Race 16, 17 & 18: Mid Sussex Marathon
Race: Mid Sussex Marathon (East Grinstead 10 Miles, Haywards Heath 10 Miles & Burgess Hill 10K)
Distance: 26 Miles
Total Time: 3hrs 52 mins
Here it is again, the Mid Sussex Marathon weekend. This is my third time running all 3 races- and I’m pretty sure that at the end of both previous attempts I swore to never do it again…
It’s a painful three days of back to back running in order to cover a marathon distance split up across three different Mid Sussex locations. It’s quite a symbolic race for me as at some point during my life I have lived in all three towns! Time to Race, Eat, Sleep repeat for another May Day bank holiday weekend.
Race 1: East Grinstead 10 Miles 01:27:53
East Grinstead has always been my favourite of this weekend of racing, mostly because it is the only race ran entirely on trails. We parked up in some fields that the UK Scientology headquarters had kindly let us use (thanks L. Ron and co for the hospitality). We tried to have a sneaky peak at the property and really wanted to get a picture by the main sign but there were a lot of security folk hovering about so we decided against it!
The start of the race was at East Grinstead Rugby club and we both had a quick wee and then we were pretty much ready to start straight away. It was a fast start to the race with a good mix of people doing all three races and some just doing the 10 miles. I rushed off from the start line feeling good and excited to start the weekends racing. I really did forget about the challenges of this course, it’s undulating and rutty underfoot with a mix of woodland and field running- thankfully all very scenic with occasional glimpses of the reservoir and bluebells to distract you. What is normally my least favourite part of the race became my favourite part. Smack bang in the middle of the 10 mile slog is a almost flat out and back paved flat section in the middle of the woods. I normally dread this section as it is not particularly inspiring but this time i loved it as I was able to pick up the speed without worrying about my footing. I also crossed paths with Alex during this section so it was nice to see his slightly tired face. After this lovely flat section it just keeps getting more hilly. I really started out too fast and ending up dragging myself around the last 3 miles of the course. My breathing was laboured, my legs were tired and my brain had gone to a pretty negative place… and this was only race one of the weekend. Get it together woman!?
I put my all into a final sprint finish and overtook a couple of people in the final field and finished with a time of 1 hr and 28 minutes. I was really disappointed with this time until a bit of research in the car ride home uncovered that I had actually beaten my time on this course by a massive 8 minutes. No wonder it hurt!
Race 2: Haywards Heath 10 Miles. 01:28:17
Noooo- Haywards Heath 10 miles- always my least favourite of the weekend. After living in Haywards Heath for 7 years and running a LOT I always felt that this race could take better advantage of the surrounding areas of Haywards Heath instead of dragging us down the the bypass and around the maze of a new build ‘village’ called Bolnore.
But anyway- here we were again. Legs were pretty tired after the previous days exertions so I made a real conscious effort to start out slow.
It’s a town centre start where the road is closed very briefly to allow us to do an out and back loop of Haywards Heath high street (woo hoo) before turning back through Victoria Park and heading into the woods that lead to Bolnore. The wooded section is always so misleading. You think it’s going to be this lovely cool wooded section and then you realise it’s actually a relentless mile or mile and a half up hill! This race was a tough old slog and it felt even more tough because it never really opened up in terms of runners having their own space. I always felt like I was either on someone else's heels or they were on mine which made the whole thing quite stressful.
Weirdly enough- the part I had been dreading the most (running alongside a very busy main road) ended up being the best part of the race as it is a lovely long downhill stretch. The rest of the race (much like the rest of the weekend in fact) was full of lots of up hill slogs… never particularly horrendous to look at but when you are actually tackling them with your feet- you are fully aware of it! The good bits of the race were passing back through Victoria Park for lap 2 and seeing my father in law and family friend there to cheer us on and also a lovely downhill part of the race in the woods that had bluebells either side of the path (there are some definite themes to this weekend). Finally- right at the end of the race when I thought I might not actually make it to the finish line I saw my Drama teacher who i hadn’t seen in over 10 years cheering me on. That was a lovely surprise also.
All in all- it was a tough slog to get to 20 miles this weekend and I actually finished this race a minute slower than the trail race the day before. After looking at the weekend's results this is not a common occurrence (most people finish the Haywards Heath race faster). 10K left to go.
Race 3: Burgess Hill 10K 00:56:08
The final race of the weekend was here and I felt…. Terrible- despite the 11 hours sleep the night before I still felt that my body was dog tired. My mind was willing and I tried to give myself a bit of a pep talk… “it’ll all be over in an hour...just 10K to go” but it was pretty hard to feel ‘pumped’ for the race ahead.
Burgess Hill 10K starts and finishes on a grassy racing track at the back of Oakmeeds school. It is always a well attended event with plenty of people just signing up for the 10k race. The race started with a lap of the running track before the crowd of runners headed out of the school and through a housing estate into some big open green fields that are called Nightingale meadows apparently!
It’s a bit of a slog of a race as it is 2 loops (a figure of 8) of two big hilly fields- but in terms of races that are formed of laps, it’s a clever one as despite having ran this course at least 4 times now I am never really sure where it goes/ what comes next! I think this is a good thing!
The grass was long underfoot and the ground unforgiving and rutty. I was so slow- so very slow. I just wanted to get to the end and didn’t have anything else in me to allow me to push myself. My pace was hovering back around old and now unfamiliar 10 minute mile territory as fresher runners passed by.
The end of the race couldn’t have come quick enough and I was so happy to re enter the school grounds. I tried to get around a lady for my final sprint finish (as always I found SOMETHING in the tank to give it a try) Unfortunately as I tried to get around her, she also went right and I ended up clipping the back of her heel and she fell over. It was HORRIBLE. I felt terrible- and immediately stopped to pick her up and make sure she was ok. She wasn’t particularly happy about the incident (naturally) and told me to leave her be- which I did. I crossed the finish line shortly after this- feeling awful. What a way to end the marathon weekend. I found her again and apologised again but I don’t think she wanted to ever see me again. I spent the rest of the day shame spiraling from this incident. Such a rubbish end to an otherwise fast and furious weekend of racing
