Why oh why have I not run this race before? It's a super local event with a great atmosphere. Being an HRRL event it was big on local club participation. Lots of familiar faces, Romsey, OS and many others.
It's hosted at the OS office, and it felt like a doddle leaving house at 0830 after so many recent early-doors starts. It was odd arriving at work when the area outside was so transformed, and I briefly worried about how we would get into the car park without my work pass. With a field of 800 it was buzzing. The lovely Mrs S and I barely bothered with warming up, as it was building up for a hot day under clear blue skies.
I had, like a proper eejit, rather over-egged my return to form after the boring glute injury, and I was back in the slow lane. I had planned to run the first part with Mrs S, but we were separated in the melee of the start and it didn't happen (sorry love). Despite being slow and steady it was a really enjoyable event; I tried to keep a consistent pace and focused on maintaining a good technique, all the while gradually overtaking folk around me. There's a long out-and-back in the first half which was a great excuse to wave at others.
I finished in way down the order in a little under 46 minutes, but never mind that - I had managed to enjoy a cracking morning out and a nice steady pace without any damage. Let's hope I can build on that and get back in the game for a summer of exciting fixtures.
Sunday, 24 June 2018
Sunday, 17 June 2018
Cheltenham Challenge 10k
Yesterday I ran Eastleigh parkrun and felt almost fine - the muscles in my left side were only slightly making themselves known. So I was really looking forward to a proper race.
Then lovely Mrs S and I spent Saturday night in Cheltenham with Chris and Bel. This morning we made our way to Cheltanham racecourse, the venue of the Cheltenham Challenge 10k. The crowds of runners looked very, well, amateur, and the music blaring from the speakers was dire but everyone seemed to be lapping it up. I felt very old.
From the start there were just a dozen or so runners ahead of me, and it was fun to gradually pick some of them off. But it really was glorious to be racing again. The course was mostly on grass fields, with any number of kissing gates in the second half. It was a really pretty course, and great to be out there. By km 8 I was on my own, and pushed hard to the finish, back at the race ground.
At the finish line a guy came running up to ask me if my name was Sue. No? Well, you're listed as first lady, he told me. Ahhh... we were both wearing the wrong numbers. A quick sex change later, and I was chuffed to be 5th over the line and 1st M50. My time was 42:17 which sounds a bit rubbish, but I blame the gates and the extra 250 metres!
Mrs S and Chris came charging down to the finish line in great form a few minutes later. A super morning!
Then lovely Mrs S and I spent Saturday night in Cheltenham with Chris and Bel. This morning we made our way to Cheltanham racecourse, the venue of the Cheltenham Challenge 10k. The crowds of runners looked very, well, amateur, and the music blaring from the speakers was dire but everyone seemed to be lapping it up. I felt very old.
From the start there were just a dozen or so runners ahead of me, and it was fun to gradually pick some of them off. But it really was glorious to be racing again. The course was mostly on grass fields, with any number of kissing gates in the second half. It was a really pretty course, and great to be out there. By km 8 I was on my own, and pushed hard to the finish, back at the race ground.
At the finish line a guy came running up to ask me if my name was Sue. No? Well, you're listed as first lady, he told me. Ahhh... we were both wearing the wrong numbers. A quick sex change later, and I was chuffed to be 5th over the line and 1st M50. My time was 42:17 which sounds a bit rubbish, but I blame the gates and the extra 250 metres!
Mrs S and Chris came charging down to the finish line in great form a few minutes later. A super morning!
Sunday, 10 June 2018
Romsey relay marathon 2018
Very belated... I can't go without a mention of a cracking day out at Broadlands for the Romsey Relay Marathon, an event that has quickly become a local institution.
OS has won this event consistently for the last 3 years or so (I was part of the OS team in 2016). This year RRR was determined to put up a good show to win the trophy. We had 3 teams, with my as final leg in the A team. No pressure there, then!
The event kicked off at 10am, and the time just flew by as there were OS and RRR runners continually charging past our team base. The atmosphere was cracking. By leg 2 Neil Jennings had pulled RRR into the lead and we were consistently ahead from this point.
I had a super leg, with laps of 7:27 and 7:26 for a total time of 14:53 - better than last time. Here's the Strava view. RRR won the trophy and Raymond Trickey generated a few laughs at the finish line. Huge fun!
OS has won this event consistently for the last 3 years or so (I was part of the OS team in 2016). This year RRR was determined to put up a good show to win the trophy. We had 3 teams, with my as final leg in the A team. No pressure there, then!
The event kicked off at 10am, and the time just flew by as there were OS and RRR runners continually charging past our team base. The atmosphere was cracking. By leg 2 Neil Jennings had pulled RRR into the lead and we were consistently ahead from this point.
I had a super leg, with laps of 7:27 and 7:26 for a total time of 14:53 - better than last time. Here's the Strava view. RRR won the trophy and Raymond Trickey generated a few laughs at the finish line. Huge fun!
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| Is this a cigar I see before me? |
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| The post-race interview, complete with our mascot Oscar |
Lacock 10k, 2018
This was my first race for a little while, after coming down with a minor injury in my left side. Somewhere around the gluteus medius and the piriformis, and probably caused by pounding all those roads in the build up to London.
So today was always going to be on the steady side. The lovely Mrs S and I set off from home at a ridiculous hour this morning and got to the fabulous village of Lacock in good time. Multiple races were goiung on; there was a 1k, 5k, 10k and half marathon, with multiple start waves per event. The pre-race briefings were a bit laboured and tedious, but eventually it was time for the first 10k wave and off we set.
I had run an RR10 four days earlier at a 4:30 km pace. My left hip was feeling OK to go a little quicker, and I glided up the field; this wasn't tempo, but it wasn't sedate either. It was hard to judge relative position in the field as I kept encoutering waves from other races, and in a few places traffic became a bit of an issue, particularly on narrow sections where slower runners were wearing headphones.
It was 2 laps of a lovely course. I felt OK and enjoyed not busting myself... but it was lovely to feel my lungs working properly on a run for the first time in weeeks on the uphill sections. I finished in 42:21, which I flt was nearing the bounds of respectability. Mrs S was pleased with her time too.
A positive morning outing. Let's see what happens over the month of June... hoping to be fighting fit by July.
So today was always going to be on the steady side. The lovely Mrs S and I set off from home at a ridiculous hour this morning and got to the fabulous village of Lacock in good time. Multiple races were goiung on; there was a 1k, 5k, 10k and half marathon, with multiple start waves per event. The pre-race briefings were a bit laboured and tedious, but eventually it was time for the first 10k wave and off we set.
I had run an RR10 four days earlier at a 4:30 km pace. My left hip was feeling OK to go a little quicker, and I glided up the field; this wasn't tempo, but it wasn't sedate either. It was hard to judge relative position in the field as I kept encoutering waves from other races, and in a few places traffic became a bit of an issue, particularly on narrow sections where slower runners were wearing headphones.
It was 2 laps of a lovely course. I felt OK and enjoyed not busting myself... but it was lovely to feel my lungs working properly on a run for the first time in weeeks on the uphill sections. I finished in 42:21, which I flt was nearing the bounds of respectability. Mrs S was pleased with her time too.
A positive morning outing. Let's see what happens over the month of June... hoping to be fighting fit by July.
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