VIEW FROM THE BACK OF THE PACK – MARCH 2011

by Dave Webb

February was a quieter month on the racing front, but club members have been keeping busy in other ways. Some readers may remember that the club’s 2009 PR award for bringing the club into disrepute went to Jackie Webb, for her use of clear hand signals towards a runner who had slipstreamed her all the way then sprinted past just before the end of the race. Jackie felt that I should have warned her by shouting out ‘She’s behind you!’ Perhaps there was a pantomime performer lurking in there, for this year she made her debut in the Cattistock pantomime, slapping her thigh in the role of principal boy, to the entertainment of many of her clubmates. When she launched into the song ‘Give me some men, some stout-hearted men’ she was no doubt thinking of her running club colleagues.

Other club members have been concentrating on running, with Martin and Lin Lascelles doing what they like most, ie long cross-country runs involving lots of hills, no fixed route, map-reading and the chance to try out new pubs. So their race report for the ‘Blackdown Beast’, on the club’s blog page, began:

After thoroughly enjoying last year's inaugural 16 mile romp through the Somerset/Devon borderlands, (with 3 pubs and a Cornish Pasty/Mulled-cider stop), this event has been on our calendar for many months.  

If you are wondering what could possibly attract sane people to spend their weekends running through the mud, then you may be interested in a new feature for this column, where I attempt to answer some common questions about running.  This month’s question is ‘When is the best time of day to go running?’ Running magazines would probably quote all kinds of research studies into differential heart rates in the morning and evening, the influence of Circadian rhythms, and the need to replicate race conditions in your training schedule. For my part, I think the crucial issues are food and hygiene. If you don’t want to spend all day wondering if it’s long enough since your last meal to go running, and if you only want to have one shower per day, then I suggest you go running in the early morning, after  a reviving mug of tea. I sought an alternative answer from local sceptic and armchair critic, Mr Les Knott-Bother, who replied that there is no right time of day to go running, and it is best never to go above walking pace.

I now need to turn to the thorny question of unlicensed runners. There have been a number of recent sightings of people out running on the local lanes and tracks. I regret to say that some of these people are not known to Maiden Newton Runners and are therefore running without a licence!  Being more serious, we are a friendly group and welcome anyone who would like to come along to a meeting or to one of our social runs, on a Tuesday night at 7pm or on the 2^nd Thursday of each month for a run at 7pm and our meeting at 8pm. We now have a club email address (as well as our own website, facebook page and blogspot) which is maidennewtonrunner@hotmail.co.uk so anyone who is interested can email us for more information.

In the coming month there is a new race on the local calendar, the Yeovil Half-Marathon on 27 March. This event begins and ends at the Yeovil Town football stadium. Several hundred runners are expected to turn out (a record crowd for Yeovil Town?!), including a good representation from Maiden Newton Runners, provided we do not succumb to age, injury or infirmity beforehand.