Race review: #32 Dartford Midnight Marathon

For some reason I'd liked the idea of this marathon. The idea is that you run in the summer evening (when it's a bit cooler and without the sun to roast you) - finishing around midnight.  Hence the name of the race, 'the midnight marathon'. In previous years if you finished before midnight, they gave you a special t-shirt, "I beat the midnight marathon". With a 7pm start time there was no chance of that for me! No such t-shirt like that this year (fortunately?!)  

In the morning I had already done a parkrun at Rushmoor with my kids so already some running in the bag and a bit of a leg-stretcher.  I was able to have a good dinner too around noon, which gave me the last minute carb loading. 

I faced the fairly long old drive around the M25 to Dartford. I had to leave the motorway just before going through the tunnel, it really was close to the Dartford Crossing. As I entered the business park where the event was being held, I went past a new housing estate and a power station, and I caught a glimpse of the the QE2 bridge over the River Thames, it was really close.

As I parked up I bumped into Alec who I had run Brighton with earlier in the year, when we both dressed as crayons. We had a bit of banter and a chat about the craziness of this race. 

It was a short walk over to race HQ where I picked up my race number and timing chip, and I was handed my free race t-shirt. There was a burger van selling tea and coffee, burgers and hot dogs etc. Also there walker a small number of portaloos which were more than adequate for the number of runners. I bumped into Martin from my running club, always nice to see a few friendly familiar faces.

For a June evening it was quite chilly which was not helped by the gentle rain which had started to fall. Fortunately there was a gazebo for us to shelter in. The organisers got us together for  quick briefing, and the entire field walked en masse to the start line (they needed to add quarter of a mile or so, to get the full distance). There was a brief pause and suddenly the race director shouted "GO" and we were off. Funny how these smaller marathons always seems to start abruptly :-)

The first lap was a loop around a pleasant lake which just flyed by. The rain had stopped to be replaced by some pleasant sunshine. Then we started the real slog. The slog was a giant loop - part of which was out and back. We went past the Dartford power station - which was grim looking - and literally "round the houses" before heading up a short hill and then back down towards the start, with a little dog leg to do a smaller loop and back to the start. We needed to complete 8 of these laps to reach the magic 26.2 mile distance. Like most of these events, you could decide to call it a day after just doing one lap if you wanted, and still collect your medal and goody bag. This does increase the mental toughness required to complete the full distance, as it becomes more and more tempting to just throw in the towel towards the end. For this to count towards my goal of completing 100 marathons I had to do the full 8 lap so matter what.

s, I 

I joined a small group including running buddies Kat (who just celebrated her 100th marathon and joining the 100 marathon club - well done Kat!), Tim, also a chap called Paul from Bungay Runners who I ran most of the race with. I was running my modified Galloway ratio of 90 seconds run, 30 seconds speedwalk and this worked really well for me. Running in a group was great as we chatted and exchanged some banter, the time flew by.

On completing the first lap, we crossed a timing mat. There was a giant screen which flashed up runners names and the  remaining laps - this was a brilliant idea and so much better than the usual wristband or hole punch method of counting laps. There was also a well stocked aid station (a good selection of squash, water, crisps, nuts, sweets etc), and very friendly marshals giving us encouragement and also some good natured banter, always welcome.

The first 4 or so laps went really well, I stuck closely to my run/walk ratio and felt good. Going past the pub I was getting some odd looks from smokers who were sitting outside having a drink - probably wondering why on earth I wanted to spend my Saturday night running around an industrial estate. Me too! It was beginning to get a little dark by now as as the laps ticked on by, the clouds drew in. Next thing I knew it was hammering it down with rain, and I got soaked through to the skin.  

Dartford Bridge - motivating scenery?!?!

By that firth lap it was turning into a slog, and as it got increasingly dark the miles got harder and harder. Still, there was a lovely sunset ver the bridge and I was chatting to Paul which took my mind off the slog and the fact my legs were beginning to protest. By the time I got to lap number 7, my will to keep running was beginning to flag. My pace had dropped to just a little over walking pace anyway, so I reluctantly took the decision to start walking. 

This made the 7th lap go really slow and loads of people over took me, which is demotivating to say the least. It was still tipping it down with rain as I started my final lap. By now I just wanted this race over.  The course had really thinned out too now, most runners had finished so there were just a few of us crazy runners still going round and round.

I decided to start running again as much as I could and ended up trying to catch up a chap called Philip, but just couldn't quite catch him. As I headed down the final straight to the finish he broke out into a sprint finish and I decided to follow his lead, at last I went over the timing mat for the final time and I was done! It was 00:30 and the latest (earliest?!) that I'd ever run. It felt strangely exhilarating to be out running so late. I have to admire the marshals for standing around in the rain at this late hour. 

As I came in, I was cheered and clapped in by the marshals and handed my finishers medal - appropriately a medal of the moon.  I was handed a bag and invited to help myself to chocolate and crisps (DIY goody bag!) I chatted to Philip, Paul and Kat at the end. I didn't feel at all tired, although the legs were not going to forgive me and still ached.

I headed back to the car and had the long old drive back to Hampshire - it was nearly 02:30am when I finally got to bed - but boy did I sleep like a log.