The Stickler 2017

I ran this race 11 whole years ago in 2006, as a tender 30-something, but I really can't remember it at all, except that it was fearsomely hilly.  I managed to find the results; apparently I finished in 10th place in 1:11:43.

Back to the here and now.  It was a bit squally this morning, with a mix of blue skies and portentous black clouds. It was quite a hike from the carpark to race HQ and it started to rain as I arrived so I hurried inside.  There was an almighty crush of people in the small, cramped hall, with long snaking queues for numbers and pins and plenty of other folks just wanting somewhere to keep warm.  I met the RRR contingent (Alice, Julie, Abby, Jim and Paul) and the OS duo (Rob and Naomi) and decided we'd be better off warming up in the cold outside rather than in the stuffy and shouty hall.

The start was all a bit chaotic.  All of us (guessing 400) were corralled into a little field and then led out into a lane.  A horn blasted and we were off.  There were about 100 others in front of me, and I had a terrible start.  I shuffled, and then trudged, and then rushed along bits of grass verge to try to gain some spaces, fearing a single file situation ahead.

I knew it was going to get quite exciting quite early on - check out the course profile.

A mile in, and we duly hit the first hill, Okeford.  It was OK at first, and I kept on running, and passing a number of walkers.  But then it got properly steep, and walking was the only sensible option.  We emerged out of the wood into a field with fabulous views of north Dorset.

The view from Okeford hill

Lots of interesting trails and then, soon after the 3 mile marker, was the most glorious chase downhill on gravel track that went on and on.  Exhilarating!  A short but sharp little hill and then more downhill on road into the Stour valley, through the lovely village of Stourpaine (where there was a water station manned by a few elves and Father Christmas, naturally) and then back uphill.

This one (Hod Hill) was not quite so severe and I kept running.  I passed a sign saying 'Hod hill fort', which was surely evidence of the top of the hill.  It wasn't.  Unrelentingly upwards with a never-ending summit... and then another fabulous view, this time with much clearer skies.  Another whoosh downhill, arms flailing over a field, across a road and then straight into Hambledon, the last of the hills.

Hod Hill

The first section of this one was a walker for sure.  My legs were getting wobbly by this stage and my breath was ragged.  Onwards, upwards... all a bit of a blur now... running again and then on to the crest and then downwards, easily at first and then a vertiginous plunge.  I overtook a few people at this point.  Down, down, and then onto a road.

Hambledon hill

Not far to go now, and I tried to keep the pace up.  A gentle uphill slope now felt like really hard work.  Through a field and over a bridge, and onto a disused railway track.  I could see orange bibs ahead and I accelerated.  Then a 10-mile marker, and then a railway crossing gate, which I took to be the finish line, but it wasn't.  I kept heaving on and on, and eventually approached the finish line, done for.

Working hard

I finished in a time of 1:14:05, two and a half minutes slower than in 2006, but barring the slow start, that was as fast as I could have managed.  I won the M50 prize which I was chuffed about, and more precious, it turned out that I had got the closest time to a departed Dorset Doddler called Nick Bateson and as a result the Doddlers would donate £100 to the charity of my choice.  How moving, and how humbling.  Thank you, Dorset Doddlers, for staging such a wonderful and iconic race, and for your donation to the Woodland Trust.

The OS crew - Naomi and Rob

Blenheim Palace 10k

A lovely undulating, scenic race.  The lovely Mrs S and I arrived in the grounds of Blenheim Palace on a rather chilly morning at a well-attended and busy event.  There was a real mix of people, with some serious-looking young men doing comedy warm-up drills ranging to plenty of have-a-go runners who were dressing against the cold.

Lots of people set off a fast lick, but it was obvious that many of them were being rather ambitious (qv note above).  The estate path was good and wide, so kms 2-4 were good fun cruising past runners who were starting to regret their exuberant starts.  There was a short dog-leg towards the palace front, and I counted about 9 runners ahead of me. 

Then we were into the wind and the start of the hill.  It was a good bracing progress upwards to the top through pleasant woodland, and then a zippy descent back into parklland.  We had a diversion around a ha-ha (this being a posh sort of venue) and then a good blast to the finish.

I finished in 39:01 on my watch, which is a bit annoying, but 7th place and 38:58 chip timing, so let's go with that.  Mrs S had a blast of a run too.  A lovely morning out on a bright autumn morning.

Hants XC - Bournemouth

This was my first Hants XC league event for ages.  Romsey has – hooray! – decided to affiliate to this competition.  The inaugural event of the 2017/18 season was King’s Park in Bournemouth, and Becky and I drove down to be part of it.  Poor Becky, with a bad back, was just watching, so it was just me running for Romsey.

It was a warm and humid day – 16 degrees or so.  I met up with Peat, and we ended up close together on the start line in a position which, in retrospect, was way too ambitious.

We shot off at an earnest pace.  I was hoping that, 2 weeks after Clarendon, I’d have plenty of oomph in my legs.  It was a 4-lap course, and for the whole of the first lap we were all packed tightly together on the narrow tracks.

One lap down, and I was feeling the strain.  Three more to go; crikey.  My heart rate was way up in the 170s and I was struggling to keep my breathing under control.

And that’s how it went on.  Becky, together with James and Vicky Clark, shouted encouragement at every opportunity, but I was hanging on with my fingernails, panting, heaving and being frequently overtaken.

I collapsed over the line in a mess.  104^th position, 9.5km in 36:58.  I can’t say that it was terribly enjoyable, but that was entirely my fault for setting off too fast.

Stinger 2017

I spent last night wondering what on earth I’d done to myself at the XC in Bournemouth and whether I was being completely stupid in doing back-to-back races over the weekend.  But the Stinger is much more my kind of course – no pesky laps, wild and open countryside – and I was reasonably hopeful that I’d be ab; to find my own pace.

Romsey RR were out in force, covering a mix of the 3 races (5m, 10m, HM).  It was another mild day (15˚) but with a cool breeze.  We set off, and immediately I felt comfortable with a pace that felt familiar and sustainable.  We headed downhill, then uphill, and I knew that it would be OK.

The 3 races all set off on the same course together, so it was hard to judge position.  After a couple of miles we 10-milers were on our own.  I thought I could pick out a runner ahead at one point but I couldn’t be sure.

The rest of the race was more or less a solo effort, save for catching a handful of 5-milers at the end.  There were a few short muddy sections, but otherwise a succession of undulating tracks, with some fast downhills and corresponding log uphill drags.  Somewhere around mile 6 there was a really steep section where a marshal clanged a bell.  I waved, pounded on, and couldn’t hear any bell ringing behind me.

I was all on my own and a bit clueless how I was doing

Back through the underpass beneath the A31, then a right turn and in to the final km down and hill and the uphill through woodland the finish.  It went on and on, and I kicked myself for not doing a recce at the start; I remembered the hill, but it was longer than I expected.  I saw light at the top of the hill but got directed around a final little loop at the top.  There was the Lovely Mrs S, shouting encouragement.  I pushed for the line and finished in 1:08:03, a bit slower than in 2015.  ‘How did I get on?’ I asked the guys in the chip timing tent, hoping for a top 5.  After a bit of confusion, they told me I was the first one home.  I was astonished – I really had no idea!  We stayed to watched Neil come home 2^nd in the half, and Sue (Sleath) finishing first lady. 

This is a super local race – a firm favourite.  An utterly different experience to the XC yesterday.  Looking forward to next year!

Clarendon to London

I've done 7 Clarendon marathons since 2007.  Let's take a look:
2008 - 3:16:41, 3rd place, age-grade 64.7%
2009 - 3:07:05, 4th place, age-grade 68.5%
2010 - 3:21:04, 12th place, age-grade 64.3%
2012 - 3:13:41, 5th place, age-grade 67.8%
2013 - 3:11:05, 3rd place, age-grade 69.3%
2016 - 3:12:39, 2nd place, age-grade 70.5%
2017 - 3:15:05, 6th place, age-grade70.3%

A varying pattern of ups and downs, very much dependent on (a) the ground conditions and (b) who turns up.  Nice to see age-grade scores heading in the right direction.

However, none of this gives me much of a clue about what to expect next April.  I have a good-for-age place in the 2018 London marathon; the first time I'll have done it since 2006.  Here's my history at this event:
 

It's been all downhill so far

Not for a minute do I expect to replicate 2006 result of 2:48:44, when I was a tender 30-something, in 2018 as an M50.  But could I match the result by age-grade?
Age 38, marathon time 2:48:44 = age-grade 74.07%.
To match this age 50, I'd need to achieve 3:05:14. 
Knocking ten minutes off my Clarendon time, with all those hills and all that mud, seems more than achievable.

Let's look at it another way - what would other recent races suggest?
Southampton half marathon, 1:24:41 = 76:93% = marathon in 2:58:20.
Lymington 10k, 0:37:49 = 79.46% = marathon in 2:52:40
Parkrun in 0:18:04 = 81.64% = marathon in 2:48:03.

What a completely mixed bag of data... the algorithms suggest that I will finish anywhere between 2:48 and 3:05.  Que sera sera... but I'd really like to go under 3 hours.