The St George's Day marathon was, I think, the most enjoyable one I've run so far. We were encouraged by the organisers to enter into the spirit of the event and wear something identifiably English. Now I'm not particularly patriotic, I don't see nationality as something to be either proud nor ashamed about, any more than eye colour or shoe size, but I wore an England cricket shirt more for aesthetic reasons than anything and was pleased that I did so. My fellow marathoners were in a variety of similarly themed costumes including some Knights Templar and a dragon, it all looked very effective and did nothing to dispel the English reputation for eccentricity. To further enhance this reputation race director Traviss Willcox handed out sheets containing the words to Blake's poem, conjured up a backing track and we all joined in an enthusiastic, if not tuneful, rendition of 'Jerusalem'. Any ambivalence I was feeling about celebrating a day which in truth means very little to me had completely evaporated by this point; everyone was smiling broadly, enjoying the surreality of singing in a fancy-dressed rabble on the seafront at 8am on a Wednesday morning. There are factions within the country which seek to make political capital out of this date but there was nothing political in this gathering, this was just a bunch of runners having fun and that is something in which I can engage without reservation.
The course was a series of seven out and backs along the Kent coast between Walmer and Deal, I had decided to start easily, see how things felt, get to know the course and then decide upon a point to step up the pace and push for the finish line, keeping in mind that I want to ensure that my legs are reasonably fresh for the Hamburg marathon at the beginning of May. The early fog cleared to allow bright sunshine which was pleasant without being too powerful. The course seemed to have a slight upward gradient in the Deal to Walmer direction which was also into a steady sea breeze which persisted for the duration of the event. This had the effect that running north to south was harder work but with a cooling breeze on your face whereas the reverse felt easier but hotter. I coasted through the first two 'laps' really enjoying the camaraderie, the scenery and the light-heartedness of the whole occasion without a worry. Even discovering that my shotbloks must have jumped from my pocket at some stage didn't faze me; this was great fun!
I decided that I would increase my effort level as I turned at the Walmer end of the course for the fourth leg. This would give me the benefit of the breeze at my back and would hopefully ease me into the proper running for the day. My reasoning was that legs four and five would pass relatively easily and I could then bully myself through the latter stages with the mental carrot of it nearly being over. I was conscious that I didn't want this to be a full-on effort but I also wanted it to be sufficiently tough so as to feel like a decent work-out.
It all went very much to plan, the first two effort legs flew by as I went into my cocoon; the views, heat and breeze all became peripheral as I concentrated on catching and passing the runner ahead, if possible, and keeping my cadence high. Legs six and seven became harder, as was expected, but I kept it going without ever pushing too hard. I checked my watch for the first time well into the final mile to see it reading 3:55:xx, I realised that I wouldn't get under four hours but that didn't bother me at all, that hadn't been the aim today, and I finished in 4:01:25, my second quickest time ever, feeling that I had kept plenty in reserve. Had I checked my watch at 20 miles I have no doubt that I would have been able set a PB but I had purposely avoided presenting myself with that particular dilemma.
The goody bag was beyond anything I've received previously; two bottles of beer, an enormous box of chocolates, two bags of crisps, a packet of biscuits, a good quality cap, cufflinks and the chunkiest finishers medal I've ever seen. As a teetotal vegan I wasn't able to indulge in the consumables myself but that has given me the opportunity to spread the joy of the event beyond the actual participants which can't be a bad thing!
In reviewing my performance I have to be reasonably pleased, particularly as this was again run entirely without reference to my watch until the final stages, and only five days after my previous marathon. I feel like the hard work of the winter is paying dividends. The easy miles ranged from 8:52 to 9:53, which, taking into account the different conditions based on direction of run, reflects reasonable consistency. The effort miles were 8:13 - 9:03 until beyond the 20 mile point when I was careful not to be too hard on myself and even then the slowest mile of the final six was a 9:24. This was a negative split by over six minutes, which again is very pleasing. I feel ready for a good run in Hamburg given decent conditions.
23rd April 2014 St George's Day marathon 4:01:25 #33
Friday, 25 April 2014
Friday, 18 April 2014
A Spaniard in the Warks
Apologies to John Lennon for stealing and adapting his pun for my title, I checked whether it would be okay and he was happy to let it be. Another one of Broadmeadow's self-navigated gems was on the agenda for Good Friday and it really was a fantastic day for enjoying the scenery out on the Cotswolds. Having been out and about before dawn in order to provide a taxi service for the first stage of my son's holiday travel I opted for the earliest start time of 8am. There were about 20 others at the start line with me and so with route descriptions clutched in our hands and Chris Seeney's usual booming Shakespearean speech ringing in our ears we happy few, we band of brothers (and sisters) trotted off for our magical mystery tour of the local hills.
This was a bright, sunny day but reasonably cool, ideal for my planned relaxed training run. One of the joys of these events is the social element if you're not bothered about pace, and with the cross country, uneven nature of the course, the countless gates and stiles to negotiate, the sometimes confusing route descriptions, why would you be? The groups of runners tend to stretch out on the runnable sections but naturally compress at the stiles or where directions are unclear, so you gather together, discuss possibilities, see if we can work it out and then run on until the next meeting becomes necessary.
Loop one was completed in this relaxed style, the later starters were encountered on their way out as we returned, increasing the social aspect of the event, greetings, handshakes and hugs were dispensed, words of encouragement and jokes exchanged, photos taken and all with the backdrop of the Cotswold Hills on this gorgeous spring morning. Marathon running doesn't get much more enjoyable than this, I would be happy to be out there eight days a week rather than just a day tripper.
As we set out on the second and final loop I was part of a group of about eight other runners in the familiar stretch out, regroup, stretch out again routine, some of the directions on this section were really quite tricky to follow and it was within a mile that another competitor zipped past us with a rangy stride that just ate up the trail, I reckon he was easily at sub three hour pace which was phenomenal on the terrain. Within a couple of minutes or so we caught him at a particularly confusing intersection of trails. He was talking angrily in Spanish with his arms outstretched in a gesture of hopelessness, clearly in need of help. Even with the benefit of a careful reading through of the directions we English speakers struggled to deduce the correct route, eventually deciding it was a somewhat counter-intuitive double-back around the end of a hedge. We conveyed this to him and he sprinted off down the long and winding trail at an impressive pace.
We followed on at a gentler effort level but it wasn't too long before we spotted him tearing back towards us. He was really quite agitated this time. Strangely, although we were all quite happy with the route at this point, his confusion started to affect us and we began questioning ourselves, but continued on and were able to get his attention as he again sped off and gesture him in the correct direction, 'I've got a feeling', one of our number opined, 'it won't be long before we see him again'. His prediction proved accurate.
Within half an hour we were with him again in the middle of a field and he just wanted to give up, he'd had enough. I did feel sorry for him, he was clearly a very talented runner and I guess had entered the race expecting a normal marathon with a clear route but had instead found himself running around the Warwickshire countryside with no directions and increasing despair. After seeing the poor man here, there and everywhere for an hour or so we didn't encounter him again so I imagine he just tried to retrace his steps back to race HQ, I hope he was able to get back.
In the latter stages of the final loop I found myself in a mini-group of four, the other three were all going faster than I wanted and so I was on my own a fair bit, which was no problem, I just wanted to keep visual contact so that I didn't have to concern myself with navigation. The points at which I caught up became less frequent but this was a nice little mental challenge, forcing myself to maintain a slightly faster pace than was completely comfortable as the heat of the day started to increase. I had one weird experience when running along a narrow path through the middle of a field of rapeseed, the brilliant yellow flowers reflecting the sunlight into my vision peripherally made me feel a bit like I was floating, although my feet were being pitched about by the rutted earth, and this soon started me feeling a bit sick. I had to slow down to stop the nausea which then meant I then had to dash through the next field to keep the others in sight.
And that was it really, a successful training run, albeit with pace ranging from 9-14 minutes per mile due to the nature of the course, another marathon in the bag, beautiful scenery, friends and great running weather - good day sunshine!
18th April 2014 Broadmeadow Good Friday marathon 4:43:39 #32
This was a bright, sunny day but reasonably cool, ideal for my planned relaxed training run. One of the joys of these events is the social element if you're not bothered about pace, and with the cross country, uneven nature of the course, the countless gates and stiles to negotiate, the sometimes confusing route descriptions, why would you be? The groups of runners tend to stretch out on the runnable sections but naturally compress at the stiles or where directions are unclear, so you gather together, discuss possibilities, see if we can work it out and then run on until the next meeting becomes necessary.
Loop one was completed in this relaxed style, the later starters were encountered on their way out as we returned, increasing the social aspect of the event, greetings, handshakes and hugs were dispensed, words of encouragement and jokes exchanged, photos taken and all with the backdrop of the Cotswold Hills on this gorgeous spring morning. Marathon running doesn't get much more enjoyable than this, I would be happy to be out there eight days a week rather than just a day tripper.
As we set out on the second and final loop I was part of a group of about eight other runners in the familiar stretch out, regroup, stretch out again routine, some of the directions on this section were really quite tricky to follow and it was within a mile that another competitor zipped past us with a rangy stride that just ate up the trail, I reckon he was easily at sub three hour pace which was phenomenal on the terrain. Within a couple of minutes or so we caught him at a particularly confusing intersection of trails. He was talking angrily in Spanish with his arms outstretched in a gesture of hopelessness, clearly in need of help. Even with the benefit of a careful reading through of the directions we English speakers struggled to deduce the correct route, eventually deciding it was a somewhat counter-intuitive double-back around the end of a hedge. We conveyed this to him and he sprinted off down the long and winding trail at an impressive pace.
We followed on at a gentler effort level but it wasn't too long before we spotted him tearing back towards us. He was really quite agitated this time. Strangely, although we were all quite happy with the route at this point, his confusion started to affect us and we began questioning ourselves, but continued on and were able to get his attention as he again sped off and gesture him in the correct direction, 'I've got a feeling', one of our number opined, 'it won't be long before we see him again'. His prediction proved accurate.
Within half an hour we were with him again in the middle of a field and he just wanted to give up, he'd had enough. I did feel sorry for him, he was clearly a very talented runner and I guess had entered the race expecting a normal marathon with a clear route but had instead found himself running around the Warwickshire countryside with no directions and increasing despair. After seeing the poor man here, there and everywhere for an hour or so we didn't encounter him again so I imagine he just tried to retrace his steps back to race HQ, I hope he was able to get back.
In the latter stages of the final loop I found myself in a mini-group of four, the other three were all going faster than I wanted and so I was on my own a fair bit, which was no problem, I just wanted to keep visual contact so that I didn't have to concern myself with navigation. The points at which I caught up became less frequent but this was a nice little mental challenge, forcing myself to maintain a slightly faster pace than was completely comfortable as the heat of the day started to increase. I had one weird experience when running along a narrow path through the middle of a field of rapeseed, the brilliant yellow flowers reflecting the sunlight into my vision peripherally made me feel a bit like I was floating, although my feet were being pitched about by the rutted earth, and this soon started me feeling a bit sick. I had to slow down to stop the nausea which then meant I then had to dash through the next field to keep the others in sight.
And that was it really, a successful training run, albeit with pace ranging from 9-14 minutes per mile due to the nature of the course, another marathon in the bag, beautiful scenery, friends and great running weather - good day sunshine!
18th April 2014 Broadmeadow Good Friday marathon 4:43:39 #32
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