Portsmouth Coastal Marathon 2012

Cheers Hills.  That is the way i see it. I will just have to put up with whatever the weather throws at me. I can always shuffle and jog towards the end. I'm not after a fast time.  

Im counting down the days until this one, should be a good event. I'm one of the seemingly large number of questionably sane people doing this as #12 of 12 in 2012 and so it should be a really good atmosphere!

I might have come to the party a bit late but does anyone know of somewhere reasonably priced to stay the night before?

Blakester: http://www.fitprorob.biz/marathons/ is the website for the portsmouth run. Thanks for the good wishes

Hey Rob, you mentioned puddles and lots of mud "in places". I don't mind puddles (firm underneath, thus the puddle), but how much of the course can I expect to be slippery mud? (Especially on the way back after hundreds of people have tramped though....)

Cheers for organising this - really looking forward to it. (How many people roughly are entering?)

Charles:

A route video is on the link below. (The video goes from the 13.1 mile point (ish) to the finish, so you sort of start at the end). http://www.fitprorob.biz/marathons/

You can do some very crude calculations based on the video, just in minutes of cycling. Of course the cyclist will have gone much faster on the roads than the beach/mud, so it's likely that the % below is too low on road/concrete and too high for mud/beach. Anyway it looks like the route is about:

40% road/pavement/concrete

45% track (gravelly path: can get puddles, but not really slippery mud)

15% track/beach (not so gravelly: these bits could be muddy)

I've done it the last 2 years, and whilst there's some puddles, and sometimes a bit of mud, it's quite minor. Unless you're planning a 2:30 or something. Definitely trainers not trail shoes. See you on Sunday!!

Oops, reading back it seems you've already seen the video. Anyway. The last 2 years I did 3:30 and 3:20, and there were no issues with slipping on what mud there is.

Possibly with Friday's apocalypse the mud will all have been burned/frozen away anyway?

Hello Portsmouth marathon runners, Let you know that I am unable to take part in this Sunday events, unfortuantely I had an accident which I am suffering with a head and neck injury. After spending yesterday at A and E, it time to put my feet up and rest for a while. I will try again next year. Please let me know how it went and post your results on here.

Sunjay, pretty extreme way just to get out of doing the run Get well soon.

I did an XC race earlier in the year, fell over, broke my shoulder blade and still finished 6th

@Charles R ,you can go and f+ck yourself for putting remarks like that. I did not want to get out of race. I had a head injury which gave me no choice but NOT run this race, this would have been my third marathon alone this year, so why the hell would I want to get out of this race. 

Charles, I suggest you grow up you prick. 

Ok, on a lighter note....how many layers do I need?? Light rain and a bit of wind I can cope with but can experts of the course tell me if it is a breezy route normally? Cheers all..happy tapering and carb loading. All kit packed and ready for trip from Derbyshire to Portsmouth on Saturday

I'm hoping the Santa outfit over my running gear won't be too hot AND that I get over the damn stomach bug doing the rounds by Sunday.  Be gutted to miss this, it sounds like a nice event.

Cheers Gilly, regularly do Snowdon marathon so can cope with most conditions. Just like to know 'what and when' . However..will give it a good thrash then start some Christmas beerathon

Rosemary, hope you feel better v quick

Sunjay, you got the wrong end of the stick. It must be highly frustrating after all those weeks of training to have the chance to run taken away from you at the last minute, so I was trying to cheer you up with some light humour. I'll get my coat... Really hope you get well soon and get the next race booked in as soon as possible. I run my own internet forum and I see people misinterpret the written word all the time, so no worries.

As for what to wear, there's a facebook page with that discussion. There are some fairly exposed areas, but not the whole way along. I'm going to wear a loose long sleeve layer with an adizero climaproof jacket (lightweight and shower proof and windproof) that I can take on and off as needed - I reckon the single layer will be warm enough without the jacket unless it starts raining because Sunday is looking a little warmer 13° with "a chance of rain" (I tried running at a fair pace yesterday for 3 miles in the rain with just a vest and the jacket and my arms and thus hands got too cold). Shorts and compression socks for the legs. If it turns out to be sunny on the day, I'll stick with a vest and jacket.

I also tend to  frequently check the BBC weather forecasts  in the days leading up to a big race. I am a bit of a wimp so always tend to overdress with layers , hat gloves  even scarfs sometimes.

I do feel a bit foolish with my umbrella though.

My santa hat has bells on it, which make a lovely jingling noise. Just wondering whether that might be slightly irritating at 26 miles. What do the panel think? I am sure it will improve speed though. NID