Kent Roadrunner Marathon

Hello,

Who else is in?

I entered today. Sounds interesting - 17 laps. Going to be mentally tough, but it should make things easier in terms of spectators, distance from start/finish, fuelling/hydration and possible pit stops.

Any recommendations of acommodation in the area would be very welcome & any info on public transport too....thanks.

Thanks Millsy - will look at the Premier Inns. Handy about the tables.

Are you running it this year?

Hope you can. Looking at the results from last year, I expect to finish about mid-field. Will be glad just to complete it regardless of time - for me this is as much of a mental battle and sticking two fingers up to recent health problems, to prove to myself I can run a marathon (have done 3 previously but times are slow)

The 8th would have been difficult for me too - My mum's 59th and MIL's 60th!

this was possibly my favourite race of last year and I'm in again this time. the laps are just long enough and varied enough to not get boring but beware the hill at the end; it's not very steep on lap 1 but it's like climbing a mountain the 17th time around

public transport is nice and easy to gravesend, 15 minutes on the train from london st pancras. 

the premier inn by woodlands park is decent enough and ony about a mile from the race, I've never been in the one on hever court road but that's even closer to the track (further from the town centre though) or you've got the manor hotel more or less next door to that one, a bit more expensive but very nice with a pool and gym

I'm in - my first lap marathon, think I will find it a challenge 

HI all

I'm doing this, it'll be my first marathon. Why am I doing this one? Well I'm local, most of my LSRs go passed the Cyclopark one way or the other. The old A2 is just 5 minutes run from my house. Secondly, if I run into any problems during the race help won't be very far away (not that I'm expecting any) and thirdly, my wife and kids can come and spend 5 hours sitting there watching me and the other runners go round and round. She'll be quite happy as there's a cafe and toilets on site!

I'm really looking forward to it.

don't forget you can choose your own race number for this one. a nice little touch

Really looking forward to this one, its my first marathon for a few years so im a bit nervous, but living in Gravesend its great not to have an early start to get there! 

Good luck to everyone im number 52 on the day.

Hi all, How do you know what your race number is for this race? Just curious, thanks.

Gary - sounds a perfect reason to run this marathon to me - go for it!

My family live approx 50 mins from the start (Staplehurst), so I'm considering booking a Premier Inn for the night before to be nearer the race start...otherwise I'll be up before 6am!

Had my final Cross country race of the season yesterday, so can now spend weekends focusing on the LSR.

LTS, people only know their race number if they've requested a specific one. you can email the organisers or ask on the facebook discussion here http://www.facebook.com/tzruns26?ref=ts&fref=ts

Hello all! I'm the Race Director for the Kent Roadrunner Marathon.

Thanks so much for all the lovely comments so far.

We have MUCH bigger and better finishers' medals for this year's event. I'll be bold enough to say they're the biggest marathon medal in Europe in 2013

Please ask anything you'd like here... We love the friendly atmosphere at the race -- the laps enhance that, and we'll answer anything we can here too!

Ian

Tiny request - if you are doing the Kent RR marathon would you please consider participating in my study which you can find on the Spring marathon thread as MSc Research Project requires marathon runners - no electrodes!

It's about using a positively focused self-talk technique to increase your resilience and positive affect (that's the strong positive moods that you can control).

It is straightforward and might just provide an additional tool to conquer the mental aspects of tackling a marathon. Drop me a line if you would like more details.

Cheers.

Thanks TZ - really appreciate that. i'll need a sherpa to help me carry the finshers medal!  

The start time is 9am - can you recommend a time for us to gather at the start area? also what are parking facilities like at the venue?

when will the race packs be sent out? Only asking because I now live in Swansea & will be travelling up to the South East on the thursday before the race.

Is anyone else going to be catching a train from London? I'm half tempted to stay with my parents and get the train there - that way I wont have to worry about driving and will have my comfy bed to sleep in the night before. not sure how early the trains will start running but I'm guessing for a Saturday it would be 7am onwards. 

Thanks!

GTC - will take a look at that thread. Always happy to help research.

I did the race last year and there was plenty of parking right next to the start area.  There isnt much to do before the race so you don't need to be there with masses of time to spare, but it's just your personal choice.

Last year I think we collected numbers on the day.

Good luck!

Another thing (can't remember if I have already said this) but the course is quite twisty, turny and last year my garmin mapped it at 26.8 miles.  Others made it less than that, so I either made a mess of the turns or my garmin was a little dodgy, anyway it made my pacing and timing all out of sync.  Luckily I had printed off a few pace bands from the race website so I used these instead.

pip, you need to take the racing line more often. my garmin clocked it at 26.17 miles

parking is fine. some of my family turned up at 11.30ish to watch the finish and still got in the carpark albeit at the far end