mission accomplished

Sunday gave me an unexpected surprise, not only did actually finish the rutland marathon, I did it in a half reasonable time for a first timer with minimal long distance training. The hills were there, just not where i expected them. Having done the Vitruvian Triathlon there a few weeks prior i was expecting 3 large hills at the 20 mile mark but as this course is closer to the lake they werent that bad at all. I found the constant up and down was more difficult than the 3 hills i expected though, not really hard - its the cattle grids that slow you down more.

I had been advised that it wasnt the easiest of first time marathons but whats life like without a bit of uncertainty anyway. I did have a stitch about 3/4 of the way round but after walking for a few seconds it subsided, nothing like the pain i encountered crossing the line at the Worksop half mara the week before. I also ran out of liquid 5 or 6 miles short of the end and had to rely on the aid stations which was a lesson learned - i did only take about 800ml with me.  - Idiot - .   

There was people that have done over 800 marathons - im not sure if they are insane or just dedicated, but i do know that while i was running it I was sincere in thinking that it would be my one and only standalone marathon but now i just dont know - Ultra running seems kind of fun, but not at the expense of triathlon training. Im going to need to find out alot more about ultra training plans and then decide. If marathons take a few weeks of prep do ultras take months?  To be honest my legs ache a little today but by next sunday i could see myself running another 26.2 without too much bother.   Anyway my time was 3.58.25 - just made the sub 4 hour :)