If at first you don’t succeed, try again. That was the mantra for Sophie Read after her London Marathon race in the spring hadn’t quite gone as planned. She still got round in 3 hours 46 minutes which was a good time by any standard, but she wanted quicker. She’d trained for a much faster time than that and knew she was in shape to get it.

It was one of those frustrating days when it just didn’t quite come together and she found herself drifting off her planned pace quite early on. It was a hot day and the conditions took their toll on a lot of runners but after all the training she’d put in, it was a somewhat disappointing outcome for Sophie.

Instead of getting downbeat about it though, her response was to search for another one she could do in the autumn. She was determined to do herself justice and she knew she was better than that. She believed in herself – and that’s a great thing for any runner to have.

It was with good reason as well. She’d followed the training plan that her boyfriend Jaymee Domoney had devised for her and he is one of the elite runners in the Dorset region. She’d also been doing some good long runs and done all the marathon based interval sessions as well.

Her 1 hour 31 minute time at the Fleet Half Marathon suggested she should be looking at a sub 3:30 sort of time at least. Probably faster if anything.

Her search for remuneration led her to sign up for the MBNA Chester Marathon and she was banking on getting a time that lived up for her expectations this time.

The Chester Marathon is the fifth largest in the UK and is the only one that spans across both England and Wales. It’s also an England Athletics Age Group Masters Championship race and a qualifier for the Abbott WMM Age Group World Championships.

There was a lot riding on it for many runners. For Sophie though, she just wanted to enjoy the race, first and foremost. Her approach to it was slightly different this time, in that she didn’t put too much pressure on herself in training.

She wasn’t too worried if she missed a marathon session or didn’t get a long run in that week. She even had a couple of holidays during her training block and which she allowed herself time to relax and enjoy herself.

She felt confident that if she was a bit more chilled in her approach, she’d probably end up performing better on the day. That was what she was hoping for anyway.

The route for the Chester Marathon starts from Chester Racecourse. and heads over to the city centre first, taking in the Town Hall, the Cathedral, Eastgate Clock, Amphitheatre and the Roman Walls before going across Old Dee Bridge and heading out of the city.

It then heads past the Duke of Westminster’s estate before crossing the border into Wales. After a small loop, it enters the village of Holt before crossing the ancient Roman bridge at Farndon in order to return to England.

On the way back into the city the route passes the River Dee before working its way to the finish on Castle Drive. There are some undulations but it’s described as a fast course with 70% of runners who do it achieving a PB, supposedly.

When she arrived on the start line, Sophie was ready for it. She was optimistic about her chances but was going to just take it as it comes and not try to force anything.

The first mile contained a hill which may have stopped a lot of the runners from starting too fast. Sophie opened with an 8:04 for her first mile split. Then it was downhill for quite a bit of the second mile, which she got through in 7:40.

There was a small hill after that which Sophie got up and down in the third mile, clocking a 7:39 before hitting another hill for virtually the whole of the fourth mile. Sophie got through that in 7:47.

Mile five was all downhill and Sophie registered a 7:33 for that. Going through 10k in 48:42 it was a good start from Sophie. Despite the undulations, she was averaging 7:50 pace.

The course flattened out a bit for the next seven miles enabling Sophie to slip into a rhythm of around 7:40 sort of pace, or sometimes closer to 7:30.

Reaching the half marathon point in 1:41:45, Sophie’s pace averaged out at 7:41 for that section. Mile 14 is all uphill but nothing seemed to be knocking Sophie off her stride. She got through that in 7:44  before heading downhill for miles 15 and 16.

The next four miles had some mild undulations but Sophie was still going at 7:45 pace, or later 7:56. It was an excellent effort from Sophie and she’d made it to 29.67k in 2 hours 23 minutes. For that last section she’d recorded an average pace of 7:47.

There was a toughish hill on mile 23 which put Sophie back to 8:06 but she didn’t panic and was back under eight minute miles for the next one. Reaching the 37.1k checkpoint in 2:59:40, Sophie now only had 5k to go. Her prospects were looking good at this point but of course anything can happen in the final stages of a marathon.

There were a few small undulations to tackle on the 25th mile but nothing that really troubled Sophie and she still got through it in under eight minutes. Then it was onto the last full mile which was mostly downhill.

Sophie was strong on that one, registering her fastest split of the entire race in 7:24. That demonstrated how disciplined she’d been throughout the race. She’d had more in the tank but she kept it back and saved her energy. It was a really well judged effort from Sophie and she sped through the last quarter of a mile at 7:02 pace.

That meant she’d made it through that final section in 7:44 pace and had reached the finish line in 3 hours 24 minutes and 13 seconds. It really was a fantastic effort from Sophie and it simply couldn’t have gone much better. She was over the moon.

The distance had come up slightly long and her average pace for the run was 7:46 which was pretty much bang on it terms of what she was aiming for. The elevation gain was 680ft, so it couldn’t really be regarded as a flat course.

The was enough to put Sophie in 776th place overall by gun and 781st by chip. That was out of 4,986. She was also 49th female out of 1,275. She’d cracked it! She’d finally got the result she wanted and it felt so damn good and she was so relieved.

It was a tight battle for the race win but Joshua Griffiths of Swansea Harriers got it in the end in 2:17:16, ahead of Alex Carter of Team Bath who was runner up in 2:17:21. Conor Sarsfield of Helsby Running Club came third in 2:17:37.

A well known name from the Dorset area, Jonathan Cornish, finished fourth in 2:20:53, with Tom Charles of Chorlton Runners taking fifth in 2:24:27.

Sammy Antell of Bideford was first female in 2:44:22 which put her in 53rd place. Atsede Gidey of Exmouth Harriers was second female in 2:44:51, with Melissah Gibson finishing third female in 2:44:59.

What Sophie’s run proved was that if you believe in yourself, it’s possible to overcome a setback by taking the learnings from it, applying yourself slightly differently if needed and then going again. She wasn’t prepared to give up as she knew she had it in her. She just needed to execute it right on the day and at the Chester Marathon, she was destined to deliver the performance she’d been yearning for.