So yesterday was my third marathon – the Bristol to Bath. Just some quick thoughts on what was a fantastic day.
My first marathon I ran in 2012 after missing 5 weeks of training through injury and with a longest run of 14 miles. I finished in a time of 6:07.
My second was run in 2013 after great training, but I never really felt right in the race. I had a huge wobble at mile 14, another at mile 17, really struggled after that but was pleased to finish in 5:25.
Yesterday’s was a strange one. I couldn’t really get psyched up for it beforehand, so I decided to think of it as just another long training run. It was a training run with people applauding me and telling me how well I was doing. What an ego boost! I can honestly say I enjoyed every minute of it, even the hills and after overtaking the 5 hour pacers I finished in 4:56:54. This is 29 minutes faster than my time at Brighton. Amazing!
It was fantastic to meet so many lovely ladies from the Run Mummy Run group before and during the race, but I mostly ran on my own and just enjoyed the route and the sights.
I’ll post more when I’ve digested it all and found some more photos. Run Mummy Run Socks Clifton Suspension Bridge Thanks to Lynsey Miles for this photo Finished! Medal!
Tonight it was the Great Chalfield 10K. It was very hot, my legs were still tired from Tuesday’s race, and I was still haunted by the awful stitch I had last year on this race. However it was beautifully sunny, the race route is beautiful (if a little lumpy), I was smothered in suncream and was wearing my attractive running cap. Race time!
As I arrived at the scout hut in Broughton Gifford, I could see small groups of Harriers shirts. Yet again, I recognised just a few of them – this is such a big running club I keep coming across completely different people! However they made me feel very welcome, and it was good to stand and chat in the sunshine.
This race is such a lovely low key event, that I’ve run it for the last few years. I love how you park your car right next to the start / finish area. This year, the common hadn’t been cut, so it was a bit of an adventure getting the car onto the common, and wading through the grass to pick up my number. Off road parking
As 10K races go, it was hot, it was fast, I felt like I was pushing as hard as I could but Tuesday’s Lacock Relay was still in my legs so i didn’t worry about the time but figured I’d take it a little easier in the first half and see how it went. In the second half I was still feelingokay so I pushed a bit harder. Past the Great Chalfield Manor, past the scary barking dog, up the long long hill at 8K and sudenly I was passing a few runners. This felt good! As the long straight road led to the finish I could see groups of Harriers shirts again, and here “Come on Chippenham!” and also “Come on Lucy!” being shouted. It felt good, so I pushed for my sprint finish.
The warm bottle of water at the end has never tasted so good! I had finished strongly, I hadn’t got a stitch this year, and I hadn’t let my* Harrier’s shirt down. I stood with the other Harriers, clapping the rest of the runners in, and shouting wildly when we saw another Harrier. It was lovely, when people started to talk about leaving, one lady said “Are all the Harriers in? We don’t want to let any of them come in after we’ve gone!” Finished!
On getting home and uploading the data, my time was 57:28 which is definitely not a PB. However, my final 0.2 mile sprint finish, according to Strava, was the fastest I’ve run it at 6:58 minutes per mile. This is fantastic, although I don’t know if I believe it! Roll on those stiff legs tomorrow!
* Actually I still haven’t got my own shirt – this is still a borrowed shirt from another, very lovely Lucy. Thank you Lucy!
Team sports have never been my thing. My deeply hidden competitive side would always do battle with my inate ineptness and lack of hand eye co-ordination, and the result would be shame at letting my side down.* I was always one of the last to be picked for teams in PE, but my natural nerdiness meant this was to be expected.
A series of relay races around a local village is therefore something I would have avoided like the plague … until now. Tonight I took part in the second of this year’s Lacock Relays. As well as lots of Chippenham Harriers running I knew some other people who were going as well, so I knew I’d have people to chat to. Each team is made up of a fast, a medium and a slow runner and teams are allocated on the night. As you register you are asked for either your time at the last relay, or for a recent 10K or 5K time. When I said around 56 minutes for a 10K, I was put down as 22 minutes for the 2.6 mile course (which sounded pretty fast to me).
The teams were called out and I was delighted to be in a team with one of my friends. I had been worrying that I wouldn’t spot who I was meant to be taking over from or handing over to, but I was to be the last runner and just had to spot my friend Julia as she came in at high speed. We didn’t know the first member of our team, but that didn’t matter, we cheered her on anyway as all of the medium speed runners set off together. Around twenty minutes later runners started reappearing. As each runner came around the corner people started shouting out their team so the next runner could get ready. Handover was a simple hand clap -so I didn’t have to worry about dropping the baton, despite my husband’s ‘helpful’ earlier advice. Julia took over from our ‘medium’ speed runner, and I waited again for the third lap.
As the fast runners streamed in and handed over to the ‘slow’ runner in their team, I waited and waited and finally set off – the fourth from last. There was quite a gap between me and the runners ahead, so I ran as fast as I could to make sure I had someone to follow. As soon as I could see other runners I slowed down a little because I was already hot and tired.
Aware that it was less than a 5K I tried to keep my pace up, but it was really very warm and sunny and much too lovely to be pushing too hard. Despite this, I came around a corner and was surprised at how close I was to the runner in front of me. Apologetically I passed her, and pushed on. Then there was another runner ahead, and I caught them as well.
By the time we were turning back onto the High Street I was overtaking my 8th runner and I was quietly delighted. Passing runners isn’t something I’m used to doing! A hot sprint to the line and it was done. Team CC complete! My Garmin makes my time as 22:01 so the guys registering made a good assessment of my pace!
With a determined chin
In line with such a low key event, the top 3 teams won a voucher for a drink and a packet of crisps each in the local pub. It was a great friendly event on a lovely evening (did I mention how hot and sunny it was?) I’m very glad I went, and with another two in the series I’ll be back!
* This reminds me of one of my all time favourite jokes. What did the headmaster of the inflatable school say to the naughty child with the pin? You’ve let yourself down. You’ve let your class down. You’ve let the whole school down.
What can I say about the Corsham St George’s 10K race? The simple fact that the numbers running it are increasing year on year says everything. It was my third time running it and I was looking forward to it.
As well as running a good race, my aim was to meet up with another Lucy. This lady is a-friend-of-a-friend who had kindly offered to change her routine and come to my first Harriers session with me. I was brave, went on my own and didn’t take her up on her offer. However I still wanted to meet up as apparently we run at very similar paces, are similarly keen on our running, and I gather she’s a lovely person. I looked all over for her at the start but couldn’t see her anywhere. I had seen a blurry photo of her on Facebook, and I knew her race number, but it’s not surprising I couldn’t find her, as there was over 800 runners. I told you this race was becoming popular.
Aeroplane arms – how happy do I look?
The organiser called us out onto the road to line up for the start, so I abandoned my search and lined up somewhere near the 55 minute pacer. A man enthusiastically called the start, we shuffled forward and were off. I do confess I had forgotten the course was quite as undulating as it was. No serious inclines (apart from the last hill with 1 Km to go) but enough to keep you on your toes. We wove out of Corsham and through small lanes beyond. It is a pretty route and even when out in the countryside there were people supporting the race. Kudos to the lady in her dressing gown and slippers out on the pavement clapping everyone as they ran past. I loved the orange segments that were handed out at the 6K mark – they helped me get up that last hill and along the final straight that seems to go on for miles.
My chip time was 55:16, which isn’t a PB but considering at the start I said I was hoping for around 55 minutes I’m very pleased with it. I was a little sad that I hadn’t met Lucy so thought I’d have a look at the official photos from the event.*
I found a great photo from the start, where I was looking happy and smiling. Then I looked closely … and spotted the elusive ‘Other Lucy’ … running right next to me. Never mind “Where’s Wally”, this has been “Locate Lucy”!
At the start – how many Lucys can you see? Hint – I’m the one in the amazing socks
* I might not have found the Lucy I was looking for, but I did find another Lucy that I met at one of the Bath Skyline 10K races, along with some other ladies from the Run Mummy Run group. Another lovely lady (she’s a Lucy – say no more!), it was only a shame she’d just sold the last of the cakes on the stall she was running at the end.
The fourth in this series, the third I’ve run, and the second on the new course from Bath Racecourse. Also the first time I’ve run in shorts*, in February. Most of this race was the same as the January running, so just read my report of it so I don’t have to write it again.
Differences this time? I really wasn’t feeling it before the race. I even Tweeted about it, but moaning didn’t help (it never does). The waves seemed much smaller today – maybe only 50 people lined up with me for the start of wave 4 – so there was never any waiting or queuing at stiles or puddles. Once we set off, I cheered up somewhere between being told I was wearing the best socks, and getting said socks covered in mud.
Rockin’ the shorts and long socks look – the ‘Before’ picture
The puddles were just as deep as last month, but the overall slippiness was less which made it more enjoyable -it was possible to stagger up the hills rather than crawl up. Chatting to a man in the car park afterwards, he said in the section that climbs back up through the trees it looked just like groups of zombies staggering along. I reached the top of this section, came back out onto the footpath and told the marshall “I’m a broken woman!” so I know how they were feeling.
Also on this hill, a very practical Northern lady passed me saying “I hope them socks’ll come up alright!”**
I hope they’ll come up alright as well. Also my shorts seem to have disappeared
So another muddy hilly race done, and the final part of the interlocking medals collected.
I wasn’t sure if I’d run a series of races like this again, they have messed up my longer runs. Then I saw Relish Running have another series that goes through old railway tunnels in (under?) Bath that has a train on the interlocking medals …. I like trains!
* Showed my son the “shorts and long socks” look, and he sighed and said “at least you’re not wearing sandals as well”
** Translation for Southerners “I hope all of that mud will wash off those socks”
So a race morning when you over sleep by half an hour is not a good start. Nor is not being able to find your favourite running bra. At least the rush meant I couldn’t dwell for too long on the race ahead.
It was the morning of The Slaughterford 9 – a race that I swore I would never do again after I last ran it 3 years ago. The race that contributed to an injury that led to me missing 5 weeks of training for my first marathon in London 2012. Nevertheless I thought it was time to give it another go, not least because the morning saw the area covered in freezing fog so I never got to see the views from the top of the huge climbs.
The runners and marshals were as friendly as you’d expect from a small race, and my jazzy socks got plenty of complimentary remarks.
The stream we have to wade up in the last mile wasn’t as cold as I remembered – I could actually feel my feet as I climbed up the hill on the otherside. The steam WAS deeper though, stepping down into knee deep muddy water is a challenge. Wading along the uneven bottom when you can’t see where to best put your feet is more of a challenge, and how they made it go deeper as you went along is a secret only a sadist would know. The cold water reached my shins, knees, thighs and just as it hit gusset-level I heard a cry of “oo my undercarriage” from up ahead, which made me laugh.
The final steep hill was as much a killer as ever, and then it was the final slope to the finish line. I originally ran this race in 2012 because I’d had massive race t-shirt envy. Seeing as I got paint on my original shirt I was looking forward to getting a new one. Imagine my face when I saw that this year’s t-shirt was pink.
Regular readers will know exactly how I feel about the colour pink, as did the man I was running next to when I spotted the colour (apologies to him for my language).
Pink. No moe words
It had been great to see Mr. B&T pop up around the course three times to cheer me on and take attractive photos, but it was a close run thing as to whether I was more pleased to see him at the finish, or the Mars bar I was handed.
So happyStill fairly happyJust pleased to see the finish line
After a cold nearly-a-mile walk back to the car, I was most pleased to see his car with it’s heated seats. Mary Berry and Paul Hollywood wouldn’t approve, but I can highly recommend heated seats on a soggy bottom.
When I arrived home after this morning’s race, I told my family I felt like I’d been steamrollered. (Teen 2 promptly asked if I’d ever actually been steamrollered. I told him Health and Safety standards had been much lower in the seventies when I was little).
How I arrived home, post steam rollering.
At the last Skyline 10K I ran, back in November, I was fairly scathing about the course, the organisation, the location, in fact about everything except the medal. (Read my race report here). I am very pleased to report that Relish Running Races has acted on all of these problems and turned this into a fantastic race. It has moved to Bath Racecourse, the route is all off road and incorporates two big hills, and after the recent wet weather we had been warned it would be muddy.
I’ll notlie to you, the course was hard. Steep hills are always going to be difficult (for me) to navigate. Throw in thick, oozy mud and things get interesting. Wading and splashing through knee high mud is one thing. However slipping and sliding down a steep hill or being unable to climb back up the otherside because you have zero grip is quite another. Think cartoon running, where your legs are spinning but you don’t actually move. It was all good fun.
I love the camaraderie at tough races like this. I love that I was complimented on my balance as I slithered out of control down a muddy slope (I told my complimentor not to jinx me). I love that I was inspired to tell a strange man that he was my favourite person so far this year (he was handing out the chocolate bars at the end). I was touched that I spotted an expression of true love in the car park afterwards, when I saw a chap struggling to pull off his partner’s muddy tights for her whilst she held onto the car seat with both hands.
“Keep those expensive socks clean” was the last thing Mr B&T said as I left the housePost race snacks. Jaffa cakes, mmmmMedal. It came in a plastic bag which is why it’s not muddy
I loved the warm tent at the end to collect my medal and graze upon the snacks. I loved the sunshine which made the temperature feel warmer than the 3C it actually was. The views down towards Bristol were stunning, but I had to concentrate on where I was putting my feet so didn’t get much of a chance to savour them. I’m delighted that I think I recorded a new PW for a 10K time, and yet I still think I gave it my all. I’m loving the glass of red which is now going down very well and making me feel very mellow. However I might not love how my body feels tomorrow …
I did think with a name like the Pudding Run this race promised to be great. The fact that it sold out in a week back at the end of September was another good sign. I actually was given a place by a lovely man who was injured and I was able to transfer the place to myself just a few days before (how come bigger races can’t do this?!) I was even offered a lift by a friend, Julia, which was a good omen and great company.
As soon as we got to race HQ it was obvious why this race is so popular. It raises funds for the local primary school, so it has a lovely atmosphere, and the youngest baggage reclaim team I’ve ever seen. The runners were a mixture of super keen club runners, ordinary runners like myself, and runners who’d made the effort and were wearing Christmas jumpers and hats. The course was as flat as advertised which was great for PB chasing but one open section suffered from strong head winds over the flat fields. I always find laps of a race hard, so unsurprisingly I came to the end of the first 5K lap thinking
“I’ll just stop now. I don’t need to do another lap.”
“But you won’t get your pudding!”
“I don’t even like Christmas pudding!!”
Fortunately by the time I’d finished this internal monologue I’d passed the finish line and was on my second lap. It was hard, I didn’t beat my PB, I was overtaken on the final straight by a lady in an amazing Christmas Tree hat, but it was a great race. There was even a choice of puddings, so Grinches like me could have syrup sponge or chocolate pudding instead. It was great, and I will be signing up next September. With Julia and her pudding, at her first ever race My pudding of choice. Yum
Normally I would say hilly and muddy beats just about any other run hands down (unless you’re after a PB of course). So a showdown between a hilly and muddy 10K race vs. flat and fast 10k race would normally be easy to call. Add in the fact that you get a medal at the hilly and muddy race, but not at the other, and you’d assume I didn’t even have to spend a second agonizing over a decision. Simple pimple.
Hang on though, put those trail trainers down – the flat and fast race isn’t an ordinary race. It’s the 10K “Pudding Race”. It sold out in a week back at the start of October, and you might not get a medal at the end but you do get a Christmas Pudding. Ah – that muddied the waters for you, didn’t it?
Mmmmm pudding!
To cut a long story short, I put my trail trainers back in the muddy bag they live in, and took my road runners out this morning for some ‘bursts’ to try and get my legs used to running fast without getting distracted and slowing down. Apart from the large tractors on little lanes which meant I had to leap into the hedge, they went well.
After last Sunday’s 10K, (a muddy, hilly off road race with some organisational hiccups) I ran another 10K race this Sunday. This one was flat, fast and organised like a clock winding event in a Swiss cuckcoo clock factory. Last week was the Bath Skyline 10K, this week was the Chilly 10K at Castle Combe race circuit, organised by DB Max.
Last week I was excited and nervous at the start, just running to finish with no thoughts of what time to expect. This week I was quite anxious at the start, because I was putting pressure on myself to aim for sub-54 minutes. My PB from last year was 54:02.
Castle Combe Race Circuit is an exposed location, just outside the beautiful Cotswold village of Castle Combe. The circuit isn’t quite as picturesque as the village. It’s also very open and seems to always have a head wind – the only question is from which direction will it be? As a motor racing circuit it’s great if you have an interest in motor sport (there’s a pit lane, chicanes, banks of tyres in case of crashes etc) but this also means it has great facilities – lots of parking, toilets, and the ‘Tavern’ for a greasy spoon fry-up afterwards. The organisation was immaculate, speedy number and chip pick-up followed by a warm area to wait in.
I always find laps in a race hard to cope with mentally, and this race was three and a bit laps of the circuit. This meant on the first lap passing the 2K marker then a few metres later the 5K marker, and then in a few more breaths the 8K. I found it soul destroying on the first lap, was on the verge of giving up on the second lap, but was still hanging on by my fingernails on the third and final lap.
I didn’t quite bag myself a new PB, and missed out on my sub 54 minute target by 12 seconds. However despite the finish line video showing me crossing the line and looking with disgust at my Garmin as I see my time, I was pleased with my race. I haven’t been doing any speed work lately (concentrating on hills and mud instead), so to come so close to my target time is great. Oh and I got another amazing medal (always a bonus!) Mmm. Bling
So two very different races. Very different surroundings, terrain and organisation, however I was very happy to have run both of them. Roll on the Bath Skyline number 2 in a few weeks, and the next Chilly 10K in a few months!
