Oh lordy that was tough! I was up at quarter to six to give me plenty of time for preparation and the sun was just rising into a vivid red sky. Shepherds' warning right?
Anyway headed over to Steyning and set off on the 'mass start' at 8:30. Not that massive in practice as runners had been leaving as and when they felt like it. Well, the first 10 miles or so weren't too bad with just the odd shower and a bit of mud to run through, but once I took the fork into the second half the weather really kicked in. Heavy rain and strong winds lashed into us as we headed over towards Cisbury also the ground underfoot was now less well drainied and properly muddy. Fatigue really kicked in when running straight into a head wind around 'Steep Down' this was about mile 19 and I began to have doubts about completing. Then we rounded the hill and picked up a tailwind and I recovered a bit. Shortly before losing my footing and sliding down the hill on my arse - Still saved a bit of running. Long drag back up to Chanctonbury saw most runners reduced to walkers. Manfully I kept on running, only to watch them all over take me again on the descent through chalkpit woods. I finally finished in 4:28. Bit longer than I'd estimated but then I hadn't anticipated the conditions being so harsh. General opinion was that it was the toughest Stinger they'd held so far. So a good choice for a first marathon!
Edit 24/01/2007 - I notice that if you google 'Steyning Stinger' this blog appears pretty high up in the results, so if you've wandered in because you're thinking of entering then DO IT. It's a great race, I'm down for the marathon again this year. :o)
Tuesday 6 March 2007
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