New Forest Stinger 2015

This was my first time running the Stinger.  The lovely Mrs S and I were set to go around the 5-mile course together, but she hadn't been well so I was on my own, and the organisers (Totton RC) were very amenable to me upgrading 15 minutes before the start.

There were a few familiar faces around, both from Romsey and OS.  It was a calm, cool day and dry underfoot.  Off we went, on forest paths through a mixture of heath and woodland.  I found myself working a good consistent pace and felt strong. It was a stonker of a race!  The landscape was fabulous, the marshalling was excellent and everything felt good.  Into the last km and I was catching on the guy in front, and I found myself wishing that the course would go on a bit further so that I could take him, but I was very happy to stagger over the line in 1:06:13, four minutes quicker than my estimate. Here are the GPS stats.

This was everything that I hope for in a race:

• Organised by a local club - no silly commercial glitz, and modest entry fees
• Great countryside with rolling hills, and entirely off-road 
• Friendly, capable volunteers in charge

The open flat start...

...and the chase to the finish

This was up there with one of the happiest and most satisfying races that I've ever done. Great job Totton!

Hursley 10k, 2015

I've run this race every year since it started, with the exception of an injury-stopped-play 2014.  It's a very friendly event on a terrifically hilly and properly multi-terrain course.

I think this was the first time I'd tried running a race just 7 days after a marathon.  I had only run once  during the preceding week, and my hamstrings were particularly tight... but I was feeling well and I'd been looking forward to this event for a while.

Off we went, and I quickly found myself in about 8th place.  After a bit of shuffling places, I was on my own, and it stayed that way for the whole race. My legs felt tight but I enjoyed it, going at full lung capacity.  Some excitingly boggy stretches vindicated my last-minute switch to trail shoes, overcoming my aversion to more bruised toenails.

8th place was where I ended up, with a time of 39:08.  Here are the GPS stats.  Nothing remotely exciting about that, compared to the 37:54 I did in 2013.  But context in this case was probably all.  Skimming a few articles on the net suggested that it normally takes at least 2 weeks to get back to full strength after a marathon.  But aside from all that, it was a thoroughly enjoyable gallop through lovely countryside on a September morning.

New Forest marathon 2015

I'd been looking forward to this race for ages - it's my first marathon for two whole years, after injury put paid to entries in 2014.

The race blurb said to get there two or three hours before the start at 9am.  Nonsense, I thought, and left the house at 8, giving myself plenty of time... but I reckoned without the fatal race traffic factor.  I spent half an hour just getting through Lyndhurst, a notorious bottleneck, and then the awful truth became apparent - it was going to be a crawl all the way to the New Park and I was going to miss the start.

It was a few minutes after 9 when I took a left turn into a forest carpark, had a quick pee, got myself race-ready and ran the rest of the way to the race start.  There were a few other runners on the road (reassuring) but they were all on for the half marathon, starting at 0930 (less reassuring).  I arrived at New Park and managed to find the start line, looking very bare and empty.  The nice people there said I could run, and even better I would get a proper chip time.

Feeling a bit hyper after a fraught start I set off, trying hard to keep a sensible pace. After abut 2k I started catching people, initially other late starters and then the back of the original pack.  I felt OK, and was clocking up consistent 4:20 to 4:30 kms.  My race number started flapping around when we got into higher ground and we got exposed to the east wind; one of the safety pins had come adrift before the start and two more got dislodged by the belt on my water rucsack - so I had to run with it in my hand.

It was a friendly event, with lots of support.  I found that steadily catching people up was quite motivating.  At one point I overtook a small group of people clustered around a wheelchair - and then realised that it was carrying a young girl who was on a ventilator.  Very moving and humbling.  Then past Brockenhurst, past Sway and on up a hill - and at 15 miles someone shouted 'the sign said turn right!' The signs had fiddly little arrows on them which we all missed - and I was very thankful, as there's nothing worse than finding yourself off the course.

However, something weird was going on with the mile markers - they all seemed to be significantly ahead (more than 2 miles) of what my watch was telling me.  It was tempting to believe them, and I started dreaming that I could finish in under 3 hours.  I felt comfortable and strong, and as we moved into the final stages of the race my pace was holding up at about 4:30/km.  the mile markers had stopped completely by now and I was thankful that I had mentally been ready for the long version to play out - as it did.

It was comforting to hear the loudspeaker from New Park.  By this stage we'd merged with the end of the half marathon and there were lots of tired bodies to move through.  A long, long circuit around the park and the towards the finish.  There was Mrs S, waving madly, and it was lovely to see her.  I could see a big gantry/bridge ahead and I assumed this must be the finish so I sped up for it, holding my race number in front of me.  I felt a right idiot when I realised my mistake and I continued, weary a bit deflated.  And the over the line, with a recorded time of 3:09:51.

Great stuff! My pacing had been good, and I had enjoyed the whole thing after a hectic and almost disastrous start.  I still have no way of knowing how I fared competitively - watch this space for a results update.  Marathon number 13 done - I'm back!  Here are the GPS stats.

Update: here are the results. I was 34th over the line but 11th net fastest, and 3rd M40.

Review of the 2015 RR10 season

I managed to get 6 races in this summer, just enough to get a score.  Let's have a look how it turned out.

Here's how 2015 panned out:
24th overall
3rd M40 (5th M40 really - beaten by 2 >50s)
Overall ranking 88.23%

Compared to 2013 (2014 being a duff, injured year):
21st= overall
3rd M40 (5th M40 really - beaten by 2 >50s)
Overall ranking 89.31%

So slightly down on 2013... but given (a) 2 years of ageing and advancing decrepitude, and (b) only having run 6 races, with none to spare in the aggregate scoring, I'm happy with the outcome.

RR10, 2015 - Itchen Valley

This was the second last race in this summer's series and my last, as we'll be away for the final one.  I like Itchen Valley with its mix of wide open slopey fields and paths that weave tortuously through dark woodland.

I woke up on Wednesday with a slightly swollen throat.  My first cold since February, I think.  Oh dear.  By the afternoon the symptoms were gone.  At the start line I deliberately kept well back so I'd have plenty to overtake, especially in the open ground for the first mile.  Off we went, and I never saw the whipped plastic fencing post that marked the edge of the start line - and I went right over it, whacking myself in the goolies in the process.  A bit of a comedy start.

Bearing up after a comedy start

Once I'd stopped wincing I realised I was quite a long way back.  I steadily caught up and felt OK as we went around the course.  Into the final furlong, I had two Winchester guys ahead of me.  I made a move to overtake one of them, and he spurred into a sprint; I couldn't keep up.  I copped on the grass at the finish line holding number 27 in my hands - quite respectable.

I couldn't quite catch them

It's too early yet for post-series analysis as the results landscape might change with the final event.  My six finish positions have been 28-23-28-35-23-27.  Shame about that 35th position at Manor Farm, but I'm hoping I can hang on to my current 20th overall men's place and 3rd M40.

Roll on next year's RR10 season!

It's marathon season!

I've entered my place in the New Forest Marathon which takes place on 13 September, exactly 2 months away.  This is hugely exciting as it's my first marathon for 2 years, after various injuries in 2013.

12 July
Last Wednesday I took Poppy, our Jack Russell terrier, out for a 12-miler, which marked the start of marathon training.  Last time, back in the summer of 2013, I dived straight into the whole long-distance thing with a 20 mile run and I felt utterly jaded afterwards.  The run last week was fine, but Poppy, always bursting with excess energy and zingy brio, was done for afterwards.  So we now know the limits of her little 15cm legs.

Today I did a run commute to work and back - that's two times 8.5 miles.  I had to mentally gear myself up this morning, particularly with a light drizzle going on.  It quickly felt like old times - the familiar route, eating all my lunch by 10 o'clock, and grimacing my way back into still-damp gear to go home.

I'm looking forward to climbing up the steep ladder of marathon fitness...


Update, 26 July
Last Saturday I ran 15 miles in a nice comfortable 2 hours.  I was OK afterwards, but actually quite done-for over the following days.  I was tired and hungry, but above all my hamstrings were really sore and stiff.

On Monday I cycled to work and did a yoga class at lunchtime, which I thought was being very careful and sensible.  Then on Tuesday I had to sit in a car on a 6-hour journey to Manchester.  I'm not sure that this was terribly helpful.  I did an early morning run along the Manchester Ship Canal which was very pleasant except for the tightest legs that I can ever remember.  The stretches afterwards were groan-inducingly hard work.

Another 12-miler with Poppy yesterday and I'm feeling a lot better.  I'm hoping that I'm over the initial hump.

RR10, 2015 - Marwell

The course at Marwell had changed since my last outing in 2013.  It was now a single lap, but quite a complicated one.  I spent a while studying the map and, following my experiences at Manor Farm a fortnight ago, I did a recce of the final hill before the start.

Despite this, I was feeling poorly prepared for the race.  Mrs S and I had enjoyed a very pleasant pub lunch a few hours earlier, and I had to rouse myself from the sofa in a Wimbledon-soaked lethargy to leave the house at six-thirty.

Off we went, and I made a real effort not to get caught up in the initial charge.  After a couple of minutes we were out of the wide open Campari and into narrow woodland tracks, full of tricksy tree roots.  For a while it was a job to overtake, but I bided my time as patiently as I could.... and as a result I had a very happy time in the second half overtaking lots of people, and I had a good sense of how much of the race lay ahead.

You put your left leg in...

I finished in 23rd place, equal with my Wilverley finish - very satisfactory.  And I'd got my appetite back.

RR10, 2015 - Manor Farm

I arrived at the venue almost an hour before the race started, in a complete departure from my normal chaotic scrabble for parking spaces, and did some work in the car.  Is the most organised I've ever been, I wondered?

This is a great course, with lots of highly hazardous roots, stumps and little gates that you don't see until you're on top of them.  I was determined to get my pacing right after running out of legs at the last event I did at Blackfield.  For the first couple of miles there was a lot of single file running which kept me in check, and from then on I felt good as we emerged from the woods and chased around open tracks in glorious sunshine.  I overtook others and felt good.

I was working hard, though.  I found myself behind two guys from Winchester who pulled me along. I knew we would be turning right up a slope from the river bank... but we kept going on that bank for longer than I expected.  And then eventually up the hill, and I thought I was going to catch them, but it didn't quite happen.  The finish line was still out of sight as we emerged from the trees and I lost heart, thinking we might have another 400m to go.  I was hurting terribly as I staggered over the line, and I lay in a gasping heap on the grass.

I felt that the pacing had all gone rather well, so I was a bit nonplussed to discover that I finished with number 35... 10 down on general form.  A strong field today, or was I still a bit flaked after a hard handicap race at work yesterday?

Chocs away

On Sunday I found myself getting up at ridiculously early hour to run around Southampton Airport in fancy dress.

It was the Summer Solstice Fun Run - a 5k event on hehalf of Sophie's Appeal.  I was part of an 8-strong OS Runners team.  Here we are, all in our Red Arrows fancy dress, having run up and down the runway in tight formation.  Utterly bonkers but lots of fun.

RR10, 2015 - Blackfield

A glorious sunny summer evening, and off to Blackfield, an unusual setting, wedged between the New Forest and Southampton Water.  I had marshalled here 2 years ago when I was a Hardley Runner and was curious to run it for the first time.

Driving down, I noticed how flat the landscape is here.  Properly flat, the whole area around Fawley Refinery.  We set off into blinding low sun, with the path quickly narrowing, which led to a lot of risky overtaking and leaping over tree roots.  There were a couple of narrow valleys - gullies, really - in the first 2 miles or so, and I gradually worked up the field.

The second half was an awful lot tougher than the first.  The steep gullies kept on coming, and I found myself right on the edge of my breathing limit.  Hanging grimly on, I was desperate for the end... and it never seemed to arrive.  A desperate need for the loo didn't help much either.

The result - 28th place, which was sort-of respectable, but I'd underestimated the course.  Still, I've just realised that I'm currently 4th place in the M40 league... let's see if I can break top 3 by the end of the season.

RR10 2015 - Wilverley

I think this may be my favourite RR10 course.  It starts with a full km of wide open space, with 400 runners charging for position before we dive in to the woods, which very quickly gets technical with roots, muddy patches and overhanging branches.  In a couple of places there are full-on fallen tree trunks which need to be jumped or clambered over.  Add in some hills, and it's all quite thrilling.

Wednesday evening was beautiful, with light wind and clear skies.  I was quite grateful to escape to the shade of the forest after the first km of sun in my eyes.  I managed to gradually gain position as we went around.  One guy ahead of me lost his shoe in the mud, which I'm slightly ashamed to say makes me quite gleeful rather than sympathetic.  The course comprised of two overlapping loops, and the sun, visible through the trees, meant that I had a reasonable idea of where we were, which was a bonus.

I was chasing Chris Chambers from Eastleigh, who moved from 10m to 50m ahead of me as the race progressed.  Late in the day it dawned on me that I was following James Clarke of Hardley and OS... this was after I had briefly overtaken him but then been taken again.  This was a revelation, as James is much faster than me.... let's see what happens in the rest of the series.  In the end I finished just one place behind James, in 23rd place - up on last time, and very satisfactory.

The previous Saturday I ran the Southampton parkrun as part of the OS Runners championships.  After some confusion with the timings, I ended up with 18:10, a new course PB which was enough to nudge me into first OS age-graded result, slightly ahead of Mick Anglim.

RR10 2015 - Stoney Cross

This was my first RR10 of the season and a keenly anticipated return after a full year away... this time last year marked the end of 2014 running year for me.  I arrived a bit later than intended and had to park far away from the start - there was a very healthy turnout (around 400) on a drab, cool, windy evening.

Remembering the quagmire from last year, I was wearing trail shoes and felt a bit smug at all the runners with road shoes and all the terrible floundering they would soon be enjoying.  But the course had changed; after the familiar long downhill on the gravel track we took a different route, all on gravel.  Up and down, left and right, losing all sense of direction in dense forest.  It was hard work, and I wished I'd consulted a map beforehand so I knew what was going on.  And then quote a relief to be going up, up, uphill again marking the final mile.  It was the 500m of flat before the finish line at the top of the hill that I'd forgotten about which was really hard work.  

I flopped over the line in 28th place. Not a bad start, but I'd like to be heading up the rankings a little through the season.  What's great about the RR10 is its sheer competitiveness.  There are no easy medals here, just lots and lots of really strong runners who give you a proper challenge.

Southampton 10k, 2015

On Sunday I ran the inaugural Southampton 10k.  I registered for this a few months ago, choosing the 10k rather than the more prestigious half marathon option because at the time I was still suffering from Achilles heel problems and I didn't know what state I'd be in by now.

It started at the unholy time of 08:30, with stern recommendations to arrive 90 minutes beforehand.  This is not family-friendly - especially when you have teenage sons who really don't do early starts.  So I drove the car to Peat and Lynne's place and cycled to the start from there with Lynne and two of her friends.  I'd decided to abandon the idea of leaving a bag, so I gradually got chilly in the damp 9-degree air.  There were a few friendly OS faces there.  I looked around at the start and reckoned that there wasn't a lot of stuff competition here, and moved forward close to the start line.

Off we went.  Great support on the streets, even at this hour, and a few more familiar faces to wave at.  I really enjoyed the route through bits of Southampton that I didn't know or hadn't connected together, and the kilometres seem to fly past.  In the middle was the Itchen bridge, out and back.  I'd heard people talking abut the bridge as a stupendous hill.  Come off it, I thought, it's only a bridge.  It's actually quite a bridge - a long drag up and down, and then back again, all in a steady crosswind.  It was a good chance to check out the competition.  4 ahead of me, the first 3 looking strong and well ahead, #4 distinctly vulnerable. I took him soon after the bridge, and I was amazed that we were so close to the finish already.

Fresh as a daisy

It all threatened to go jelly-shaped in the dying minutes.  Something went wrong with the marshalling and I found myself lost in a park with a sea of people walking around me.  '10k over there!' a lady in hi-vis shouted and I tore off to the right in a state of anguish.  How much time had I lost? How many places?  Adrenaline-fuelled, I tore around the final km.  The finish was quite something - a real wall of noise.  A lady I recognised came up to me, told me she was the referee and that I was 1st M40 and had won fifty quid! What's more, I'd kept my 4th place.

Lonely as a cloud

What a tremendous April! The Bournemouth quarter marathon just before Easter (OS the first team), the civil service 10k last Wednesday in Battersea Park - finished in 37:53; S third team) and today first M40.  My time today wasn't that impressive at 38:53, but it had all gone well and points had made prizes.  Add in a remarkable 5k time, and it's been a most satisfactory month.

Here are the results and here is a video.. check out the stumbling carthorse at 2:30.

Parkrun PB

It was 11am yesterday, and I was, quite frankly, stunned.  Mrs S had come out into the garden waving my phone... on it was a text saying that I had completed the Eastleigh course in 18:18.

I fumbled the stopwatch at the start, so I had no idea how I was doing.  The course was bone dry and the wind was light - perfect conditions.  I finished in 5th place - quite respectable, and I felt it had gone OK.  I had no expectation of beating my PB in the course of 18:44, set around this time last year.

But clearly everything had come together.  The scale of the improvement left me blinking in wonder. I've smashed my ambition of beating my Eastleigh record of 18:35, set at the old course at the university playing fields, and furthermore I've beaten my PB at the Southampton course of 18:22.

Next stop - can I go sub-18 at Southampton?

10k-tastic

This year, April is 10k month.

It kicked off with a very-nearly-10k last Saturday with the East Cliff Easter Quarter Marathon.  I've never raced this precise distance before - it's 10.548 km.  Naomi from work had organised no fewer than 3 OS teams, so 15 of us plus WAGs and children turned out on a bright, cool spring day at Boscombe Pier.  There was a great atmosphere of seasidy expectation.

Off we went... it was the first time that I've raced this distance for ages.  I passed the first mile In about 6:15 which felt about right.  I was steadily overtaking people - almost exclusively club runners. A very simple course - out on the beach promenade, then home on the cliff.

The pacing felt good.  I was really hopping to arrive home in under 40 minutes.  I was looking at my watch as we got closer.... 37, 38 minutes... it's not going to happen... ah, but there'll be a fast downhill bit to the pier... Mrs S and J both told me I had my most awful face on at the finish and I was really working hard, but it was 40:28. Still, that was my first quarter marathon and still early days in terms of returning to racing form.  A thoroughly enjoyable morning out for everyone.

Racing again!

On Wenesday evening I was part of an Ordnance Survey Runners team in a 'Glow in the Park' event in Southampton Common.  This consisted of both a 5k and a 10k race; I signed up for the 5k a few weeks a few weeks ago as I didn't know what state of repair I'd be in.  Buoyed by my recent parkrun adventures, I was looking forward to this.

There were 5 of us crammed in a car from the office, all togged up on a cold winter's night.  We arrived at the common to find rather chaotic organisation but glowing stuff everywhere.  Team OS proudly posed for a pre-race photo.

The 5k race started first.  At the startling, I looked around and reflected that there wasn't an awful lot of competition and that should probably be in reach of the top order.  Then the organiser said there were prizes for the leading male and female runners and I thought 'I'm having that'.  Honestly, what a tart.

Off we went.  I've never done a night time race before.  I found it a bit discombobulating, my head torch bobbing up and down and shining a rather vibrato pool of light on the asphalt path.  Quite quickly I was in the top 4, then 3... I was a bit nervous that I'd over-egged, but crikey it felt good to be going at full throttle again and unashamedly racing.

I won it!  I finished in a pool of sweaty exhaustion, with lots of patting from colleagues.  Eastleigh parkrun in 18:52? This must have been sub-18:30, easily.  Err, no - the clock clearly said 19:15, a frankly terrible time for a charge about on a nearly-flat hard path.  Somewhere between the 2 180-degree turns, the darkness and the cold conditions the seconds had slipped away.  Curious!

It got better and better.  All 4 of our 5kers were in the top 11 and we finished in pole position in the 10k too.

What a great evening.  Everyone went home buzzing.

Rather surprising

I ran Eastleigh parkrun today in 18:52.  I was astonished.  I was going as fast as I dared, and I was working hard for sure, but I wasn't competing.  I was mentally holding back, looking after my recovering heel.

In context, this is just 6 seconds slower than the 18:44 I clocked in April last year, before this whole wretched Achilles stuff began.  It also age-grades me at 76.33, apparently my best ever on this course.

Here's the graph of my performance at the current Eastleigh course (since April 2012).

This is excellent! Could it be that the ancillary stuff I've been doing in the last few months (lunges, deadlifts etc.) is making a difference?  Let's see.

On and up

So far, so good.  On Saturday I ran the Eastleigh parkrun and clocked in at 20:23, compared to my effort 2 weeks earlier of 21:40.  My intention had been to go 30 seconds faster, but I overshot a bit.

I'm making a strong effort to keep the tricky balance between working the Achilles tendon (good) and stressing it (bad).  I've been running more days than not since Christmas, and broadly I'm feeling fine.  I may get the odd twinge but it's coping pretty well with steadily increasing demands.

In 2 weeks I'm doing my first competitive event for ages - the Southampton 5k Glow in the Park event.  Greatly looking forward to it, but must, must be sensible.  Quite a strange feeling, focussing on keeping my time high... I should probably aim to do it in 20 minutes, a nice round 4 minute k pace.

What I did notice on Saturday was that although my legs were fine, my lungs found the course surprisingly hard work.  Apart from the odd hill when cycling, I haven't really worked at full lung capacity for ages, and this is going to need some work.

Run in the new!

2014 was, let's face it, a bit of a fallow year, what with the FOOSH in January and the achilles tendonitis which has been a blocker ever since May.  But Mrs S and I have been running almost every day over the Christmas hols and yesterday I did a 5-mile loop, very sensibly and gently.  Fantastic!

So 2015 is going to be the year of getting back into competitive running.  Let's take a look at the goals I set this time last year:

• Top 10 position in this winter's XC league
• Top 40 place in the Grizzly
• Top 20 in the RR10
• Top 3 in Clarendon marathon
• Southampton parkrun sub 18:00
• Eastleigh parkrun sub 18:35
• 10 miles in under 60 minutes

Cancel the top 2, as I'm not doing the XC league or the Grizzly this year... but the others all represent unfinished business and I'm going to be attacking them all with vim and vigour.