pickupthepacepaul

On 12 January 2025, I ran my first marathon of the year. With an aid station filled with doughnuts who can blame me, just the motivation needed. This was my 162nd marathon,  who would have thought I would be on my journey to 200 marathons.

It was freezing today. When I left the house, it was minus 3 degrees Celsius. I arrived very early as I got a lift with a friend, and this meant I ran the first 2 laps in darkness. At Phoenix Running events, it is the same standard route, of 8 laps for a marathon. The only difference at this event is that the aid station is stacked with doughnuts.

Whilst I could have as many Doughnuts as I wanted, I didn’t have any until the end. Although I did have to stop for the toilet twice. The route wasn’t too bad, but it was a little icy in places, so I had to be cautious. It was also busy, I wonder why this race was so popular?

At the finish, I stocked up with Doughnuts before walking to the train station to get home. I finished in an official time of 4:23:56 which is not bad considering I took it steady, stopped for about 10 minutes just for the toilet, and was being careful not to slip on the icy conditions. It’s definitely a solid, long training run.

Has anyone else been running today? What you got coming up?