Swaledale Road Runners

On a windy and wet morning I set out on my second attempt at the Kielder marathon, and after last year's failure to run all the way I'd sworn to take the first half easy and try to finish strongly. Obviously this being me I didn't and I was through the half way point in 1 hour 39.

This time however I knew what was coming so I slowed down, remembering how I felt at the 20 mile point last year when I couldn't run another step. There aren't any big hills around Kielder but it just undulates relentlessly and there's hardly a straight or flat bit on the course to get any kind of rhythm or pace going. For the most part the course was quite sheltered from the wind which was good for me as it really affects me, but there was no escape from the fine rain. I don't think I'd have been any wetter if I'd run the race in the lake instead of around it. My unintended tactic of belting round for the fist half and jogging back seems to have worked better this year than last as I managed to run all the way round this time, the second half a full 20 minutes slower than the first. I finished in 115th place in a time of 3h 38.56, my new PB for the distance (not hard since I've only done two). Next time I might try a steady pace all the way!

Martin Randall