A quick update of events and pub runs coming up:-
The fourth Maiden Newton Running Club pub run will be on Wednesday 25th April at 6.30 pm, meeting at the New Inn, Cerne Abbas. Phil has agreed to plan the route and apparently has already resorted to marching his entire family round sections of it between Sunday lunch and tea. I'm sure they were thrilled!
Martin and I will be hosting a YTRRC run from the White Hart at Yetminster on the 17th May, route as yet unplanned. Yeovil are having a total White Hart month - visiting pubs of the same name at Bishops Caundle (3rd) Sherborne (10th) and Crewkerne (24th)!
As mentioned at the latest meeting - Egdon Health Harriers have pub runs on Tuesday evenings and many of their locations are very local for us. There is a complete list on their website, but here is a selection that Martin and I may try to get to:-
24th April - Brewers Arms at Martinstown
15th May - White Horse at Litton Cheney
12th June - Greyhound at Sydling St Nicholas
26th June - Halstock Golf Club
24th July - our very own Chalk and Cheese
7th August - Piddle Inn, Piddletrenthide
18th September - Lower Burton, Charminster
Right on to the serious stuff - future events:-
First of all good luck to everyone running in London next Sunday - especially Lesley who is running in aid of breast cancer (and if I didn't catch you at this month's meeting it won't be too late to sponsor her at the next one), but also to Nigel Johns who has carried his place over from last year, and to Martin who despite some very sketchy training is hoping to go sub 3 hours again - and I am sure that he will.
Other races coming up:-
6th May - Glastonbury Road Race (4th race in the Somerset Series) and also the Neolithic marathon, which Martin and I will be doing as further training for the ultra events later in the season.
13th May - the most important of all, our own Johnny Kipps, which will see Martin going for the hat trick although 2 marathons in the preceding fortnight may give the rest of you a chance!
20th May - Wessex Ridgeway relay - this year we are running a Maiden Newton team of Dave, Phil, Martin and myself, each tackling 3 legs, and desperately hoping for some better weather than we endured last May. One thing is for sure, it can't be worse.
Looking ahead to June there will be the Ninesprings 9km, 4.5km and fun run at Goldenstones on the 10th June and I will bring some entry forms to the next meeting. This is a YTRRC race so Martin and I will volunteer to help with entries and results as further practice ready for the New Ten.
I think that's probably enough to be going on with - don't forget to share your race reports on the blog!
A drinking club with a running problem. Loosely based in the eponymous village (look it up, I had to).
Wessex Ridgeway Relay Teams 2009
Wessex Ridgeway Relay Teams 2009
Contact us at:
maidennewtonrunner@hotmail.co.uk
Club Officials
Chairman: Phil England
Vice-Chairman: Lin Lascelles
Secretary: Dave Webb
Treasurer: John Wright
Vice-Chairman: Lin Lascelles
Secretary: Dave Webb
Treasurer: John Wright
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8 comments:
Good luck to the London runners. Driving up today (Thursday) so I can register tomorrow (Friday). Planning to come back on Monday so should (!?) be able to make the jogs next week.
Thought I'd get in first with my race report.
Not ideal preparation despite travelling up on Friday - we spent way too long on our feet on Saturday at the Expo, with irregular meals, not enough hydration and an almost completely sleepless night (we had to park the van in the car park at the camp site as they didn't open their gates till 7am and we needed to leave before then).
Race day went much better - a problem free drive across to Blackheath and we were parked up with plenty of time to relax and prepare. My start was at 9am and my nerves began once I gained access to the "elite" enclosure. It was great having special loos with wood panelling and carpet and no queues, but daunting being surrounded by seriously fit and fast looking athletes. I exited the enclosure at about 8.45 for a last good luck hug with Martin and then it was onto the start line, mingling with the fast and famous, and feeling a total fraud. Luckily there were also familiar faces – Nina Wagstaff from YTRRC and my old pre injury adversary, Jenny Moore who now runs for Wells City Harriers and in a different league to me, Heather Hawker and other familiar local club runners.
It was a relief when the race got under way and nerves subsided as the running began. I started off very steadily (I thought) and was amazed when I reached the first mile marker to see a time of 6.47. The second mile, still feeling very easy, was also completed in 6.47, and then the third downhill mile was run at faster than my current 5k pace and still feeling like a jog! I knew I was going to pay for this pace later in the morning, but it felt so good I decided to just go with it and enjoy it whilst it lasted. I went through the halfway mark in 1.31.55 and I already knew that the rest of the race was going to be hard work as my pace dropped off.
I’ve been reading the press reports this morning about the “awful” conditions and the “terrible” heat, but I have to say that it didn’t really effect me. It was hot, but not uncomfortably so – I did go through the 3rd shower, but it was so cold it almost gave me heart failure and I avoided the last one!
The leading pack of elite men passed me just before 20 miles but after that there was a huge gap before any more went past. By now I was really struggling. I desperately wanted to stop – this was where I really missed having Martin with me so that I could whine to him about how awful I felt. However I knew I was still on for a reasonable time and as the mile markers dropped away I was constantly calculating and recalculating my finish time. At the 25 mile mark I knew I was going to do sub 3.15 unless something really dire happened, and I finally crossed the line in 3.12.15 – my second best marathon time either pre or post broken hip so I was very pleased and also relieved that my elite start hadn’t been a total con. The best part was being able to walk away from the finish – in 2005 I only made it to the chip removing platform before collapsing into a wheelchair and spending the rest of the day in the First Aid tent.
I know Martin will be posting his own excuses, sorry I mean race report later, so I won’t mention his race, but I have to say a huge well done to Lesley who finished in 4.35 and according to Richard, looking as fresh as a daisy.
Nigel, please let us know how you got on. We can’t find you in the results, which is very worrying.
Looking forward to the pub run on Wednesday evening, blisters should be better by then!
Richard Said:
Sunday saw Lesley at the London Marathon, her debut at the distance. After a “slightly”!!!! crowded train to Blackheath, we found ourselves strolling across the common to the start, on a lovely sunny morning. After taking a couple of photos in front of the blue start sign I started to wish her well and bid her farewell. A startled, frightened look spread across her face and fighting back tears she mumbled something about not seeing me again! “Well Lesley, this is your race, I can’t go into the restricted area with you, and we may not spot each other until the meet and greet.” And she started to go. “Er, Lesley, you forgot your kit-bag, I can’t take it, you take it and put it on the baggage lorry.” With lower lip quivering and blinking back more tears she said she needed encouragement not cross words. Having sorted that out she then turned and with barely a backward glance she strode off through the highly defended gates where thousands of other blue-starters went. (Amongst the general public, rumours abound concerning what takes place in the restricted area, stories about athletes going through pagan rituals, applying war paint and smearing bodies with foul smelling ointments. There are also rumours that a timid few never emerge from this restricted area, their limp forms are found propped up in or behind the portaloos. These unfortunates are taken away to be shredded and composted with the soil waste and spread over the herbaceous borders in Greenwich Park).
Anyway Lesley did spot me waiting opposite pen 7. She came sprinting over, jaw set and a steel glint in her eye and threw her long running trousers at me. Was the woman mad or superhuman? Had she really intended to run in them, on the hottest London in its 27th year? Earlier it was only with great skill that she had been persuaded not to run in her shiny new jacket. (Well the only cloud in a clear blue sky was the smoke coming from the incinerator where the organisers cremate the sad handful of runners who have failed to find the finish of last year’s event! Driven mad by thirst and exhaustion nobody bothers to claim them).
Within a few minutes the runners were off and I made my way on foot to mile 9. I failed to see Lesley and was worried in case she had succumbed to the heat. Even Martin looked a tad warm as he went past, and some were already walking. I need not have worried, at the end of the South Colonnade, just after mile 18, under the BBC camera, Lesley and I spotted each other. Other runners came over to their loved ones, seeking sustenance, and telling woes of blisters and chafing. Lesley, as she sped past, gave a nonchalant wave as if to say “what’s all the fuss about this marathon business, piece of p*ss! I won’t bore you with horrendous problems on the DLR and tube, but suffice to say, after transferring from Westferry to Bank I was nicely placed to run alongside the runners down Lower and Upper Thames Streets and Victoria Embankment. By running ahead of her I managed to spot her and cheer her on three times in this section. She still looked good while others were really suffering in the heat. I was beginning to suspect she was really an alien robot in human skin!! She ran the whole race, only stopping once briefly to refill her bottle. A fantastic finishing time of 4:32:57! We met in the meet and greet area and she still looked good, ready to eat and drink. At this point I committed the cardinal sin of failing to take a photo. Well it never occurred to me – she looked much she same as at the start except for the medal!!!
While on the platform of Westminster Tube a runner sitting on the long bench with us turned and faced the wall. A vigorous stream of watery yellow liquid gushed from his mouth, splashed down the wall and formed a small lake, while his body jerked in uncontrollable spasms. “Just like you, Richard, after a marathon” the robot alien smugly remarked”.
Monday morning we had a good walk on Wimbledon Common. Runners in this area are lucky, lots of tracks and wooded bits, and it even, sort of, joins on to Richmond Park.
Well done to all you London runners, I watched the mass start on the TV but strangely they didn't pick you out on the coverage.
Lin and Lesley are obviously impervious to the heat, though Lin starting 45 mins early and using the cunning plan of running fast must have helped her finish before it got too hot.
Hope Martin was happy with his race, and that Nigel's absence from the results is due to him running under an alias rather than injury, illness or other disaster.
See you on weds night, may not stay for a meal after as it is our wedding anniversary.
It was an exciting start, watching Lin disappear down Shooters Hill with the other elite ladies, then I returned to the green start area, and although I had taken advantage of arriving early to visit one of the scores of portaloos before Lin started, I now needed to go again, but the queues were about 100 yards longer (I'm not exaggerating!). So after waiting ten minutes, I did some lateral thinking,and grabbed another 330ml Vittel water bottle, emptied it in the grass, and then took it to the men's changing tent, and briefly re-filled it, before re-emptying it rather more surreptitiously behind the tent. On passing the next tent, I saw a line of less inhibited chaps cutting out the intermediate steps.
There now followed a nervous 30 minute wait for my race to begin. When it finally did, there was the usual shuffling forward into a jog, and then a rather chaotic acceleration past the celebrities before I was properly on my way, at a pace for what I now realise was an overambitious target time of under 3 hours. I did the first four miles at a 6:40 per mile pace which put enough lactic acid into my legs to ensure that I would struggle for the next 22 miles, and spend the next days walking with the typical wincing post-marathon gait. The race was as interesting as usual, but I think I'll cut directly to my excuses for not breaking 3 hours which are, in no particular order:-
1. Lack of sleep for 2 nights before.
2. Slow start due to 12 foot nurse character and other celebrities starting at the front of the green start at a slow jog at best (spot the pet peeve?!)
3. Ran too fast for the next 3 or 4 miles to make up that time,
4. Heat became a factor after a few miles, but in fact it was not really hot in absolute terms.
A brief digression:
Celebrity Chef Gordon Ramsey said it was like running in a desert, I wonder if he ever has, because it wasn't anywhere like that hot, unless it was a misprint, and he said dessert, but then that wouldn't make much sense unless you had an overactive imagination and thought the green and yellow ballons everywhere were some sort of confectionery.
BTW The pre-race briefing told us not to pour the water over our heads, so there would be some left for the slower runners. I think most people were ignoring that, I certainly poured the rest of most of the dozen or so bottles I picked up along the way over my head, and it was quite a relief for a few seconds before it evaporated.
5a. Drinking too much water?
5b. Drinking too little water?
6. Carrying too much weight (caused by too many pub meals)
7. Not enough quality training (cause: too many pub runs).
Aha, now we are getting to the crux of the matter. The solution seems obvious: - Cut back on eating out, and social running.
No wait, there is a better solution - give up trying to run faster every year I do the London Marathon, and just enjoy participating in an outstanding event!
Back to the race, I was again plagued by a runner who had the name Martin on his shirt who must have been running within a few yards of me for miles, so that I kept turning around to see if there was somebody I knew when they shouted my (his) name. Better add that to my list of excuses, but the same thing happened in 2005, so it couldn't have made much difference.
I also have to comment on the amazing similarity between Lin's split times and mine. Despite running separately, our splits were never more than a minute apart, and usually half that. We even put a spurt on at the same time crossing Tower Bridge which is probably the most amazing running experience due to the unbelievable level of crowd support.
So I don't want anybody to think that I am disappointed with my time, actually I was well pleased, because given how hard it felt, and how hard I had to work to keep going at all, and how much I felt like stopping, it could have been a lot slower!
Waiting eagerly to hear Lesley's version of events now. very impressed by Richard's eloquence, perhaps a little too much detail with regard to the unfortunate runner on the train. Ditto Martin's tales of beating the queue for the loo problem.
Dave - sorry we have coincided the pub run with your anniversary, but this is what happens if you forsake your duty and swan off to Italy enjoying yourself. You could always get a babysitter and bring Jackie along - I'm sure she'd love to share her anniversary celebrations with a bunch of sweaty runners - how romantic would that be?!
Yes, this is my review:
OK, I was a bit apprehensive at the start, and yes, I did forget I was still wearing my long, black trousers. However things did get better. I actually passed the start line running about 10 minutes after the starting gun, but then it slowed to a walk again for a few minutes. We soon went past Indiana Jones followed by his boulder, and then I discovered the second and third rules of marathon running: use the grass verges where possible, and run in the shade. It was getting a bit warm by mile 4, so I started taking a water bottle at each station, and I also went through each cool, refreshing shower!!!! I thought I was doing about 10 min/mile pace, but I went past the 10 min pacing group at about 5 miles. On Tower Bridge I dodged around some chain-gang prisoners being interviewed and later saw myself on TV. Kept plodding on towards Docklands, saw some fast runners coming back the other way but didn’t see Martin. They looked worse than I felt. Saw some Yeovil runners around here, not sure who they were, and also a man with a false arm and leg. Somewhere around mile 15 I had my only break while I refilled my energy drink bottle. Then on to mile 18 where I saw Richard on a corner. No time to stop. Back along the two-way bit where the other runners were now rather sparse and mostly walking. Made it to 21 miles which was the limit of my training, then somehow got to 22 miles by just going as far as the next bridge, lamp post, tree etc. After that it turned into “only 4 miles to go, anyone can do 4 miles”. Luckily before I got too carried away Richard popped up again, and again with words of encouragement. Somewhere around 24 miles the charity group I was running for cheered me on. At 25 miles it was 4:30 approx on the clock, with 1.2miles to go. So I just carried on plodding towards the finish, going round endless corners until the finish line was in sight. I then made sure there were no rhinos or beer bottles in sight as I posed for my photo and collapsed over the line.
Then followed the hardest bit as I had to get myself up this enormous ramp (at least a foot high) for chip removal, get weighed down by medal and goody bag, followed by quarter of a mile of the slowest plodding since the top of Mt Kilimanjaro, to collect the kit bag. Why did I leave so much stuff in it? Another quarter of a mile to the “W” tree through dense crowds of spectators and I finally found Richard and sank to the ground…………………….
PS I recovered pretty well, and was able to walk to a restaurant and eat out that night, and go for a walk on Wimbledon Common next morning. Tuesday saw me back at work to a “hero’s welcome”. Staff and patients had watched it on TV on Sunday, and realised what running 26 miles actually
means!!!!!
PPS Note to Runners World: I ran the whole race on about 6 teaspoons of energy drink powder and 3 jelly babies. The pre-race day consisted of going to the expo followed by CD shopping, and a meal out + bottle of wine. Seemed to work for me.
Back to the real world now, another two rows of potatoes to plant and endless weeding, best marathon training ever…………….
Well done to Martin, Lin and Lesley. Sounds gruelling enough! :-)
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