16th - 20th of April - Manchester

Packing for these kind of trip - extended weekends - has almost become routine and as such the preparations are done on autopilot. The night before departure curiosity got the better of me and I checked the foreign ministry's travel advisory to see if there was anything to be aware of when there. They didn't have much about that, but they did mention you now need to apply for an ETA before arrival which can take up to 3 days to approve. Woops. So I apply for one and give the necessary information (who I am, passport information, if I've done crime etc.) pay and send it off. It said up to 3 days before getting a response but often shorter. I was getting ready to be clenching all day before departure, but only a minute after sending my application I received an approval. Phew. Can't get any more stressful than that! ...Right?

 

 I was surprised to see how almost desolate it looked not far from the airport, 

despite it being on the outskirts of Manchester.

The flight wasn't until late afternoon, and as there is a direct connection from my office to the airport I decided to have a normal work day an go directly to the airport after work. I left so with the ½ hour travel time with the metro I would have almost 2 hours at the airport before departure with no need to rush. Two stops into the trip we are all asked to exit the train due to technical issues at the station. And then we were stuck with no trains coming or going. Because I wasn't willing to chance that they got things running again in time I quickly grabbed a bus near the metro station and a train (I hadn't had the afternoon traffic in mind so of course the bus was delayed enough that the reason I made it to the train in time was because of the absolutely loads of people getting on), getting me to the airport an hour before departure. For someone who would rather be too early and be bored than cutting it close this trip was turning into a very stressful one - and I hadn't even left the country yet. And the line through security was longer than usual and slow (I considered telling the woman in front of me that this was the fast lane, not the snail lane - and also her home must be really messy because she seemed incapable of putting her 5 (!) baskets away, clogging up the flow for the rest of us). And immigration was equally slow - I don't understand why they don't use the self-service stations they have installed. I finally reached the gate when they had started boarding, and I could finally plonk down into my seat. From then on everything went as scheduled, getting out of the airport was easy (it didn't look like much when taxiing on the tarmac when when we deplaned there was a sign saying 560m to immigration). Got the train to the city and checked into the hotel 5 minutes from the station at around 2000. Kicked back for a bit before going for a short walk in the neighbourhood. The drinks in the fridge in the hotel room are free! And they get restocked! 

View from the hotel room.

 

Friday and Saturday was spent sleeping in and taking it easy in the morning - or rather until almost midday. No need to rush. Friday was started off by picking up my runners kit at the store. Apparently most UK citizens have their numbers mailed to them, limiting the number of people having to pick them up in person. Still, I'm glad I it picked up at the time I did because I can imagine a bit of chaos is that store when more people shows up. Following this I had lunch (fish & chips - I am pretty sure it is illegal to go to England an not have fish & chips) before going on a walk around relatively aimlessly and reached Peel Park before heading back to the hotel. Not because I really wanted, but  the forecast 0-1 mm rain turned out to be an almost constant downpour. Glad they hadn't forecast 5 mm! In the evening I wandered around trying to find a place on eat, after a while I happened by chance by a small nondescript Japanese restaurant with great gyoza and pork katsu. Saturday I headed more eastwards following along Ashton canal, getting away from traffic and ended out at the Etihad stadium, before returning back along Rochdale canal. There were surprisingly many locks along the way but it wasn't until getting closer to New Islington houseboats (that I would assume use them) started showing up. Slowly moving towards the hotel I came past Sackville Gardens and the Alan Turing memorial. 

 

 Just outside the Manchester Cathedral.

 

 Walking along Ashton canal.

 

Sackville Gardens.

 

Leaving on the Sunday morning for the marathon I was taking the tram from a nearby stop out to Old Trafford where the start was. I knew what line I was supposed to take and arriving at the platform there obviously were other runners waiting, too. The first tram that arrived was not "my" line but everyone else got on so I decided just to go with the flow. When I thought we had arrived at the station at the stadium no-one moved, until someone gave out a surprised yelp and exited, opening the floodgates for all the runners in crammed tram left. It's fine going with the flow, but if everyone does that, who decides where to go?

 

The parking lot on the east side of the stadium was reserved for the runner's area, and if you expected anything but very long lines to the lavatories you'd be disappointed. Luckily I was there early enough that I didn't worry about time spent queuing and information about what wave was being sent off was clearly announced over the PA system. When a wave was called they were channeled from the parking lot via the A5081 to Bridgewater Way. Here we were sent off in an orderly fashion strictly controlled every few minutes. And finally my group was sent off. 

 

I was surprisingly enough having fun despite the limited training. 

 

We headed east towards the center along Chester Road until reaching the roundabout over A57 before heading south along Chorlton Road, turning down Stretford Road with a quick detour back to Bridgewater Way running parallel with the first kilometer of the run on the opposite side of the road before bringing us to Talbot Road, Warwick Road and the A56. Except a small detour along Kingsway and Barton Road we stayed on the A56 southwest bound until reaching Park Road at Trafford College where we turned left, reached Timperley where we turned further southwest, circling Altrincham station before returning towards Timperley. From here we split from the previous path and zigzagged through Brooklands, passed Worthington Park and Priory Gardens before coming back to the A56 but only following it northeast until Stretford where we turned right along Edge Road and Wilbraham Road, turning left along Manchester Road, Upper Chorlton Road and back on Chorlton Road. Where we in the beginning went from Chorlton Road to Stretford Road, we reached the same intersection but this time from the south and turning east, towards the center. A couple of turns later, reaching Denmark Road and Oxford road where we turned left, northbound, crossing the finish line. 

 

Well, maybe not having fun all the time. 

 

The course was actually quite nice; a majority of roads were wide never feeling cramped (it also helped spreading out the starts), quite flat (142m total ascent) and when there was support it was loud and... supporting. In the starting area they kept talking about there being support all the way but that was definitely not my experience; maybe for half or two thirds of the distance in total, but when they were present it was quite the experience. And there were so many people handing out Haribo. Overall the course was relatively easy going.

 

I ended up finishing in 4:18:06, putting me as 14646 out of 28046 overall (top 52,19%), 11650 out of 18770 men (top 62,07%) and 1382 out of 2106 among M40 (top 65,62%). Far from my best result, but my relative place ended up surprisingly better than expected. In spite of that, though, this was probably the run I am the happiest completing. "But Jakob, you ridiculously handsome and magnificent man", I hear you say, "your goal is sub-4 hours, why are you happy with almost 20 minutes slower than that?" Well, I had some issues with my groin which resulted in only 2 short runs in the 4 weeks before the run. So basically I have run a sub-4:20 marathon with practically no real preparation. And the fact I wasn't slower than that makes me very happy, though I was going through a crisis throughout most of the second half and I got very slow towards the end. So yeah, I am pretty chuffed with how it went. 

 

Luckily the finish line was close to the hotel (it's as if I had planned for it to be so) because after crossing the line my legs were sore and I was sore - probably the sorest I have been post run. So I slowly waddled back to the hotel and relaxed as much as possible. Luckily there was a restaurant just behind the hotel so the walk there was manageable in the evening and I didn't have to exert myself to get something to eat for which my legs thanked me. 

 

Flying over Roskilde before reaching Copenhagen. 

 

The following morning I grabbed a train around 0700 - yes, in the morning. It's very much against my principles to get up that early during a vacation (especially the day after a run!) but it was either a flight in the morning or in the evening which would have me back home far too late considering I had work the following day. To my relief the process of getting to the airport and flying back home was a much less stressful experience than getting here. A nice way of ending my extended weekend. While most people wouldn't call a running trip "relaxing", it was nice to get a way for a bit to shut off, but the city didn't impress me much; unless you're interested in football I didn't get the impression there is much to do as a tourist, and especially leaving the old center it gets fairly dull.

 

Full album can be seen here.