Manchester Marathon 2026: 3:43:54

I've just run my best marathon. Four days on my calves still hurt, my head's still sorting out what happened, and the Strava description I typed the second I got home - "Marathons are hard!!!". This is still the most accurate summary I've got. But if I'm going to write it properly, it's this.

The build I didn't get

Eighteen weeks ago I sat down, sketched out a training block, and put 3:30 at the top of the page. It was going to be the run I've been thinking of since getting back into running. Then some way into it I got injured. Nothing bad enough to stop me running for good, but enough to wipe out the middle chunk of the plan. The long runs I'd been building towards disappeared. The volume never fully came back. A few weeks in I quietly changed the number at the top of the page to 3:45 and tried not to think about it too much.

Last year I ran this same race with basically no training at all. I finished in 4:11 and walked most of the last 10km. I don't blame last-year me for doing that because he hadn't done the work, but I definitely wanted something better this year. Something that felt like I'd earned it.

The longest run I got in was 34km a few weeks out. It wasn't pretty but I got it done. After that I tapered, caught up on sleep, and tried to arrive at the start line in one piece.

Race day

Manchester on marathon morning is a strange mix of nervous energy and small talk in club vests. It was slightly warm, not a hot day, but the course has almost no shade and it compounds over four hours. I wore the Adidas Adizero Adios Pro 4s. I've raced in them at half distance before and I trust them. Plenty of cushion and a carbon plate to give you that extra push, which matters when your legs have nothing else to give.

The plan was simple. Even splits at goal pace. A gel on the start line, then another every 6km from there.

The first thirty

For the first 30km I was exactly where I wanted to be. The opening 15km went by in what felt like no time - heart rate in the low 160s, splits within ten seconds of target, breathing easy. Through to 30 I was locked in. The drift came in as it always does, HR nudging up into the low 170s, but I wasn't working any harder than the plan. Somewhere in there 30K ticked by in 2:37:47 - a new PB I'd almost forgotten I was setting.

Around 34km the splits started going 5:20, 5:21, 5:24. It wasn't a panic. I was still running the race I wanted to run, HR was holding, legs were in the fight. But I knew I was going to need something specific to get through the last 4km clean.

39km

The cramp came on suddenly. Right across my lower back, and the worst part wasn't the pain, it was that I couldn't breathe properly through it. Every inhale was catching. I tried to run through it for thirty seconds or so and then gave up and pulled over, hands on my knees, trying to find a proper breath.

While I stood there, runners I'd spent two hours ahead of came past me. I was gutted but not beaten. The 3:45 pacer went through with his little sign. I decided that the moment he reached me I'd tuck in behind and get going again. That's pretty much what happened. Back on my feet, back in the race, and out of the stretching zone.

The split for that kilometre came back at 5:54. That's how long I'd been standing there.

Finishing

The last three kilometres were a grind. 5:32, 5:22, 5:31, not quick, but moving, and the clock was going to come in under 3:45. In the final 450m I found a kick from somewhere and ran them at 5:07/km pace, which was proof that whatever the cramp had been, it hadn't cleaned me out entirely. Crossed the line at 3:43:54.

First 21km in 1:51:05, last 21.2km in 1:52:49. A positive split of under two minutes, which is about as clean as you can hope for after standing still in the middle of it.

On the fuel

I ran the exact fuelling plan I'd trained on. Gel on the start line, then one every 6km. No stomach trouble, no bonk, energy available all the way home. The cramp at 39 was a back thing, not a fuel thing. If I ran this race again tomorrow I wouldn't change a single thing about the fuelling.

What I'm taking away

I'm pretty sure the injury cost me a better time. The long runs I lost were long runs I was going to need. Four days on and my calves are still sore in a way that feels less like one hard day and more like I didn't have the miles in me. If I can put together a clean 18 weeks next year, with the long runs intact, I don't think that 39km kilometre goes 5:54.

That's the bet, anyway. I've already signed up for next year. The number at the top of the page is back to 3:30.

Marathons are hard.