Locko Park Christmas 10k

Today it's the Locko Park Christmas 10k which is a new event and the first time I’ve raced at Locko Park. L and Daughter run it too. The course isn’t great being basically three laps of the lake with an off road section up a track.

This particular section was eventful on the first lap to say the least. Once you got to the top you were asked to do a U-turn and then go back down it. Except there wasn’t room to separate the runners going up from those coming down. Those coming down had to run to the side of the path in long grass which wasn’t good for anyone’s dodgy knees or ankles let alone my papier-mâché ones.

This is part of my excuse why it took me 54 minutes, which is worse than it sounds because it was quite a bit short of being 10k as well. I did consider doing old un-favourite the Bolsover 10k on Sunday instead but then if I was serious about marathon training I’d probably be doing both.

Derby Half Marathon

The weather is cold but at least fine for the Derby Half Marathon. While I do the half L, Daughter and Daughter’s +1 do the 5 miler. We take advantage of a non-existent £2 parking offer that Chapel Street car park won’t accept and therefore ending up paying a further £3.90. Bargain. Daughter is still awaiting her race number so she has to go to the desk to get that sorted.

The run itself goes surprisingly well as my knee holds out until the nine mile point meaning I only have to hobble less than a third of the distance. My time of 1:57 is my best for a while. Progress at last.

The biggest challenge of the day is reserved for after the race. They have stored everyone’s bags in a tiny baggage tent that is about the size of that used by a family of four to go camping. It takes 25 minutes queuing to get my bag back and therefore to put some warm clothes on, by which time I’m turning a nice shade of blue.

Great South Run

After a year off we are back at the Great South Run again. We get the train down again this time having to go via London Waterloo rather than Victoria. For a change we alight at the Harbour station which probably isn’t any nearer to our hotel than Portsmouth & Southsea but gets us more a more scenic walk. 

We stay at the Holiday Inn again with the elites and eat again at the Old Customs House in Gunwharf Quays with L’s sister and a few pints of ESB. This is after L has relived her childhood with a trip on the ferry over to Gosport which takes just four minutes in either direction. Ironically four minutes is also about as long as you'd wish to stay in Gosport.

The race itself goes about as well as my previous two this year e.g. it’s more of a hobble than a run but this time without the fainting. My time of 1:32 is 15 minutes slower than last time. The race App however refuses to acknowledge that I’ve finished, so unbelievable that the feat is, and has me stuck somewhere on the final stretch along Clarence Esplanade. Presumably collapsed given how little faith it has in me.

After the race we repeat our night out of two years ago in Southsea. Meanwhile the App says I'm still stuck on Clarence Esplanade. I wonder if I'll have finished by the morning?

Manchester Half Marathon

The alarm goes off at 4am. Which delights the Lad because he thinks he’s getting his breakfast extra so early and he’s not wrong but they are then both dumped as we drive to Manchester for the Manchester Half having conserved enough petrol for the trip. Where we struggle (again) to find our way around the road closures to the parking at Manchester United.

We are so early because my start time is 8:10 after the Half Marathon is shunted forwards to make room for the Marathon which had been cuckoo-ed in after being delayed from April. I was, of course, supposed to be in that but I wimped out of.

There are allegedly no spectators allowed at the start or finish but all this amounts to is L not being allowed in the Race Village but I don’t think she was last time either.

The official advice is to meet your loved ones in a nearby cafe. Which will all be indoors and packed... so not particularly Covid safe and clearly they are also not particularly familiar with the area because despite having a major football ground and a major cricket ground there is nowhere desirable to go anyway.

At the Race Village the staggered starts due to Covid and the traffic issues mean everyone is all over the place with their start times. Once I start I soon pass the 3:00 hour pacer, although I’m not sure why they were so far forward or perhaps I started further back than I thought. Then I pass the 2:30 pacer, then the 2:15. I figure sticking with 2:15 would get me sub 2:08, which was what I did in Newcastle, as I must have started ages after them?

I’m running at an ok pace but then I almost pass out at about 4.5 miles. Feeling faint I stagger to the side of the road before I unceremoniously hit the ground and a marshal finds me clinging to someone’s garden railings. That’s never happened before.

The marshal tells me to have a gel as my sugar must be low then when I tell them I’d just had one she reverse ferrets and say the sugar rush is what’s probably making me feel faint. Ok! I sit down for a while and she gets bored, so she wanders off while keeping an eye on me in case I attempt something reckless like running again.

I tell her I’m going to walk a bit but then when the 2:15 pace passes me again it’s clearly time to start running again.

I spend the rest of the race tipping water over my head to prevent another faint, it is quite warm, and being highly undecided on whether to risk another gel or not. I finish in 2:08 again, which blows my theory about the 2:15 pace who I beat easily, but not bad considering the mid-race lie down.

40th Great North Run

We head up to Newcastle by train via Chesterfield after the dogs have been dispatched to kennels. We travel in 2nd class because it now costs as much in 2^nd class as it used to in 1st.

L's sister has pulled out of the run so it's just the two us again booking into Motel One and with the Pleased To Meet You booked for food and pre-race hydration. A tried and tested combination.

Beforehand we head up to check out the start and finish area which this year are in the same place on the Town Moor which is situated between the traditional start on the central motorway and this year’s finish on the Great North Road.

There will be no finish in South Shields this year to stop people packing onto buses and the metro with no social distancing which is such a bonus in many ways. It’s also sort of nice to have a different course for the 40th and for our last trip up here unless that is my knees are still intact for the 50th then I might give it another go. While L bills this as her half marathon retirement race.

There is a staggered start with everyone allocated specific timeslots to increase socially distancing meaning L sets off an hour and forty minutes after me. I start at 10:25 and L not until 12:05.

I start off aiming to do at least a Parkrun’s worth of distance before having to walk bits to give my knees a break (doing a Jeff I believe it’s called) as we head over the Tyne Bridge for what will be the first of two crossings this year. In fact I manage to make it to four miles where L's niece is working for a charity where I stop for a photo opportunity.

At half-way they turn us around a roundabout and send us back along the Bypass, past Gateshead again and so back to the Tyne Bridge. As the course is usually almost all up hill to South Shields it was a surprise to find the return to Newcastle wasn't all downhill, they even diverted us over a flyover to make sure this wasn't the case.

With our start times being so far apart L and I were only on the course together for a brief while but due to its out and back nature we managed to meet up for a high-five at around the 2 mile/11 mile point.

Then I carry on to do the last bit through Newcastle city centre where we run passed Grey's Monument which is just near where we are staying.

Sadly there was no beer stop at 10 miles this year which was probably the main reason my time of 2:08 wasn't good at all despite my pace starting off at sub-2 hour. I ran 1:45 in 2019. At least they still had Jakehead in the beer tent at the finish, so I rehydrate with one of those before I manage to get back onto the course to see L finish. Which is something that is never possible at South Shields.

With the hassle of getting back from the finish removed it’s now just a short stagger back to our hotel.

Nottingham Checkpoint Challenge #4

Today we do the fourth version of the Nottingham Checkpoint Challenge because this time they are using a different route. 

We start at Nottingham Castle and take in checkpoints on the Embankment and Nottingham Racecourse. Originally it was supposed to include Alexandra Park in St Anns but perhaps they decided, like us, that hanging around any park in St Anns is never a good idea. 

It's enjoyable and good to do a 'race' of some sort but not a great route.

Nottingham CheckPoint Challenge #2

Finally we have a running event. After the first incarnation of the Nottingham CheckPoint Challenge went virtual, their second event actually happens. You have to navigate your way between Wollaton Park, Forest Rec and the University scanning bar codes at each checkpoint. 

This is apparently a distance of around 15km but due to our superior local knowledge we manage to trim it down to 12.7km. Due to our excellent route choices I am 11^th and L is 12^th out of the 43 who did the whole thing or perhaps it was our speed? But don’t tell the physio.

We 'run' for five minutes and then walk for one minute so, physio please note, not actual proper running.