The first time I run my home race and my 2nd marathon race ever! And the day I learned many lessons.
Today I learned not all marathons were equal. The Brighton Marathon was much more brutal than London in 2023. Despite training this route for a year, and largely done the Half Marathon on the same route, the distance combined with camber and inclines makes this race an opponent. But a welcome one.
Let’s make things clear, Brighton is still a flat marathon, much like London. The first 10km were great. After that, things get a bit tricky. The incline of St James Street is small but ongoing and brutal. The up and down of Ovingdean and Rottingdean makes you want to stop. The sloping camber of the coast road that you don’t appreciate because when you train you run on the flat pavement.
The heat and sun, the hottest day of the year so far, made it even more brutal. I had to run / walk most of it. Walking in the sun and running in the small bits of shade.
And what would I change of this race? Not one thing! It was awesome!
It was awesome to race and I’ve already signed up next year to meet my nemesis! It was awesome to see The Beautiful One’s sign (best sign of the marathon imho). It was awesome to see my mum, siblings, and nephews run alongside me and great to have my mate Shillin cheer me on from The Bug in Ovingdean while he spun choons for us!
In my practice marathon I did that in 7 hours 10 so was aiming for 7 hours. So very happy with my time of 6:39:32!
9/10 was brutal but would repeat!
Next stop is London! The Big One is three weeks time! Eek!
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