of whether I could beat this record in the future…   

 

 

With all runners signed up, we followed the race organizer out to the starting line on the lake’s edge.  Nine days earlier I had been running an ultra-marathon in 30 plus degrees in the Dubai desert so the current sub-10 degree temperature was something of a shock to my system but I figured that the cold may encourage me to keep running, for warmth if nothing else.  The route was simple, if potentially bad for the soul – a short out and back to a metallic star sculpture on a small hill beside the lake, followed by 17 full laps of the lake.  I was on the phone to Gill as the race started, explaining what on earth I was doing by a lake in Milton Keynes on Christmas Eve, and found myself in the lead by the time the call ended after a couple of minutes or so.  After a quick confirmation of which path to follow around the lake, I settled into a solid, and probably unsustainable, pace of 4 minute 10 second kilometres.  The lake loops were generally flat, although there was a small hill towards the end of each lap (which felt progressively more mountainous with each lap which passed) which followed a wooden bridge which was still treacherously slippery in the early morning dew/frost, which meant slowing down to a plod for a safe crossing).  There were also walkers and their dogs to negotiate on the narrow paths, who the midwinter sun had persuaded out to the lake in large numbers...

 

 

 

As early as lap three I lapped one of the field and this was the theme for the rest of the morning, as the cold weather (as I had hoped) made me want to maintain my speed (idea for a poor sequel to the "Speed" franchise - a slightly overweight man has to run at a certain pace to keep his heart rate high enough to avoid his body shutting down).  With around three laps remaining, I lapped the fourth and third placed runners.  Although I hadn’t seen the runner in second place since fairly early in the race, I was confident that he was some distance behind me and I was on course to win if I could maintain even a reduced pace of around 5 minutes per kilometre.  This turned out to be accurate, although I did change through the gears for a sprint finish when I realized that a sub-3 hour 15 marathon was on the cards for the first time for me in 2018.  This achievement was confirmed (3:14:57) as I crossed the “finish line” – which was not marked – which my arms outstretched, as if I had just won the London Marathon and hefty cash prize.  In fact, my prize was the same medal as that awarded to each of the other 35 participants in the marathon and nothing more, although I did not let that spoil the moment of winning a marathon for the sixth time in my life, with this probably being the biggest field I have beaten.  A true Christmas miracle!