Sunday 27th June 2021
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Waiting, waiting and waiting…… for this day to arrive. And it finally arrived. This day was Sunday 27th June 2021. I wasn’t particularly looking forward to this day but after waiting for nearly 14 months, I just wanted to get through this day to finish the Milton Keynes Marathon and to move on with my life. The original date was the first May bank holiday Monday in 2020. It got postponed to September. Then it turned to a virtual run which I didn’t take part and opted to defer my place to May 2021. It got postponed again to end of June.
Since the COVID-19 lockdown in March 2020, I think many people all over the world are just waiting for this madness to end so that we can get on with our life again. Back in April this year when they postponed the Milton Keynes Marathon again to end of June, it really disrupted my training programme. I wonder whether it would get postponed again if the government doesn’t allow it to happen in June. This has made each long run a Big Decision. How far should I run? When should I peak? When should I taper? Is it worth it?
I started a new job at Atkins Global on 1st February this year and have been very busy even though I am still working from home. My life in the past 5 months was just working and training without much down time to do anything else. I was on the verge of giving up training and quit the race as I really struggled to keep the long run training without any certainty whether or not the Marathon would actually happen. Then all the Facebook photos kept gleefully reminding me of all the past Marathons in 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016…. and so on. Looking at those photos with me smiling to the camera with the Marathon finisher’s medal hung on my neck, I was really motivated by those photos not to give up. I decided that if the Marathon was going ahead, I would go ahead too.
John said his fitness has been “furloughed” for the past 16 months and he didn’t think he would be able to run the half marathon event this year. He said he would come with me to support me instead. We travelled up to Milton Keynes the day before and checked into the Hilton Hotel as we had been doing in the past 7 times. In the past, the full and half marathons started together. This time, the 10k and 5k took place on Friday, the half marathon took place on Saturday which left Sunday with only the full marathon. With all the COVID-19 safety related rules, it was a huge challenge to both the organisers and the participants to ensure the social distancing rules were complied. Had Matt Hancock been a marathon runner and turned up on Sunday, he would have flouted all the rules and been thrown out from the race!!
The organisers went extra mile to set up the venue laying many plastic plates on the floor with each plastic plate being 2 metres apart. Runners were told to stand on the plate so as to keep 2 metres apart. To minimise the congestions at the start, they grouped runners in 10 waves with the first wave pulling off as early as 6:30am followed by the next wave 10 minutes later with the final wave at 9am. I was assigned to the 7:20am timeslot. We were told to keep our facemask on at all time until we reached the arch before the start line. Then we could dispose of our facemask to the bin provided. There were bottles and bottles of hand sanitizer at the start area. The organisers had absolutely done their utmost to protect the runners. Spectators were not allowed to line up on the side line. John could only send me off from a distance on the grass area.
I wasn’t particularly feeling fit or on top form but I was determined to finish it, to get it out of the way and to have my life back afterward. The weather was a blessing. It stayed on mid-teens throughout the whole morning which was a far cry from a fortnight ago during the St. Albans Half Marathon when the mercury went up to high 20’s oC.
In the past, this event attracted several thousands full and half marathon runners. They closed the roads from the MK Don Stadium to Central Milton Keynes as the running route but not this year. This year according to the race results, there were only about 900 full marathon runners. They changed the route and we all ran on the pavements and along the country lanes. In the past, the full marathon was one big loop but this year, the full marathon was 2 half marathon loops. I guess it was a lot easier to manage logistically with a much smaller loop.
I started slowly and was getting slower and slower. When I ran past the half way mark which was the same spot as the start, it was just under 2 and half hours. I had already run out of energy. I took the gel and drank the water. It didn’t help. I started to slow down even more. I felt like I had hit the wall but I kept telling myself: “Just keep moving. It doesn’t matter the pace. Don’t stop. Keep moving. Don’t worry about the finish time. The finish line is all that matters.”. It was such a real test for me physically and mentally.
By mile 17, there were more and more runners switching to walking mode. I turned to a hybrid mode. I looked like I was running but my pace was probably a walking pace. Guess what happened by mile 25? I got a terrible cramp on my left calf. I touched my calf and it was as hard as a rock. My right calf was fine. With only a mile to go, I just kept moving. I was nearly there. If I needed to switch to walking, so be it. I basically limped to the finish as shown on the video taken by John:
Finally, I crossed the finish line in 5 hours 20 minutes. I was just so so relieved to have finished another marathon. Without the encouraging words from the marshals, I might not be able to get through it. Special thanks to John who shouted at me with encouraging words from the distance when I approached the finish. Last but not the least, thank you for the organisers and all the volunteers that made this event possible under the COVID-19 restrictions.