We then quickly returned to the car and quickly shut the doors against the elements ( mostly Nitrogen and Oxygen) to gird our loins (and most other parts) for our
The course, which is all on road,led its winding and undulating route through Holway, and then turned right towards Glanvilles Wooton. The forecast had been of south-easterly winds, but it seemed to be coming from in front, mainly, regardless of the direction I was running at the time. I was following my cunning plan of running only in the lee of another runner (preferably several) to avoid the worst of the biting wind.
This worked quite well, especially when I caught up with the tall figure of Dave Webb who I shadowed for a while until he noticed I was there. We chatted for a while, and reeled in Phil and then Nigel Johns.
Dave and I pressed on towards the 6 mile point which was at the top of a long hill where the route joins a larger road and turns into what was definitely the teeth of the wind. I took advantage of the opportunity to tag onto a runner who overtook us quickly at this point, and running as closely as I dared behind him, I was able to catch up with a fellow Yeovil runner, Steve Sparks, who, being a useful sized chap, I trailed for a couple of miles before he spotted me and I was forced to press on and pass him.
By now I was feeling the strain, but the expectation of being caught by Dave W, combined with the desire to get in out of the cold wind kept me pushing as fast as I could through the village of Pulham, then FINALLY turning west with the wind now helping slightly, I passed the 10, 11 and 12 mile markers and made a sharp right turn up towards Bishop's caundle and the last mile.
This was not fun as it was back into the wind and up a short, sharp hill where I gritted my teeth (for more traction in the icy conditions) and narrowly resisted the temptation to walk. It was probably the sight and support of Steve and Donna and Harvey ( thanks guys!) which kept me going to the top and gave me some impetus as the hill turned from up to slightly down. This was lucky, because at the bottom I looked back and I saw Dave looming against the skyline, obviously gaining on me. I put on as much of a spurt as I could, and ground out a painful ascent of the next and final hill before turning into the field at the top and a 60-yard dash to the finish in 1:31:05. It was just above my optimistic target time of "anything under 1:30", but I was still pleased with it, given the conditions, it was still under 7 minute mile pace. I was also pleased with the boring white T-shirt which would not normally excite me, but it now represented Warmth!
Dave finished almost immediately after, and then Nigel, as I jogged back down the hill hoping to meet Lin as soon as possible. Not just because I missed her, and wanted her to be doing well, but also because I didn't want to have to go far down, and then have to run back up, the brutal finishing hill. Phil passed, and a couple of Yeovil runners then, I was relieved and proud to see Lin, round the next to last bend and forging up and around to the finish in 1:37:50-ish. This was a very good result given the lack of training recently and although it was no-where near her PB, it bodes well for the future.
After a brief chat with Phil and Dave C, Lin and I agreed that we were both too cold and tired to want to do anything other than beetle off back home to the warmth enjoyed by more
Many thanks to the Blackmore Vale Lions for organising the race. They did it well, and special thanks to the marshalls- out in force, in the cold, with water stations almost every mile, although I was too cold to drink a thing.
The results should be available here http://www.bvlions.co.uk/pdf%20files/Half%20Marathon%20Result%202009.pdf
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2 comments:
What can I add to such an in depth report it was bl**** freezing but still a good test of the fitness level or not in my case. Being the seventh time of running this event the time was well out of my PB but not the slowest. The most amazing part of this day was not only did 5 members of MNR turn out for this one there was also 4 more members running at Taunton & Exmouth, probably the coldest day of the race calendar what does that say about MNR?
Well done all lets keep Lin working on the scoring for this years championship
Richard might be interested to know that it was so cold that I did a Lesley - took my running vest off, folded it up and put it away for next time. Not a single droplet of sweat to be found anywhere. Martin said that was because I didn't try hard enough. Good job I saved some energy, I needed it to read his race report!!
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