Chester Marathon

This marathon has been rightly voted by runners & readers of Runners World Uk as the Uk no1 marathon . 

I'm proud to have been a runner and part of it for 4 years, and especially this year as part of the pace team. 

What a wonderful experience and a privilege to help other amateur athletes achieve their goals. Note to Brendan Foster and Steve Cram - yes we may not be at your level- but we are not fun runners , we are amateur athletes.

Having attended 2 training runs with a variety of other pacers and runners - I was confident that I could help folks run the distance. This was my 27th marathon and 4th in Chester.

Arriving super early around 0730 or even earlier the racecourse car park was beginning to fill up. As pacers we were looked after well having a tent to report to ,  meet and collect our 'pace lollipop '. 

As instructed we moved to the starting area early and very soon were surrounded by a vast number of excited and a little anxious runners. 

I gave out a few pace bands I'd made for a 4hr44 finish to allow us a little time for the slight incline at Sandy Lane mile 24. 

To be continued