I’m going to be upfront – I’m about to do some gross back-dating of posts. This post is actually being written in January 2012 as I’ve been hopeless at blogging in the last couple of months of 2011 – not helped by having to re-instate a months worth of posts from Google’s cache when an enforced AWS reboot seemed to send my image back in time. Don’t expect volumes of text though: just a few words and an excuse to link to some photos. The one’s about the running race that I organised at work as part of the inter-departmental games. It was three laps adding up to (approximately) 5km. There was a good turnout, helped by the . I got a bit of stick for being too far out in front although still took 19:15 (the course did have a few hills). It actually transpired that I wasn’t far enough ahead as, having applied the World Masters 5k grading (my rules), I actually ended up back in 4th place. One way to look at it is that I don’t need to get faster – I just need to get older and not get slower! Andy Piper did a nice write-up on eightbar.

It was the Hursley 10K today and, being an odd year, it was my turn to run. Christine offered to cycle down after breakfast to pick up my number which meant we could arrive at the last minute for the start! The course had dried out a bit from when my recce earlier in the week but, if anything, that was probably to my disadvantage. I spent the first half of the race battling for 5th place. Unfortunately, when we hit the long track section the Hardley runner pulled away and even when back in the woods I couldn’t reel him in again. So, I had to settle for 6th place and a time of 38:52 (the winner was two minutes faster) – my slowest yet but then the course has been different every time I’ve run it.

The most nervous competitor in our house this morning was not, however, me. Emma was entered in the 750 fun run (year 2 and under) and seemed a little bit anxious. It was all very well done though with the same musical warm-up routine that the adults were treated to. Christine ran round with Emma (well, I don’t think they ran all the way). Emma looked very serious as she sprinted towards the finish line (Duncan was slightly distracted by the air ambulance taking off at this point) but was full of smiles when she received her medal. She even asked when the next one was!

The next Eastleigh runner sped off but, to be honest, didn’t look like he was going to keep it up. I overtook him as we entered West Down which was a mistake as I didn’t know which was the right path and ended up climbing further than necessary (it’s a few years since I last ran this leg). When we dropped back to the old railway line I didn’t look back. The distance to Stockbridge appeared to be longer than I had measured in the car on the way there but that probably meant I kept up the pace better than I might have done otherwise. There were plenty of womens and mixed teams to pick off on the way and I also managed to overtake our A team runner (who looked distinctly more veteran than me!).

I enjoyed the run which probably means I should have been faster although the jog back to Chilbolton Common to retrieve the car seemed like particularly work! The A team apparently finished in second place, just 15 seconds down on Overton, with the vets team in 4th place behind Stubbington Green. A respectable position for a bunch of old men!

At the end of the Bank Holiday week we were due to run in the SOC team for the Dorset Coast Path Relay. As the weather forecast looked set to stay dry we decide to camp the preceding two night’s on a (randomly selected) campsite on the outskirts of Charmouth. Whilst well placed for the start of the relay, it was rather too close to the A35 and we had to drive to the beach. Rather more annoying was that, despite being quite expensive (£27 per night), you were expected to also fork out for a session at the indoor pool. To be fair though, the money seemed to be well spent and there was a life-guard at the pool and the site generally appeared to be very well kept.

We had a great day at the beach in Charmouth on the Friday and met up with Christine’s brother and family that evening for dinner. (It was our anniversary and, after 11 years, I couldn’t wear my wedding ring as it has developed a split!)

In keeping with the tent’s previous outings this year – it was wet on the morning of our last night. However, by the time I’d been to Lyme Regis to do my short leg at the start of the relay and returned, the wind had done a reasonably job of drying it out. Having got everything back in the car we headed over to Abbotsbury where we were running the legs either side of the hill fort. We then weren’t on again until after Lulworth but sadly spent most of that time in traffic around Dorchester for the Dorset County Show. We had lunch on a windswept Povington Hill, watching the dark clouds form over the hills adjacent to the sea.

Christine ran the section from Flower’s Barrow to Kimmeridge. A hill team then brought the baton up to meet at Clavell Tower and I set off for Chapman’s Pool. With the restart at Lulworth there was, for a change, other runners around. I was fairly confident that I should be able to stay ahead of Jack Benham but as we approached Chapman’s Pool and I passed the fourth changeover for the Junior Squad team, I wasn’t sure I’d manage to hold them at bay for much longer. Thankfully the hill team weren’t quite as late as arriving as they had apparently been at some earlier handovers and I wasn’t forced to climb all the way back out of Chapman’s Pool.

We then set of for Studland where the children had a chance to play on the beach. The other members of the SOC team slowly assembled (three are required to run the beach leg to Sandbanks together) and we were greeted to the sight of Paul Whipple splashing through the water round the headland just as the Kerno team came down the hill. The blue and yellow tops therefore inter-mingled as we set off along the shoreline (where thankfully the sea was leaving some relatively firm wet sand) in the race to be third team across the line. I reached the ferry terminus ahead of the first Kerno runner but who were those next two runners? It turned out that Iain McNally (who hadn’t been there when I started) had arrived late but had caught us up which thankfully meant we had three runners home before the next Kerno runner appeared.

In the final reckoning we were fourth over the complete course and second in the handicap with a new fastest time for SOC of 8 hours 34 minutes. In addition Iain was crowned King of the Coast. And most importantly (given that I had told Christine to leave the waterproofs at home) the forecast rain didn’t return until the evening.

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My half marathon PB was on a previous version of this course (it is now based at Speech House rather than Parkend) when I finished third in 1:19:06. This left me wondering what time to aim for given the intervening 6 years and lack of training. I had concluded that I should manage under 1:25 and at the last minute set my watch for 1:23. I then proceeded to ignore my watch completely and set off at a much faster pace but then the course does start on the road and then head downhill. There’s then a steady climb to the half way point before it undulates for the remainder of the course. It’s safe to say I was suffering on the way round from heavy legs, a stitch, and a blister under one foot (the trails were pretty solid). I seemed to be permanently slipping back through the field and therefore relieved when, at around 11 miles, someone counted me past as 21st. I lost a few more places in the closing stages and finished 24th in a time remarkably close to my target of 1:22:52. The results show that the field has improved somewhat over the years with the winner taking just 1:13:20 and my previous time wouldn’t have made the top ten.

An enjoyable experience? Not really (see the official photos for evidence!) but I was reasonably pleased with the time and even more pleased that I didn’t have a twinge from my knee on the way round.

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Farewell Neil – Tuesday nights just won’t be as much fun without you!

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The course length for the first day was a massive 46km but looking ahead on the map as we set out along the road towards the first control, it was obvious that this wasn’t the first bit of tarmac we would see. In fact, almost 10k of the course would be along roads. I did, however, also discover that Roderick intended to set a steady pace for the day and that meant we weren’t going to be running the uphills, even if they were on the road! The navigation was also pretty simple (you can see our route on RouteGadget) with only one leg (6-7) not having significant linear handrails. We made one minor blunder on the way from 3-4, missing the bottom end of the wall (it may even have been a fence there) and finding another unmapped one a little further on. We finished in just under eight hours and well before sunset (our major concern before starting).

The rain and wind arrived soon after we’d pitched our tent and I certainly got little sleep during the night. There was a brief respite whilst we packed up our tent in the morning but I started in my full waterproofs and kept them on for the whole day. The course was certainly more interesting both from the point of view of the terrain and navigation. We lost significant time on the way to 4 as we back-tracked up the river to find somewhere to cross only to see people crossing at the point where we’d originally hit the river. It was up to our knees on that crossing and the second river on that leg was up to our thighs. On the leg from 5-6 we braved the raging torrent and survived the waist deep crossing clinging to another pair.

We finished the second day in just under 6.5 hours putting is in 32nd place over the two days. That was in the top half which I consider to be a respectable position. Thanks Roderick for standing in at short notice and persuading me to give the A a go. Would I run the A again? Maybe, but I think I’d prefer to try the Long Score. It may be academic though – with next year’s OMM likely to be somewhere in the far North I’m not sure whether I’ll be going.

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I enjoyed the first half of the route and, despite having set a target time of 3:15, was fairly consistently churning out 7 minute miles, hitting the half-way point at just over 90 minutes. I had some minor niggles but generally felt pretty good. It’s a bit of an uphill slog from Broughton though and by the 20 mile mark I was starting to suffer. Probably not surprising as I don’t think I’ve run for more than about 85 minutes at any point this yea!. At Farley Mount I finally caved in and picked up, not only a drink and the jelly babies on offer, but also a banana. Quite why they provide whole bananas all the way round the course I’ll never know but at this point I was ready to devour it from top to bottom.

The first indication I had of how I was doing was some helpful chap who told me I was 15 minutes down on the lead. Thanks pal! I was then told I was in 6th place which was quite pleasing. One of the Southampton guys spectating then told me the two guys in front looked pretty dead. I duly overtook them both in the next couple of miles. In the case of the second one, we were both walking up a hill, I was just walking faster! And that was where I finished, in 4th place in just under 3:11 (official results not up yet). All in all I think I preferred the old course from the centre of Winchester to Salisbury. There were less contrived loops to make up the full distance so you felt you were always progressing in the right direction.

Afterwards, I conveniently had a rest on one of the chairs by the sports therapists area and he gave my legs a bit of a massage free of charge! I did, however, decline the freezing cold showers at the school. Standing up and climbing stairs is a bit tricky at the moment so I suspect I won’t be cycling in to work tomorrow!

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