Round and around the Garden, like a Teddy Bear – Maria Hamilton Or, “The Mad Cow Marathon” as a friend promptly dubbed it… Track Marathon = boredom squared But no! I really liked it. With no extra effort (and four weeks after Frankfurt, I was in no mood to haul my 12-lardy-pounds-over-racing-weight self round at any speed, nor did I – I finished in five hours! ) you can watch the sharp end of the race unfold, WHILE SIMULTANEOUSLY saluting the efforts of the insanely tough buggers at the back. Also, the view changes every 100 yards, and the loos (and snack stashes) are always close at hand. So I had a great time! Other pluses that fellow runners took advantage of… If you’ve got cramp and want to run backwards for a bit – the surface is sound and Lane 4 is pretty free… Go ahead! I do now have one impressive blister on my right big toe (we never did change direction! ) though, probably related to five hours of running anticlockwise! I got a bit confused at the end and thought I was finishing a couple of laps earlier than I was, but of course, 400m splits (!) are available, and as no mysterious 5 minute laps appear in the last couple of miles, clearly I Just. Can’t. Count….! Not terribly fast, but as an exercise in doling out effort carefully (with next year’s Comrades in mind) it went well – all done on 3 (non-caff) shot bloks, some ribena and sports drink, and half a bag of parsnip crisps. I had packed some gels, but frankly they are banoffee flavour and unless I’m desperate I can’t stand them! So- Track marathons – if you’re looking for something a bit different… This could be for you. END