Marathon No.37 - Milton Keynes Marathon

This year Milton Keynes was sooo HOT compared to last years miserable RAINY weather.

2012 Finish Time - 05:30:36
2013 Finish Time - 05:35:44

This was my 37th Marathon and I struggled in the scorching hot weather. At one point I thought I wouldn't finish due to the heat. It must have been the hottest day of the year!


 

From Left to Right - Jenny, Melanie, Liz, Me & Emily

Upon arriving at the Stadium in Milton Keynes, I managed to locate the Enigma family all grouped together. Foxy, Karen, Kaz, Davey, Lesley, Emily, Ruth, Rosemary, John, Jenny, Emily, Keith, David, Liz & Melanie. It was like a family reunion everyone asking about how they were and which races we were all doing etc....

From Left to Right : Jenny, Melanie, David, Liz, Keith and I...

After checking my baggage in, I slowly walked towards the start where the many thousands of runners were waiting to commence the 2nd year of the MK Marathon.

I started off at a very steady pace because I was still quite tired from the previous marathon I had ran in Richmond the previous day, and i thought it wise to take it easy as I was still feeling some stiffness in my legs.  Samantha was running a head of me at one point, and at this time I saw Jim (Sam's Husband) running in the opposite direction. I like seeing Jim on the course of my marathon running as he always looks back and returns a wave with a big smile. Jim Murray runs Marathons in around 3Hours, he is amazing, I don't know how he does it!

As the race progressed I was feeling a little stronger than usual and I was getting my pacing just right. At one point I ran past Emily walking with Melanie... It must have took a few miles before Melanie caught up with me. She was going for it, which made me realise Emily must still be running behind me as it was her 3rd Marathon in 3 Days. 

When we did bump in to each other, I got a bit worried about her and kept on asking how her knees were as they were wrapped in plasters.  At one point the plasters on Emily's knee were becoming loose due to the sweat from the heat. We were both looking out for St. John's Ambulance Crew and when we did finally see them and sorted the problem out, off we continued in the heat.

Along the way we met Cali, she'd told us that she was struggling and wanted to quit. It was her 2nd Marathon.   Emily and I persuaded her to keep going and not to give up. Luckily Cali soon got over the quitting business and started to chat about anything and everything which was on her mind. They even started to sing random songs to get their minds off the pain at one point. It was hard work but we all kept each other going. This when we started the 'adoption to the train'.
Approaching Mile 15, we adopted a guy named Chris to the train. We could see he was struggling big time too. He told us that he was advised by the medical crew not to continue as he'd torn his tendon. He insisted on running and just was not going to quit so on he went and formed another link to our train. 


At mile 17, I heard Emily scream so loud I actually thought she had injured her knee. Everyone looked at her in total shock! In fact it was her big blister which gave her such a big bang.She said she's never felt pain like it before. Hah! Hah! Emily if you're reading this, you know you're stronger than you think and this was the test.

We ended up with a few others in our train - Cali, Chris, Scot (a Scottish guy running in a kilt), Felicity and Matthew and we all ended running into the Stadium and finished hand in hand.  I felt pretty emotional at the FINISH seeing Scot in tears (He started crying as he'd told us that he was running for his 'MUM').....It was so touching to see how hard he'd worked to finish.

Seeing the Enigma crew all waiting for us at the Finish Line really did make my day so worth while, especially all the Hugs.. A day I will never forget, seeing so many of my running friends supporting each other.

It was an amazing day. I even met a stranger on the course. Mike Land (a friend of my good running buddies Michael and Sarah Davies). If he'd not asked me if I was 'May' I never would have met him. It was great meeting you and I'm ever so sorry you wasn't able to play catch up with us!

The Train we ADOPTED along the way - All at the FINISH Line............

A few of the ENIGMA Runners - Liz, John, Rosemary, Me, Liz, Melanie & Emily at the FINISH with our MEDALS!

FINISH Medal - Time : 5 Hours, 35 Minutes & 44 Seconds

The support on the course from the marshals, spectators and other runners was immense. That's what a marathon is all about, runners supporting each other to get to the finish line, encouraging words, holding them up, walking with them to get through the mental wall.


That's another weekend of  52 .4 Miles in the bag.


Milton Keynes -I will be back for more in 2014 whatever the climate!