Seven Wreakies took on the Manchester Marathon 2016, it was Rhiannon Baxter’s first marathon, this is her thoughts on the long training and super marathon…
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Manchester Marathon 2016 by Rhiannon Baxter
Back in early November when Jim said he was going to be training for Manchester Marathon I thought to myself “no way, not ever, that’s not for me; I’ll never be able to do that”. I agreed that I would start the training plan “for fitness only” but wouldn’t be good enough to do the actual marathon; but once I got started I was hooked!
The training plan was brilliant, as with everything there were highs and lows. Just before Christmas (week 5) I got an awful cold and couldn’t run I thought “that’s it I’ve failed” but Jim and the team were so supportive and got me back on track – I even went for a run on Christmas Day! Looking back the hardest run I had to do was a 14 mile cross country run IN THE SNOW with Fast Anne and Jim (week 8). I wanted to die it was so hard; they were JOGGING, chatting away and having to wait for me at each fence! After the run I was really de-motivated, everything hurt and I didn’t want to ever run again let alone carry on with the training plan but the Marathon group again knew exactly what to say and got me back on track. The most “ENJOYABLE” runs I did were a 15 mile cross country run the day after boxing day with all the marathon gang (week 5) and a 23 mile run around Rutland Water with Luke, Hayden, Gareth, Lloyd, Artur and not forgetting Jim and Julie as race support handing out water when it was most needed (week 17)!
As the plan went along I became more and more addicted, I was actually excited about taking part. In my head all I wanted was to just complete it, finish times weren’t a concern especially when at the start of week 19 I got a stomach bug and couldn’t eat or run for 4 days – that’s a lot when you are training 6 days a week!
The day before the marathon we all drove in convoy to Manchester, as we reached the race village and saw sections of the route nerves suddenly started kicking in. Jim was fantastic calming us all down, he showed us the start and finish line and we walked bits of the route. That night back in Todmorden everyone tried to focus on the job in hand, preparing our kit and listening to final race strategies from Jim, but we were all nervous. After a healthy meal (salmon and vegetables for me) we all had a very early night (9pm!).
The morning of the marathon we were all up at 5am, some did a 10 minute warm up in the fog and drizzle, I opted out! After a BIG breakfast we got in the car (-0.5’C outside) and started the long and nervous journey into Manchester. What should have been a 45 minute journey took us 2 hours, after battling with the road closures we finally parked up at 08:30 – JUST IN TIME for the start of the race! We all quickly got ready in the car and ran to our pens at the start line. The gun went off at 9:00 and the race began!
The first 20 miles I felt great, I found my pacer and stuck with him, occasionally in front! I really enjoyed it; I even had enough energy to chat with the pacer and sing along to the music being played in the street. I thought to myself “this is easy”. Everything was going to plan, I was on track pace wise and I took my gels at the mile marks Jim advised – mile 4, 8, 11, 15 and 19 – with a spare one to take when I crossed the finish line… that was the plan anyway. As I passed the 13 mile marker I shouted out “half way!”, a man in front of me said “thats not till mile 20” little did I know!!
By mile 20 I felt tired but nothing out of the ordinary; it’s expected after running 20 miles! Mile 21 and 22 were tough but I felt I could keep going. I thought to myself “if this is the 20 mile wall everyone talks about I can cope with this!” But then I started mile 23 and it really hit me!! I wanted to die and give up; I’d never felt so hot in my life – at every water station I grabbed a bottle of water and poured it all over myself. I don’t really remember a lot about the last 4 miles of the marathon other than thinking just put one foot in front of the other, I had no control over my legs they did what they wanted to do!! I got to the point where I worked out that if I ran at 10 minute mile pace (40 minutes) I would just scrape 3 hour 30 “that would do very nicely I thought!” I just wanted it to end! I kept ticking the miles off in my head getting slower and slower – mile 23 (7:50), mile 24 (7:59), mile 25 (8:12) and mile 26 (8:16), I had to take my last gel early at mile 24 instead of when I crossed the finish line as I was craving sugar, I really wanted a can of coke! But as I passed the 26 mile marker I suddenly perked up and thought to myself “I can do this, I’m actually going to complete a marathon there only 0.2 miles left, that’s one lap around Rutland Drive!!” I flung my water bottle on to the pavement and leapt in to my sprint finish! The crowd were amazing cheering everyone on, I could hear my mum and aunty screaming but I didn’t turn to see them all I could think about was the finishing line! I crossed the finish line, stopped my watch and went straight over to a fence – I clung on to it and just managed to stop myself from being sick! When I came around I looked down at my watch in amazement – 3 hours, 18 minutes and 48 seconds, never in my wildest dream did I think I was capable of that!
The whole experience of training for and completing a marathon has been amazing. It’s true what they say, marathons really do change your life, it was all I could think about even in my sleep! The Marathon group were amazing to train with and were so supportive. Jim’s plan was fantastic! I’ve made some amazing friends and hope I can train with them all again for future Half and Full Marathons.
20 weeks sounds like a long time but once you get to week 10 it flies by. All the lonely head torch runs in the dark, evil rep sessions around Rutland Drive and up Earls Way with the club, EARLY Saturday / Sunday LONG runs and sometimes having to do two training sessions in a day to get the miles in (753 in total over the 20 weeks) were so worth it in the end!
Despite the agonizing last 4 miles, the aching legs and sore toes I still want to do another now I know what to expect and know what mistakes I made! London next I hope!
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A big ‘well done’ from all the Wreakies to the Manchester 7 gang, we hope you are resting and recovering now!
Wreake Runner’s finishing positions (of 9,358 runners) and times:
| 150 | Anne Holyland (3rd lady!) | 02:52:52 |
| 824 | Jim Ketteringham | 03:13:03 |
| 1082 | Rhiannon Baxter | 03:18:48 |
| 1274 | Luke Smith | 03:22:34 |
| 1691 | Hayden Strong | 03:28:27 |
| 2090 | Gareth Tomlinson | 03:34:35 |
| 3543 | Anne Timlock | 03:52:52 |