Suffolk Heritage Coastal Marathon 01 May 2011 Steve Inkley reports: I entered this race as a training run for the Edinburgh marathon. I intended to stop around the 22 mile mark but as I was feeling OK at that point, I decided to complete the course. The last four miles were tough going and I crossed the finish line in a time of 4 hours, 25 minutes and 14 seconds. My fourteen year old son Jack ran the six mile race in an excellent time of 44 minutes and we raised some money for Macmillan Cancer Support. The race could be described as the antithesis of the London Marathon. There were only 30 pre-registered runners for the marathon, with a lot more runners for the half marathon and six mile race on the same morning. There were few marshals and no well wishers along the route, only walkers offering encouragement as you ran past them. You had to follow the red arrows along the course and there were twelve drink stations with a choice of water, orange or lemon and a digestive biscuit. The coastal section was extremely windy, and there were several sections where you ran on sand which was heavy going. For most of the race I was running alone. On completion of the race, no goody bag, just a small medal which said on it ‘Heritage coastal run/walk’ not even confirmation that I had just ran 26.2 miles! Despite the above grumbles, what kept me going was that it was the most beautiful course I have ever run and in an area that I know very well. Apparently, sections of the course are closed to the public and only opened for this race. Starting at playing fields outside Thorpeness, we ran a long straight section along the coast with the sound of the waves crashing ashore on our right hand side, past the futuristic Sizewell B reactor dome on the left, a large shiny white golf ball next to the sea. Runners navigated through sand dunes and reached the Dunwich heath visitor centre. Running across the heath, and then through fields of cows on to Broom Hill. Next, on to Dunwich (it used to be the capital of East Anglia but most of the town has disappeared due to coastal erosion) and through Dunwich forest and some beautiful glades with fields of bluebells on to the vast expanse of reed beds south west of Walberswick, known as Dingle marshes. I was hoping to see or hear the booming bitterns in the reed beds but it was not to be. Also, I was half expecting Richard Curtis and Emma Freud to be dishing out jelly babies on the track side. We looped around the south of Walberswick and began a long straight stretch across more heath land, you could hear the distinctive sound of the nightjars. We crossed over the B1125 and fortunately there was a runner behind me who was able to confirm the next stage as I could not see a red arrow. Eventually we reached Darsham, ran past the bike hire shop, and on to Westleton. We ran up the hill in Westleton village (with its excellent second hand book shop, run by an eccentric proprietor and the Westleton Crown, which is well worth a visit) and on to the Minsmere nature reserve which offered valuable respite from the sun. Through the reserve (I didn’t spot Bill Oddie) past the Eel’s Foot Inn in Eastbridge (very good ham, egg and chips with your Adnam’s) and I arrived at the 22 mile marker to be greeted by my wife with a sports fuel drink. ‘What are you going to do?’ she said, ‘I may as well go on, it’s only another 4’ I replied, full of bravado. The last four miles seemed to take an eternity, it was less painful to run than walk, and I didn’t have much choice as my lift home was now on its way back to Thorpeness. Despite my sluggish pace at this stage, I passed a couple of runners who had slowed to walking pace and met up with an American runner who was hoping to complete 50 marathons before his 60th birthday. I thought I had seen the last of the sand but at the 24 mile marker, there was another long stretch of sand to endure before running through more woods and on to the finish to be greeted by my wife and a man handing out medals stating ‘Heritage Coastal run/walk.’ The fact that it had a red ribbon indicated I had run the marathon, yellow signified half and blue was for the six mile race. An ice cream, a kit kat, a burger and a disgusting chocolate protein shake aided my recovery. I still can’t quite believe I have run a marathon. For the past month, I have been visualising crossing the line in Edinburgh on May 22nd and punching the air before collapsing in exhaustion in front of thousands of well wishers. The satisfaction of completing this race is deep but I felt far less hysterical than I had imagined. I guess in the back of my mind, I am concerned that Edinburgh could be a scorcher so having completed this marathon, my anxiety levels are reduced and I think I will enjoy the Edinburgh experience slightly more now that I am no longer a virgin marathon runner. (Although if I’m successful in the ballot, I guess I will become a Virgin marathon runner again.)