If you live anywhere near Bushy Park in Southwest London and enjoy running and socialising then the Wedding Day 7k race is one event that needs to be a firm fixture in the calendar. Since discovering the event in 2007 I’ve run it four times now (missing out in 2009 as I’d only recently completed my first Ironman triathlon and didn’t want to race so soon afterwards – something that didn’t bother me in 2010!).

Recently my 5k times have been good and after a cracking run last year I felt that I should be able to better that performance if everything went alright on the day.  I actually had a pretty lazy week of exercise having been working away from home (lots of travel messed things up a bit) and enjoying the delights of hotel food so I’d either arrive at the start feeling lethargic or fresh.  Only time would tell.

After the 2010 ‘fun’ that I had racing with Duncan M. from Ranelagh (see last years blog for that) he decided to adopt a different, but perhaps more sensible strategy.  Rather than race it like a 5k and die towards the end he was after even splits and if all went to plan he’d come cruising past me close to the finish.  Interesting tactic… however, it could just work.

Conditions were ideal, a light breeze and temperature probably close to 20 degrees.  A lovely summer evening (for a change!) and a good crowd of over 400 runners.  I was lined up on the front row and as the start signal went we were all off like rockets (kind of!).  Naturally getting carried away with the faster runners I settled into a pace that although comfortable at the time I knew I wouldn’t be able to sustain.  After about a half mile I eased back ever so slightly.  I was still at around my 5k personal best pace and it took a while to gently ease back some more.  It was good to have a few other runners around me at the same sort of pace so we were all pushing each other pretty hard.

Shortly after the start as we settle into pace

At around 3k I saw the first casualty – a chap who had gone off way too quick early on and was paying for it – unfortunately well before the half way point!  I had no sympathy as he was wearing an MP3 player with music blaring out (I could almost make out the words as I ran past him).  So antisocial.

At this point I was running close to Mark H. from Ranelagh and a chap from Cambridge Harriers.  The guy from Cambridge pulled ahead and I sat right behind him.  As we turned off of the grass alonside Chestnut Avenue and headed back into the park he started to open a gap which I wasn’t able to close down on.  It turned out that he had a fantastic second half and gained quite a few places on me.  Nice one.

From here on in I was running alone.  I went through 5k in around 18:05.  This was three seconds slower than in 2010 but I was feeling a little stronger this time around and I remember how much of a struggle the last bit was last year.  Hopefully this time I was more under control.

The final 2k were hard work.  I was slowly closing in on two or three men ahead of me and as I headed into the finishing straight I’d got past two of them but one put in an almighty sprint finish to take me before the line.

This wasn’t really an issue as I crossed the line in 26:08 – a 17 second personal best on last years time.  I certainly cannot complain about that.  I finished 29th out of 487.  Although my time was much better this year I was further down the field.  Last year I was 19th out of 505.  As for Duncan, he just wasn’t feeling it on the night so was unable to test out his even pacing strategy against my ‘go like a nutter and hang on for dear life’ approach.

Following the race it was time to enjoy a picnic out on the field in front of the cricket club with friends.  As with last year (and the previous times that I’ve run this race) it was back to Bushy parkrun the following morning where I ran a nippy 18:33 which I followed up with a 50 mile bike ride.  Busy busy busy.

Finally looking at my times at this race over the years – 27:03 (2007), 26:44 (2008), 26:25 (2010), 26:08 (2011).  What will 2012 hold?

The Coad Cup is the summer cross-country handicap race organised by Ranelagh Harriers (and held on a Tuesday evening).  The course is just under five miles in Richmond Park and is run over the same course as used for the Page Cup handicap race (which is run in the Autumn).

I wanted to get in a long run on the day of the race so the plan was for a moderate warm-up and then a slightly harder ‘race.’  The warm up was just under 4.5 miles – almost a lap of the single lap course and this was followed by waiting around at the start/finish area for about 25 minutes or so chatting to others as I waited for my start time (as its a handicap race).

When you’re eventually lined up ready to go it’s interesting to see the people who set off in front (who you want to chase down and beat) and the ones behind you (who are racing after you!).  This adds some pressure onto the race as you’re not just all starting together and seeing the super fast runners race off into the distance.

I last ran the course a year ago immediately before driving over to Germany for the Challenge Roth triathlon race.  Apparently I had a ‘steady’ run and completed the course in 34:56.  My best time over the course was in 2009 when I ran it in 32:03 (a few hours after a fast 5k at Bushy parkrun).

As I set off today I planned to push pretty hard and just see what happened.  I didn’t fancy being overtaken by too many people and once I caught the sight of the runners ahead of me I pushed on.

It took close to two miles before I was overtaken by the first of the faster runners.  When overtaken it gives you the impetus to try and stick with them, even though they’re faster.  This helped no end and I ended up having a good little run with Mark H. where we swapped positions with one another on three or four occasions (he got the better of me in the end).  One point of note during the race was about 1.5 miles from the finish, when a young deer ran out of some fern that we were running alongside and almost took out Mark.  It was so so close and he almost jumped out of his skin as it flew in front of him!  The perils of running in Richmond Park.

Very few other runners came past me (perhaps two or three others) and in the final couple of miles I was flying past many of the slower runners ahead of me.  Very motivational.

Conditions underfoot were very firm – the weather was cool and there was a fresh breeze blowing – which was really quite gusty in some of the exposed areas of the course.

As I crossed the line my time was 31:04 which put me at 11th position overall, and (more importantly) 11th fastest (out of 70 runners).  This was a 59 second personal best on the course so an excellent result.  The course is measured at 4.95 miles which equates to 6:17 minute miling over the bumpy terrain.  Finally, looking at my individual age graded performance chart at the Ranelagh Harriers website for club cross country courses this is my best ever performance – with an age grading of 72.2%.  I’ve never made it over 70 percent for the club before so I’m really pleased with this.

I only really go along to our running club on a Tuesday night (the main club training night) when there is food on offer (Christmas) or when the evening is not following a structured training session!  Last night was one of those nights – with the running of the annual ’20 Ponds Run.’

I ran this in 2007 and 2008 and missed the past two years as I felt that close to 10 miles running through very uneven terrain a week or two before an Ironman triathlon was far too risky.  This year I’m not doing an Ironman so it was great to go back and take part again.

To learn a little more about the run please see the post from 2007.  When I’ve done this run in the past the weather has been beautiful.  This time it was different.  It was pouring with rain!

A group of 7 or 8 of us headed off under the lead of Chris Owens who knows the park like the back of his hand.  With no maps he led us along paths, through undergrowth, through gates, across streams, over tree stumps and through woods to get to (I believe) 20 different ponds.  The route he took was excellent and without a GPS I wouldn’t have a hope in trying to do it on my own.

Although the weather was shocking the run was great fun and was nice and sociable.  I very rarely go social running with other people so this was a nice change.

Unfortunately my GPS had no battery power when I turned it on before the run so I the only information I have is that it was around 9 miles and took us about 1 hour 15 minutes in total along a route from the Ranelagh clubhouse back to the clubhouse.  The route I believe was the same as I’d run previously (maps available in the earlier posts).