I’m in Newark and L’s in Burton. She’s running the Burton 10 mile road race and also running the gauntlet of public transport on a Sunday to get there. I’m in Newark at a dog show for a qualifier for the Crufts Team Event. So she's on her own for this one. It's another two lapper, just like last week at Holme Pierrepont.
It’s also raining in Burton but it’s not here in Newark.
Whilst things are going horribly pear shaped with the Crufts Team event, L goes two and half minutes quicker than at Holme Pierrepont last week. A good run then and she gets another t-shirt, as well as a mars bar. Hope she’s saved me the mars bar. Then she heads back from Burton sober, now there’s a first.
Time: 01:37:27
Races: 5
Miles: 45.5
T-shirts: 4
Medals: 2
Mugs: 1
Mars Bars: 1
Sunday, May 29, 2011
Sunday, May 22, 2011
Notts 10
Bugger. We’re still here. Does that mean I’ve got to run the Notts 10 today after all? Looks like it. Race number for my partner.
We arrive at the ends of the earth, or rather Holme Pierrepont Watersports Centre, to be greeted by an overcast sky and wind, wind and err, more wind. For those of you who think a 50 mile sportive up two quite serious hills is madness, how about two and half rather featureless laps around a rowing strip in a gale. Possibly madder?
I’ve only entered this race because it’s the event’s 40th birthday and I’m a sucker for a good birthday bash. So I’m hoping for some good ‘freebies’ at the end. My partner needs the mileage.
This used to be a Friday evening event but has been moved to a Sunday this year. Health and Safety I imagine was responsible for them introducing a tight time limit on the Friday race, so that nobody finished in the dark, which wasn’t popular. So it’s on Sunday this year. Still might have a darkness problem through, looks like it’s going to rain.
As ever I start too quickly, and then have to try to get some grip back on reality and my own limitations as people, generally the old, the infirm and the female, overtake me. That’s perhaps a bit unfair. This is no mugs race, it’s full of club runners and everyone is pretty quick. I do manage to hang onto the shirt tails of one of the old and run with him for a while, but possibly only because of the assistance of the prevailing wind that was behind me at the time. Inspired by this, I finally get brave enough to drop him and push on ahead, only for him to catch me up later and return the ‘favour’ as we go around the lake, turning to run headlong into the wind.
Did I mention the wind? It was so rough I half expected to see foot high waves coming towards me across the lake, sweeping away any competitors who were running too close to the edge.
It’s a shame because the race is run over a very flat course but any chance of a PB always depends on the conditions on the day, and being hunched over trying to streamline oneself against a headwind isn’t going to be conducive to a fast time.
Then it starts raining... oh joy. ‘That's great; it starts with an earthquake...’ Actually I think the apocalypse is happening here and now, wind, rain, ‘Eye of a hurricane, listen to yourself churn...’ and what a nice place for it all to end... Holme Pierrepont, delightful. ‘It's the end of the world as we know it and I feel fine.’ Or not. I’m singing to keep my spirits up. Classic R.E.M. by the way, if you weren't born in 1987.
Thankfully the rain shower quickly passes but with strategy number one, of following the old chap, in the bin, it’s time for a new approach. I get a hold of some eye candy who attempts to pass me, oh no you don't, just mentally not physically you understand. She seems to be moving at the right sort of pace and I let her tug me along as we start lap two.
Lap two isn’t as dull as lap one, not if you close your eyes or simply keep your head down to try and minimise the drag from the headwind. When I next look up the girl is still there and we stay together for the majority of the second lap, we even move up the field a bit, then she drops me like a stone with a mile to go. Perhaps I annoyed her when I didn’t wait for her after the last drinks station or perhaps she was just better than me.
I stagger across the finish line muttering, ‘deary me, that was a challenge’ or words to that effect. 1:13 again. Three ten milers and the same time on every one... I am handed a tasteful 40th anniversary mug and a rather fetching (depending on your point of view) bright orange 40th anniversary T-shirt. I will wear it with pride and sunglasses.
I head back to the car, fetch the boys and we bark L across the finish line.
Time: 01:39:54
Races: 4
Miles: 35.5
T-shirts: 3
Medals: 2
Mugs: 1
We arrive at the ends of the earth, or rather Holme Pierrepont Watersports Centre, to be greeted by an overcast sky and wind, wind and err, more wind. For those of you who think a 50 mile sportive up two quite serious hills is madness, how about two and half rather featureless laps around a rowing strip in a gale. Possibly madder?
I’ve only entered this race because it’s the event’s 40th birthday and I’m a sucker for a good birthday bash. So I’m hoping for some good ‘freebies’ at the end. My partner needs the mileage.
This used to be a Friday evening event but has been moved to a Sunday this year. Health and Safety I imagine was responsible for them introducing a tight time limit on the Friday race, so that nobody finished in the dark, which wasn’t popular. So it’s on Sunday this year. Still might have a darkness problem through, looks like it’s going to rain.
As ever I start too quickly, and then have to try to get some grip back on reality and my own limitations as people, generally the old, the infirm and the female, overtake me. That’s perhaps a bit unfair. This is no mugs race, it’s full of club runners and everyone is pretty quick. I do manage to hang onto the shirt tails of one of the old and run with him for a while, but possibly only because of the assistance of the prevailing wind that was behind me at the time. Inspired by this, I finally get brave enough to drop him and push on ahead, only for him to catch me up later and return the ‘favour’ as we go around the lake, turning to run headlong into the wind.
Did I mention the wind? It was so rough I half expected to see foot high waves coming towards me across the lake, sweeping away any competitors who were running too close to the edge.
It’s a shame because the race is run over a very flat course but any chance of a PB always depends on the conditions on the day, and being hunched over trying to streamline oneself against a headwind isn’t going to be conducive to a fast time.
Then it starts raining... oh joy. ‘That's great; it starts with an earthquake...’ Actually I think the apocalypse is happening here and now, wind, rain, ‘Eye of a hurricane, listen to yourself churn...’ and what a nice place for it all to end... Holme Pierrepont, delightful. ‘It's the end of the world as we know it and I feel fine.’ Or not. I’m singing to keep my spirits up. Classic R.E.M. by the way, if you weren't born in 1987.
Thankfully the rain shower quickly passes but with strategy number one, of following the old chap, in the bin, it’s time for a new approach. I get a hold of some eye candy who attempts to pass me, oh no you don't, just mentally not physically you understand. She seems to be moving at the right sort of pace and I let her tug me along as we start lap two.
Lap two isn’t as dull as lap one, not if you close your eyes or simply keep your head down to try and minimise the drag from the headwind. When I next look up the girl is still there and we stay together for the majority of the second lap, we even move up the field a bit, then she drops me like a stone with a mile to go. Perhaps I annoyed her when I didn’t wait for her after the last drinks station or perhaps she was just better than me.
I stagger across the finish line muttering, ‘deary me, that was a challenge’ or words to that effect. 1:13 again. Three ten milers and the same time on every one... I am handed a tasteful 40th anniversary mug and a rather fetching (depending on your point of view) bright orange 40th anniversary T-shirt. I will wear it with pride and sunglasses.
I head back to the car, fetch the boys and we bark L across the finish line.
Time: 01:39:54
Races: 4
Miles: 35.5
T-shirts: 3
Medals: 2
Mugs: 1
Sunday, May 15, 2011
The Great Manchester Run 10k
I’m on TV this morning, me, Haile Gebrselassie, Paula Radcliffe and 38,000 others. Well not Paula actually, she got wind of the fact I'd entered and pulled out, citing breathing difficulties while training. Hmmm. When I get ‘breathing difficulties’ I usually blame it on too much Snecklifter. Us athletes are all the same you know.
It’s The Great Manchester Run, self styled as Britain’s Premier 10k, although that's a bit of a cheat because there are actually five races happening here = five waves. Everybody doesn’t run as one like at the London Marathon or the Great North Run. The run was first staged in 2003 with a field of 10,000, this year they have sold 38,000 places, although afterwards the results will show that only 28,000 turned but that’s still pretty big.
Today, I have a proper race number ‘5287’ not ‘666’ and they’ve helpfully put everyone's name on their numbers as well, just in case you are so delirious at the finish that you forget who you are. Which is possible, as I’m in the first ‘Orange’ wave with Mr Gebrselassie.
Parking is great. We drive straight into the centre and park up in an NCP with no problems at all before heading off for a wander around. We’ve left the dogs at home but actually it wouldn’t have been too bad for them here, as it will be relatively easy for me to nip back to the car and fetch them once I’ve finished. They do love a bit of supporting.
I head to the start to join the other 6,000 or so in my wave. Such numbers don’t leave much room for an aerobic warm-up and means there’s every chance you could gain a black eye if the runner next to you flails around too much to the warm-up music. It’s also quite difficult to get up near the front. I stand just behind the sub-40 pacer but we’re still miles back and I soon lose him in the crowd as he starts to push forward. I reckon we need waves within the waves here.
The marshals make a good fist of stemming the flow of runners across the start line with a sort of a funnel system, so initially it’s not too congested but things very quickly bunch up again. Not good, I fear Gebrselassie may be getting away from me already.
The sheer volume of runners makes it very difficult to maintain a steady pace and I’m 15 seconds or so behind where I want to be and nowhere near Haile. It’s not until half way that I manage to get a bit of space and record a few quicker splits. It’s a shame because it’s a course full of PB potential on pancake flat roads although the route itself is rather dull. When going past Old Trafford is the highlight, you know it’s not the best route in the world. It would have been nice to have seen more of the city centre.
The weather isn’t great either, it’s been drizzling on and off all morning, but it stays fine for my actual run, although if you’re a later starter you probably got soaked or if you opted to go through the ‘cooling’ shower that was erected at 6.5km. I gave it a very wide berth.
The atmosphere was patchy, probably the weather again. There was a good turn out but the spectators seemed subdued, certainly not as up for it as at Reading. Again the bands on the course were good, giving everyone a musical boost.
Then before I know it I’m sprinting (sort off) across the finish line on Deansgate. Then because L was in start number two, twenty minutes after me, I’ve got plenty of time to get back to the car to get some warmer clothes before heading back to the course in time to see her finish.
All in all, mass participation at its finest and achieving what these sort of races are all about, that is getting new folk into running.
The Great Salford Swim is also going on today, which we don’t get to see but we do wander up to have a look at the athletics track which will be in use later.
We would have stayed to watch but by now the weather is really foul so we opt to hit the motorways and head home.
Time: 00:58:25
Races: 3
Miles: 25.5
T-shirts: 2
Medals: 2
It’s The Great Manchester Run, self styled as Britain’s Premier 10k, although that's a bit of a cheat because there are actually five races happening here = five waves. Everybody doesn’t run as one like at the London Marathon or the Great North Run. The run was first staged in 2003 with a field of 10,000, this year they have sold 38,000 places, although afterwards the results will show that only 28,000 turned but that’s still pretty big.
Today, I have a proper race number ‘5287’ not ‘666’ and they’ve helpfully put everyone's name on their numbers as well, just in case you are so delirious at the finish that you forget who you are. Which is possible, as I’m in the first ‘Orange’ wave with Mr Gebrselassie.
Parking is great. We drive straight into the centre and park up in an NCP with no problems at all before heading off for a wander around. We’ve left the dogs at home but actually it wouldn’t have been too bad for them here, as it will be relatively easy for me to nip back to the car and fetch them once I’ve finished. They do love a bit of supporting.
I head to the start to join the other 6,000 or so in my wave. Such numbers don’t leave much room for an aerobic warm-up and means there’s every chance you could gain a black eye if the runner next to you flails around too much to the warm-up music. It’s also quite difficult to get up near the front. I stand just behind the sub-40 pacer but we’re still miles back and I soon lose him in the crowd as he starts to push forward. I reckon we need waves within the waves here.
The marshals make a good fist of stemming the flow of runners across the start line with a sort of a funnel system, so initially it’s not too congested but things very quickly bunch up again. Not good, I fear Gebrselassie may be getting away from me already.
The sheer volume of runners makes it very difficult to maintain a steady pace and I’m 15 seconds or so behind where I want to be and nowhere near Haile. It’s not until half way that I manage to get a bit of space and record a few quicker splits. It’s a shame because it’s a course full of PB potential on pancake flat roads although the route itself is rather dull. When going past Old Trafford is the highlight, you know it’s not the best route in the world. It would have been nice to have seen more of the city centre.
The weather isn’t great either, it’s been drizzling on and off all morning, but it stays fine for my actual run, although if you’re a later starter you probably got soaked or if you opted to go through the ‘cooling’ shower that was erected at 6.5km. I gave it a very wide berth.
The atmosphere was patchy, probably the weather again. There was a good turn out but the spectators seemed subdued, certainly not as up for it as at Reading. Again the bands on the course were good, giving everyone a musical boost.
Then before I know it I’m sprinting (sort off) across the finish line on Deansgate. Then because L was in start number two, twenty minutes after me, I’ve got plenty of time to get back to the car to get some warmer clothes before heading back to the course in time to see her finish.
All in all, mass participation at its finest and achieving what these sort of races are all about, that is getting new folk into running.
The Great Salford Swim is also going on today, which we don’t get to see but we do wander up to have a look at the athletics track which will be in use later.
We would have stayed to watch but by now the weather is really foul so we opt to hit the motorways and head home.
Time: 00:58:25
Races: 3
Miles: 25.5
T-shirts: 2
Medals: 2
Saturday, May 14, 2011
Kenilworth Festival 10k
A bit of neat organising today. There is a Leamington Dog Show, which obviously isn’t in Leamington as dogs shows never are in the home town of the organising club, but is somewhere relatively close and it’s also the same day as the Kenilworth Running Festival. Both events are in spitting distance, that's a slight mega exaggeration, of Warwick University and therefore Son.
So I drop L off in Kenilworth for her 10k, then the boys and I go off to find where in Leamington the dog show isn’t.
The run turns out to be 3 laps... nice. Five hills per lap, even nicer. They’ve even managed to get a team from Warwick Uni to enter but no sign of Son turning out for them. Bit early for him. He won’t even be alive at this sort of time, unless he’s not gotten to bed yet.
L does her run. Not the quickest apparently and she was muttering something about bloody hills. She's probably saving her quick one for tomorrow. She then heads off to meet Son, who agreed to meet her, albeit briefly between getting up and the FA Cup Final. Well a student has to eat.
Time: 01:04:34
Races: 2
Miles: 19.3
T-shirts: 1
Medals: 1
So I drop L off in Kenilworth for her 10k, then the boys and I go off to find where in Leamington the dog show isn’t.
The run turns out to be 3 laps... nice. Five hills per lap, even nicer. They’ve even managed to get a team from Warwick Uni to enter but no sign of Son turning out for them. Bit early for him. He won’t even be alive at this sort of time, unless he’s not gotten to bed yet.
L does her run. Not the quickest apparently and she was muttering something about bloody hills. She's probably saving her quick one for tomorrow. She then heads off to meet Son, who agreed to meet her, albeit briefly between getting up and the FA Cup Final. Well a student has to eat.
Time: 01:04:34
Races: 2
Miles: 19.3
T-shirts: 1
Medals: 1
Sunday, May 8, 2011
Leeds Half Marathon
Happy Birthday to L today and as a special birthday treat, she gets to do the Leeds Half Marathon. This is her first race in a year of running up her 50th birthday. 500 miles in 50 plus races in her 50th year and hopefully 50 t-shirts as well. Hmmm, we’ll need to get a bigger bedroom or get Daughter to move out. Oh yes, forgot, that’s already the plan.
The last time L ran in Leeds they made her go around twice, that was in the full marathon in 2001. It’s ten years on but L doesn’t appear to be feeling nostalgic enough to repeat that feat today.
That race no longer exists, it was axed after the 2003 event due to dwindling numbers. Not many people seemed to fancy the two lap format. The half marathon too was also almost lost despite regularly pulling over 4,000 runners, in 2008 the council tried to drop it to focus on running a 10k instead but people power saw to it that that didn’t happen.
I'm in 10k training for Manchester next weekend; well I’m supposed to be, hence the Trailblazer yesterday, so I’m not running and looking forward to spectating instead.
It’s a good one to spectate at. A marching band leads the runners down to the start; you don’t see a lot of that when you’re running. MD isn't impressed by the band though and tells them so. Doggo isn't impressed that he isn't running but just stands there looking agitated.
Everybody claps the giant Clanger, who is running for Cancer Research and obviously going for a good time, as he takes his place on the front row next to the Kenyans and the other psychos.
They don’t look particularly worried.
The race starts and L is in there somewhere amongst the 4000 runners but we can't see where. Which is lucky in a way, because I feel Doggo would have joined her.
One person we don’t miss is the chap in the Mankini, not really missable (unfortunately) but unlike the chap who passed me at Reading, he’s combined it with a pair of Y-Fronts, so it’s a bit less obscene.
With the main race gone we await the start of the fun run but it starts in a different place and emerges at the other side of the square. A bit crap. The only downside in an otherwise well organised race.
L does well, a good time but not so good so that she can’t chip chunks off it throughout the season. At least that’s what I keep telling her.
She had suggested ‘Facebooking’ all the races on her challenge. So rather than give her chance to change her mind, I upload the first set of photos for her. I’m kind like that.
Time: 02:20:56
Races: 1
Miles: 13.1
T-shirts: 1
Medals: 1
The last time L ran in Leeds they made her go around twice, that was in the full marathon in 2001. It’s ten years on but L doesn’t appear to be feeling nostalgic enough to repeat that feat today.
That race no longer exists, it was axed after the 2003 event due to dwindling numbers. Not many people seemed to fancy the two lap format. The half marathon too was also almost lost despite regularly pulling over 4,000 runners, in 2008 the council tried to drop it to focus on running a 10k instead but people power saw to it that that didn’t happen.
I'm in 10k training for Manchester next weekend; well I’m supposed to be, hence the Trailblazer yesterday, so I’m not running and looking forward to spectating instead.
It’s a good one to spectate at. A marching band leads the runners down to the start; you don’t see a lot of that when you’re running. MD isn't impressed by the band though and tells them so. Doggo isn't impressed that he isn't running but just stands there looking agitated.
Everybody claps the giant Clanger, who is running for Cancer Research and obviously going for a good time, as he takes his place on the front row next to the Kenyans and the other psychos.
They don’t look particularly worried.
The race starts and L is in there somewhere amongst the 4000 runners but we can't see where. Which is lucky in a way, because I feel Doggo would have joined her.
One person we don’t miss is the chap in the Mankini, not really missable (unfortunately) but unlike the chap who passed me at Reading, he’s combined it with a pair of Y-Fronts, so it’s a bit less obscene.
With the main race gone we await the start of the fun run but it starts in a different place and emerges at the other side of the square. A bit crap. The only downside in an otherwise well organised race.
L does well, a good time but not so good so that she can’t chip chunks off it throughout the season. At least that’s what I keep telling her.
She had suggested ‘Facebooking’ all the races on her challenge. So rather than give her chance to change her mind, I upload the first set of photos for her. I’m kind like that.
Time: 02:20:56
Races: 1
Miles: 13.1
T-shirts: 1
Medals: 1
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