Potters 'Arf Marathon 2013: Stoke-on-Trent

This was the race that I have been training for all year despite having Achilles Tendonitis and regular visits to Grant.

Its a hilly race very demanding and even more so on the hottest day of the year so far, there is a Gold medal for under 1:30, a Silver for under 1:45 and a Bronze for under 2 hrs, my goal was for under 2 hrs which I missed out on by 4 mins last year, this year I was looking for a Bronze medal.

The first few miles of the race are undulating and I found myself going faster than expected I soon slowed at 4 miles when I reached a long inclining hill, however the Monday night training at Chatelherault helped me get to the brow and a nice descent at the other side.

At the 1 hour mark I had completed 7 miles and was feeling good but temperature wise I was hot, 2 water stations and lots of enthusiastic spectators lining the streets shouting encouragement was a big help.

At 10 miles I was at 1:27 on target for under 2 hours but starting to struggle with the heat and yet another long hill, starting to question why I was doing this, but another water station came up took a few jelly babies and even managed to run part way up ‘Heartbreak Hill’ as the locals call it at 11 miles, similar in challenge to our vertical mile run, picked up the pace when I reached the top a few more smaller hills and a sprint to the finish in a time of 1:56:42, Bronze Medal in the bag !!

A great well organised race of about 1500 runners with streets lined with spectators supplying extra water, jelly babies and a few welcoming water hoses.

Maybe Silver next year......see how my training goes !

Well done to Phil on a great improvement on a tough course.
Alan