We hear from Phil Griffiths, who your editor thinks should keep well away from the Comrades website if he is given to entering things by accident….!
Wolverhampton Marathon 05/09/2010
I had only intended to enter the Half Marathon so when my race pack arrived I was a little confused upon opening it up as the timing chip said ‘Wolverhampton Marathon’, I dismissed that for a second, but only a second because as I pulled the number out it was orange…… I remembered that the Half Marathon numbers are usually white.
It became apparent that I’ve entered the wrong race! I must have clicked the wrong link on Runners World!
There were still 12 days at that point and I’d been training fairly consistently, I did a 10 mile that night and booked the Friday afternoon off work to fit a 20 mile into my training plan. Wolverhampton is a 2 lap marathon, I always said I’d never enter one of those because I figured I would feel demoralised having to go around again when most people are finishing, however that wasn’t the case, considering that almost 1,000 ran the half and only 200 and some ran the full marathon it felt pretty damn good to be going on ahead with the few while the many were finishing and the marshals were enthusiastically cheering on full marathon runners.
Overall it was a good experience and to be honest I needed the kick in the rear end! My first ever marathon and the furthest I’ve ever run completed in 04:35:01, I think I’ve got a very good chance of a PB at the next one, so bring it on!
Name
216
2272
Phil Griffiths
04:36:21
04:35:01
214
M
80
Well done Phil – not sure what’s more impressive, the result or the minimalist preparation!!
