Salisbury 54321 - Marathon Race Report

Ran the Marathon version of this race on Sunday - Why 54321?  5 Rivers, 4 Hills (still quite lumpy even on the non-hill part) 3 Country Estates, 2 Castles and 1 Cathedral.

Weather forecast for the race was cloudy followed by sunshine - so I was a little surprized to set off in the car to Salisbury in the pouring rain.  Thankfully, it stoped just as the 50K runners were departing.

I first did this race back in 2009, they then added a 50K in 2010 and I did that too.  Since then other races and holidays have distracted me and this was the first time I had been back.

This event is so well organised and yet quite low key - you basically park on the start line, get your number over the road, stand by the start/finish line at the appointed time and off you go.

Course markings were spot on, there was only one time I thought I might have gone wrong, but that was only because someone else was questioning a sign. Scenery is great all the way round, Old Sarum, Longford Castle and my favourite bit - the old Yew Forest.  Terrain is mixed, single track, fire roads, country roads, chalk, concrete - you name it, it was there. ground was bone dry, no mud or puddle to plod through.

Weather started out fresh, no need for a jacket, and it soon warmed up. As time went on I started to slow, I have never been particularly good at running in the heat, I tried to keep in the shade but the sun was almost overhead - so very little cover available.  The occasional breeze was very welcome though.  I was wearing a cap, so took to soaking it with water at each aid station - which provided some welcome relief.

Aid stations were every 2 miles or so and I took water on at each of them, no a lot of food on offer, except at mile 15 - a nice bit of lardy cake - probably not the lightest thing to have whilst running but it was just before the Yew Forest, and running under those ancient trees following a piece of string whilst munching on lardy cake was magical.

The other surreal moment was running through Cathedral Close trying to dodge tourists as they backed up to take photos, nearly took out a few foreign students that way.

It is a great race for just running, without getting too competitive, mainly because when there are other runners around you have no idea which race they are in (as well as the Marathon, there is also a choice of 5K, 10K, 21K, 30K, 50K, plus walking versions).

Despite slowing down - I was quite pleased with the time.  I was also quite pleased that my ankles held up and feet haven't swollen up to the size of an elephant - so hopefully the damage done on the SDW100 has repaired itself.

Notes
Ground Conditions: Mainly road – solid conditions under foot - dry as a bone
Weather: Hot, with some wind.
Position 26/185 (finishers)
Time: 04:08:49
Food tried: 1 ISOGEL and 1 chunk of lardy cake. 

What I learnt:

Some runs are there for the cake and scenery
Slept in Compression tights - legs feel good Monday morning

Hardest, Toughest, more difficultest

Lots of marathons (and indeed races of other lengths) make bold claims that their Race is the most toughest/hardest/etc race in the UK but how do you compare races such as:

The Picnic, one of Britain's hardest marathons (www.trionium.com/picnic/‎)
Glencoe Marathon - Scotland's toughest marathon (www.glencoemarathon.com) Hell of a Hill - arguably the toughest 26.2 miles in the UK (http://www.hillrunner.org.uk/info2.cfm?info_id=218855)
Snowdonia Marathon, one of the UK’s most iconic and toughest marathons

Those are just a few UK entries - it gets even worse when you start including the rest of the world.  So as a comparision tool I was interested to see this tool, initially posted on the Centurion Running website: http://climbers.net/race/compare.php?id=7.8.37.59.65

There are not a huge amount of races in there but it does give the ability to compare a race you have done (SDW100) with lots of famous races that you haven't (Leadville, Hardrock, etc)

Whilst we are on the subject of hardest there are so may different conditions that can make an easy race hard and a hard race just bonkers - this years SDW50 springs to mind.

Influencing factors:
Weather - Rain, wind, snow, sun, etc.  Give me a cold day to run any day off the week - not enjoying this "hot" weather at all.
Terrain - muddy, standing water, chalk, download, moors, single track, road, Hills (the style of hill too, I find a long slow climb and lot easier than a straight up mountain. Although steps (see The Picnic) aren't killers both up and down).
Time of Day - most are early morning starts, but some over over lunch time - much prefer the early mornings.
Number of competitors - lots at the start can lead to bottle necks but a long line of runners strung out gives an incentive to try and reel in another competitor
Navigation - Good course markings versus self navigation.
And so on...I could go on

So it can be difficult to compare one race with another - the factors I have started to use is my time compared to the winner (as a percentage) and my position in the total number of finishers. That way I can gauge how well I have done and not worry too much about the time.

But I think the biggest impact on how hard a race is (and I am going to come across all american here) is mental attitude.

My toughest race was the Clarendon Way - not particular hilly or "tough" but I came at as a novice marathon runner thinking I knew what to do and I did not give the route the respect it deserved. I suffered for it big time, struggling from mile 15 onward.   It felt a very long run and when it started raining it felt even longer.

But if I was to design my own toughest race, it would start at 3pm, have Badwater heat, followed by hail stones, it would by run (mostly downhill) on chalk download, with slick mud on top of flint, confusing waymarkings and a field of 50,000 runners.

I think labels are labels, you prepare for and run what is in front of you, but it is nice to have the T-shirt.