Excalibur 3 – Track Wars – Isle of Wight Road Runners

Track training…. we all know it makes us faster. Running at structured intervals of effort and rest as you travel round and round the orange oval.

Glen Jones in his infinite wisdom had decided to take on a track marathon as the March instalment of his 12 in 12 months charity challenge.

So a 5.30 start faced him as he travelled up on the Friday morning to Walton on Thames for the 9am start.

“I’m really nervous” he told me about an hour before he started “but on the plus side the track is nice and bouncy!”

9am came and off he went! A mind numbing 106 laps before him. That’s 424 bends in the same direction. Despite the lack of elevation, the constant leaning in the same direction can really take its toll on the left leg after long periods of time.

Glen started out brilliantly, the hope of a marathon Pb in the back of his mind. He kept a nice steady pace, watching the laps tick by.

“I thought it would be easy” he said “well….. as easy as a marathon can be anyway haha! I naively thought that being on the track would make a pb easier, but I hadn’t factored in lots of people doing lesser distance and some rather bizarre fancy dress”

This was no standard Marathon you see. It was a 6 hour timed event. Competitors being able to run anything over 5k in distance before being able to retire and claim their medals. It’s hard to keep going and concentrate on your own run, when those around you are stopping and starting.

Despite this Glen kept battling away, banging out lap after lap after lap

After running about 65 laps, the mental battle really started to hurt.

“I really could have done with a running buddy for the last 40 laps or so. It was so hard to keep going. I have to admit I started to unravel a little bit”

But he kept going, battling and battling, not letting the monotony play games with his head, watching the lap counter tick over.

His tenacity was rewarded. Not only did he complete his 106 laps, but he managed to achieve that shiny Pb. Shaving a minute off his previous best to run his second sub 4 hour marathon in 14 days in a very tidy 3.56.07.