This week it's the Sheffield Half Marathon, which has always
been one of my favourite races with its no messing straight uphill first half
up Ringinglow and then the plummet back down to Sheffield in the second half. Well
it was my favourite before my knees went awol.
When I last ran Sheffield in 2018 my calf, which seized up during most races in those days, gave up the ghost in the warmup yet I still hobbled round in 1:55. Today it’s a 1:58.
My colleague from work is doing the Tromso Rat Race this weekend.
Snow biking, snow shoeing and cross country skiing across three countries. It sounds
amazing and costs an amazing amount of money. None of which is of course is going to be as
amazing as the Ashby 20.
They haven’t had a lot of luck at Ashby in recent years. 2018 was snowed off and although 2019 went ahead the last two years have been Covid-ed off. The original 30th Anniversary was cancelled at the 11th hour in 2020 with the first lockdown about to be announced.
I have the iconic hoodies for that race and the 2021 Virtual
one, so I thought I best actually earn this year’s 30th Anniversary ‘take
two’ one. Plus I need the training.
'Organised by runners, for runners' by Ivanhoe
Runners, race HQ and the finish is in Bath Grounds although we start at short walk
away on the road.
The weather is good, sunny but cool. The course has a
great first mile which is all downhill, which of course means that the last
mile wiil be all uphill. Then you arrive in Packington where you start two
nine mile long laps.
These are hilly laps but with steady and rolling hills rather
than anything too severe. We head through Sponge, then up an incline through
Swepstone towards Heather and then finally through Normanton Le Heath as we
head back to Packington where my support team of L, MD and the Lad await. I've
kept a good pace at around 9 minute miles and lap one is done in a decent 1:29.
Then I do it all again, just more slowly slipping down into the 10s and 11s.
Although I finish five minutes quicker than at Oundle
last week in 3:12:10 this isn’t the fastest Ashby 20 time recorded by
anyone in our house. L’s 3:07 from 2003 still stands and may never be beaten.
Then it's time for the iconic hoody, the iconic cheese cob
and a commemorative 30th Anniversary medal which is the first time the Ashby 20
have issued a medal.
Funnily enough I quite enjoyed it.
What better way to destroy your confidence for a marathon
than to attempt to run two 20 miler back to back. My ‘long awaited’ Ashby 20 debut
is next week but first the Oundle 20 miler down in Northamptonshire.
This a newish event by Nice Work that started in 2018 and
rather sweetly has most of the same snacks etc that you get on their 5ks.
The next thing I notice is that almost everyone from the
Stamford race last month is here. Anyone would think there are some marathons coming up.
The race HQ is at Oundle Primary School but parking is all
in the little estate roads around the start. I’m not sure what the residents
thought of this... the ones in Retford last week would have gone ape and have done so in the past.
The route takes us out from Oundle around
the local country lanes taking in the villages of Fotheringay, Nassington, Yarwell and
King’s Cliffe.
They describe it as undulating with PB potential which is of
course both contradictory and a lie. It was indeed hilly although not quite as bad as Stamford and quite
windy too but thankfully not cold like it was for Stamford.
Like Stamford I started off with 9 minute miles and this time avoided dropping into 10s until about mile 13, two miles later than at Stamford. Then into 11s at mile 18, one mile later than at Stamford. All of which meant nothing as my overall pace was about the same. I’ll blame the obligatory last bit around the playing field. I came in with 3:17:36 which is about 4:25 marathon pace.
Overall it wasn’t too bad an event and I’d probably do it again, if I had too...
Today it's the Retford Half which was the last run L and I
did in 2020 before lockdown. L even put in extra distance afterwards as we
expected the Ashby 20 to still go ahead the following week but it didn’t.
Instead of Retford this year I had considered
Warwick Half which we could have possibly combined with a trip to see
Son and it would have
been more interesting place for L to spectate. Then I found out that
Warwick is
£36 and a t-shirt is £15 extra whereas Retford is £20 including a
t-shirt.
Given that Retford is also organised by the local running club that I would like to support, rather than a
profit making race company, here we are.
Run wise it is what it is. Country lanes, not terribly
exciting but useful training.
During the race I get caught by someone local to us who I’ve sort of being trying to beat for years and have usually done so until recently. Now he’s ageing better than me and he’s five years older than me as well. As we run a few miles together he’s delighted that we’re running at around 8:10 pace. While I’m dying because my target marathon pace is 9:00 and that's what I want to be running at.
I ran a pretty amazing 1:45 for this race back in 2020 which was a typical time for me ‘back then’ even though I was struggling to get my distance up for the marathon. These days I’m running closer to two hours (different era, different knees).
His daughter is running with him and is in training for the Manchester Marathon. Even 8:10 is too slow for her and she skips off in front because clearly we’re holding her back. A mile or so later I tell him I’m slowing down and drop off his pace.
I finish in 1:54, which is still quite good and I suppose all thanks to his suicidal pace making.
I have another
run today which is just a 10k at Victoria Embankment. There’s also a
5k which L was tempted with but £20 for that, the same price as the 10k, isn’t
cheap. So she decides to run there instead.
My 10k is pretty dull but it’s a necessary training run. My time of 51 minutes is pretty good for me these days.
On Sunday though I have a real live run of my own. Back in February 2020 when I was training for the Brighton
Marathon, as I am now because it is two years late, I was down to run the
Stamford Striders St Valentine’s 30k along with my (then) fellow Brighton
trainees L and her sister. L was to be my 'Valentine Pair' as they have such a
thing but now it's just me, 'Valentine No Mates'.
That race in 2020 was cancelled but not due to Covid which hadn't
yet reached crisis point but down to Storm Dennis who was throwing a strop with
40mph winds. In the end they ran it a week later, which meant we couldn't make
it. Instead I dragged the Lad around a 15 mile tour of Nottingham in the not
quite gale force winds.
Now I'm back at Stamford and wishing this year’s was being cancelled as well because the weather is possibly going to be worse than in 2020 just without the gale force winds which means it’s going ahead.
In the morning the temperature is just about above freezing
with a brisk cooling breeze and the prospect of heavy rain later. Nice. I come equipped in
long trousers, long sleeves and with a rain jacket that in the end I don't use
and it stays wrapped around my waist throughout.
The race starts at 11am (a really civilised time) in the dry
but the rain does come, although it’s not as heavy as promised, and the 'breeze'
makes for a challenging last few miles.
I maintain my ideal 9 minute marathon pace for just the first seven miles
before slipping to 10s and then 11s after 14 miles.
It is one of those races that makes you do one last humiliating stagger around a sports field to reach the finish line and as I do so I am shocked to realise that 30k isn’t ‘just’ 18 miles as I thought but it’s actually almost 19 but I should have known that.
My time is 3:05 which is apparently a mere fraction quicker
than L ran ‘back in the day’. If I carried on crawling long at 11s pace it would
turn out to be about a 4:25 marathon. Which I’d probably take. That’s if I
could continue to crawl that fast.
Today it’s the New Year 10k at Sherwood Pines that
L and I ran when I was last marathon training two years ago, for the same race
I’m now training for e.g. Brighton. Only last time she was training for it too
but now she isn’t. She would have done this 10k though if she’d not had her
foot injury.
It’s a two lap course which this time they seem to have
measured properly as last time it was well short. This time it may actually
be slightly long. It’s a two lap course and last time we did an extra training loop
with the Lad but I was younger then. So I don’t do that this time.
