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It’s a long story which I won’t trouble you with. Save to say that after years of running without a backpack, I was persuaded, and I’m so grateful for that advice.

Mine is not the expensive one recommended by friends at the running club, but a cheap Aonijie one with many pockets. Instead of the old bum bag, carrying two small water pouches, I now have 1.5 litres of fresh water in a system designed for runners.

Over time I learnt that the bladders leak, even the leak proof ones leak! The original slider mechanism was also a pain. When choosing a replacement I prefer the type with a large screw-on cap, and a small screw fitting to hold the union, like the one on the right in the picture below. The one on the left has a larger push fit union with a release button. The push fit union allows air to slowly seep in over time. It’s also more unwieldy when you’re trying to expel all the air from the bladder by holding the union uppermost and sucking the air out through the pipe. The smaller the union, the more you can see what you’re doing. That helps!

In the photo, the old one has gaffer tape covering a (bicycle) puncture repair patch, and that was a temporary repair pending the arrival of a new order. The gaffer tape stops the friction of the fabric backpack from renewing the same hole, allowing the repair to last for quite a while.

On 10k races and half marathons I’m now self sufficient and no longer need to stop at the water stations. The Geneva Marathon saw me follow a twofold strategy, which worked out well, using my own supply and calling at the water stations. What changed before I did the Chelmsford Marathon was the need for energy gel. Having shunned it in the past, I was reformed, and I now needed more pockets and larger pockets to carry gel sachets.

The full story is give in my book The Third Marathon. It explains how I didn’t leave myself enough time to buy, and try out, new backpacks, so I modified my own. By sewing some fabric pencil cases onto it! I needed to carry 16 gel sachets at 60g each. The big pencil cases were partially folded and sewn down, leaving just enough space for eight sachets in each. Then they were attached to the straps in five places (not the obvious six) because I still needed access to the pockets beneath.

Rural France, near CERN in Geneva – 2 May 2018

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I tried it out a few times before my third marathon. I does the job. It may look a bit weird, but it cost me nothing, because I had spare pencil cases at home. A bit of trial and error was involved. Unpicking bits and sewing them again. One connection was too tight to allow a zip to move freely. Another connection was too tight to get my iPhone into and out of the correct pocket. I added some velcro loops (cable ties for computer stuff) which now guide the water pipe, and hey voila! Heath Robinson would be proud!

The Chelmsford Marathon is on 13 Oct 2024, and I took the opportunity on Bank Holiday Monday 26 Aug 2024 to cycle the route and check out the road surfaces and the elevation. The Chelmsford Marathon definitely wins the prize for the most amusing street name.

When I ran the Milton Keynes Marathon in 2013 I was shocked by the state of the cycle paths (known locally as the Redways). I’ve been there many times, I’ve cycled some of the Redways, but I was still shocked by the poorly maintained ones on the edge of town. Redways that I had never seen until I was actually running the Marathon.

Given that unexpected distress, I was determined that it wouldn’t happen again. In 2018, before running the Geneva Marathon I went out and cycled the entire route. Hence, I knew exactly what the surfaces were like, and I knew where the hills were.

The same for the Chelmsford Marathon this year (2024). I’m a slow and cautious runner. I do not like uneven surfaces, ruptured tarmac, loose gravel, and grass. So I was keen to gain first hand knowledge of what I was letting myself in for. The event starts on footpaths and cycle tracks in Central Park, a short 500m walk from the railway station. As far as I can make out from the online map, this park bench in this photo marks the start and finish line, and just 75m further down that path you can see that all of the runners have to negotiate a weird cycle roundabout.

Then the fun starts! This surface looks awful! Pitted tarmac, sunken drains, acorns and debris. That’s right at the start! The first 200m are dire. Seriously, a different start line and first 200m would be welcomed by all the runners. And the malaise continues through Central Park and Admirals Park, for a mile and a half, on rough, unloved cycle paths.

There’s an extraordinarily tight 90° left turn, just after the bridge over the River Can in Admirals Park, and as soon as you round that corner, the undergrowth has commandeered about one third of the pathway. I was not impressed by what I’d seen so far.

More pitted tarmac. More tight corners. Vegetation growing through the surface. Ruptures where tree roots are just below the tarmac. And a generous supply of horse manure dotted here and there along the first 3 miles.

The route through Anglia Ruskin University has some vicious speed humps. I was on a Brompton Bike, with the original hard seat, and no suspension. The speed humps are massive and harsh, and would upset me equally had I been running and not cycling. The gate at the far side of the campus will presumably be open on race day, but I don’t like the look of that gravelly surface.

By the time I reached the 3 mile waypoint I was questioning whether I actually wanted to do this race! The first 3 miles will see me watching every single footstep and taking great care where I tread. Not fun!

At least the first 3 miles are flat.

When you join the small local road by Sturgeon’s Farm the mild undulations start. The surface also becomes much more in character with marathon running. A proper road, with some degree of maintenance. Except for some of the junctions.

These are junctions on minor country roads. Gravel abounds everywhere. Picking the best (and safest) running line through the junctions will require thought and judgement. If I’m boxed in by a group of runners, then it’s going to trouble me. From the outset, I need to have my own personal space, and be able to see the surface ahead. This race will be mentally taxing from the start.

In the interests of fairness, I should also say that some of the small local roads (taking the runners towards Willingale and back) are of a reasonable standard. About half of the 26 mile route, on and off, looks OK to me.

The ascents and descents don’t look bad at all. My Brompton has 6 gears. I normally start off in 3rd gear when travelling around London. When doing the gentle hills around Chelmsford I counted the number of times I had to shift down to 2nd or 1st gear. I selected 2nd gear 12 times to handle ascents, only needing to select 1st gear 3 times (12+3= 15 notable ascents). That tells me that there are only 3 times when I might have to slow to a walk. I expect to run the whole course this time. That wasn’t true of my first two marathons. I am going to do my utmost to maintain a dignified jog up those 1st gear hills, because there are only 3 of them, and because I have trained to run for longer, even on inclines. We’ll need to wait until the actual day to find out if that plan works.

There are a number of places where the tarmac surface has given up, and Mother Nature is reclaiming the centre of the road. Some of it is fairly extensive like this photo near Millers Green. In other places, like Wood Lane past Sawyer’s Farm there are sporadic oases of greenery flourishing on the centre line of the road. Random plant life erupting in vibrant shades of green. It all means that I will be picking out the racing line with care for much of the 26 mile route.

Serendipitously, there is one stretch of recently laid, quality tarmac at about mile 21. It’s nice, especially as it’s on an uphill stretch. The whole route should be like this.

However, the good news doesn’t last long. After about 800m of beautiful, new tarmac, the route turns left onto a regular country road towards a hamlet called Newney Green (on a road also called Newney Green). Having missed the chance to get some perfectly ripe blackberries at about mile 16, I stopped at about mile 22 to collect an ample supply.

Soon after that, the route returns us to the uniform “out and back” stretch passing the weirdly named “University College Cow Watering Campus”. And promptly brings us back onto the aforementioned cycle paths and foot paths for the final three miles. It’s also known as a “permissive bridleway” though I’ve never seen a sign like that before. It contains ample supplies of horse manure, ruptured and pitted tarmac, and is clearly an uncared for and unloved pedestrian and cycle route.

The final stretch is perfectly fine for gentle recreation, casual walkers and casual cyclists. It’s not my idea of what a marathon course should be like. Overall, it’s better than Milton Keynes. But it’s not as good as Geneva.

Perhaps I’m being unfair? Is my brain conditioned by the marathons I’ve seen on TV? Are normal marathons supposed to contain miniature obstacle courses?

I’m so glad that I did the recce before doing the race! I know exactly what I’m letting myself in for. Yes, I will do the Chelmsford Marathon. It will be both physically demanding and mentally demanding. Which is what all my training runs are like anyway!

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I’m currently writing a book! About my novice exploits as a runner, and all the things I wish I had known before I did my first marathon. And my second marathon. And my third. So it’s pretty hard to write a book like that if I don’t actually go out and do some marathons.

These past two years (mid 2022 to mid 2024) have been particularly fraught, hence there has been a bit of an on/off relationship with my self directed training programme. This blogpost is mainly about that recent two year history.

Although first, I will need to tell a short story for those of you who have not been following me for the past twenty years or so!

London – 22 Oct 2024

In 2005 I took up running to combat an unhealthy life style. I was 42 when that decision was made, I had an imprecise plan, but it did at least include a 10K race within a year of starting my new found hobby. In the early years I did three 10K races, then a ropey half marathon, and then another couple of 10K races. Finally, I decided that I would do a marathon when I was 50.

A milestone achievement at a milestone age.

That meant more 10K races, and another Half, and plenty of training inbetween. In 2013, when I was 50 years old, I completed my first marathon. I did Milton Keynes in the most unimpressive way imaginable. Next, aged 55 (in 2018) I completed the Geneva Marathon with a marginally better performance. And then I planned to do my third marathon in 2023, aged 60.

It didn’t happen!

Owing to minor injuries in 2022 and 2023, I relaxed my 5 year cycle, and instead of 2023 I planned to do my third marathon in 2024, aged 61.

My training routes are mainly in central London, and I spend of lot of time on The Thames Path running along the South Bank. The lengths and the routes vary, but if you imagine Tower Bridge at one end, and Battersea Bridge at the other, you get a feel for my territory. And I’m a 6 o’clock man! Normally I wake at 5 o’clock (seven days a week) and I have a habit of always being out of the door at 6 on the dot, to run. Which was good until it wasn’t. No matter the weather, nor the season, nor the amount of daylight (meaning the absence of daylight) I would run my routes under London street lights . . . and that’s the problem.

London – 14 Dec 2023

Raised paving stones and sunken drains have been responsible for a number of injuries. In the dark I can’t see them. Yes, I’ve had other minor tumbles, clipping kerb stones, or losing my footing on gravel, but the only serious injuries were always the result of uneven pavements. After a particularly troubling tumble in Aug 2023, I started wearing a TubiGrip on my left knee, and I still went and did the Tonbridge Half Marathon on 1 Oct 2023. A bad injury (when it was dark) in mid Oct 2023 saw me substitute swimming in place of my regular running (for 6 weeks).  Then winter set in, and I spent more time running in the dark. By December I was back to my normal running routine again, when on Boxing day (in the dark at about 6.30am) disaster struck (again)!

London – 26 Dec 2023

By this time I had already been looking ahead for marathons I could run in 2024. Boston (Lincs) in April, Peterborough in May, Loch Ness in September, and Chelmsford in October. I had registered to do Boston on 28 Apr 2024.

After the tumble on Boxing Day, I took some time to think. Having done no running by mid January 2024, I asked to defer my Boston 2024 entry to 2025. I also gave up running in the dark. I resolved to wait as long as it took (not merely rest for the recommended 6 weeks) and I would resume running when I felt that I was truly ready. In my diary I wrote that might be one or two years. By the end of March 2024 I was running again, and I booked my place for the Loch Ness Marathon on 29 Sep 2024.

It’s OK to not be OK – stopping at 8K of a 10K run
London – 28 Sep 2023

Then, two more false starts in early 2024, and two more injury breaks followed. It was nothing serious, there had been no more falls (because there was no more running in the dark) but my body was telling me that I wasn’t ready to pursue my full training programme the way I normally do. The ligaments in my left knee were telling me to take it easy on them. I went for a 20K walk one day, and took an unplanned break after 16K. Luckily, by early July 2024, I was feeling 100% again. I could run without any complaints, and I was back to my normal weekly pattern:

Tuesday: 7K
Thursday: 7K
Sunday: 10K

However, if I was going to be ready for the Loch Ness Marathon on 29 Sep 2024 I would have to step it up a bit.

Yokohama – 16 May 2024

Some time ago I scaled back my mid week runs from 10K to 7K. I don’t really have enough time before work on a Tuesday and a Thursday to do 10K, but it was the normal pattern a while back. And it will have to be the normal pattern again “now”. In place of the sevens I substituted 10, and in place of the ten I substituted 15.

Tuesday: 10K
Thursday: 10K
Sunday: 15K

The Sunday runs soon became 20K, and I made time for myself to work on a heftier weekly pattern. Doing 10+10+20 wasn’t enough, I needed more muscle strength and hence more distance. I had never been this ambitious before. Another change of routine:

Tuesday: 15K
Thursday: 15K
Sunday: 25K

I followed that exact pattern for three weeks without any problems other than my calf muscles complaining about the unexpectedly high work load. There is no way that I can do more than 15K mid week without changing my work pattern. My Sunday runs will be extended to 30K, and then a further three weeks at 35K.

However, I am not going to be ready to do Loch Ness. Which is a shame, because it looks like a lovely event, and I really like Scotland. I could risk it, and I could probably finish, but what if I didn’t? It will take me two days to drive there, and two to drive back. I also had six nights booked in a hotel in Inverness. In total, ten days away from London, and a budget of well over £1,000. That’s a lot of time and energy and money, when I am borderline fit to run 42K at the end of September

But as they say in their race guide “if your training has not gone to plan, we ask you give serious consideration to your ability to run the marathon”. So I have had to let them know that I am dropping out. Instead I shall register to do the Chelmsford Marathon. That gives me more weeks for training, and most importantly, more Sunday runs at 30K and 35K. I will certainly be fit to do 42K by mid October. The extra weeks are enough to boost my stamina and to boost my confidence. Moreover, Chelmsford is a simple train ride from London, with a super off peak day return costing me less than £30.

And the book? The draft version already runs to more than 50,000 words, so it’s a serious book, starting with the early days in 2005.

Rural France, near CERN in Geneva – 2 May 2018

Let’s see how I cope with Chelmsford on 13 Oct 2024. Then I can write the Chelmsford chapter! And hopefully that means that the book can be published before the end of 2024.

Footnote – 21 Oct 2024

The Chelmsford Marathon was completed more or less according to plan. The book was completed during the days that followed.

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