Marathon Barriers

Running marathons is hard work, and training for marathons is worse. I got my fastest marathon time during a mid-life crises, trying to prove to myself that I wasn't really getting older.

I ran 2 hours 41 minutes in the London 1995 marathon, when I was 40 years old. Unfortunately an inevitable consequence of ageing is that you start to slow.

The big barrier for most club runners is the  sub 3 hour marathon, and this was becoming more and more difficult to achieve in my late 40's. Also the high mileage I was running had given me heel spurs in both feet, so the training was becoming more uncomfortable.

I decided that I would race my last marathon when I was 50, but it must be a sub 3 hour run, enabling me to 'retire' with my head held high.

When 50 came along I wasn't fit enough for sub 3 hours, so I delayed the run and had an extra 12 months of training.

Finally, in 2006 I was ready and entered a local race, the Shakespeare Marathon in Stratford Upon Avon.

The run was harder than I remembered, (but marathons always are) and I had to dig out a fast last mile to cross the line in 2 hours 59 minutes 12 seconds.

Hooray! I'd done it, and as a bonus I won a prize as the first man over 50. :-)

After 17 marathons I had retired, and no longer had to churn out 70 to 100 mile weeks over the winter months.  Now I could concentrate on my favourite distance;  The half marathon - much more sensible and far more pleasurable to race. 

John McNally