Tadley 5

This was the first official, paid-up race that The Lovely Mrs S had ever done, and a brand new venue for me, so it was with some anticipation that we left home on a foggy morning and headed for Tadley, a village in north Hampshire.

I hadn't properly checked out the venue on the map, and the fog was properly dense in places.  The result was that we were short on time and had a rather fraught moment stuck in circles on the awful ring road system of Basingstoke.  That done, we arrived at race HQ, pinned on our numbers and jogged the mile or so to the start.  The sun was just breaking through and a sparkling winter day was emerging.

The race director gave a rather sarcastic and grumpy welcome by bemoaning the fact that the race could no longer go through the water meadow 'because of some weird moth', and was altogether seemed a bit of a prat.  But the race was excellent. A proper gallop through fabulous countryside, with lots of technical stuff; muddy tracks, overhanging branches, tight turns and exciting gullies.  A bunch of people raced off at the start and I had fun picking several of them as the race progressed.

In the final minutes there were three of us together; me, another bloke in his 40s and a very young girl. I was just behind them for a while, then overtook the bloke and waited for my opportunity to get ahead... but both of them shot ahead of me in the final km and I fruitlessly chased them to the finish line. I was in 5th place, which I was pleased about after a suffering a lousy virus and lungfuls of glue in November, but huge plaudits to Izzy Fry, aged 16, who was second.  Here are the results and the Garmin stats.

Mrs S came home a few minutes later after a terrific first-ever race.  A super event and a lovely morning of fresh air and muddy legs.

Skibbereen Charity Adventure Race 2016

It was a cool and stunningly bright morning in Castletownshend after a rain-sodden arrival in Ireland the day before.  Everything was glinting in the morning light when I arrived at the Town Quay and found my rental bike.  There was just time to adjust the seat and attach a second water bottle before the pre-race briefing and then progress to the Two Trees for the start.

There were Mum and Dad, all smiles, plus eighty or so other entrants for SCAR, the Skibbereen Charity Adventure Race.  I had entered the 'Expert' version... 54km of cycling, 21k of running and 1k of kayaking.  Running should be OK, I reasoned; cycling, well I cycling to work, and sea kayaking.... hmm, a bit of a mystery there.

Off we went, down the hill and then on a highly multi-terrain run around Castlehaven harbour with plenty of slopes and some cracking views.  Just over an hour in and I was on the shoreline and being zipped up in a life jacket and pushed off in a sea kayak.  I wasn't pushed quite hard enough... I was jammed on a rock, with me thinking crikey, this is a lot harder than I thought it would be.

The kayaking was simple enough on almost flat water, but the way you're seated on these things requires a lot of effort through your torso and my stomach muscles were in bits by the time I climbed out, to discover that I could barely move my legs. I hobbled up the path and past the CT castle where the Lovely Mrs S was doing the dibbing (technical adventure race term, don't you know) and then onto the bike.

The first task was to make it up the CT hill without going through the awful ignominy of having to push... phew, it was fine.  A few minutes later I was overtaken, and then again.  There were loads of steep hills, there was a long way to go, and it dawned on me that I know nothing about racing on a bike and I'm not very good at it. My overtakers were whizzing past with no apparent effort, and one of them was a lady.  (I felt better about this afterwards when I learned that the lady, Fiona Meade, is Ireland's top female road cyclist).  Some of the descents were on terrible road surfaces and were frankly terrifying.

But it was all thrillingly, exhilaratingly good fun.  The landscape was utterly tremendous.  After about 45 minutes on the bike I'd figured out how to eat gels while pedalling and was feeling good about getting into the second half.  Some of the roads were Irish dual carriageways (single-track roads with grass down the middle) and Coom Hill (AKA The Wall) was a strenuous push with dozens of others (having joined up with those on the Sport course), alongside an ill-advised car inching uphill with an appalling smell of burning clutch.  Then a short but sharp rain shower which left me temporarily shivering and down to Loch Hyne where I ditched the bike for the second run leg.

The dual carriageway leading to Coom Hill

The next run started on a forest path winding uphill, very steeply in sections.  I wished that I had studied the map a bit more beforehand to anticipate what was coming.  Oh my lord, it was exciting.  The 6km leg was 5k uphill, first path and then full-on muddy scramble, unendingly ascending; then a dizzying moment at the heathery summit - an amazing 360 panorama - and then the final k down a vertiginous staircase.  It was fabulous!

Back on the road to collect the bike - there were Mum and Dad - and then onwards.  Another colossal hill (Calvary, a name with rather portentous biblical overtones) which you absolutely had to walk up (but not Fiona, who gracefully passed all the gasping, crawling chaps).  Before very long we were on the main road to Skibbereen, which was relatively flat and well surfaced... and rather dull after all the excitement.

And then past Skib and hi-vis jackets ahead were pointing us into Liss Ard estate.  I knew the last km wouldn't be easy... and it was a proper tough finish, all uphill with none of my limbs working properly.  I heaved forward, hoping to pick off a few of the mean cyclists (I caught two of them) and then suddenly around a corner and over the finish line.  There, of course, was the Lovely Mrs S and then Dad turned up as well.  I was thrilled with the whole experience.

I had completely blown my breezy time estimate of 4 hours - (I did 4:37) and this was starting to cause some alarm, but I came home in 15th position, later revised to 14th, which was quite respectable.  Here are are the results... you can see that my running effort was a lot better than my cycling.

The timing printout sheet provided at the finish line

Lots of kudos on everyone involved in organising this, especially Mark Salter-Townshend who worked tirelessly on it, sorted out a bike for me and made Mrs S and I very welcome.

I'm really hoping to come back next year to have a crack at the M50 prize.

Clarendon marathon 2016

It was a wonderful feeling to be getting back to this race after a 3-year absence.  After a wet Saturday, race day dawned bright and sunny, and the lovely Mrs S and I set off to Salisbury for the start.  There we met Becky from RRR, who was doing her first Clarendon after a touch-and-go ankle adventure.

Romsey Road Runners ready for racing

The air horn sounded and off we went, all trying to find a comfortable pace.  I tried very hard to be sensible and did the first K in 4:03, which was sort-of OK. It was really hard to tell how well I was doing, as there were relay and marathon runners together, and after a while I started catching up slower marathoners who had started early.

Probably the fastest bit of the course is the gently downhill section of road as you emerge from the downs into Broughton village.  The LMS was waiting for me and we ran down the road together, Mrs S a bit astonished by the cracking pace, me sniggering slightly at the rather flattering impression of high-octane running that was being inferred.

The second half got hillier and muddier.  My legs were starting to feel heavy, but I was feeling good and staying steady. Up in to Farley Mount and into West Wood... and then the first of the half marathon runners came through, briefly causing me panic.  With 2 miles to go I overtook someone who looked like he was having a tough time.  It had been a very quiet race in terms of competition, so it was nice to have competitors around, but I whizzed past him.

Mrs S accompanied me again for the last 400m of road, egging me to go faster.  I really thought I was about to be overtaken and pushed hard.  And then over the finish line and suddenly I was being told I'd come in second place.  The Winchester Mayor was handing out prizes and shaking hands.  I think she may have regretted our encounter as my hand was horribly sweaty and had the remnants of a gel pack that I'd opened badly.  I imagine her staring aghast at her once-white gloves afterwards.
 

Sullying the mayor's prstine gloves

The wonderful, lovely Mrs S

So, home in second place in 3:12:39... par for the course in terms of time, but my best placing yet. Here are my stats. A fabulous day on a favourite race.

RR10 2016 - Hursley

The 2016 Rr10 season is now finished.  I ran the final race at Hursley on 17 August.  It's a different kind of course from most of the series, being 3 laps of the IBM grounds... a bit less wild, but an interesting and varied course nonetheless.

It was a hot, humid evening.  We had a longish wait at the start to get going, with a large field of runners.  Southampton AC were out in force in the front of the pack.  The relatively simple terrain made for a fast race and I pushed hard, hoping to beat my season's worst position of 30th... but I arrived in a sweaty heap at the finish, in a not-quite-good-enough 31st position.  Never mind... the lovely Mrs S was cheering me on, and we stopped on the way home for some fish and chips.

Waiting for the start

Final stats for the 2016 season:
Overall position 19th (2015: 24th)
M40 position 5th (2915: 3rd)
Overall ranking 90.70% (2015: 88.23%)

All good fun.  Roll on next year!

Autumn in the air

Lammas tide falls at the beginning of August.  Around 40 days after the summer solstice, it's the warmest time of the year; in that sense the very zenith of summer.  It's a time of quiet at work and congestion on the main roads.  It's when I groan about sodding football stories getting time on television (August? Really?) and when, in fine weather, the landscape feels at ease with itself; no longer vigorous with growth, but earthy, mellow and mature.  The year is also just about to tip into the first signs of Autumn as the nights start to get a little longer and cooler.  And thus begins marathon season.

I've got two substantial Autumn adventures this year; the perennial favourite the Clarendon marathon on 2 October and then something completely different - the Skibbereen Charity Adventure Race on 16 October.  I've just started long-distance training with a gentle run-commute.  It's as much a mental as physical step up; a conscious, deliberate feeling of 'right, now I've started'.

Off we go!

RR10 2026: Itchen Valley

It was a sparklingly sunny evening aftter da grey ere ay.  Thwas a big turnout at Itchen Valley Country Park and I was keen to clock a good position on my last RR10 of the season.

An assorted OS bunch at the start

We set off on the wide open grassland and I got off at a good pace.  After the first tight turn I slipped on the edge of a rabbit hole and just managed to avoid twisting my ankle.  A fast downhill run into the sun and then into the sepulchral darkness of the woods, all full of twisty turns.  I love the varied technical nature of the course here - it's got a bit of everything.  I was watching Chris Chhambers from Eastleigh - we've been quite evenly matched this year, but I struggled to keep close to him this evening.

I worked hard and felt I was doing OK.  I blasted up to the finish, lay fish-like on the ground and opened the sweaty ticket in my hand... 30?  I was bemused.  I really couldn't tell how my run hasd differed from the earlier ones when I clocked up 13 and 14.  Still, it had been great fun.

I won't be able to make the last race at Hursley, so this is the season end for me. I'm currently in 18th place, only 6 points ahead of Mr Chambers.  If he can pull off a good one at Hursley then he's got me. 

RR10 2016: Whiteley

On 13 July I ran in the new RR10 course at Whiteley.  Awful traffic getting there, but a whole new patch of woodland opened behind all the urban sprawl and everyone was curious about this brand-new venue.

It was a fantastically narrow start on a gravel track, but after a mile or so we were into woodland trails, and at this point the fun began.  Highly technical swervy narrow paths with hazards everywhere.  The organisers had very diligently painted the more deadly tree roots, but most of them weren't visible until the heels of the runner in front had cleared them.  There were a couple of wooden bridges that would have been lethal on a wet day.  There was no hope of keeping any bearings; Ijust ploughed on and on, hither and thither, until I emerged back on the gravel track with a final charge to the finish.

 

I finished in a lather on the ground... so much so that the first aid bloke came to check up on me.  Plenty of others came in covered with mud after taking a tumble.  Lots of laughter all round.  I arrived in 19th place - good to snreak in to the top 20.  A super event.

RR10 update

Three RR10s have gone by since I last wrote a post.

Blackfield, 1 June
This is an interesting course; the land is essentially flat, but in the secoond half there are a few (four? five? six? It's a bit of a blur now) steep gullies down to a stream which are a killer. 

I paced this one OK, enjoying the crunchy gravel in the open sections and the technical swerviness in the narrower places.  I had a better sense than last year of how far there was left in the final minutes and I crossed the line in 14th place, a cracking result.

Fleming Park, 8 June
This is a very familiar parkrun course but my first RR10 here.  It's an old golf course on the side of a hill; 2 lumpy laps plus a long straight length of start and finish.

I set off a bit too fast on the first lap and had to work really hard to keep it together in the second.  What made it infinitely worse was a growing desperation to go the loo as the race progressed.  In the final km I had a great chase with the first lady, Valeria Sesto from New Forest.  I finished in a heap.  Altogether, it wasn't the most fun half-hour I've ever spent... hence my amazement at finishing in 13th position, equal to my best ever in an RR10.  It's a funny old world!

Marwell, 6 July
It's muddy, they said, so wear sensible shoes.  We've had 115mm of rain over June and the starting section of track was indeed a proper quagmire.  I started quite far back so was overtaking folk on soft narrow sections, which was quite a challenge.  The course was tremendous - big figure-of-eight swirls over a gentle hillside, some in wide open ground and some in narrrow earthy lanes. 

The fast bit before the mud

I'm in the red shirt on the right... like a plonker I had forgotten my club kit.

Through the savannah

I always reckon on catching Alan Graham from Lordshill at some point in an RR10 and this time I took him with about a third of the race left.  Back up through the mudfest and then there is a heart-braking tour of part of the Marwell carpark.  I was plodding to the finish when some sprinting behind me woke me up and propelled me over the line, done for.

21st place... down on the 14, 14, 13 so far tghis season but in historic terms still respectable.  A most enjoyable race.

RR10 2016: Wilverley

Torrential rain was falling as I left the house for Wilverley Plain, with some violent thunder crashes echoing around.  But by the time I arrived, the landscape was wreathed in golden evening sunshine, and we started the race squinting as we ran over the plain towards the sun.  We had a full km of flat open grassland before we hit the woods and I tried hard to keep the pacing in check.

Down into the woods, and some wonderfully technical dodges and swerves on the muddy course.  I had wavered about what shoes to wear, had brought both to the start and had ended up wearing the fell shoes, thank goodness.  There were plenty of stories afterwards of runners falling.

After about a mile I caught up James Clarke and after staying on his shoulder I overtook him a bit nervously... James nearly always beats me.  Five minutes later I approached Rob Finch.  I tucked behind him, and there I stayed for most of the race, with Rob gradually pulling ahead.

There's something about the Wilverley course; the final approach to the finish is deceptive, and you suddenly chance upon it.  In previous years this has cost me a place, but luckily today I held on and was astonished to finish in 14th place, my best position for many years.  With the rule changes, an extra club has to sit out each race, and today there were no Stubbington runners... had this made the difference? In any case, I was thrilled with the result.  A great start to the summer season.

2016 Southampton half marathon

Yesterday I ran the Southampton Half for the first time.  At last year's inaugural event I had been recovering from injury and ran the smaller 10k sibling event.  I don't tend to seek out big city races, but this has quickly become a prestigious local event, and frankly it would feel a bit rude not to take part.

We all trooped into Southampton as a family.  Parking was surprisingly easy, and we made our way up to the Civic Centre.  There was a riot of loud music, shouty announcements and swarming people, which was all a bit disorientating.  Within seconds, shouty man told runners to set off to the start line, so I stripped off the layers (it was a chilly, damp 7 degrees) made quick goodbyes and got into the a huge shuffling crush.

We had to wait almost half an hour at the start line, but the sun emerged and everything felt bright and the atmosphere was great.  The off down the high street, and I tried hard not to over-pace the start.  The first km was 3:38, a bit fast really, but this was all downhill.

All familiar territory for the first few minutes, retracing last year's 10k, and then the great switchback of the Itchen Bridge.  The return leg was a lot of fun, waving to friendly faces.  Then onwards, with a detour through St Mary's stadium and a long drag northwards into an insistent cold wind.

We were in Portswood when I heard people calling out to a Neil behind me.  I looked over my shoulder and saw Neil Jennings, the Romsey Runner.  Neil is always quicker than me at club sessions, and he overtook me as we headed up the long drag of Burgess Road towards the university.  I was running well but at 10 miles starting to feel a bit heavy.  Through Highfield and a big wave from the Allan family plus friends, and then into Southampton Common and the familiar parkrun course.  There was a distinct moment when I knew for sure that it was all downhill or flat from here on.

Running around the common, I could see that I was gaining on Neil.  I pressed home my advantage and overtook him as we emerged back onto the streets close to home.  I was terrified that he was going to catch me again so I sped on.  There seemed to be a huge gap between the 13 mile marker and the finish, and I was done for at the line.  Mrs S and the kids were there, laughing at my dreadful face as I sprinted to the line.

Here are the results, and here are the Garmin stats: I finished in 1:22:08, well ahead of my target of 1:25.  I was thrilled by the whole event - really well organised and supported, and a great blast around the city.

Romsey 2, London 1

A very interesting week of running.  Last Wednesday I took part in the OS team in the annual Civil Service 10k race, a familiar event, but this year hosted at the Olympic park in Stratford.

It was my first ever trip to the park (unless you count a tour of the site in all its contaminated awfulness, shortly after the Olympic award in 2005). I was impressed by all the attention to detail and in particular by the wild spaces in the river channel.  Here's the OS crew:

The course was a complex set of tight interlocking laps with two hard 180-degree turns and various sharp corners.   Four laps in theory, but in reality it was eight mini there-and-back laps, albeit with some good views and some interesting over-and-under bridge combinations.

I set off, despite my intentions, a bit too fast and before long found myself behind James Clarke, a sure sign that I was at risk of over-reaching myself.  I stayed with him till about halfway, at which point we were getting close to Rob Finch (who had beaten me in the Romsey 5 in January), but the two of them began to drift ahead.  I started to struggle with the whole multi-lap thing, and finished in 38:23, 5 seconds behind James and 18 behind Rob.  I then had a comedy rush to get showered, dressed up in a suit and get off to Westminster for a meeting.

On Sunday I ran two mini-races.  It was the Romsey Relay Marathon, an event that has been going for a while and growing in popularity.  10 legs of 2.6 miles, with each leg comprising 2 laps of 1.3 miles - an interesting format.  Both Romsey RR and OS Runners entered teams, but today I was running for OS. 

It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking ten... about 70 teams went off together.  Within minutes, vast gaps opened up, with a clear group of 3 in the lead, including OS's Tony Killilea.  By the end of the second lap, the Romsey cricket club (cricket!) had opened up a 3 minute lead.

I ran legs 4 and 6, which in practice meant 15 minutes on, 15 off and then 15 on again.  15 minutes (7:30 per lap) was a bit of a stretch target, and in fact just out of reach.  For my first leg I ran 7:45 and 7:39; for my second I ran 7:46 and 7:32.  This wasn't my normal kind of race, but I loved it - I felt strong, and I was overtaking nicely.

Even better, the OS A team managed to climb from 3rd place to eventually win the whole thing by 9 minutes.  You might say that we smashed it.  What a great morning out and what a result.

Grizzly 2016

Yesterday I ran the Grizzly for the first time in 3 years.  In 2013 the weather was terrible and I was frozen to the bone afterwards.  We had some similarly challenging weather last week, but the forecast consistently pointed towards settled, clear conditions at the weekend, and so proved.

I arrived early - about 8:30 - after an easy drive down, and met up with John, Sue, Ian and Andy at Hughsie's cafe.  It was still about 3 degrees outside and it was hard to believe that we would be running in singlets by 10:30.  But by 10am it really was warming up, and the atmosphere at the seafront was fantastic - smiles everywhere.

There was the usual fun and games before the off - the super-droll race director ('Put your hands up if you're not listening'), and the town crier who was in particularly good form this year.

And then we began... the massive crunch of 2000-odd pairs of feet on the shingle beach, a ;loop around the roads back to the start line and then off towards Beer.

The weather was just fabulous; balmy, bright and cool with just the tiniest wind.  The views were tremendous.  At the first challenging hill coming out of Beer several runners were pulling off the extra layers that they were now regretting.  On Branscombe beach the drummers were whacking out a tremendous rhythm and I almost lost it wading up the stream, which had some deep pools.

The grassy hills, the farmyard tracks and the woods all become a blur very quickly, but the scenery was very familiar.  Dozens of ups, downs, small slips, arms out for balance, hands on thighs to heave up precipitous tracks, good-humoured marshals... all good fun. The bog was particularly good quality this year after a good soaking after recent weeks, and they must have become spectacularly churned over the following hour or so.  The rush past the Fountainhead was exhilarating, and the hill heading back to the beach was pungent with wild garlic.

The long, lonely, grinding beach run wasn't.  For the first time in my 7 Grizzly years, the tide was out and we all ran on the hard sand of the foreshore.  I was hugely relieved at the time, but in retrospect I'm very slightly sad to have missed out.  Up the infamous stairway, and then the spectacular view of Seaton bay, and the faint sound of the PA system at the finish line.

The finish was terrific.  I felt strong, and gradually upped the pace until I was just about sprinting to the line.  Everything about the race was glorious - it was up there among my very best running experiences and I'm still smiling at the thought.  Here are the results; I finished in 2:41, but that doesn't mean much... I was 27th, a full 9 places better than I've done before, my previous best position being 36th in 2008.  Here are my split times.

Let's compare the photos from 2013 and  2016:
 

 

 
I can't wait till next year.

2015 and all that

Rather belatedly, let's take a look back at the year gone and on to the year ahead.

Here's how my ambitions for 2015 panned out:

• Top 10 position in this winter's XC league - I still haven't found a way back into the leagues... this one is ongoing

• Top 40 place in the Grizzly - didn't happen in 2015, but this is my first big target for 2016

• Top 20 in the RR10 - I was 24th, but held on to 3rd M40 position

• Top 3 in Clarendon marathon - family events precluded Clarendon last year. I did the New Forest marathon instead and finished 11th (in a rather complicated way), 3rd M40

• Southampton parkrun sub 18:00 - not yet... but I have clocked up 18:10

• Eastleigh parkrun sub 18:35 - smashed it with a fabulous 18:22

• 10 miles in under 60 minutes - maybe one day? But I had a zinger of a New Forest Stinger

This year I'm looking forward to:

• Berkhamsted half marathon and the Grizzly in March... the BMH is an unknown quantity... Let's aim for top 5 M40.  Top 40 in the Grizzly would be terrific

• Southampton half marathon in April - would love to go sub 1:25...

• The RR10s - try to hang on to top 3 M40

• Clarendon marathon - top 3 overall or 1st M40 - can't to be back to form on this

• Cross-country season - would love to get back into it, either via Romsey or OS

The first step is getting some long-distance training underway, which is not the easiest thing with low daylight levels.  I'm planning my first run commute to work this week.

Romsey 5, 2016

My first race of 2016! I ran the Romsey 5 (nothing to do with Romsey Road Runners) back in the early 2000s, but not at its current venue in Broadlands estate, which is very flat, and mostly Tarmac surfaces.  Because of this it attracts fast runners and PB hunters from miles around.  This is not generally my favourite race set up, but it's great to blast out on a quick course every now and again... and I was quite curious to see what I could do 5 miles in.  My most recent reference was the Romsey Beer Race in 2013, where I clocked up 29:45 on an undulating road course.

There were plenty of familiar faces at the start.  It was a damp, mild morning with minimal wind - perfect.  The front runners set off at a cracking pace and I had to concentrate hard to keep steady.  It was mentally quite tough on the initial laps to keep focused.  I passed Rob Finch quite early on and kept almost level pegging with Cath Bailey for most of the route.

At the 3-mile mark I had clocked up 17:20, which was very respectable, but I was right at the top of my threshold.  The final 2 miles was a loop up and back again, during which I got to see the front runners absolutely stonking it.  Into the final mile - Cath and I kept edging ahead of each other but as we came into the final straight I pulled ahead of both her and another lady runner and did my best impression of a charge for home.

And then Rob and another guy came whizzing past me.  I had nothing left, and they breezed into the finish just ahead of me.  How infuriating - but I'm really pleased for a Rob, who has improved remarkably in recent weeks and months.

Here are the results - I came home in 29:16, which I'm really pleased with - but I'm hugely chuffed to have broken the 80-point age-grade barrier for the first time, making this on paper my best ever age-graded race.  A super race and an excellent start to the year.