New York Maratohon (4): Top Tips for (Pretty Average) Marathoners

Before anyone thinks I feel I have the experience and knowledge to pass on tips about running marathons to anyone else, I don't. Certainly not after my one pretty average attempt! However, I did receive some brilliant advice from people, which I found incredibly useful. It is this advice which I am passing on. The other thing about this is that I'm sure the advice was intended specifically for me, as someone who was never going to break any records, or run quickly, and whose main aim was simply to finish. I'm sure if you are a good, experienced and quick runner, or are looking to break your PB in your next marathon, this advice will probably not be so useful or relevant. Anyway, here goes:

1. Print your name on the front of your shirt. 

Name loud and proud!

This was probably the best advice I received! I had so many people, probably hundreds, shouting out;"Chris!", "Chris!", "Go Chris!", "Looking good Chris!" "Looking strong Chris!", "Chris, you own this!", "Great running Chris!" and so on and so on for 26.2 miles. Absolutely amazing and humbling and over-the-top and at times emotional and funny and so so encouraging. One of the runners I spoke to said that he got "amazing time!" a few times, something which I seemed to have missed out on! But it just gave me a huge lift, added humour and helped to take my mind off the running and the hurt. I even had a runner (as he passed me after about 5 miles) say, "Hey Chris! The girls really like you!"... just because I was getting so many shout outs. Made my day.

2. Get involved with the crowd.
Actually I think the actual advice was: run near to the edge of the course, so you're near the crowd, this way they'll see your name on your shirt and you'll be able to high five the children in the crowds. So I did.... and as can be seen from Tip no. 1, it worked! The other thing about this, is that I could see the writing on the signs the spectators were holding, which also gave me a lift with the humour ("Sweat is Sexy"). Again, I must have "high fived" hundreds of people during the race, trying to get whole lines of high fiving going. It was brilliant as the crowd at times responded, asked to be high fived and cheered me on all the more. Hugely encouraging. But I also tried to acknowledge people when they called my name out, either by a wink, nod, thumbs up or bigger response such as holding my arms high. One particular group of about 4 or 5 women, who were sitting on a roof top, called my name out and then burst out laughing when I responded... made me smile! I also went up to each Union Flag I saw (and there were a few) to cheer it and the people holding it.... the result of all this was that it made the whole race a fantastic experience for me and certainly helped to get me through ..... it also meant I must have run further than 26.2 miles and probably added another 5 minutes onto my time as I was so not focussed on running a race. Great experience though!

3. Eat and drink throughout the run.
I must admit one of the things I was slightly concerned about before the race was whether I would "Hit The Wall". One friend simply gave me the advice to eat and take in water on a regular basis throughout the run and not just when I thought I might need it. So in my longer training runs, one of the things I did do was practice drinking and eating while running and experimenting with the food I ate. I found this useful, as its not something I'd normally do. During the race, I did eat some energy bars fairly regularly, probably every 5 miles or so, and took in water again on a regular basis. The result of this was that I did not feel that I'd hit any wall, and in fact by about 20-21 miles, I really felt pretty strong, very confident, and was able to put a bit more effort into my last few miles.

Going into the Bronx... maybe?

4. Start off slowly.
This was one piece of advice which I probably took a bit too far, as not only did I start off slowly, but I carried on slowly and ended up even slower. My first mile was something like 11:30 minutes, which was approximately 2 minutes slower than I would have started normally, and my first 13 miles was 10-15 minutes slower than my normal half marathon time. So I think I'd have been disappointed if I had been going for a decent time, but as it was, it meant that I did feel pretty strong towards the end and was able to put a bit of effort into the last 3 or 4 miles when others were walking, particularly going into Central Park for the finish. In fact I was convinced that I was speeding along at the end, only to be told by my daughter who was tacking me over the internet that I was gradually getting slower and slower throughout the race. Oh well.

Oh, yes, I do have one more piece of advice, which is my very own. Watch where you're going. About 5 or 6 miles into the race, I was so busy high fiving people along the way that I didn't see where my feet were going and I ended up tripping on the road and falling flat on my face. Fortunately I have had plenty of practice at recovering well, as this is something I've done a few times on the pavements of Birmingham. I did a forward roll, and ended back up on my feet without too much of a problem. I even got a comment from an american as he passed me: "Great roll buddy". Nice.