Last week I braved the cobbled streets of Edinburgh along with just over 7000 other runners, all with the quest to complete the marathon. A somewhat mixed bag of weather, but I guess that should have been expected! Following from last years disappointment with my performance at London marathon I was chasing a PB. Unfortunately, not quite the case. It went perfectly to mile 16, and from then on however, it became a bit of a slog, with my splits absolutely jumping off a cliff.
I’m not sure why mile 16 was the ‘wall’ for me this year. Or even if that was the ‘wall’. I had trained up to 20miles several times, all of which went well, with room in the tank for the final 6.2 miles. Luckily for me, I can be almost certain it wasn’t due to hypohydration or a lack of energy. Working with the brands that I do, I was fortunate enough to have an endless supply of energy gels and electrolyte effervescent tablets to keep me going. Not to mention a fantastic support crew of my parents and 2 best friends who were flying around the course to cheer me on and keep me going.
In the end, it didn’t turn out too badly. I managed to grit my teeth and get to the finish line in 3hr36. 12 minutes slower than what I had originally wanted, but a time that should be good enough to qualify me for Good For Age in London 2020. Not my best marathon, certainly not my worst.
Since the marathon, I’ve been thinking about how fortunate I am to work in an industry that I love, where I am also the target consumer. I do use a lot of products that we supply; gels, effervescent tablets, fastmelt powders, protein bars and protein powders – not all at once may I add! But each product offering can be great additions to your diet when used correctly. It makes it far more enjoyable researching ingredients and supplements that have the potential to improve performance – when you think that you could get a PB from it too!