Category: Marathon

The most significant factor effecting my performance at the 2017 Lianyungang Xu Wei International Marathon would be the harsh north wind. It made me push out too fast at the start and slowed me right down during the tough middle section. If I ran this one again I would have paced myself better at the start and used the other runners to shelter myself more during the windy mid-section. This time I had a poor race strategy and suffered. Not my worst time ever, but certainly a race to put down to experience more than anything else.

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There’s no place in the world like Hong Kong. It’s the closest you’ll get to Blade Runner without actually travelling into the future. Formerly a possession of the British Empire, passed back to China in 1997, the place is an eclectic mix of everything that passes through it densely packed into 1,000 squared kilometres, hemmed in by the sea on one side and the mountains on the other. The marathon used to run from Hong Kong to Shenzen but now runs completely within the territory. A lot of the route passes out of the city over bridges and under tunnels so there’s not an awful lot interesting to see. It’s not a particularly fast marathon either, and it rained quite heavily during the 2016 edition, but I managed a half decent time of 3:24:02 and had a very enjoyable trip.

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In the 1st Nanjing International Marathon I was honored to start at the front of the pack competing as an elite runner. This was thanks to a special invite from my good friend Fred at Event Animals who ask me to join three other international runners to represent the AT3 triathlon team. Although I’m not normally a very fast marathon runner by most standards, I did manage a half decent time and found myself being interviewed by the local television, the newspaper and marathon organizers after the race. I also had the unique opportunity of experiencing the race build-up from the perspective of the proper fast elite athletes. A real privilege and a very nice experience.

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Sunday the 8^th of November would mark the 20^th anniversary of the Shanghai International marathon. This would be my 8^th race at this distance and another attempt at a Boston marathon qualifying time of 3 hours 15 minutes. I’d been training hard all during the hot summer and stepped up to running virtually every day in the autumn. So, despite a disastrous Leicester marathon two weeks prior, where I seriously fell apart around the 35^th kilometer, I still had the BQ time on my mind.

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