Dream Believe Achieve. A guest blog by a sub 3 marathon chaser.

Dream Believe Achieve

This is a guest blog by a friend of mine, Davie Wilson from NAAC. I got to know Davie when we were both training for the Manchester Marathon until he had the accident that got him known as “Microwave Davie.” He’s a top guy and after a while out came back working hard, aiming for the sub 3 marathon. This is his unedited story of his attempt.

Loch Rannoch Marathon Sunday 14th October

So after doing the Loch Rannoch half marathon last year I decided to try the full distance this year.

I travelled up on the Friday night and stayed in the Dunalistair Suites. I highly recommend them.

I decided to do the 10K on the Saturday the weather was terrible. I intended to use it as a leg stretch however in typical fashion seeing other runners in front encouraged me to pick the pace up after the first mile.

The course was a standard out and back spoiled by the monsoon weather. I finished 5th in a time of 39.09 and immediately regretted it as I had saved my legs all week for the marathon then stupidly ran a tempo 10K.

The highlight of the race was getting a finishers T-shirt that was a decent fit and I could actually wear for training. Not many races do an XS which is a particular bug bear of mine and means I have drawers full of t-shirts that I can’t wear.

So the rest of Saturday was spent relaxing with a trip to House of Bruar which was actually OK and passed the afternoon. Wee bit of carb loading for the marathon, a latte and a fruit scone, no jam though too much sugar! 😀

Over the last few months I made a conscious decision to prepare really well. This meant training hard, eating well and a real focus on building strength as well as stamina.

I joined Blades Gym in Stevenston back in June and had built a lot of strength and conditioning training into my weekly routine. I was also seeing big gains in strength from one to one Personal Training with Willie Blades, the man is a complete font of knowledge!

My food choices are always pretty good but particularly over the last four months I have been very disciplined and have taught myself a lot about nutrition and how to fuel my body in order to continue to train hard. So I was in good physical shape and very well prepared, so surely I had no reason to be nervous! Or did I?🤔

It was an early night on Saturday but as usual the night before a race I can never sleep and tossed and turned all night.

I got up at 07.30 and headed downstairs for the usual breakfast of porridge and banana. Then at 08.00 I strolled across the road to the park to register and pick up my race number. Yesterday’s rain had cleared to leave a settled and sunny day almost perfect running conditions.

The race start was 09.30 so I had well over an hour to pace around, doubt my ability and ask the usual questions like – Have I trained enough? Why do I do this to my body? The same questions all runners ask themselves before a big race.

The hour before the race felt like three! Eventually 09.30 came and I was standing on the start line chatting away to the rest of the field. The Race Director gave the usual safety brief at which point I was thinking – keep a nice steady 7.30 pace David that will bring you in at around 3 hours 15 mins. I had ran 3 hours 7 mins back in May in Edinburgh and was content to end the year with that as my PB, or was I?

The race started and I went out quicker than planned – my first mile was 7.12. I felt comfortable so I thought, OK David just hold 7 minute pace to the half way point and then dial it back a notch or two for the second half of the race.

As the race progressed my watch beeped with every passing mile. I quickly glanced down acknowledging in my head that I was holding my steady 7 minute mile pace. I was slowly starting to pick off runners one by one. At this point I think I was in 8th position.

My watch beeped at mile 13, the half way point and I was still holding a steady 7 minute miles pace. This was the moment I thought surely not, is sub three achievable?

I still felt fresh and in control then, in a fleeting moment of doubt, I thought – don’t be daft you’re no more than an average club runner you don’t have a sub three hour marathon in you.

Another half mile passed and I thought about a poem that someone special had written for me at the beginning of my running endeavours entitled – “Dream Believe Achieve”. A little self doubt was still in my head, but the poem kept going round and round.

My watched beeped for mile 14 and without realising it I had picked up the pace. At this point I thought f**k it am going for it what is the worst thing that could happen? If I hit the wall at mile 20 I could always walk the rest!

I continued to pick up the pace and before I knew it my watched beeped and it was mile 24.

Then I made the mistake of looking at my overall time – 2 hours 38 minutes sub three was in sight!

Three miles at 7 minute pace then 0.2 mile that’s all I needed to do something I had done many times. Then at that exact moment it hit me I started to hurt all over every stride felt difficult I was groaning and talking to myself my legs were so heavy I wanted to stop.

Self doubt was creeping into my thoughts average club runners do not run sub three hour marathons.

Mile 24 was just below 7 minute mile pace yes the dream was still alive! Mile 25, two and a bit to go I needed something to push me on I needed inspiration who was I kidding I almost needed a miracle!

Then as I came over the hill I saw another runner I had not seen anyone for ten miles. I thought, come on David chase him down. I was hurting but I dug deep, as I got nearer I could see he was struggling more than me that gave me a massive lift.

The watch beeped mile 25 done, it was a 7.08 mile! As I passed the runner I said “god I am struggling” he said something back which I can’t remember.

In my head I needed a 6.40 mile to finish, I thought David if you mess this up now you might not get another chance at it. I was hurting all over but I just kept thinking sub three! The watch beeped mile 26 done 6.37 mile, Oh my god, I thought am I really going to do this? The next 0.2 mile was a total blur, I could hear in the background that people were clapping and shouting me on.

As I came over the hill the Marshall pointed left and I turned towards the finish.

I could hear someone shout “You only have a few hundred metres to go”.

I looked at my watch I was still under three hours, surely I was going to do it.

I stumbled across the line and stopped my watch – an automatic reaction when you finish a race.

Someone thrust a bottle of water into my hand and I took a massive gulp of it, for a split second I forgot about the sub three I was hurting so much.

A massive smile came across my face as one of the marshalls said to me “son you have just run a sub three hour marathon that is superb!”

I wrote this 24 hours after the race and still could not believe I had run a sub three hour marathon! The reminder was the extreme pain I was experiencing when I went up and down the stairs but it was well outweighed by my delight at achieving such a great time!

Loch Rannoch – Thank you so much! This wee average club runner from Ayrshire will be back again next year!