 Manchester has had a marathon since 2012. It's the second largest in the UK with around 30,000 runners starting and finishing near the old Trafford football ground. This is the other old Trafford, old Trafford cricket ground. I was born in Manchester some 21 years ago. You sure about that? I'd booked the marathon as a fallback in case my A-race in Paris was cancelled. My bag is in backdrop. Yes sir. We just need to find our way to the start, no? Despite what I'm about to say about just having fun, I had a plan for Manchester. Given that my Paris experience had felt relatively comfortable and I had run quite conservatively in the first half, I thought I would try and run the first 13 miles of Manchester as hard as I could. The plan was to basically run at my half marathon pace and try to hold on as long as possible. Right, we did the job in Paris. So today's all about having fun and enjoying ourselves. This is the Manchester Marathon. It's the first time I've ever done the Manchester Marathon. So I'm going to really enjoy it and just have a lot of fun. Okay, here we go then. Manchester Marathon. Good luck guys. Just crossing the start now. I started running at just over four minutes per kilometre. Completing the full marathon at this pace would mean a finish time of around two hours 50 minutes. Let's get up to speed. Lots of people though, so I don't know how crowded this is going to be. The first couple of kilometres was very congested and there was quite a bit of dodging and weaving to find some space. Right, I am definitely not feeling as comfortable as I did in Paris, but I am going a bit quicker. So that was just over 20 minutes for 5K. Let's just see how long we can keep this pace up. But yeah, I'm definitely not feeling as comfortable as I was two weeks ago. As always, I knew plenty of other people running the marathon and it was great to see people I knew out on the course supporting as well. That's Paul and Amy. Okay, that's 10K in just over 40 minutes. So I'm still managing to keep up what is stupid pace for me really. Shouldn't be going this quick. But just let's see how long we can keep it up. Of course, I'd not trained to run at this pace at all and I knew I'd have residual fatigue in my legs from the Paris Marathon. But I was determined to blindly ignore all the obvious red flags and just keep going. 15K in, still doing okay. Ask me again at half-way. Another factor to add to my list of excuses for what's about to happen is that partly due to lack of planning and partly down to my own stubbornness, I decided to run the entire race without any nutrition at all. Regular viewers will be aware of my hatred of gels, but that doesn't mean I don't think you need at least some carbs during a race to keep you afloat. In Paris, I'd had half a banana and some fizzy drink around 17 miles. Today, I wouldn't have anything. Okay, that's halfway in 1 hour 25, 30. I am tired, definitely tired. So we'll just see if we can hang on as much as possible. 21K to go. See what we can do. I was also discovering that the organisers claim that Manchester is the flattest marathon in the UK is a complete fallacy. There are regular inclines. For example, like the bridges over the canal at Timpoly and approaching Ultringham over the Timpoly Brook. Not to mention the steep climb into Ultringham. 25K in 1.41 and a half. About an hour and 18 minutes to do that 17K. Should be okay. But I'm definitely tired. Definitely tired. Running through towns like Chalton, Sale and Ultringham certainly provided more in the way of crowd support, but there were definitely sections of motorway and suburbia which were pretty quiet. 30 kilometers in 2 hours and 1 minute. We're only at under 3. We've got 58 minutes to do 12K. We can do that. But it's when we want to push for a horrible painful last 12K and try and beat my PB. Last 12K, here we go. 2 hours and 10 minutes. 10K to go. Thank you buddy. Cheers. Given the less than ideal circumstances leading into my Manchester marathon and the pace at which I set out, the pain I'm feeling here is entirely of my own making and was completely predictable. 35K in 2 hours, 23 minutes. 7K to go. Just over 7K. Really hurting now though. I am slowing down drastically, but we're still on for under 3 at least. I'm trying buddy. Thank you. 2 hours 32 with 5K to go. I'm so tired now. Really hurting. Grinding out the last 5K was as tortuous as it looks. And this is exactly what it looks like for every runner. Who goes out too hard and beyond their capability in a marathon. When you're in it, the only thing you want is for it to end. And although this was to some degree a self-enforced experiment, I still went in at the beginning hoping and believing I had a chance of pulling it off. And despite knowing deep down that I probably would crash and burn, it's still humbling and demoralising when it happens. There is no worse way to the river race than a positive split where you go hard in the first half and die in the second. It's just horrible. You should never, never ever run a marathon like that. Thank you. Well that was hard and today went out really hard. I knew, I mean I knew I'd gone out really hard. I deliberately went out as hard as I could possibly imagine going. And my plan was to get to half way and see if I could hold on. And you know, I couldn't hold on. So I mean sub three, I'm happy with sub three again, 257. Ideally I would have beaten my PB if I'd held on a bit stronger. But I mean you'll see on my Stravagraph I just died after 30K. Slower and slower and slower. And it's an awful way to run. Because in that last 10K you're getting passed by so many people. It's demoralising. You're so fatigued and tired. You just want to slow down and slow down and slow down. Whereas the way I ran Paris so much more enjoyable because you feel strong at the end, you're passing runners at the end and you get a faster time. Maybe I did go out way too hard. Maybe there was a happy medium between, you know, normal marathon pace and kamikaze pace. But I managed kamikaze pace for around 25, 30K and then just couldn't hold on. Having gone out at two hours 50 minute pace, I finished in two hours 57 minutes. Still my second fastest marathon, but one of the least satisfying in terms of its execution. Luke, well done. What did you get today? 251.42. 251.42. No, mate. This guy, Luke, passed me with about a mile to go. He shouted, come on. And I just couldn't drag anything else out myself. Well done, well done. Cheers mate. Mate, how do you go? 257. That's all right, I suppose. How do you get on? Three hours and 34. Oh no, mate. I tried. And look, we're in the same shoes. Yes. They're good, aren't they? Oh, they're brilliant. Really nice. It was really great to meet so many of you in Manchester who watch the videos and support the channel. Thank you for coming and saying hello, and particularly to those of you who tried to spur me on as you passed me in those final miles. It was truly appreciated. And if you ever do see me in a race, please do come and say hello. Well, that was a hard fought sub three hours today. Crashed and burned in the last 10K. Although obviously I did go out very hard. I've been feeling really bad since I finished. Really horrible stomach cramps. And yeah, just awful. I don't get that very often. And I had some water about 2K before the end because I was feeling terrible, but it made me feel even worse. And then since finishing, I've just been sat down trying to recover. Feeling like being sick, but not being sick. You know, if you've done a marathon and you've suffered in the last 10K, you know the feeling. So I've been standing at the finish line waiting for somebody that we know to finish. Hello. Been standing at the finish line waiting for somebody that we know to finish. And they haven't finished. I couldn't see them anywhere. So we've given up. And with a pair of scissors on his back. I like you. So I'm making my way now back to the tram so I can get back to the car. Matt, well done, Matt. Right, you know the guy I said I was just trying to see? I've just seen him. If you'd like to watch my Paris marathon that I did a couple of weeks ago, then click that link right there. Thank you very much for watching. Thanks for the support. If you haven't subscribed, then please get on that button and subscribe to the channel. And we'll see you on the start line next time. Bye-bye.