David Currie

There was chaos on the M27 Eastbound yesterday evening and as a result routes in to Southampton were also snarled up. Unfortunately, the only other person who knew that I was intending to run was held up in the same traffic. Arriving 10 minutes late the group had already departed but thankfully I spotted Sam as I was driving in and we went for a run together. We mostly did the Itchen Bridge route although, making the most of there being just two of us, we came back via the stadium rather than the usual route up the avenue so that Sam could cut-off home.
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Yesterday evening I headed down to Southampton University, not for the IBM Hursley Lecture (more shame me), but for the first of the winter road runs from the University. Thankfully the “mini tornado” that passed through work earlier in the day was long gone but it left a clear sky and a nip in the air. This accounts for the fact that my GPS trace doesn’t start at the beginning of the run – I was too busy sheltering in the warmth of the Murray Building to get a satellite fix before we started!
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I’ve said it before, but will say it again: there’s nothing like a Hants Cross-Country race to highlight the relative slowness of my running! Things were no different at the first race of this year’s league at Farley Mount on Saturday. I started the race too far back and had to jog up the first hill trying not to trip over the masses. I then spent the first of three laps overtaking people but for the remaining two I could just about maintain my position. This was despite having brought 7 supporters to cheer me on! I finished in 100th place, well down on previous years, which gives me plenty to work on for the rest of the season. Hopefully I’ll be getting more sleep by the next race and I’ll try not to have the celebratory roast lunch beforehand!
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As per last week’s post, we moved to Fritham for Tuesday’s run. I was pretty tired having cycled in to work as well as racing in the afternoon. I was therefore particularly despondent to see Neil doing multiple laps of each of the six ponds! I still can’t decide whether to run the Clarendon Way Marathon at the weekend – whether it will just tire me out further or will prove good training. It would help if I believed that I might actually manage to run round at less than top speed, but then I start to think, why not just go for a training run rather than enter a race?
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It was the Hursley 10K on Sunday and, unlike the previous weekend, I felt completely unprepared. It was certainly convenient being able to nip down the road, get my entry on the day, and nip back home to finish getting Emma ready. Warming up though my knees ached, my hamstrings were tight and I generally felt sluggish. It was therefore somewhat of a surprise to find myself sitting in third place shortly after the off. The first two runners continued to pull away and were never seen again once we entered the woods. At the 7k marker I was still in third place but could hear footsteps closing on me. It wasn’t much longer before I was passed and it was something of a relief to have someone to chase. I had to watch my back on the run-in but was pleased to finish in 4th place although half a minute slower than the previous year and over three minutes behind the winners.
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September is due to end prematurely as it’s getting dark earlier and we prefer to run from Fritham. Consequently, Tuesday was our last run from Rufus Stone for the year. I’m not sure it was particularly memorable – I spent most of the run discussing potential scoring systems for next year’s SOC summer series with Jon and Peter! At least I didn’t have to rush off to B&Q this week so could enjoy the pub afterwards.
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