Events Blog

November 11th 2017 7.8 mile run (not 10k!!) My first every trail race! On a rather blustery and typically Welsh morning, I drove over from Swansea to the beautiful Gower peninsula. When arriving at Rhossilli I thought how dramatic the scenery looked, with the changeable weather and high tide! Registration involved a tediously long queue, during which I pondered the sense of wearing shorts (no one else was!) and not having brought some sort of shell to run in. Finally in the tent, I was given some sort of dongle thing around my wrist (which turned out to be my chip to insert at checkpoints - spot the novice!) and a fairly standard tee. The briefing ensured at 11am (odd, as this is normally a 2 minute silence) at which point the route and instructions were gone through in good detail. I still felt rather nervous as a first timer though, and the rain battering the tent wasn't helping. Soon afterwards though, we were off! The start was along a narrow track and then up a bit of...

October 15th 2017 26.2 mile run My final event of the season - and how great for it to be such a local run. I realised when I entered that this route would not be particularly inspiring (two laps of Pershore Road?!) but did not want to miss out on this Great Run, as many of my friends were participating. Lining up at the start I was pretty nervous. Training had not gone well. Having finished LEJOG on 7th September I found my running legs a lot more tired than I thought, and it was at least another two weeks before I was able to run. Typically, after a season of numerous sporting endevours my body finally decided to say "no", and I had another week of being ill (as well as restless and grumpy!). This ended in the very painful form of the Draycote 20 miler.... So, three weeks out from the marathon, I was finally ready to start training, hurrah! I managed a couple of midweek runs, and then a 17 miler on the Sunday (encompassing the new Peacehaven Parkrun) before being ki...

September 24th 2017 20 mile run I booked the Draycote 20 as a "warm-up" for the Birmingham Marathon, and it certainly was that. The sun shone as we drove to the venue (after a 20 minute detour due to me having read B32 as B23 - oops!) and I was quite happy wondering around in a vest and t-shirt pre-race (always a bad sign!). Parking paid for I headed towards the start, then realised this was actually about a mile on, so I broke into a light jog. At this point, I realised that I still had a case of the sniffles - after having been ill the previous week - and my chest was putting up a bit of resistance too. Dropping back to a walk once I had enough people behind me to be sure the race wouldn't start without me, I made my way to the start, and before long, we were off. I settled my HR in Z2, and had a fairly comfortable first lap (and a bit). By lap 2 my HR was already starting to creep up, simultaneous to my pace dropping. This vicious cycle I find very hard to c...

June 4th 2017 8.5 mile mixed terrain race The Great Midlands Fun Run is an 8.5 mile (very odd distance!) which starts and ends in Sutton Coldfield. The route is largely tarmac and takes in Sutton Park, which is where I run fairly often - I did this event last year and really enjoyed it, hence being back for another go! Learning my lesson from last year, I decided to start reasonably close to the front. By the time I had wriggled my way through I was perhaps 15 or so rows back from the start. This turned out to be a much better position than last year, and when the race started at 11:10 (they let the wheelchairs go off first) I was held up very little. The first two miles flew by (possibly a little too quickly when I looked at my watch), and rounding the corner up to Jamboree I decided to take it fairly steady as my HR was creeping up. I still felt pretty good, but was running with my other half so we kept the pace steady right up and down from jamboree, and then around to t...

March 19th 2017 10km trail running race Second running race of the year! Unfortunately timed to be coming off the back of a chest infection, and a very tight calf... However, after a week of rest (hence very little running prep) I thought I'd give it a go, if nothing else, to test my leg. With the aim of "just jogging around" (ha!) I did a mini warm-up (5 mins) then started the course. Unaware of the speed I was going at due to the distracting crowd of other runners, and my throbbing leg, I set off way too fast. Getting up to Jamboree, which leads to the first real downhill, I ws disappointed to find my HR up at max, and myself unable to take real advantage of the elevation change. The pebbly path down to the next pool didn't feel any nicer, and after than came a familiar climb (normally my final climb!) up to the wilder area of the park. This was follwed by a brief downhill respite towards Bracebridge pool before a horror of a muddy climb back up the same sl...

January 15th 2017 7.5 mile road running race Aside from huge mass participation events, I realised I had never really entered a running race before - so I diaried this one on the advice of my coach to him give myself a goal in the void that can be a triathlete's winter.  As my first race of this kind, I turned up to the start decidedly nervous! The hoards of club-vested runners didn't help, so I went off for a solitary warm-up along the road. With a race plan in my mind, I headed along to the start, which turned out to be a long way from the facilities and probably could have formed part of my warm-up...  The start was a gradual uphill leading to a flattish section. I resisted the temptation to sprint off and kept my HR well within Z3, letting others come gradually past where necessary. Turning left after a few miles I was faced with the long, gradual climb which formed the central section of the race. Again I asked to keep in control, letting my HR gradually rise into Z4 b...

June 5th 2016 8.5 mile mixed terrain race The second event of my accidental double event weekend - and I was looking forward to it! The Great Midlands Fun Run is an 8.5 mile (very odd distance!) which starts and ends in Sutton Coldfield. The route is largely tarmac and takes in Sutton Park, which is where I run fairly often on Sundays, with the Boldmere Bullets 9s. Practically home turf! I caught the train for the 5 minute journey to Sutton and soon came across some school friends in the start pen. I chatted to them and ended up staying until the start, not too worried about being halfway down the pen. This turned out to be a bit of a mistake, as when the run started the course goes straight up a hill, and going was incredibly slow! This event is advertised as a "fun run", and not a race, but the word "run" still forms part of the description, and there were definitely a lot of people already walking on the course ahead of me. I don't take issue to anyone...

May 25th 2014 My first (and last!) marathon. I'm one of those slightly "ocd" people who likes to plan, prepare and pack to the finest detail. I planned my entry to Edinburgh on a spontaneous whim in December. Let's just say the winter weight was piling on, the socials were numerous and I was finding winter training for triathlon, unlike rowing, lacked focus (ie events or races). Now I could have entered a 10k or two, or perhaps a duathlon. But no, I went big. To scare myself into action, I entered Edinburgh Marathon Festival 2014 - the Full one. Unfortunately, due to aforementioned socials, I wasn't able to 'spring' into action until after New Years, but at that point I made the resolution to train hard, and avoid alcohol until after the marathon. I set myself up a nice little training plan on the advice of a friend which gently built up my distance by less than 10% per week, starting with a 2, 3 and 4 mile run in a week, and generally consisting ...