Nottingham Grand Prix Series: Race 2 - Rushcliffe Country Park 4 Miles

So four miles of grit footpaths around Rushcliffe Country Park then. I vow to take it steady because my legs are still not functioning properly after Tuesday and I also need to keep something, well a lot, in the tank for Saturday. Oh and I’m full of pie and chips, and beer from a pub lunch, not ideal race prep.

If I can run seven minute miles all the way I’ll be happy with that. Anything under 28 minutes for the whole thing would be acceptable in the circumstances, despite the fact I did 25 something last year.

I start well back and have to do a lot of overtaking, which should have been quite pleasant in a way, with one particular club from northern Nottinghamshire fielding all their female runners in crop tops and hot paths but there isn’t a pair of hips or a chest between them.

I achieve my target mile time with amazing accuracy for the first three miles, so I push on a bit in the fourth and start passing a few more people. I come in at 28.42. How did that happen? A 7.42 last mile? Gutted. Somebody must have moved the mile markers.

Where as I'm slower, L, much more shapely than a northern Nottinghamshire runner, is again quicker than last year by around 30 seconds. Well done again.

Time: 00:37:25

Races: 14
Miles: 94.3
T-shirts: 8
Medals: 5
Mugs: 1
Plates: 1
Bandanas: 1
Drinks Bottles: 1
Mars Bars: 1

Nottingham Grand Prix Series: Race 1 - Holme Pierrepont 10k

The annual Nottingham Grand Prix starts tonight. That’s four running races in ten days. Part one is, as ever, 10k around Holme Pierrepont Water Sports Centre, meaning we return to the scene of the crime that was the 10 miler a month or so ago.

L is so stressed that she threatens to be eating chocolate as she runs round the many loops of the rowing strip at Holme Pierrepont. I think this is work-related stress rather than race-related. That said, it’s an interesting strategy and if it works she’ll have to do it at every race. I also hope she sticks to one lap. It is only one lap tonight isn't it?

In the end she just downs a sports bar, well that’s all she admits to and then apparently regrets it, feeling full all the way around. That is all the way around in over three minutes quicker than last year. Clearly something worked. Meanwhile I plod round two minutes slower than last year. So our times are converging, at five minutes a year she’ll soon be in front of me.

I suffer badly from stitch from 3km to around 8.5km, not pleasant. I blame my pre-race snack of a flapjack, which I had at 3.30, four hours before the start. So it shouldn’t have been a problem.

Oh well, things can only get better. Ah, no they can’t, its Rushcliffe next. I hate running around Rushcliffe and they’re making us do it twice in five days this years.

Time: 00:57:31

Races: 13
Miles: 90.3
T-shirts: 8
Medals: 5
Mugs: 1
Plates: 1
Bandanas: 1
Drinks Bottles: 1
Mars Bars: 1