Marathon du Mont St Michel - 17th June 2006
SO how do you beat the cramps? This was the question Stubbington runner Paul Hammond was asking after competing the Marathon du Mont St Michel in northern France.
Paul was making a return to Brittany for this popular race, which is now in its ninth year.
This time Paul finished the race in a time of 4hrs 7min 32sec, which was an 11 minute improvement on his time 12 months ago. But it was a painful marathon. Here is his story:
"I arrived at St Malo to a lovely morning, sunshine with a slight breeze, nice for a marathon.
After registering and collecting my race number and goody bag it was off to the finish line at the Mont, from there I got a coach back to the start at Cancale. I had to wait for just over two hours at the start so took shelter under a row of trees, (not all of them, just one), mine was one of the first coaches to arrive so the entertainment was to see the place fill up and the starting gate erected.
About half an hour from the start time I put my kit sack in the van for delivery to the finish and warmed up before taking my place at the three and a half hour point.
Five o'clock came along and we were off, I set off with the pacemaker and his band of followers.
The first part of the course out of Cancale and down to the baie was the hottest. Once on the coast road the breeze helped enormously.
There was a drinks station every 5km and I took full advantage of every one, water, isotonic drink and food - I'm always amazed at how hungry I get - and I walked/stopped to ensure it all went where it should.
Everything was going fine. I was running well and feeling comfortable. I went through half distance at roughly 1hr 48mins. But then, between the 25km and 30km stations, the cramps came back with a vengeance. At one point I could hardly walk as everything cramped up together. Why is there never a lampost or telegraph pole when you need one?
At this point we were running through the four marshes and there were no poles to lean on to stretch. Most of the fences looked as though they would collapse if I so much as leant on them.
From there on in I had to run where I could then walk/stretch to keep going. About 300 metres from the finish line the course is fenced off for the run-in (ha!). I had to stop twice in that area but was determined to run across the line which I did.
After all that agony I actually clocked a better time than last year, 04:07:32, compared with 04:18:52.
Will I do it again? Yes as I am determined to crack four hours. But does anyone have any tips as to how to beat the cramps?
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