Coastal Marathons 7x7x7 - The Gower, Wales
The second of our Coastal Marathons took place in the Gower, Wales on 5 December 2009.
After a really wet few weeks, on the morning of the marathon we were blessed with 'fine' weather. The intrepid 6 of us again, Caroline and Glen Street, Karen Dean, Jane Adlard, Drew (Jon!) Briggs and myself Kathy McKain, set off in fine form. Caroline and I had asked the organisers if we could start earlier than the main race and they agreed to let us. I think they were all keen to get back for the X-Factor semi final at 8pm so were more than happy for us to start early!!
Karen ran in the half marathon and looking at the photos afterwards she looked amazing and made it look effortless.
After having set off earlier than the pack, we were soon caught up at about 8 miles by the front runners who thought we were walking round the course (could they not see how fast we were running...obviously not??!!). Drew then caught us up at 11 miles looking very comfortable, Glen at 13 bouncing along very quickly and Jane at 22, she too looking good despite the rain. Jane was the bearer of some bad news. As we had missed the briefing in the morning, we had missed them telling us that the course wasn't 26 miles, it was nearer 28!! Deep joy when we thought we only had 4 to go!!
Then rain came in at about 18 miles which first of all wasn't too bad, but then really came down hard which made the terrain even tougher. Once again, the scenery on our second of this series was beautiful and the sandy beaches a delight to see. The backdrop to the 3 miles of long sandy bay was Rhosilli Down, this rises over 600ft from the shore! Stunning views every which way you looked.
The last 2-3 miles of the course was quite treacherous, the rain was very heavy, it was foggy and the steep descent down to the finish was very hard. But we all completed our second of 7 so we were all elated but very very cold. We were all told there were showers available at the finish which was fantastic, however we declined very quickly once we discovered they were outside!!
Well done to everybody. 6 weeks off now over Christmas, and looking forward to our next one in Portland on 23rd January 2010.
Kathy McKain