Rock n Roll Liverpool

The decision to run the Liverpool Rock and Roll Marathon was a bit last minute, on a whim I thought I’d give a GFA time a go. It’s difficult to judge my marathon times, I had a 4:08 for Snowdonia road (uphill) and a 3:34 Loch Ness (downhill) but according to my half marathon time I as capable of a 3:44 – just scraping in under the London Marathon 3:45 GFA time or so I thought…it turns out turning forty last year gave me an extra 5 mins.

I had 7 weeks to train. I knew I had the miles, having done marathons in March and April. The idea was to work on my speed. I was going to incorporate some hill reps, intervals and progression runs into my training. In all fairness the first few weeks went pretty well. There were hills reps with Kev, intervals with the club, long runs and cross training with spin and circuits thrown in. After that , however,training was a bit relaxed, lots of social runs and before I knew it the weekend was here sans my speed work.

I set of early the day before on the train, wanting to browse the expo and maybe pick up a few bargains – Slightly disappointed with the stalls, it wasn’t nearly as big as I expected it to be but did take the chance to listen to some of the guest speakers there and was particularly impressed with Andrew Cohen Wray- The running Reaper. I mulled around outside the arena where the evening concert had stated then head of, taking a stroll around Albert Docks and along the Mersey before heading back to my student digs for the night.

For some unknown reason I had a really bad sleep. I’m usually fretting about waking late and struggling to get to start line but considering I was a stone’s throw direction this really wasn’t a problem…just assuming the nerves got the better of me as I struggled to get out the door the next morning.

I make my way to the docks, chatting to other runners along the way. There is a buzz at the docks, with the half marathoners getting ready to set off. I stand to cheer them off then head for the bag drop in Echo Arena. It’s huge and I begin to think all marathons should be held in stadiums. There's plenty of room for to stretch, warm up, change and dance if you want to and no queue…that’s right no queue for the toilets!!! I drop my bag off with no problems and eat a banana to settle my nerves – though a vodka would of been preferable at this point.

I make my way to the start and I actually feel sick, I can’t think of a time when I’ve been more nervous! The DJ’s are super excited and are getting everyone hyped up before having a minutes silence for those that had lost their lives the week previously in Manchester. I bump into a few local runners from Caerleon and we wish each other good luck and finally the countdown begins. My plan was to try and average an 8:15mm, I knew that if I dropped to an 8:35mm I’d struggle for my GFA. The first mile was 8:04, I kinda of expected it at the start, I have a habit of going of fast so I tried to slow down, 2nd mile 7:56 argh, 8:02 better, 7:58mm what! By mile 6 I hit an 8:10 yes! It's a pace I wanted and I stayed pretty much at this pace for a while. I was enjoying the race, the music and live bands were fab.

The course really takes you around the sights of Liverpool. We passed Everton and Liverpool football stadiums, Sefton, Princes, Otterspool parks, Penny Lane, Cavern Quarter, Liver buildings and Liverpool Cathedral with various musicians and DJ’s playing anything for rock, pop and even a bit of country and, of course, The Beatles being prominent on most playlists until eventually we meet with the Mersey for the final 3 miles. I’d lost pace quite a bit by now but was still under the 8:35mm pace. This section was a hard slog and I was getting slower, it's flat and meandering with the wind off the Mersey making it even more difficult. The final mile and I will myself on, the crowds have picked back up and I can hear the music and cheers from the finish line. I cross the line in a respectable time of 3:38:34…YES…it’s a London Qualifying Time. The medal is a hefty one and I collect my belongings and head of to claim my well earned free beer. I’m chuffed to bits and raise a glass to myself to celebrate. I got my time and to be honest (and without being disappointed) I think with a more strict training plan I could possibly do better.

The outdoor party is in full swing and the clangs of medals around peoples necks is immense, over the course of the weekend you had the chance to earn 3 medals plus a bonus medal if you’d ran it last year….there was a lot of bling outside that arena ha ha!

It’s an expensive race but overall you get your monies worth. Hefty medal, tech tshirt, beer, fab course with a party atmosphere (albeit along the Mersy) enroute.