Beachy Head marathon 2018

It felt like the dead of night when we got up at 5am, had a quick breakfast and left the house.  Both of us had kept waking up ahead of the alarm clock in anticipation.  As we drove eastwards, the sky gradually lightened, and dawn was just breaking as we reached Eastbourne.

It was a really cold morning, which felt a bit of a shock after a mild, almost balmy, October.  We managed to park surprisingly easily (but we were really lucky as the spaces were filling up quickly), wrapped up in multiple layers and joined the throngs headed for the start area.  There was a real buzz around the registration tent.

Bright and chilly in the start area

We went back to the car and got ourselves into running kit, enduring that unpleasant bit of taking off the nice warm layers and having to decide what to wear for the race.  Then back to the start.

Ready for anything

We were encouraged to get to the start line, with sub-5 hour runners to the front.  I was hoping for 3:30, and tried to get to a sensible position in the start order.  I really didn't get a sense of the size of the field - there were over 2000 of us.  The Lovely Mrs S was running the 10k, so she was able to get some photos of the start, which was at the end of a road facing straight onto a steep section of rutted trail.  The first 500m or so was an unforgiving scramble, heart, legs and lungs all trying to adjust to this outrageous start.

15 minutes to go... no sense yet that 2200 runners are about to start

Off we go!  I'm the orange head in the middle of the picture

I had been quite nervous about this race, having had a few interruptions on the way (including a sore Achilles and a cold) and less long distance and hill training than I would have liked.  I had been studying the course profile and steeled myself for some epic hills in the first half, with the consolation of much gentler terrain in the second half.

The second half is a doddle, surely

But all those monstrous-looking hills were in factfine; long drags which allow you to get into a good rhythm and just keep going.  The visibility was fantastic, and the landscape just got better and better.  I felt strong and was loving it. The villages of Jevington and Alfriston had lots of folk out cheering, and the latter had my first encounter with the Cuckmere valley.  We hit a high point at about 19k and from this point there was a steady, fast descent on grass and then on a track.  I caught a few people, and started to be aware of a general aching feeling through my legs shortly before passing the halfway point in about 1:41.

Then back into the Cuckmere valley and it felt like a different kind of race.  We were routed up and down short, sharp little slopes in woodland around Westdean, with steps that confounded any kind of running pace and forced me to walk for a couple of sections.  I nearly came to grief on a tree root, but staggered onwards, over a wall and back downhill to the meandering Cuckmere.

Now for the Seven Sisters, those little hills of the second half.  Oh my goodness, they were tough, each one around 50m in elevation but really steep both up and down.  I lost count of them, but they went on and on.  I managed to overtake a few more folk, but I became increasingly aware of the tingling feeling in my hands that tells me when I'm getting tired.

Then a final long hill up to Beachy Head and the last 2km was downhill.  I struggled onwards, frustrated that I couldn't move as fast as I normally would.  Eastbourne came into sight, and my watch was telling me that there was less than a km to go. 

And suddenly I was staring down the final hill at the finish gantry, sooner than I expected.  My legs were spent, and it took all my concentration to stay upright on the ruts and concrete steps that led to the finish line.  I heard Mrs S shouting at me, and everything felt a bit fuzzy as I crossed the finish line.

Somehow staying on my feet

Done for

My split time was 3:25:44, and I finished in 22nd place, 2nd M50.  Here are my Garmin and Strava stats.  An absolutely marvellous day out!