13 in 13 Marathon No.1 – Brentwood Marathon – Event Summary
We arrived with just over an hour to go before start time of the first of the 13 in 13 marathon challenge for THE CATS FOUNDATION. Feeling fairly confident of completing the first marathon of the challenge the weather reflected our mood as it was quite warm for a late October day. Rather naively there was even talk of putting in a reasonable time, even though the website had warned that, ‘the course is not aimed for a personal best.’
There were approximately 250 runners taking part in the full marathon, with another 250 starting at the same time, but only completing the half. Organisation on the day was impressive with plenty of marshals, water and other bits available throughout the run. The course was a 3.5km loop which started with a nice grass loop (with the exception of the mole hills!) and then ventured off into the woods.
If it sounds idyllic, it certainly was, however we didn’t spend much time taking in the scenery due to the searing pain we encountered actually running the course. I think it’s fair to say that neither of us had done any ‘trail’ running as part our training and so we both found this difficult on the muscles in our legs. Add to that the two hills per loop (twenty four in total) and you can imagine how unhappy I was at about half way through!
I must give Dan a lot of credit for getting me through the race as there generic cipro online were a number of occasions where I was ready to give up. The look on my face (something resembling a mix of anger and hatred) clearly showed Dan that I wasn’t enjoying the race, but he just kept pushing on and dragged me round too.
Dan Lewi and Dan How at the end of the Brentwood Marathon
We finished in the end with a respectable time of 5hrs 24mins. If you consider this was effectively a training run for the Luton marathon, it puts us in a good position and importantly we both finished without any injuries. In terms of taking on the Brentwood marathon again, I would only advice strong runners who have trail experience to attempt it – as one of the other runners stated, ‘this is like mental torture’ and it certainly was!
My final thoughts – the marathon was savage (to say the least) but finishing was satisfying and now we’ve only got another twelve to go!
The photos were kindly provided as a donation to the charity by the official race day photographer Dean from Corby Photography. He managed to capture both a look of satisfaction and realisation at the end of the race of how tough the next 12 months are going to be for us both!
Dan Lewi
Dan How
Event details
| Date | 30 October 2011 |
| Event name | 13 in 13 Marathon No.1 – Brentwood Marathon |
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Well done chaps….sounds pretty savage! I’m sure the other 12 will be a breeze in comparison!!;) Keep Up the great work! Matt R (Dan How’s housemate and probably councillor)
Thank you!! I think you will end up being a shoulder to cry on for Dan after the February marathon….its a 50km one!!
Great effort guys, though why you chose such a hard run to kick off the 13 in 13 I don’t know! Keep it up!
Thanks mate – now apply for the Wales Marathon yourself so you can join in the fun! I’m guessing you still haven’t…. It would be rude of us not to run with a Welshman!