Milton Keynes Marathon - Half way round.

Previously on Run Sancho Run: I'm running the Milton Keynes Marathon in May, but living in Leeds means I can't recce the route in advance.  Luckily I grew up in MK and have very fond memories of large sections of the marathon course.  My last post looked at The First Six Miles and this one will get us to half way.

With CMK* behind us the next section of the course promises to be a lot more scenic.  Having joined the Redway network and skirted the back of Milton Keynes Hospital the route takes us, not for the first time, across the Grand Union Canal and on to Woughton on the Green, Woolstone, and Milton Keynes Village, three of the original villages around which Milton Keynes has been growing for the last 50 years.

By mile 9 Willen Lake comes into sight.  Having spent so much time at Willen Lake over the years, my mind will be awash with memories as we run around the home of Milton Keynes parkrun and Redway Runners**.  The marathon route only follows the parkrun route for a short while (missing out the switchback flight of stairs!) as it passes around North Lake and the Peace Pagoda.

The Peace Pagoda

We will continue through Willen (home of Willen Hospice who I'm sure will have a large contingent of runners raising money for them) and push on through Tongwell and the halfway point of the Marathon.  13.1 miles down and through a huge variety of scenery from modern to traditional, city to countryside.  MK Marathon will have already stirred strong memories for me, but the next section will take me through *my* Milton Keynes, the estates where my friends and I grew up, and the section that I am most looking forward to.

I am training for the Milton Keynes Marathon on the 1st May and have been selected to be one of their ambassadors.  I am also raising money for Bliss, the premature baby charity.  You can find my Just Giving page here.

* Central Milton Keynes
** I do wonder if I would have taken up running if I had stayed in MK or if life would have sent me in a completely different direction.  If I had, would I be a Redway Runner?

Milton Keynes Marathon: The First Six Miles

As I'm sure you know by now, I'm running the Milton Keynes Marathon in May and my training is well under way.  So far everything is going more or less to plan, give or take an unscheduled half marathon PB and an accidental 15 mile run when I had set off for a 12 miler.  The first official 15 mile run is still a couple of weeks away but having already gone the distance I may well tweak the plan and squeeze in an extra 20 mile run before the big day.

The big day in question, 1st May 2017, is not that far away!  Just 13 weeks, only 88 days, and then I'll be lining up outside Stadium MK.  With that in mind I've been thinking about the route.  In an ideal world I'd like to run the route (not in one go you understand) so that there were no surprises on race day.  However, living in Leeds means that popping out for a 10k run in Milton Keynes is a little problematic.

Fortunately, one of the reasons I chose MK for my 2nd marathon is that I used to live there and so have memories of large sections of the route.  For those of you not so fortunate to have lived in MK let me talk you through the route and, hopefully, set the scene for a great race day.

Now, my glorious plan of relying on my memories from the mid 90s hits a bit of a stumbling block as soon as the route starts.  When I left Milton Keynes in 1995 there was no Stadium MK.  In fact, there was no MK Dons until 2003 and even then they played their home games in The National Hockey Stadium (The Cow Shed).  Other than the occasional visit to Go-Carting or Roller-skating, there was very little reason to visit Denbigh (the estate MK Dons now call their home).

Leaving the stadium behind us, the marathon heads north for a couple of miles along the V7, Saxon Street, until it hits CMK, The Centre.  The first bit of the route that I have abiding memories of.  For two years, hardly a Wednesday went past without a visit to the Winter Gardens on Midsummer Boulevard, home of the glorious Happy Wednesdays at the dawn of Brit-pop.  Those nights and the memories that accompany them made me who I am today.

Outside Happy Wednesday c1994. Sorry lads.

Leaving The Centre behind us the marathon doubles back on itself before cutting through Eaglestone, skirting behind MK General Hospital, and towards the 6 mile marker in Woughton on the Green, one of the original villages around which MK has grown for the last 50 years.  From here on the marathon takes on a much greener and more varied route passing lakes, a pagoda, and my old local.  Shame there won't be time to pop in for a pint on the way around.

I am training for the Milton Keynes Marathon on the 1st May and have been selected to be one of their ambassadors.  I am also raising money for Bliss, the premature baby charity.  You can find my Just Giving page here.