Robin Hood Half Marathon

Today I am doing my seventh Robin Hood Half Marathon, L is doing her ninth while Daughter and L’s sister are doing their first.

L also did the Marathon back in 2003 but sadly there is no Marathon at all this year. Yet they are still promoting the races as 'Marathon Events'...

The organisers have admitted that runners found the Marathon route boring and that there were not enough spectators around to cheer them on. Of course this sort of feedback from competitors was meant to spur the organisers on into organising a better Marathon, probably as a standalone event, but instead they have thrown the towel in. So no Marathon this year which must leave Nottingham in the embarrassing situation of being the largest UK city not to have a Marathon. Hopefully it will be back soon.

What Nottingham does have is a pretty decent half marathon course with a few challenging hills packed into the first three miles followed by the rewarding descent of Derby Road leading on to the remainder of the course which is predominantly flat-ish.

I have to be pleased with my time of 1:44:22 which is thirty seconds up on last year and my second quickest on this course behind a 1:43 in 2016. My fastest ever Nottingham was an insane 1:36 back in 2010 but that was on a very different course.

L and her sister run together but they are both trailing in Daughter’s wake who runs 2:23 at her first attempt. What’s more she even seems to enjoy it.

I could potentially have been even quicker had it not been for a game of hunt the Father. My Dad was supposed to be watching from Crown Island but could I or anyone else find him? Nope. I did briefly lose contact with the 1:45 pacer while I scoured the bushes for him but I did manage to get back on.

(Sunday 30th September)

Draycote Water 10 Mile

L, Daughter and I head over to Draycote Water today which is near Dunchurch, not far from Rugby. They have a ten mile race which is good training for all of us even though it is just multiple laps of their reservoir. The reservoir is more suited to the regular 10ks they run as it is 4.7 miles round. Although even their 10ks require ‘a bit more’.

So the course is two laps plus ‘quite a bit more’ e.g. a nice warm up run to the start which we need as its raining. There is also a twenty mile option which involves four laps and an even bigger warm up.

It turns out to be not too bad. The rain eases and the tarmac is nice, Yes, it’s all tarmac. It is a bit undulating but I don’t mind that.

I’m also happy with my time of 1:20:41 which is in the right ball park for a 1:45 half.

Humber Coastal Half Marathon

Today we drive up to Cleethorpes to take part in the second running of the Humber Coastal Half Marathon. To be fair we both need the practice or perhaps we were both just swayed by the offer of a 99 ice cream when you finish. Possibly the best goodie bag ever, assuming that they don’t actually put it in the goodie bag. That could get messy.

The race all started very promisingly for me as we headed out of Cleethorpes, through a caravan site and on to the open road. I was sticking as closely as I could to the 1:45 pacer but he was one of those who doesn’t stop at drinks stations and doesn’t vary his pace through them either.

So our group of 20 or so fragmented rapidly once we hit the first drinks station. By the time we’d managed to catch him and reassemble about a mile later we were about six men\women down. The same thing happened at the next drink station but again I got back on and we went though 8 miles in 1:04. I was on pace for a 1:45 finish.

Then suddenly it became clear that I had missed out on reading one key part of the race instructions. The bit that said this was a multi-terrain race. So mile nine saw us heading down a farmer’s track which got progressively rockier and rockier as we approached the coast. I simply wasn’t going to risk my ankles by keeping up with our esteemed pacer, so I had to back off.  

I thought maybe I could catch him up again later but no. The rocks gave way to about two miles on uneven grassland along the coastal path and then we briefly (thankfully) ended up on the beach before finally I was able to sink to my knees and kiss terra firma again. Then it was back to Cleethorpes and a finish on the sea front.

So no, I didn’t get to see him again and I finished in 1:47:49 but I still had two ankles and a well earned ice cream.

Great North Run

We are away for the second weekend in a row and once again heading northwards by train, this time via Sheffield just in case L fancies popping for a parkrun again like last year (but she declines). This time we are not passing through Newcastle but disembarking there. It’s Great North Run weekend.

We stay at the oddly name Sleeperz hotel, which is nicely central and only a few doors down from a decent micro pub, the Split Chimp. Where we meet other Great North runners hydrating on the beer. We meet two people from Nottingham, one a runner sporting the same Robin Hood Half t-shirt as me, the other a non-runner who’d moved to the area.

Sleeperzzzzz do us a decent pasta buffet for Saturday night which is very welcome but sadly they don’t provide a working air-con which just dumps water all over our floor. They don’t seem too apologetic when I report it to them when we check out.

We do make it to the official race village and pasta party this year but aren’t terribly impressed with either although I do pick up a Great North hoodie to replace my rather lived in Vitruvian one.

On race day we are again central enough to walk to the start where I bag my usual space near the front and then say farewell to L who has to trudge several miles back to find her start. We agree to meet in the beer tent afterwards.

The race goes well, if you class 13.1 miles uphill as well. It’s not supposed to be all uphill but it certainly feels like it. The beer stop at 10 miles is so welcome I gab two cups full.

My time is 1:51, four minutes slower than the hilly windy Faroes. Perhaps I over-hydrated in the Split Chimp? Perhaps I under-hydrated in the Split Chimp? Perhaps I’m just unfit?

Then I queue for a massage, for longer than I would have liked because there’s now a big queue at the beer tent. I buy three pints. One each for L and I, and another for me while I wait.

L arrives looking not quite as enthused as she did after the Faroes Half. Then we discuss tactics on how to get back to Newcastle while avoiding the usual two hour Metro and/or ferry queue.

There are direct buses from the finish to Newcastle, called the R1, and we give that a go. There are plenty of buses and we take advantage of the chaotic queuing system. Each bus seems to have it’s own queue but everyone by default is joining the queue for the first bus. So we get on bus two, sorted.

The bus is quicker but it isn’t that pleasant. The weather is warm, the bus is badly ventilated and it has to take a roundabout route due to the road clothes. One chap looks ready to vomit while I’m considered fainting in solidarity with him. We both make it through in the end although that experience makes the run seem a doddle.

Vagar Half, Faros Islands

Race day is windy but dry. Our hotel is about the half way point on the half marathon route but first we have to drive up to the assembly point at Giljanes school in Sandavágur. From there they bus us the whole length of the course to the start in the village of Gásadalur. There are two starts, one for walkers at 8.30 and one for runners at 9.30. There are a lot of walkers.

The whole route is stunning and an experience but no experience is like the start which is downhill from Gásadalur then back up into a tunnel which must have been a km long in the dark. Thereafter we hug the coast, go past our hotel, through the airport and then onwards past a Johnny Cash impersonator to the finish by the church in Sandavágur.

It's not a fast course by any stretch of the imagination but I’m very pleased with my 1:47. Ten minutes quicker than my Erewash time.

We adjourn to the school were we are treated to the local Hiddenfjord salmon, lots of homemade cakes and coffee. Then it’s back to the hotel for the post-race debrief and to crack open a few of the local beers.