Brighton Marathon

I did my second ever marathon yesterday (no basketballs) and the weather was pretty much perfect in Brighton. My only other marathon experience was at London 2012 where (as some of you may remember) I raced in fancy dress. My London time was 03:56:02 and in Brighton yesterday I managed to finish in 03:39:30. The more I think about it, the more pleased I am with that time. For a start, people weren't suggesting to my family that they call me an ambulance this time! I was in a mess after London but in pretty good shape at the end of Brighton. And today, I was expecting to be really sore and struggle to walk properly but I'm in remarkably good shape. Yeah my legs are a bit sore but it's not restrictive. I'm amazed.
When I signed up for Brighton I wanted to go sub 03:15:00 but having missed three core weeks of my training programme following Silverstone (due to that partially dislocated rib) I knew that was unrealistic before I started. I headed off at Brighton hoping to finish in a 15 minute window 03:30:00 - 03:45:00, so job done on that front. I'm particularly pleased as I didn't get to do a training run longer than 17 miles, so the last nine were new territory for my body.
So now I have to start working on my upper body strength (not something I've ever been known for) so I can cope better with the additional strain of dribbling basketballs and running a little more hunched than you would ordinarily. Hopefully this will help prevent injury during training too.
I have decided not to enter the Liverpool Marathon on 30th May to chase that magic 03:15:00 finish as it's probably unrealistic to get fit for that in such a short window. I'll also probably not run the Midnight Marathon in Dartford on 2nd July as my bother-in-law announced his 40th birthday party that night the day after I signed up for it. So I won't have a guaranteed place at London for the record attempt. Hopefully the charity I want to run for will secure a place for me but they won't know until the end of the month, otherwise I'll enter the ballot (again!). I understand there may be a small chance of getting a place via my running club but if all else fails there must be a hundred other charities that would snap me up for the PR opportunities this would bring them.
The next race I'm signed up for is the Summer Shakespeare on 30th July, which I had thought was a 20k but it seems it may actually be a half marathon. They have agreed to let me run with the basketballs so I'm going to aim to break 01:45:00. I'm sure I'll run some other smaller races between now and then as there seem to be lots of opportunities now I'm a member of Petts Wood Runners. I'm also considering entering the Abingdon Marathon in October. But for now, I'm going to put my feet up and look forward to tracking all my PWR friends in the London Marathon this Sunday. Good luck everyone!

I don't look it, but I'm really happy.