Gerald Storey Memorial

It's always good to get in a run between Christmas and New Year, so we return to the Gerald Storey Memorial which starts at Worksop College.

We did this last year for the first time and somehow I manage to shave nearly two minutes off last year’s time, taking 36:00 dead for the 4.8 miles despite not being able to do it aided by dog power and it being on the dreaded 'mixed terrain'.

It's not an event to get particularly excited about but it's a useful training run and all in aid of a good cause.

Great Langdale Pudding Run

We are up in the Lake District for our traditional pre-Christmas weekend away where we take in the Great Langdale Pudding Run.

The run is on Saturday, with a 12:10 start to fit in round the bus timetable, and it’s rather damp and misty. Although it’s nowhere near as wet as last year. There are 700 of us in the 10K, which is now no longer split over two days and means parking all the cars is quite an issue but they just about cope. We make sure of a space by arriving early and parking in the National Trust car park by the Sticklebarn. It’s a choice of £7 donation to National Trust to park there or a £5 donation to the Brathay Trust if you park in the race car park. Both are worthy causes.

Many of the runners are in fancy dress and I dress up as a frozen turkey still in its shrink rap, as I try out one of L's new ponchos in a bid to keep dry. Although I don’t run in it.

Perhaps I should have done as it might have given me an excuse for being outwitted in the race by a Christmas Pudding that although it huffed and puffed its way up the one big hill, it positively rolled down the other side. Although not stopping for a mull wine at the drinks station, as I did, gave it a distinct advantage.

My time of 47:49 is 22 seconds quicker than last year, a small victory I suppose. They hand me a Sainsburys Christmas pudding as I cross the line, which will no doubt sit in the cupboard for most of the year. We’re not big Christmas pudding eaters. Much more to my liking is the Hawkshead's Dry Stone Stout they had on in the Sticklebarn for a post-race tipple.

Nottingham Christmas Half Marathon

Today I have the Notts Christmas multi-looped Half Marathon at Holme Pierrepont. Shoot me now. It’s as dull as ditch water but necessary dullness training-wise. L was booked into do it too but due to injury she has now passed that particular poisoned baton over to Daughter.

The race doesn’t start until 11:30, and I would normally be a fan of such leisurely starts but I’ve got to be elsewhere at 3pm.

The race goes astonishingly well for me in a 'I didn’t know I could do that any more' sort of way. I start off way too fast and then get faster. I start off doing 7:50 miles before accelerating to almost 7:30 miles. This is largely the fault of the two girls who overtake me early on, chatting away as they pass as if it was no effort at all. Naturally I undertake to catch and then pass them again. I am egged on in this venture by my new friend who I shall called ‘Steve’ because that is what it says on the front of his number. This may not be his name because Daughter is running with L's number and therefore under her name. 

‘Steve’ is also trying to catch the girls, most probably for different reasons to me as they are all in their 20s unlike the old codger that is me. Anyhow we pass them and then hope to drop them, well I do but I suspect Steve would like to run with them, but as it turns out dropping them seems impossible anyway as they're just too damn fast.

So aided by a flat course, the novelty of no wind at Holme Pierrepont, lots of nagging from ‘Steve’ and the two ‘passed but not dropped ’ girls constantly breathing down our necks we sprint over the line in 1:41:42. Extraordinary. I ran 1:47:47 here last year. It’s my fastest time since a 1:40:38 at Peterborough in October 2017.

The two girls finish about 30 seconds back and Steve goes off to chat them up while I collapse in an uncivilised heap.

Flying Fox 10

L’s got a bit of a hate hate relationship with half marathons but she does seem to approve of ten milers. She says she’d like to make a career out of them but this could be a short career as there aren’t that many of them. Having said that we have only just done the Great South Run and now we have the Flying Fox 10.

This takes place at Standon in Staffordshire. The race starts from the local school with parking just down the road at the Standon Mill. For once it’s a bright and dry morning for a race.

The race has been held since 2003 but they have changed the course this year probably just for us, to make it two laps. The two laps bring you back to the start line each time but each lap is different so it's not too repetitive. Although it's all country lanes and as I don't know the area, we could have been anywhere. 

Both laps are equally hilly hence my finish time of 1:22. Four minutes slower than at the Great South but then nobody inspired me with any Amazon vouchers this time. There is however a bottle of Flying Fox Ale for all finishers.

Worksop Half Marathon

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It is somewhere near the top of L’s bucket list to go to Greenland, so we could have been at the Polar Circle Half Marathon in Nuuk today. Although that does look a bit of a serious undertaking weather wise. There’s a more terra firma based one in August that might be more appropriate for us. So no Nuuk this year, so we’re at Worksop instead which isn’t quite so exotic but almost as challenging weather wise. They warn us of puddles on the course which was a massive understatement. I have to alternate between breaststroke and front crawl as we pass through one of them.

Worksop is a very popular race despite the horrifically spooky t-shirt and it’s packed at registration. Parking was also a little fraught in the centre of Worksop even though it was a Sunday morning. I thought I’d done this before but it turns out I hadn’t. L certainly has.

It’s all on closed roads and takes in a large chunk of Clumber Park where I find myself reprising sections of the Clumber Duathlon run course. Whereas it’s quite a twisty route inside the park there are quite a lot of long straight section outside of it.

Apart from that, the overriding impression is that the whole thing seems to be slightly uphill from the start right through to mile 12. At which point the course does most definitely descend to the finish. Any other downhill sections mid-course we’re clearly very subtly indeed.

To take your mind off all this they have a quarter mile section just after mile eight which is littered with numerous humorous signs. After which you lose your humour completely as it goes uphill again at mile ten.

After a good start and sub 8:00 miles, the terrain wears me down and I’m hitting close to 9:00 by the time I finish in a time of just over 1:50.

Great South Run

It is a ridiculously short amble from our hotel to the race start. It’s the 30th year of the Great South Run but my first time here. L has ran it once before in 1999. Now that’s a while ago...

The race is started by Timmy Mallet and Jet from Gladiators (Diane Youdale) in a nod to its 1990 start date. The course is largely flat and takes us through the Historic Dockyard and past the HMS Victory. Although amazingly some runners appear to have failed to have seen this rather large boat or the man on the start line with a big purple and yellow mallet. I guess they were just too focussed.

I have a good run and lock into a 7:45 per mile pace which I manage to hold for most of the distance as neither last night’s beer nor the Steak & Ale pie are successful in holding me back. I am aiming to get under 1:18 after a pre-race research survey, that both L and I did, goaded me to beat my target time and dangled a £10 Amazon Voucher in front of me if I did.

I am on target as I hit the last two miles of the race which is all along the sea front. Despite an 8:10 final mile, I cross the line in 1:17:54. Show us your money Amazon!

The very same survey told L she wasn’t going to hit her target time and to give up, or something like that. These were supposed to be different motivational techniques.

I collect my goodie bag which I didn't even need to open to know what is in it or rather what isn't in it e.g. something suitable as a post-race snack amongst the flyers, flax seeds, breakfast cereal, tuna and sachets of piri piri sauce. Great Runs... don’t you just love them... and I've done three of the buggers this year. The Great Aberdeen Run, the Great North Run and now this one.

Those race names never tell you what the distance is and nor does the medal or the t-shirt. I know my running buddies aren’t a great fan of the t-shirts either, which only go as ‘small’ as small and which is massive on most women. So probably won’t get worn.

I head up to the massage tent knowing I probably won’t get one. I don’t get one.

After the run L’s sister has to rush back home and to work the next day while we head back to the hotel to chill out and have a few beers with the elites. Our hotel is so conveniently placed that all the officials and elite athletes are also booked in there. We are very quickly rubbing shoulders with the likes of Brendan Foster and Eilish McColgan.

McColgan won the race, breaking her mother’s 10-mile Scottish record, in a time of 51:38. She was nearly four minutes in front of the rest of the women’s field. Marc Scott won the men’s race in a very impressive 46:57. He was probably there too but we didn’t know what he looked like. While Chris Thompson, who had won the race for the last three years, came in 12th and started his excuses with ‘At my age...’. He sounds so like me.

Robin Hood Half Marathon

Today I do my 8^th Nottingham Robin Hood Half Marathon, L is doing it too. I’m not sure how many times that is now for her but it’s way more than eight. It’s L’s sister’s second time and we meet her at Nottingham University before getting the tram to the start which involves changing lines at the railway station. Oh, and it’s raining.

Thankfully the weather does improve and the rain largely holds off for the race but soaks us afterwards.

This year the course has been tweaked slightly and the start moved further back but I’m not too sure what this is to accommodate. I line up in the ‘red’ zone as usual, hoping for something around about 1:45. My fastest Nottingham Half was my first one back in 2010 when I ran 1:36:22. This is actually also my overall half marathon PB that I have little or no chance of getting near these days.

I fix my eye on the 1:45 pacer and then off we go. Unfortunately he turns out to be a nutter, setting out way too fast over the hilly first few miles. On my reckoning he is up on his pace by a couple of minutes after three miles when he should probably be slightly down at this point and intending to make it up on the flatter parts of the course.

At the first drinks station somebody hands me a bottle of water and I’m like ‘YES, it’s in  a bottle’. It is so good to finally see the back of the dreaded water pouches.

Despite the breakneck pace set by my pacer I just about cling onto his shirt tails until I start to lose touch as he fleetfootedly, and inexplicably, skips through the congestion caused by the narrow sections in Wollaton Park. It's as if he’s trying to lose his flock. Perhaps he is.

Coming out of Wollaton Park I see Daughter at the 7 mile point and inflict a sweaty hug on her before renewing my pursuit of my pacer before finally giving up the chase a few miles further down the road.

As we get to the last mile the excellent Race Angels, provided by Notts Womens Runners, are on hand to help you get through that final mile but they seem to show no inclination in helping an old man break 1:45. I gather I am not their target audience.

Rumours of them handing out chilled glasses of Pinot as part of the service also appear not to be true. Which is a shame, as it would be one up on the Great North Run Beer Stop.

Then I’m at the 13 mile marker and into the last few hundred metres which is on the grass and was a bit like cross-country running. I slither across the line in 1:47:14. It would have been oh so different if I'd had that Pinot.

Sadly after two years of handing out t-shirt to all finishers the organisers have again reverted to not having one which is very poor. The post-race snacks, in common with other big races, were also very poor.

What is good at Nottingham are the massages. Once again Sheffield Hallam University provide a girl for each leg (or a guy if you prefer). Great North Run take note of that and also that they have a least double the number of massage tables you did for a field about an eighth of the size.

Rutland Half Marathon

Today I run the Rutland Half Marathon which is an event I’ve wanted to do for the last few years although I’m not sure why... as I’ve ran around Rutland Water several times before in various Duathlons and Triathlons. It has had great reviews and most of them describe it as really scenic. Basically there’s a lot of water and a lot of grass...  and today’s there’s lot of rain as well. In fact it’s difficult to get to register before the race as everyone is sheltering in the registration tent.

Sensible L doesn’t fancy it. ‘That sounds nice’ she says, clearly not meaning it, followed by ‘I'll hold your coat’ and the two collies of course but she doesn’t mention that bit.

The race starts from the Sykes Lane entrance and the Half Marathon distance that I’m doing is basically two out and backs, one in one direction and then one in the opposite direction after passing back through the start/finish. There’s also a Marathon, with a longer second loop, and a Team Marathon which is a relay along a 1/4 marathon section of the course.

The rain does actually stop for the run and the novelty today is it isn’t windy. I don’t think I’ve ever ran here when it hasn’t been windy. So not too bad conditions really.

                   

I am wearing my new GP watch and have it set to kilometres which isn’t a great idea when the course is marked in miles. That’s a bit of a schoolboy error.

My time of 01:50:53 isn’t great. There are however the most amazing cakes at the finish including about fifty different varieties for Swiss Roll.

After the event L has changed her mind. Now she does fancy it, it’s probably the Swiss Rolls that have swung it. Either that or it’s her FOMO kicking in or perhaps just the two collies factor kicking in.

Mansfield 10k

On Sunday L, Daughter and myself are in Mansfield for the sixth running of the Mansfield 10k on its surprisingly hilly and rather loopy course. I did it two years ago and L was for some reason jealous of me, so here we are.

We had talked about supporting the Stephen Price Memorial 10k in my home village of Aston on Trent particularly as the previous Aston 10k race was scrapped due to dwindling interest. Price was a runner, and a very good one, who tragically died in his 30s last year. However clearly they don’t need our support as the race is full, which is good to see.

So here we are in glorious Mansfield, a place which is certainly in need of a lick of paint or two. So it's probably good that an event like this is pulling some trade into the town.

I don’t have great memories of the actual race two years and this year’s isn’t that memorable either as my 48.27 is two and a half minutes slower than two years ago. L says it’s brilliant, just obviously less brilliant than two years ago. I get less brilliant every year.

Great North Run

Saturday sees up heading up to Newcastle for the Great North Run. We go by train and via Sheffield, just in case someone obsessed wants to take in a Parkrun but, on this occasion, we don’t. 

We have moved from last year’s hotel after they ratcheted the price up. We stay in Motel One which is right near our usual post-race Sunday Roast venue the Pleased To Meet You.

Motel One is nice, offers free bottled water to ‘members’ (I only joined to book it this once) and an electronic aquarium on the TV, like some sort of 90’s screen saver.

Having checked in we head off to find the Pasta Party, having finally got the hang of the fact that this is now in Gateshead or rather it was. It isn’t this year apparently. The Great North City Games which are the mainly track based athletics events they usually have the day before the Great North Run have been moved to Stockton. Oh. Although we didn’t initially realise this when we got to Gateshead because they still have the big screen showing live coverage of it. While the Junior races are still there but the Pasta Party and the Expo seemed to have been vaporised. Unless that motley collection of tents is the Expo. They certainly don’t have any hoodies this year. This doesn’t bode well as the race approaches its 40^th birthday next year.

In the evening, finding somewhere to eat is difficult, for some reason everywhere is busy. In the end we eat at the Banyan bar which is full inside but they let us eat outside. That is until another staff member turns up to tell us that we can’t eat outside... once we’re finished eating. Then we pop into the delightfully and prophetically named D.E.A.D. for a pre-race beer. D.E.A.D. stands for Drop Everything And Drink.

Sunday is the race itself and we follow the throngs to the start where we join first the loo queue and then the start queue. Some poor folk probably won’t have even have cross the start line by the time Mr Farah is taking the tape at the finish. I line up next to a chap who ran 1:27 last year and is hoping to improve on that this time. One of us is in the wrong start zone.

As I have mentioned in previous years, it’s a pretty dull course so I mix things up this year by staying on the right hand side of the start which means you go over the first flyover rather than under it. So daring.

Then it’s the one exciting bit, over the Tyne Bridge but for some reason my timing is out and the Red Arrows are not overhead this year. Then I settle in for the grimness, get in a steady pace and high five as much of the crowd as possible to relieve the boredom until the next highlight at 10.5 miles where the beer stop is.

I am aiming for a time of around 1:45 but have completely failed to locate the 1:45 pacer either at the start or since. Then he comes past me at 12 miles. Are pacers supposed to sprint finish? I get a shift one and ‘un-lap’ myself finishing in 1:45:50.

Overall I am pleased with that. It’s a PB at my third attempt here. In previous years I’ve arrived pre-injured and have done a 1:48 and a 1:51.

Then it’s time for some more queuing. First I spend almost as long in the massage queue as I did running the race, all for what wasn’t even a great massage. Then I join the beer queue only to find that L has now finished her race and made the beer tent before me despite starting ages after me. We split three pints between us before heading off to join the bus queue as we attempt to escape South Shields.

Our evening meal and post-race drinks is again in the Pleased To Meet You and for breakfast the next morning we again frequent the Cathedral cafe.

Before the race L said this was definitely her last Great North Run but... she seems to have really enjoyed this one. We also have one more year of our three year ‘membership’ and next year is the race’s 40^thAnniversary. I rebook the hotel for next year.

Speyside Windfarm Challenge

From our Scottish holiday base in Grantown on Spey we head to the Margach Hall near Knockando to register for the Speyside Windfarm Challenge. From there we have to drive two miles out into the middle of nowhere to Kirdelbeg Farm from where the race starts. L again opts for a 10k while I do the full distance which in this case is 12 miles.

The mission, should we chose to accept it, is to run up the hill known as Paul’s Hill to the windfarm and back. Those doing the 12 miler get to do a lap of all windfarm as well. So it wasn’t flat. In fact is was 1400ft of climbing in total.

Allegedly from the top there are views of the Cairngorms, the Spey Valley and the Moray Firth. None of this scenery looks remotely likely as it starts to rain again almost as soon as we get started. Amazingly though it does fine up and some views are possible as we do a tour through the turbines but I couldn’t tell you what I saw.

The rocky surface isn’t ideal for my ankles but I manage to get through it without twisting anything and, in an admittedly small field, we are both top 20. I do the 12 miles in a time of 01:41:17 which seems fairly decent and come 18^th. L was 15^th in the 10k.

Back at the hall there are loads of sandwiches and cakes. There’s also a raffle which we don’t buy any tickets for but end up with four prizes. They take so long getting around to drawing the raffle that everyone else on our table goes home and leaves us with their tickets. We accept two of the prizes but ask them to redraw the others.

Great Aberdeen Run

We are on holiday in Scotland and staying around 25 miles from Aberdeen from where head to the Great Aberdeen Run. There is a half marathon for me and a 10k for L. It is also seriously warm and we are fortunate to find a nice shady multi-storey car park to keep the dogs cool.

The race starts on Union Street, skirts the rather nice harbour before going along the esplanade. Then it’s over the Bridge of Don to take us along a ‘beautiful’ dual carriageway for one those out and backs before looping back across the River Don into ‘old’ Aberdeen complete with serious hills and cobbles. Then it’s back down the esplanade and past Aberdeen FC’s Pittodrie stadium, which I managed to miss, before heading back into the city centre and a downhill finish back on Union Street.

Having survived the run in a leisurely 01:50, I then slip off the rocks on the beach on some seaweed and twist my ankle. L tells me to go stand in the sea until the swelling goes down.  Much to our surprise Aberdeen has the most amazing beach and it is ideal for the dogs.

Leek Half Marathon

On Sunday I am back at the Leek Half Marathon for the first time since 2011. Which was when L convinced me what a great race it was beforehand and then vowed how much she hated it afterwards. We’ve not been back since.

The race has had a bit of a chequered history since then. It was cancelled in 2014 and was nearly lost to the calendar completely. It was reduced to 10 miles last year due to moorland fires.

So it’s good to be back and to find that nothing has actually changed. They do say it’s a different route these days but I couldn’t tell. Needless to say it still isn’t flat. Although I suppose the selling point is the great view from the Roaches, if you can get enough oxygen in to your lungs by then to enjoy it.

The only thing that has obviously changed is me. Did I really run this in 1:43 in 2011? I do 1:53 today.

Burton 10k

L wasn't convinced she was going to be running the Burton 10k today but then at the last minute she decides she is fit to run and then blitzes it in a good time.

Although she nearly didn’t get the chance to blitz anything as we struggle to get to the start at Shobnall Leisure Centre because most of the surrounding roads are closed due to road works. We have to abandon our car in a street somewhere and walk the rest of the way, as do a fair number of the competitors although others do seem to have cracked the secret code and found a way to the car park.

The course is undulating, or rather largely uphill in the first half and downhill in the second half. It finishes with a lap of the athletics track at Shobnall. It was a pleasant leg stretch.

Trentham 10k

After Friday’s 10k we do another race on Sunday. This is the Trentham 10k which starts in Tittensor and is part of the lesser known (e.g. we’ve never heard of it) Trentham Triple series which also includes the Dave Clarke 5 and the Werrington 10k.

We have missed the deadline for online entry because we were waiting to see it either\both of us (but mainly L) could still walk after Friday’s run. So we have to get out skates on to arrive there nice and early, way before the 10:30am start, to grab what are described as ‘very limited on the day places’ which are being issued on a first come, first served basis as they have apparently had a huge amount of enquiries.

We are there before the registration desk is even officially open and still we aren’t either first come or first served but we do get in.

Once the race starts I begin to wonder why there was an apparent huge demand as the course is evil.

After starting on the main road we take an immediate left turn into a housing estate, which was quite hilly itself, before re-joining the main road to make our way to the bottom of a climb up something they call Beech Caves. This was simply sadistic, we didn’t need to go that way at all because once up it we U-turned to come straight back down again. They took us up it purely for the hell of it and the ‘fun’ of it.

Apparently the race was formerly known as the John Oultram 10 which was a 10 miles long and consisted of two laps of a 5 mile course including two trips up Beech Caves. Sadly a few years ago it was re-jigged into single lap 10k race. It’s a shame because there simply aren’t enough 10 milers around. I imagine it wasn’t as popular as the 10ks are but perhaps they could have run both side by side.

My time of 49:57 is not great but in the hilly circumstances probably not too bad either.

Castle Rock 10K

Tonight the Castle Rock 10K at Nottingham University, this was formerly the Jägermeister of course. It is the seventh time I’ve done it, having done the Jägermeister version five years out of six from 2007 to 2012 and in some ridiculously good times. Now known as my good years...

I’ve only done it once since and this was in 2016 after Castle Rock took over. This year we find out they’ve changed the course. How dare they! We all need some certainty in our lives and this was it.

I don’t know if it’s a permanent change or not as their website says that ‘due to ongoing work around the lake area the course is subject to change’. It’s not a totally bad change, it’s just disconcerting. Actually it is a bad change because the second lap is no longer shorter than the first one, which was always nice.

Clearly my legs don’t like it as I’m three minutes slower than I’ve ever been in 48:34. Apart from that, everything else about the race was great. It was as well run as ever with some 'nice' hills.

The other thing about this race, and another dose of certainty in our lives, is that they’ve never given out a t-shirt that I’ve felt was socially wearable. No change there. So some certainty remains. Phew.

The Run

L and Daughter have talked me into doing ‘The Run’ with them. We have done this several times before. Four years in a row in fact from 2008 to 2011 but not since. It starts from the Navigation Inn in Breaston and is a 4 mile run.

We used to get a mug for doing it, in the first three years, and it still seems a rather retro venture by only having a postal entry form. Which they seem to have photocopied and uploaded upside down.

Unfortunately L can barely walk so doesn’t run and Daughter is injured too, so I end up doing a run I was only doing this because those two were but I enjoy it. At 29:32 I was only a minute slower than my 2011 time when I recall I was injured, although a full four minutes slower than my best in 2010.

Round Sheffield Run

We managed to get places in the legendary (I believe, not that we’d heard of it until last year) Round Sheffield Run by way of their ballot, which digitally collapsed but still worked out for us. So here we are at Endcliffe Park faced with the usual enormous queue but in this case not just for the toilets but also to actually cross the start line. Not that you could actually start until your colour came up and we were in the last start wave anyway at 10:15. So no great rush for us.

Round Sheffield is a 20km run broken up into eleven stages. You carry a 'dibber' like we do with Orienteering and 'dib' in at the start and end of each stage. The stages have recovery breaks between them which total a further 4.5km of walking\collapsing on the grass gasping for breath. Which means it’s pretty much a half marathon where you have full permission to walk bits of it and\or grab a quick nap. Easy peasy then. It is based on the popular 14 mile Sheffield Round Walk and was launched in 2014.

The longest stage was the first one at 2.9km and this was a slightly uphill jog out of Endcliffe Park to somewhere called Forge Dam (I don't know these areas of Sheffield). The start of the second stage was almost straight after the first and I was straight on to it. This was said to be the toughest stage and it was certainly nearly all uphill. It was up Ringinglow, so mirrored the Sheffield Half Marathon but via an off road route. It also brought us to the first of two feed stations although this felt a bit too soon, so most people didn’t seem to bother.

Then we had two downhill stages, one of which was termed the Limb Valley Descent no less, and this took us down to Dore.

Stage Five was interesting. First it was a long walk, so you felt something serious was coming... then we had to climb a long set of steep steps to get to the start point. Personally I'd have started the stage at the bottom of steps but I can understand why they didn't. This was also where I started to get frustrated at being in the last start group because as soon as anything got remotely difficult people started walking and there often wasn't much opportunity to overtake.

Stage Six was a mere 0.8km of undulating terrain which was then followed by a short walk to Graves Park where Stage Seven was pretty much all uphill. This brought us to the second feed station which this time was very welcome.

What comes up must come down and both Stages Eight and Nine were downhill, one alongside a golf course and the other in Meersbrook Park which was only 0.8km long and seriously steep, downwards, with a great view of Sheffield.

The penultimate stage was initially a road stage and started in the street but it didn’t stay there as we were soon into more woodland and obviously none of it was flat.

We were back in Endcliffe Park for the final stage which was termed as a 04.km sprint back to the race village. Not that I really bothered to sprint, I could already see that the queue for the beer tent was huge. Which I then joined as I waited for L.

The other problem with being late starters was that the food stalls had hardly anything left to eat that didn’t include tofu.

It was certainly a different running experience because stopping mid race is normally avoided. I did like the concept but I would probably have preferred less but longer stages. I am now more into my longer distances and none of the stages were long enough for me to get my teeth into. Stop-start is not really my thing. In fact it didn't really feel like a race at all, it was more like interval training. I suppose you could have done it all non-stop or even ran the whole 24.5km but that didn't seem in the spirit of the things or indeed very wise.

I completed the distance in 1:49:34 which made me 629^th overall out of 2067. My best stages were Stages Two and Seven, the hilliest ones, where I broke into the top 400. My slowest stages were Nine and Eleven, showing I’m a hopeless descender and that I couldn’t be ***ed to sprint at the end!

It was a good experience but I'm not sure I'd be too bothered about doing it again.

Notts 10

On Friday evening I run the Notts 10, two glorious laps of Holme Pierrepoint. What could be nicer? L opts out of said two glorious laps of Holme Pierrepoint despite claiming to like 10 milers on the grounds that’s where she’s always ready to stop in a Half Marathon. Personally I’m always ready to stop with about 10 miles to go.

However Daughter joins me and perhaps a little too literally. When I run 7:38 for the first mile, she is in hot pursuit and doing around 8:00 for hers. Perhaps I should have waited for her and paced her. Then again, as she over cooks it, aggravates an old injury and limps in, it was wise not to. It was still a very promising performance though and shows what she’s capable of.

While she is getting faster, I’m clearly going in the opposite direction. I once hurtled around here in sub 1:14 but today I’m almost at 1:24. That’s running up the down escalator of life for you. Overall I’m satisfied though and they do hand me a bottle of Nottingham EPA at end.

Hairy Helmet

This evening we have our third attempt at the Hairy Helmet which I’m surprised is even going ahead given the weather and local councils tendency to cancel things. Darley Park is known for being a bit of a mud bath at times and it’s done nothing but rain all week. However the organisers have assured us that the council have given them the go ahead with only minor tweaks to the course. That probably means it’s going to be laps around the car park because the grass is too muddy.

It’s actually sunny when I start walking across from work but that doesn’t last and the rain soon joins the party, naturally, but it’s not as torrential as it has been the rest of the week.

L says she’s nervous but then she’s always nervous. I tell her she’ll be fine once she’s had her free gin from the White Peak Distillery but she says she’s feeding that to MD. I'm not sure that would help his inherent nervousness.

Our team in the same as last year although we are now in the Super Vets category (combined aged 200+ as we add up to 201). I will go first, L’s friend second, Daughter third and L fourth doing the lap of honour. 

It goes well, despite the rain and at least we aren't dressed as dinosaurs as one poor team is.

Market Harborough Carnival of Running

Today we travel down to Market Harborough for their Carnival of Running. This consists of four races - a 5k, a 10k, a half marathon and a fun run. All the races start from Robert Smyth Academy and finish on Symington Recreation Ground in the centre of town where they are holding a Carnival.

Well they were holding a Carnival but when we get there we find that the wet weather has put paid to that. There will be no Carnival but they aren’t letting us get out of the run.

Of the main three races the 5k is started first, then the 10k and finally the half marathon. This means I am chasing down L and Daughter who are in the 10k and have been given a head start. I am in the half. 

The route starts off by doing a three mile loop around the town centre before heading out into the countryside. Although I catch L about two miles in, I’m struggling to catch Daughter before the two routes split just after the four mile point. I catch her in time, just.

The weather has been ‘challenging’ throughout but gets worse as I get near the end of the half marathon. The last mile is all downhill but that doesn’t help much when the conditions become biblical. As I do a final lap of the field there is almost nobody left to clap me in, not even Noah and his Ark. They are all sheltering somewhere. L and Daughter text to say they are in a coffee shop. Thanks for the support girls but I’d have probably done the same.

Timewise, I run 1:50. Not great.

(Saturday 8^th June)

Vitality London 10k

Monday, which is a Bank Holiday, is what you could describe as a busy day.

First L, Daughter and I get the 6:30am train down to London. We are heading to the Vitality 10k run in Central London. On the train, which is largely quiet, are several fans already getting tanked up ahead of Derby’s Play Off Final with Aston Villa. Yes, I’ll be there later, but not tanked up.

L has suggested not taking the tube to the race village in Green Park but jogging there as a ‘nice warm up’. It's 3.5 miles! and I’m not sure she’s mentioned this to Daughter. We take the tube. At Green Park we meet up with L’s sister, who is also doing the run, and with her family.

The race starts on The Mall and takes in quite a few sights of London (Trafalgar Square, St Paul's, The Bank of England, House Of Parliament, where Daughter went for her interview at Somerset House) before finishing in front of Buckingham Palace. Although we finish before it, not after it like they do in the Marathon.

I finish in a disappointing 47:05 and then head back up the course to cheer in first Daughter, then L and her sister, who are running together. I have a different start time to the others, so get a head start on them.

After a sandwich, a coffee and quick clothes change in a portaloo I’m off to Wembley for the match. While everyone else, apart from L’s sister who is my partner in crime at the game, head off home.

Windermere Marathon

With around a thousand entries this year the race is growing year on year. In addition to the Marathon there are also seventeen runners doing the 10 in 10 challenge in aid of the Brathay Trust. Basically this is ten laps of the marathon course over ten consecutive days. Gulp. Sixteen of them have lasted the distance.

These mad folk/legends (delete as applicable) are given a heroes send off when they start one by one an hour before us mere mortals.

Then it’s our turn and we led down from Brathay Hall to the start line on the main road by a marching band. Then we’re off and it’s all somewhat pleasant, undulating as you’d expect but nothing too extreme. The roads have even been closed for us and remain so for most of the first half of the race. They are briefly open around Hawkshead, where we are diverted through the centre of the village which was packed with spectators who lined the street and cheered us along the cobbled streets and alleyways.  

Then we are back into the countryside past Esthwaite Water with Lake Windermere itself in the distance. The next landmark is when we reach the bottom of Lake Windermere at Newby Bridge and then start coming back up the other side. This is roughly halfway and I’m pleased that not only am I feeling pretty good but also that I go through 13 miles in 1:59. Therefore I'm running at four hour marathon pace despite the testing terrain.

We turn onto the A592 ‘coast’ road and past Fell Foot where we have parkrun. Here it’s busy with cars but after that the road is made one way until Bowness and goes relatively quiet again. I really cannot fault the organisation on how they have minimised the traffic.

The course though gets more difficult, hiller and not as scenic with Lake Windermere largely obscured despite the fact you’re mostly alongside it.

After 20 miles we arrive in Bowness, which is packed with mostly bemused tourists but with plenty of spectators too. I recall from when I did the bike leg of the Windermere Triathlon, which started in Bowness, that there is a bloody big hill coming all the way up to the main A591 road and beyond. My memory is not wrong.

This is where I begin to struggle. Although I have had no calf problems at all my lack of training post-Manchester is telling and I drop well off my four hour marathon pace. In fact it get so tough and my legs so knackered that I walk considerable chucks of it. I do put on a spurt when I pass local legend Rocket Rod who was helping at the next feed station.

It probably doesn’t help that I know the A591 through Troutbeck Bridge to Ambleside so well, that I know exactly what is coming. Even then Ambleside seems hillier than before and even once through Ambleside it goes up again at Clappersgate and then just to cap it all the finish up the driveway back to Brathay Hall is uphill as well.

I cross the line in 4:15:22 which, I suppose, for a course like this still isn’t too bad and at least I’ve not got another nine laps to do.

Orston Spring Dash

Today L, Daughter and myself run the Orston Spring Dash 10km in the Vale of Belvoir. It is a 10k in name only as it’s actually 10.2k long but , apparently, as it’s a ‘mixed terrain’ race they’re still allowed to call it a 10k. Who knew...

I’m also not sure that anyone mentioned the dreaded words ‘mixed terrain’ to me when this was put on our race calendar. There are apparently some muddy tracks which isn’t exactly what I want when trying to avoid further injury ahead of Windermere next week.

However the route isn’t too bad, not too muddy, as they take us on a loop from the village of Orston through Flawborough and Thoroton then back to Orston.

Daughter sets an impressive new PB but then we all do for 10.2k. I guess she’s referring to her time at the actual 10k point. I limp round in 50:23. L is equally disgruntled with her time but soon cheers up when she sees the impressive cake selection.

Great Northern Half

Monday is the May Day Bank Holiday and is the day of my inadvisable half marathon, the Great Northern Half in Mickleover, but if I’m doing the Windermere Marathon in two weeks time I need to do some training, however inadvisable. It is run by Huub and is possibly the dullest race you’ll ever do but it’s shockingly popular. At least it usually is when it’s run in March when there’s not a lot on. Having it in May, when there are more races on, means it hasn’t proved quite as popular.

There is a 10k option which L does. It’s the same course as mine but just the one lap!

I take it steady, in a damage limitation exercise, and run it at marathon (e.g. two hour) pace. Which goes well for ten miles, so I decide to up the pace for the last three and come in at 1:54:08 but I’ll probably regret it tomorrow.

The Longhorn

Today L and I both do the Longhorn Half Marathon at Thoresby Park. L signed up for this a while ago figuring that while the 10k would have been sensible, an off-road half marathon sounded too good to miss. Which is the opposite of the logic I would have used. Now she is a reluctant participant but one with a masterplan - ‘How to Finish a Half Marathon Without Training For It’. Sorted.

We leave the dogs at home and take the new car, travelling in style. It’s a late start for our race, 11:50, so I take them for a park session first. There are actually various distances I could have done with the Lad but decide to go it alone.

I shouldn’t really be doing this at all, as my calf isn’t up to it but if I’m going to do justice to my birthday present (Windermere Marathon) then I need the training run even if I have to crawl the second lap. Yes, the half marathon is two laps.

There is also a 5k, a full marathon and a 60k Ultra for the excessively stupid. Maybe next year.

I strap everything up and take it very easy, making sure I don’t toe strike to preserve my bad calf. I'm even chilled enough to partake of the odd chuck of cake at the feed stations.

There are plenty of Nordic Walkers which set me off thinking whether those poles they use would help take the stress off my calves. Is Nordic Running also a thing?

The route, through Sherwood Forest and allegedly over old military roads (they’re all forest tracks to me) was nice, if you like that sort of thing. I prefer city centres myself. The terrain is not too leg braking but might have been had I been strapped to a dog.

The mile marking is a tad bizarre. Miles 1 to 6 are marked out but what this all means when you start lap two I have no idea, given a lap is 6.55 miles. That said, from what I call tell, I’m almost but not quite on Marathon pace and I finish in 2:04, which isn’t a total disaster. I did try and lift the pace towards the end which didn’t help my calves, which had until that point held up well.

I am handed my ‘bespoke’ race finishers medal which is allegedly one of the big selling point of the race. That is, if you’re into your bling which I’m not but at least I will save mine. L will most likely bin hers straight away. There’s no t-shirt included but there are some to buy.

Then I wait for L who pronounces herself pleased with her efforts which included a bit of run-walk to get herself through it.