Well, that didn't go as planned...

The story of The Marathon du Mans is, unfortunately, one of I went, I saw, I packed it in half way round. Having been struggling with what I thought were the edges of a cold for a few weeks, not much was getting better in the days immediately before the race - in fact by the time I got to my Mum's on Thursday to break the journey, I hadn't enjoyed a decent sleep for weeks, was starting to run a bit of a temperature and generally feel decidedly grotty again.

Having decided to break the journey on Thursday, Friday turned into a horrible, horrible drive south. Without a word of a lie, it poured with rain every mile of the way from Yorkshire to the outskirts of Le Mans. What, in normal circumstances, would a reasonable drive turned into an absolute epic - intense concentration every mile of the way so that by the time I reached Le Mans at midnight local time on Friday, I was absolutely spent. This state of affairs, it must be said, was made even worse by the French aversion to cat's eyes and their cunning use of road lining paint that looks black in the dark. The combination of the two meant the French leg of the drive was particularly unpleasant and the concentration levels even higher.

There was bound to be an adverse reaction and I spent a horrible night on the Friday, with a raging fever and very little sleep. Eventually emerged at lunchtime on Saturday, feeling really rough, and decided to mooch around the centre of town before heading out to the circuit to pick up my number. To my slight surprise - as all I've ever seen have been the industrial outskirts - the town centre is lovely. A well laid out combination of medieval and modern buildings, clean and well maintained in the way of so many French provincial towns.

It had been my intention to take the tramway out to the circuit to collect my race pack, but some sort of problem on the line meant that nothing was running out to the Antares arena stop. Grabbed a quick bite of lunch and returned to the stop, only to find that now nothing was running at all. So I ended up jumping in the car and driving the few kilometers out to the circuit. The registration process went like clockwork - only a few minutes were needed to hand over my Medical Certificate (a requirement of races in France), confirm my identity and collect my number and race t-shirt. Wasn't delayed over-long by the 6 stall "expo" but there was a good atmosphere in evidence and a definite sense that this event was about running and enjoyment.

Was still feeling quite rough, so went back to the hotel for a rest before heading out to try and get a final bite to eat before the race. Plenty of nice restaurants in evidence around a very scenic area of streets in the medieval area which, as with most places in France, seemed sensibly priced with 15 to 18€ for two courses being typical. Naturally after 2 weeks of carb loading, I was pretty pasta'd out by this point, so I decided that steak frites was the order of the day, with a small red for relaxation purposes. 

I was still feeling a little rough at this point and had even started to doubt whether I would race. Had it been a local race, I almost certainly wouldn't have done, but after travelling all this way I wanted to leave my options open and decided to wait to see how I felt in the morning. I also had the knowledge that, as a two lap race, I would have the option of pulling out after the first lap if all wasn't well.........

So, I had a reasonably comfortable night on the Saturday and convinced myself that I was feeling OK and fit enough to start the race. After a light breakfast I decided that the tramway issues the previous day might make it a bit of a risk to rely on and therefore jumped into the car and made my way to the circuit.

Arriving just before sunrise evoked magical memories from the 24 Heures, where the pre-dawn light is one of the finest times to enjoy the race. Car parking was well organised just inside the circuit and I parked up overlooking the Bugatti circuit. By this point, I'd convinced myself that whilst I really wasn't 100% well, a sensible slow approach would still get me round. Organisation was spot on, and at 9 sharp the 900 runners were sent on out way. Took it nice and steady to start with as the first few hundred metres were up the hill to the Dunlop Bridge, then into an OK stride down the other side.

I really enjoyed the experience of running on the circuit and ticking off the landmarks, Tertre Rouge, out onto the Hunaudieres (Mulsanne) and past the famous Auberge before the course even took us round the specially opened Playstation Chicane. After this, the route lost it's way a little as the need to get extra distance in to each lap meant we headed out for a 7k loop through industrial parks, back roads and even forest trails. Very scenic, but I dread to think what the underfoot conditions would have been like if the forecast rain had arrived. As it was conditions were warm, muggy and windy. The fact that I sweated up almost immediately after the race began was a bit of a worrying health signal, and a pace of 8:30 miles on entering this loop had become 8:50 by the time we emerged from the woods just before the second chicane on the Mulsanne. 

Again, the organisers had set things up well with water, sponges, fruit and gels every 5k and I was taking a full bottle of water and a sponge every time to try and keep hydration up and temperature down. After hanging a right at Mulsanne Corner and heading towards Indianapolis, I started to realise that I was struggling, gradually slowing and sensing that I was short of energy. I plugged on, but by the time we left the public roads and came back onto the permanent circuit at the Porsche Curves, I was struggling horribly and realised the game was up. 

As we got back to the grandstands, the route took us along the Bugatti circuit (which must be one of the world's dullest!) and through the half marathon point (2:05:25) before rejoining the main circuit in time for a nice climb  at just above walking pace back up to the Dunlop Bridge before dropping down to the pit straight, where I bowed to the inevitable and abandoned. Again, very efficient organisation, as they sent me to the finish area, took my timing chip away and handed me a medal. Almost gave it back on the basis of "didn't finish the race", but what the heck, it's a nice souvenir!

I'm glad I had the discipline to stop when I did. Although I was barely moving forward by this point, it would have been easy to try and push myself stupidly and try to complete. Not sure what damage I'd have done to myself if I'd tried it, but I suspect the answer is "lots". Inevitably I was disappointed, but I also realise I did absolutely the right thing. No race is worth killing yourself over.

And then the real issue was discovered when I took myself off to the Doctor when I got home to be diagnosed with tonsillitis. Which explained just about everything.

So, I have unfinished business with the race, and think I may need to address that next year if it's re-run. Despite some Twitter sniffiness about French organisation levels when I said I was running a first-time event there, I have to say then event was well organised, well marshalled and provisioned and clearly had good medical support in place. About the only questionable part of the event was the aforementioned 7k loop off the Mulsanne which would have been a nightmare in bad weather - I'd prefer to see them do 3 laps of the circuit in the same way that the supporting relay event did. In reality, I wouldn't have a second's hesitation in running there again and very much suspect I'll be writing a post-event blog from there this time next year.