Batman and Robin at Liverpool Marathon 2012

Batman and Robin run Liverpool Marathon

So I was teased I to doing an Autumn marathon by Chris Jones during the summer.  Liverpool seemed a good idea as it coincided with an Intended visit to see the outlaws in the Wirral due to several family birthdays in October.  Kate then also decided to do it and cajoled Jen and Marie to do it as well.  They organised their training schedule over lunch and got cracking on it.

During the summer I had taken several months off due to illness and a niggly Achilles heel, but had started running again toward the end of August when on holiday in France.  It was during this layoff period that I realised that I would not be on best form and I did not know if I would get ill again or get injured on my return if I tried too hard.  I decided to do it as Batman and would have to convince Chris to do it as Robin.  We would raise cash for Great Ormond Street Hospital and try and set a record for the fastest Comic Book Hero Duo.  This would be how I would make sure I did not go crazy on miles and do excessively hard training to try and try to do a really fast time.

I "eased" into training from nothing to 40 miles a week over 2 weeks.  All easy running to create a base fitness.  A couple of longer 20 mile runs with Viddy as a companion on one where I really did not have anything left in the tank at all and still had to run 4miles home.  Viddy took pity and did not drop me... (as in leave me behind).  Lots of training wearing too many clothes though was taking its toll - always dyhydrated, always a lot more effort than expected and always lots of clothes steaming in the washing pile very close to the machine..  I did try out the costume at the local St Albans Parkrun to conduct a chaffage test.  It coincided with an organised Arrows event as part of the club league we are doing.  Managed a 19:16 having taken time out to tie up my laces and run with a few buddies.  My eight year old, Sophia, took a great snap which made it in to the Herts Advertiser with small write up.

Day of the race on 15th Oct soon came around - a loverly sunny day, cool and not a breath of wind.  Met with Chris at the Birkenhead Park at the Start, changed and then the fun started....   especially trying to have a little wee when in a costume.  Chris, let's say, struggled a little more than I did to avoid splash back....  We said goodbyes to the girls and were off to the 3hr pen.

It was crowded at the start and people did not see us, but soon the "dinna dinna dinna dinna dinna dinna Batman!!!!!" and "ohhhh look there's Batman" all started..  occasional, "There's Batman and Robin"...   and "There's Rodney and Delboy."  Some of the people we were running with got sick of it...   we never did (I don't think).

Course was through Birkenhead, Wallesey to New Brighton then back along to the tunnel.  Under the tunnel was 13miles achieved in just over 1hr 30 mins.  With the band playing us out of the Mersey Tunnel we started to slow down.  The suits were taking their toll and we knew that Parliament Hill was coming. 

We carbed up.  I did gels and Chris did flapjack..  The flapjack did not go down well!  We battled on and carried on around Sefton Park and back down Parliament Hill.  We finally got into the final mile and split to high five most of the crowd.  Right at the end we even got Batman music over the line.  We managed 154th overall in 3:16:42/  Not quite where we would have liked as both of us have gone under 3hrs in the past - but the suits had been a step too far.

Thankfully, we raised over £1,500 for GOSH, plus the tax so everything was worthwhile.  Must say that the build up to it with Chris was great fun, the 1st half better than the 2nd and just a shame that the Guinness Book of Records considered our application too similar to the single SuperHero record that is 2hrs 34mins to warrant a separate record...  

Thanks Chris and next time we'll have to have a proper smack down race as we did a few years ago!.....  (or cycle like we suggested on the day)

If you do want to make a payment we can still be found on www.justgiving.com/Battyman

PS  as an addendum...   Kate, Jen and Marie all had a cracking race too!  Jen went over the line in 3:37 and Kate in 3:47 so both make good for age for Virgin London Marathon in 2014 whilst Marie still got under 4hrs despite several loo stops on the way.  Last one for her perhaps, but all very happy!