From Sally Armitage…
This was my second run around Chester marathon, having ran it last year also. The course begins and finishes at the racecourse, running through town then out into the Cheshire countryside and even a dip into Wales for 7 of the 26.2 miles.
I love this marathon, it has a really friendly vibe, the course is scenic and the support en route is brilliant. I’ve been striving for a consistently paced marathon since I started running this distance and consistently failed, suffering muscle cramps and stitches after the 20-22 mile point. Yesterday I finally succeeded. Well as consistently as you can run an undulating course! A bonus was the brief turnaround before the half way point where I managed to give teammate Jaysson Sawyer a wave as he was cruising along to an amazing 2:56 finish.
In addition to me and Jaysson, the other V45s were absolutely on fire yesterday, overall winning male and female were both V45s and my time of 3:09 was only good enough for 5th in the age category this year.
A brief break now and then the training will begin again, next up is Manchester in spring!
1st male John Gilbert Kent AC (M45) 2:18:49
1st female Louise Wiker (F45) 2:41:43
201st Jaysson Sawyer 2:56:50
439 (20th female) Sally Armitage 3:09:24
6705 ran