I had my last Sunday run of the training schedule today, wearing all the kit I might possibly need (hot/sunny/rainy/cold variables all covered with arm warmers, knee socks and visor). I only look marginally like a total doofus. Ahem. My marathon shoes also got a little spin, with their new hot pink Greeper laces too. I had a lovely run with Ann, Ray and a bunch from The Stragglers running club (I was wearing my Ranelagh vest so probably stuck out even more but never mind) through Bushy and Home Parks. I’ve never been in Home Park before, so that was good to be somewhere new. Upon my return home, David asked me all kinds of questions about where I went but quite honestly, I never remember, so maybe somewhere new actually isn’t important at all ;) Every now and again I heard a little call out from Ann or Ray about going too fast. They will be absolutely in my ears next Sunday if I start speeding up when I shouldn’t be. They are wonderful and have been so kind and helpful to me in my training. I do so hope that Ann gets the time at London that she deserves after all of her training and hard work.

I am currently swinging wildly between excitement and fear. I am assured that this is entirely normal before your first marathon. To that end, I am just going with it. David is, of course, being his usual calm self. Good job there’s not two of me in this house ;)

Well…. the good people at Black Park parkrun near Slough decided to run an event on Boxing Day at 9:30am. Excellent.  The trouble is, I love running the ‘Cabbage Patch 4′ race on Boxing Day as well (at 11am).  What should I do…. The Double of course!

Showing off the 'spikes' - photo: Kirsty Bangham

After picking up Kirsty we were at Black Park by 9am to get ready for the 9:30am start.  Following the ice fest that was Bushy Park on Christmas Day I thought I’d try a new strategy – wearing cross country ‘spikes’ rather than just trail shoes.  In my shoe bag I had some brand new 5mm spikes which did absolutely nothing to help grip so had only one option – go for the ‘beavers teeth’ – a set of 15mm spikes that stick out like, well, er, beavers teeth, from the bottom of my shoes.

After a short test run and warmup I decided that the grip on the snow and ice was amazing.  Decision made.

As we lined up for the start there was a big group of runners – in fact just a few under 150.

We set of and within a few seconds we’d all settled into our pace and I found myself in about 7th place.  I had a chap in full Santa Claus outfit (with beard) right on my tail.  After about 1.5 miles I edged ahead of him and hung on to keep in sixth place.

The ‘spikes’ I wore were fantastic and made a huge difference.  I was able to concentrate more on running, rather than dodging around the ice on the ground.

I crossed the line after a solid effort in sixth place in 18:53 – a position and time that I was very happy with.

After registering my parkrun barcode we jumped in the car and headed straight to Twickenham for the 4 mile race at 11am…

The Cabbage Patch 4 race was an altogether different affair.  Trail shoes were worn, the Thames towpath was covered in ice and it was bloody scary and difficult to run!  The amount of times my feet slipped around on the ice was incredible and this, together with the fact that my lower right leg was hurting (as a result of the difficult run at Bushy parkrun yesterday), ensured that I took the run nice and steady.  This is and still remains one of my favourite races, although the conditions were really tough.

I followed the run with big hot chocolate at the local coffee shop with friends.  All in all a good morning out.

Well, this year things are a little different. I’d competed in an Ironman 12 days before but earlier in the week of the Wedding Day race I thought I’d give it a go. I seem to recover very well from triathlon events and knew I had a good 5k in me after last weekends 18:32 at Bushy parkrun. I wondered what I could do over 7k.

For this race I have a time honoured pacing strategy – treat it like a 5k then hang on for the remaining 2k until the finish. Well, lets just say that I followed the plan like a treat!

After a short warm-up (and a 4 mile bike ride to the start) I made sure I was near the front row and set off close to Duncan and Chris from my club (Ranelagh Harriers). The pace was quick and we all raced off into the park.

The start of the Wedding Day 7k. Photo: Guy Watson

I knew we were going a bit too fast but this is the fun of this race – you know the last 2k is going to be painful so you might as well make it one to remember! As my watch beeped after a mile I glanced down and saw it say 5:41. Oops – just a little too fast. I turned to Duncan who was right beside me and said something like ‘I’m blaming you for this.’ His response was ‘I’m just following you!’

From here on in it was just hard running. Conditions were ideal – not hot although there was a little breeze in places. I found myself running very close to Joseph from 26.2 Road Runners Club who looked like he was running very comfortably. I was puffing and panting and really giving it some welly! Just after 2 miles I edged past him and tried to bridge the gap between myself and the runner in front – a runner from The Stragglers running club. It took almost a mile to get to him.

At the 5k point I looked at my watch and it said 18:02. Oops! That’s 9 seconds off of my 5k standalone PB. I knew for sure at this point that the final 2k would be hard hard work (hmn, much like the previous five were!).

I then drifted past Simon from Stragglers, we both gave each other words of encouragement and away I went. With just over half a mile to go Joseph came back past me and I tried to stick with him as long as I could.  I couldn’t quite stick to him ’til the finish but I certainly tried.

A few hundred metres before the finish I saw Roger W. supporting – he said something like, ‘take it easy David’ – he could see how hard I was working at this point.

Seconds from the finish. Photo: Guy Watson

I then turned onto the grass area, raced to the finish and stopped my watch. My overall time was 26:25, a 19 second PB on my time from 2008 and I finished 19th overall out of 506 finishers. Brilliant. I was chuffed to bits with this – a great hard run. This is the hardest that I’ve run over a short distance for a long long time – my heart rate averaged 179 and maxed at 190.

As with all local races the Ranelagh Harriers ‘stats’ man and webmaster, Ken, was there making notes on everyone’s finishing times. He also had his list of estimates for people and had mine down at 29:08! Shocking. I went over to him and jokingly complained at his poor estimate and he commented something like ‘but you hardly ever race.’ Fair point. Also I have to admit that my previous Ranelagh races haven’t been raced hard at all – so his data will be a little skewed to how I’m really running at present.

The evening finished off with a beer, some food and watching some of the European Championship athletics on the TV in the cricket club in the park. Another great Wedding Day race done and dusted. See you next year.

PS. Saturday morning dawned and I put in a steady 19:08 run at Bushy parkrun. That was my running done for the rest of the weekend. A good 60 miles on the bike on Sunday was all I could manage…

This is the fourth year I’ve run the race, and my history had been ‘blogged’ on the site as follows:

• 2006 – 71:47 – 289th out of 1396
• 2007 – 63:09 – 89th out of 1447
• 2008 – 66:02 – 170th out of 1482

My running recently has been going well.  I’ve not been doing huge amounts  (normally about 30-35 miles per week) but I’ve had some great results recently over 5k, so now its time to get faster over longer distances, which is something I need to get better at.

I gave myself a plan to 1) not get carried away at the start, and 2) to run around 6:15 miling pace to finish in 62:30.  That would have been perfect.  If I could finish under 63 minutes I would have been very happy.

So, after a 15 minute delay to the start because of an ambulance emergency right on the start line we set off.  The weather was perfect for running – nice and cool with little/no wind.  I clocked a first mile split of 6:12 which was good.  There were many people flooding past me but I left them to it.

I ran with Darren from Ranelagh for the first three miles or so and also close by was Ali from West 4 Harriers.  He drifted ahead of me into the distance but I kept to my pace as best as possible.

I crossed the five mile mark in 31:30, which had me on for 63 minute flat.  I was happy with this as I planned to push harder towards the end.  The first five miles were steady, and then it started to get tougher and I needed to really start putting some effort in.

According to my GPS I hit 10k in 38:48, which is a 6 second PB, so I think I need to find myself a standalone 10k race sometime and push for something close to 38 minutes (preferably under).

Back to today.  Shortly after 8 miles (which I passed in 50 minutes dead) you head over Richmond Bridge and then get onto the towpath and head back towards the finish.  At this point I started my final push to the finish.  I’m pretty good at staying strong in the final stages of a race and today was no exception.  I overtook probably around 10 people in the final ten minutes – and every time you go past someone, it spurs you on to push harder.

After crossing the finishing line I checked my watch to see it saying 62:22.  Excellent.  A 38 second negative split over the distance and I’m really pleased that I paced it so well.  My splits were pretty even throughout and I showed no signs of slowing down towards the end (hence the negative split).  This was also a new personal best over the distance, beating the time of 63:09 that I set on the same course in 2007.  My finishing position was 102nd out of 1509 finishers.

Once again The Stragglers running club provided superb support all around the course, and this is one of the reasons why I love this race.

I had no real nerves or worries on Saturday, managed to eat a mountain of pasta for dinner then went to bed about 10:30 with the alarm set for 5:45am.

Sunday morning, the sun was shining and I was up and cooking porridge just after 6am.  At around 6:40 Sharon and I headed to Twickenham railway station to catch the 7:03 to London Waterloo.  As we walked along the platform John, a friend of us, came over grinning from ear to ear.  His wife Anna, who was going to be supporting on the course decided to go into labour and have their first child on Saturday evening!  Whilst she’s in the hospital John was sent out to run the marathon!  Well done to them all.  What a cool start to the day.

On the train to London

We jumped onto the train and met up with a few others (Simon, Danny, Nathan, and Frances) so it was good to have a chat with friends on the way into London.  After arriving at Waterloo I bumped into a old work friend and after waiting for Ben to arrive, the runners headed to Waterloo East station and I left Sharon to head off to where she was supporting at mile 22 (and 13) – a special place called Fetchpoint.

The train from Waterloo to Blackheath was (as expected) heaving with people. It was just like a weekday rush hour!  On arrival at Blackheath it was easy to get to the start, and once there there’s not much to do other than queue up for the toilets – which I did a few times!  I got my running gear ready, applied some more suncream, put my spare clothes/money/phone onto one of the baggage lorries and prepared for the start.  As I said on a previous posting I was in starting pen 1, which made things really smooth at the start.  I got into the pen and about 10 minutes before the start we began to move forwards towards the start line (I was on the ‘blue’ start – there are two other starts ‘green’ and ‘red’ and after about three miles all three have merged into one).  At 9:45am prompt the starting gun went and we were off.  Although all timing is ‘chip times’ from a electronic device attached to your shoe (ensuring accuracy however long it takes to start) I crossed the start line in less than 30 seconds and was not held up at all.

During the first miles its always easy to get carried away and with my trusty GPS watch I made sure this didn’t happen (much).  My first few miles I settled into about 7 minute 23 miling, which although was slightly faster than my ideal time (7:26 pace), I was feeling good so took advantage of it (the first part is also a little bit downhill anyway).

I have to say the first 13 miles or so were absolutely amazing.  Here I was, running my first ever marathon, the London Marathon, along with 35,000+ others in beautiful sunshine.  The weather brought out an unbelievable amount of supporters.  They pretty much lined the whole route multiple people deep at times for mile after mile.  Every now and then there were bands playing, DJ’s spinning tunes, or just really loud cheers.  It was awesome.  Cutty Sark wasn’t very special (due to it being under repair following a fire) but it was nice to run alongside the National Maritime Museum which I remembered from going there to watch the start of the 2007 Tour de France bike race in London.  Although I soaked up the atmosphere I was out there to run a race, so was mostly concentrating on the job at hand.

During training I’ve no real blister problems with my feet.  If anything my longest toes on both feet would get small blisters but nothing painful.  Today I had the same shoes and socks I’d worn in training so wasn’t expecting any problems.  How wrong I was!  At about eight miles I felt pain in both feet – blisters had arrived.  I’d not had anything like this before and it was starting to get painful.  At this point I knew I’d have to HTFU (‘harden the f*** up’) and deal with it.

At about 11 miles I was spotted by Simon and Deborah from Ranelagh Harriers – the running club whose vest I was proudly running in (the club has more than one vest, but I think you know what I mean here!).  I knew there’d be a few familiar supporters on the course but had no idea where they’d be or who it would be so it was a great boost to see a familiar face.  Shortly after 12 miles you take a sharp right and head onto Tower Bridge – one of the most iconic sights in London.  The crowds were strong and I made sure not to stay on pace as many people apparently get over excited here and pick up the pace (only to pay for it later!).  After crossing the bridge you turn onto The Highway towards Docklands.

David at around 13 miles

I knew Sharon would be on the other side of the road at around 13 miles so I made sure I was a position where I could be spotted.  We passed a double-decker bus in the middle of the road which was playing loud uplifing music and it was a real boost at this point.  Only a matter of seconds later I could see the Fetch support area in the distance on the left so gave a wave to try and help attract attention.  I’d told Sharon when I had expected to get there and I’d say I arrived bang on time.

I waved, I cheered and the supporters waved and cheered ten times as loud back at me.  I could easily spot Sharon (maybe it was the great big camera!) and it was a most welcome boost.  I knew I’d be back there to see them again in about nine miles time which would be cool.

The first 13.1 miles (half marathon split) was about 1 hour 37 minutes.  Bang on time for a sub 3 hour 15 marathon.  This was my ‘A’ target – something I’d be massively delighted with.  All was looking good.  As I continued on The Highway I heard a massive cheer for me on my right.  I looked over and it was Duncan M. from Ranelagh/parkrun.  He really has a voice on him I tell you!

Shortly after this point you head onto Narrow Street.  Its not that narrow, but is I guess compared to the other roads we’ve run down.  I saw Mike B. and Guy W., and Mike saw me in return.  It’s so cool to see people you know supporting on the course.

Greg - absorbing a little piece of the support from Fetchpoint

We then head on towards Docklands.  At this point I saw one runner who’d collapsed and was lying in a heap by the side of the road.  There were people looking after him but the warm weather was certainly taking its toll on people.  The miles ticked by and at about 15/16 miles I edged past Doylie from The Stragglers and pushed on.  At around mile 17 I suddenly came across the Runners World supporters point at Mudchute.  Phil Aitken gave me a big cheer along the lines of “Go on Dave….I mean David!” which made me laugh.  Nice one.

At around this point I knew I was slowing, but putting more effort into to maintain my pace.  The enjoyment at times was starting to wear thin, very thin!  HTFU.

In Canary Wharf (photo by Liz Souness)

We then head into the middle of Canary Wharf.  At this point my GPS got completely screwed up and all the mile markers on my watch were way off track.  I wasn’t sure how many miles I’d run and wasn’t using my watch for miles at all – only for pacing information.  This wasn’t a problem at all though.  As I turned one corner there was a big cheer from Chris Brook and family (who were very noisy from the other side of the road), and then a few minutes later from Clive, Mark and Julia.  Thank you.

There’s lots of 90 degree turns in this part of the course which wasn’t too much of a problem as there were not too many people around me, but I’m sure further down the field it probably gets quite congested.  A little while later I spotted Liz and Alan standing up high on a right hand side.  I gave them a wave and a hello and continued on.  Liz’s collection of photos can be found here.

Somewhere round here (I think) I heard a “Go David Rowe” behind me.  I raised my arm to say thanks but had no idea who it was.  I found out later that it was Andy B. from Ranelagh.  Cheers.

At 20 miles you’re now onto the final ‘straight’, with only 10km left to go.  This is where theoretically many people hit ‘the wall’ but there was none of that for me.  I’d eaten well(ish) the last few days and had plenty of fuel on the run (one carbohydrate gel 20 minutes before the start, and another at 6, 12 and 18 miles mixed with a few sips of water and Lucozade Sport throughout).  It was just a case of pushing on towards the finish.

I always had it in my plan in that if I was feeling good after 20-22 miles I’d try and up the pace a bit, but there was none of that today!  My feet were very painful, and I glanced down on a few occasions expecting to see blood on my shoes but thankfully there was none.  I later found out after the race that there was blood – making a nice stain on my socks!

At about 21 miles I saw Mike B. for the second time, and he was enjoying a ham sandwich by the side of the road.  We often comment about him always having a ham sandwich when he watches races and I couldn’t believe that I went past him at this exact moment.  It was very amusing and a great boost.

Mile 22, and a bloody good fake smile!

From here I knew I’d be seeing Sharon at about mile 22, but before here (I think – my mind wasn’t quite there at this point!) I came across Duncan M. once again.  Duncan – your support was incredible and if you kept going like that then I’m sure you’ll have lost your voice by now!  Cheers mate.  Cracking.

As I headed towards Fetchpoint I moved towards the side of the road.  I saw Sharon, I heard cheering and screaming, I continued to run, and I forgot to get my final gel from Kirsty!  Doh.  Not to worry, only another four miles – I’d just make sure I took on more Lucozade Sport drink at the next ‘fuel station’.

Jelly Babies and water - the fuel of many a runner

The final miles are strange.  Personally I’ve supported from here once before (at mile 25, in 2007) and the noise was immense.  This year it was my turn to be a runner.  Looking at my watch a 3:15 time was long gone, but a finish inside of 3 hours 20 was very possible.  I just had to hang on to the finish.  One thought that went through my head was “in less than 30 minutes I will have completed the London Marathon”.  I’ve never run for longer than about 2 hours 50 minutes before if training (my longest training run was 21 miles) so this was all new territory for me.  There was nothing that would stop me from finishing, and I wasn’t going to stop and walk – no way whatsoever.  I’m running this marathon – all 26.2 miles of it.  This isn’t a sponsored walk you know (here’s hoping none of the ‘walkers’ read this!).

At around mile 25. How happy do I look? Love it! (photo by Mike Bourne)

As I headed past 23 miles you go past the 3 mile ‘mini-marathon’ start line (for under 18′s) and you’re into the final part of the race.  I was finding it tough here and I was purely running just to get to the finish.  The crowds were thick with people and noise all the way along Embankment towards Parliament Square/Big Ben.  I then saw Andy and Michelle from Ranelagh – who were shouting loads of support at me – thank you very much.  At 25 miles I ran past one of The Stragglers running club supporters points and waved to them.  A couple of people recognised me there and I gave a big cheesy grin to Mike Bourne who was there with his camera (and took a photo that I love!).

I didn’t get to appreciate at all in full the final miles.  I was fully concentrating on staying strong and getting to the finish under 3:20.  It wasn’t easy, but I just had to get on with it.  You turn right at Westminster then head towards Buckingham Palace.  I didn’t see the London Eye (across the river), I barely noticed Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament and I didn’t even get a glance of Buckingham Palace!

Throughout the final stages the crowds were stacked with people and in the distance I saw a “600m to go” sign.  You then turn a corner and its “400m”, then “200m”, and then next thing its the final straight.  The sun was shining, my time was looking good and I crossed the finish line in 3 hours 19 minutes at 46 seconds.  Job done.  My legs were hurting, but I’d done what I wanted.  I had completed the London Marathon and finished in position 2699 – out of 35,306 finishers (as of 7pm Sunday).

As you cross the finish line there’s lots to do… smile for the camera, collect your goodie-bag, collect your medal, post for your ‘finishers’ photograph, then collect your baggage from the truck you put your things in a few hours earlier in Blackheath.  The process was like clockwork – and it was great to keep walking once you finish – else you’ll seize up and have trouble moving again!

Once I collected my belongings I made a few phone calls – to Sharon and then to my parents.  They’d got some automatic text messages during the race already but it was good to update them in person.  I wandered around a little to keep the legs moving and had some food and drink.  I then started heading towards a pre-arranged meeting point – a pub near Trafalgar Square.  At the pub I caught up with a number of friends which was great and got to sit down and rest my legs for a while.  Later on a few of us headed back to Waterloo station where we met up with Sharon and some fellow supporters and then headed home.

In the evening Sharon and I went into Kingston for some drinks and food with some of the runners and supporters from Ranelagh Harriers.  A fine end to a fine day.

At this point my legs ware starting to stiffen up – but nothing like they are now as I write this on Monday.  My legs are – to but it bluntly – buggered!  They feel like they did after I did the Barbados Half marathon in December off of no training.  This time I’d trained reasonably well (if five weeks solid training is good) and managed all my planned long (18+ mile) runs.  I believe its just the last few miles that make the difference.

Before I started the race I’d said that the London Marathon was just a training run – as I’m doing a marathon in July (after a 2.4 mile swim and 112 mile bike ride) as part of an Ironman triathlon.  The first 13-15 miles felt like that (a pleasant training run), but the last ten were much harder.

Other than the Ironman in July, I really want to get my marathon time down closer to the 3 hour mark – so this certainly won’t be the last time I run this distance.  With a bit of luck I’ll be back on the London startline next year.  I’ll just have to wait and see.

If you’ve got to the end of this write-up then well done, you’ve just completed a marathon reading session!  If you want to see a fuller set of photos as taken by Sharon then head over to our photography website.

2008 has been up/down/up/down because of injury with the main problems around March and November.  Other than that I’ve managed to get some good training in and squeezed out a couple of PB’s (personal bests).

My total mileage was 1028 (compared with 1320 in 2007), with an average weekly mileage of 19.6 miles.  My highest weekly mileage was 55 miles (in March), towards the end of Marathon training.  A couple of weeks later it all fell apart with a torn calf muscle which meant I was unable to take part in my first marathon in April.

Looking at my mileage month-by month it’s clear that my calf injury in March took it’s toll, and I built my mileage back up to goodo levels in August in preparation for the Vitruvian triathlon in September.  Towards the end of September I twisted my ankle.  I made an initial recovery in early October and at the end of the month decided to give it a chance to heal, and took the whole of November off of running.  I kick started my running again in December starting with the Barbados Half Marathon (as you do!)

My priorities for 2008 were to run a marathon in April and complete a middle distance (approximately Half Ironman distance) triathlon.  As for the marathon, injury stopped that from happening, although Sharon and I did go and support our friend Kirsty in the race, which was run in absolutely horrific conditions – snow and ice!

Second on the list was to complete a middle distance triathlon.  After a ‘practice‘ event at the start of May, Sharon and I headed to Wales in early June and I completed the Bala Middle Distance triathlon in a time of 5 hours 23 minutes and 28 seconds.  It was incredibly hard work, especially as I cycled the 50+ miles with a buckled wheel that was pushing against the brake pads!  I’ve entered the 2009 race already to make amends!!!  I then entered the Vitruvian triathlon in September and finished in just over 5 hours.  I’ll probably end up entering that event in 2009 as well to try and get under 5.

I competed in one “sprint” triathlon at the end of August and was really pleased to finish in 20th position overall.  The race lasted just over an hour and was incredibly tough, but the result was worth it.

OK, let’s look at races.  In 2007 I ran over 80 races (including Bushy Park Time Trials) and lots of road running races.  This year I decided to only enter races that I wanted to do rather than ones that just happened to be part of the club race series.  I ran 26 Bushy Parkruns (that’s their new name), and one Brighton & Hove Parkrun.  I’ve yet to make it to any other Parkruns but I would like to do Glasgow, Banstead and Wimbledon in 2009.

Other than running as part of the four triathlons I entered, I ran 12 ‘proper’ road races.

• 06 Jan: Woodcote and Goring 10k (40:56)
• 26 Jan: South of England XC Championships (Parliament Hill) (1:04:50)
• 10 Feb: Chessington Valentines 10k (39:52)
• 24 Feb: Tunbridge Wells Half Marathon (1:29:37)
• 18 May: Bognor Regis Prom 10k (39:18)
• 01 Jun: Dorking 10m (1:06:48)
• 14 Jun: Welsh Castles Relay (Stage 10 – Llanfair Caereinion to Newtown) (1:34:52)
• 25 Jul: Wedding Day 7k (26:44) [19 second PB]
• 14 Aug: The Stragglers Club 10k (38:54) [3 second PB]
• 19 Oct: Cabbage Patch 10m (1:06:02)
• 07 Dec: Barbados Half Marathon (1:43:01)
• 26 Dec: The Stragglers Cabbage Patch 4m (25:27)

So, a total of 39 running only races, and 4 triathlons.  I managed a couple of running PB’s.  19 seconds at the Wedding Day 7k race in July, and a 3 second PB over 10k distance.  I plan to get another 10k PB in 2009.  Watch this space.

My favourite races…. the Bognor 10k was as fun as ever – the weather was great and I enjoyed the support.  The Barbados Half Marathon was fantastic, even if my time wasn’t, and the experience of running Parliament Hill, the home of Cross Country running was something special.

The toughest race had to be my stage of the Welsh Castles Relay.  I wasn’t feeling great and the stage I ran is a renowned ‘killer’, and I have to agree with that.

Triathlon-wise, I have to say that the bike leg of the Bala middle distance race was incredibly tough – and being the fool that I am I plan to do it all again in 2009!

So, what’s the plan for 2009… The main aim is to get fit and ready for Ironman Switzerland in July.  This is a 2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike ride and a marathon run (26.2 miles) so I’ll be doing lots of triathlon training during the first few months.  On the way to this I’ll be running the London Marathon in April and no doubt a few other races on and off during the year.

Stay tuned…

I first ran this in 2006 and had a pretty good run (finished in 24:40 and 8th out of 64).  In 2007 I was flying and ran a superb race, finishing 3rd overall in a time of 23:08.  Because of my lack of training (and indeed running!) over the past few months I wasn’t expecting anything special from today so just set out to enjoy it.

Well, I find it very hard to hold back in races and my planned 7:30-8:00 minute miling pace was soon thrown out of the window as I ended up on the front row of the start!  I had a great first 100 metres (well, my friend Guy was there with a camera so I had to try and look good!) and then eased off a little.  After a few people overtook me I settled into a solid pace.

From here on in not much else of note happened for me.  Just ahead of me was the leading lady and I could hear the puffing/panting of the person behind me but didn’t know how close they were.

It was lovely weather but with a cold Easterly wind I was wrapped up in running tights and a thermal base-layer and gloves.  There were quite a few families walking alongside the river and I think their surprised looks as 100 or so runners race past them makes this one of my favourite races of the year.

I crossed the finish line in 15th place (out of 74 finishers) with a time of 25:27, which although being the slowest of the three times that I’ve run this race I was happy with how I ran so am not complaining.  2009 will be a much better year and I’d love to run as well next year as I did in ’07.  I guess I’ll just have to wait and see…

I ran the Bushy Parkrun (the new name for the Bushy Park Time Trial) yesterday in 19:41 which I was happy with (although my calves felt very tight) and my plan for today’s 10 miler was to aim for 65 minutes (6:30 miling pace), but I had no idea if that would be pushing it too much or not.

Unlike last year I actually set off at a reasonable pace and ran the first mile in 6:23 (which turned out to be my fastest mile).  I have very little else to report on the race other than at about mile 3 my calves started to feel really tight again.  I continued on but could feel them every step.  My pace did slow down slightly, with the slowest mile from 4-5 (6:47 pace).  I recovered from this and stayed strong till the finish, where I crossed the line in 66:02.  My overall position was 170th out of 1482 finishers.

I’m happy with how I ran considering the build-up to the race, and this was as good as I could have expected.  Following the race after cheering Sharon in for her finish (in just over 1 hour 46 – much slower than last year but she’s been training much less than I have and not feeling very well for quite some time) we hung around for the prize giving.  After the main prizes are given out the two ‘spot-prizes’ were awarded, and low and behold I was one of the winners.   My running number was drawn out of the ‘hat’ and I was presented with a brand new mountain bike!  Can you believe it!

Not bad for a morning run.

Sharon and I will now be concentrating out training over the next few weeks with a focus on a half marathon we’re doing in seven weeks time.  Here’s hoping there’s no illness, twisted ankles (although my ankle is hurting a little, so a few days rest will be in order) or other problems over the next few weeks.

Now when I say not fast I mean it – much of the race is held on the towpath running beside the Thames and after a downpour of rain in the afternoon there were big puddles everywhere.  For much of the towpath I spent my time dodging the larger of the puddles which clearly slowed me down.

Once again I set off too fast, but soon brought that back under control.  The first 4k I was in a small group of runners but managed to edge ahead and I kept my position for the remainder of the race.  I ran through the 5k mark in about 19:10 and with the second half of the race being mostly on the towpath keeping that pace was going to be tough.  I ran hard, but not quite maximum effort (albeit damn close) and I crossed the finish line in 38:55 – a 2 second personal best over this distance.  My overall position was 16th out of 94.  For info the winner finished in 33:47.  Full results are available at the Sport Systems website.

I’m very pleased with this (as I should be) and look forward to running 10k over a more favourable course.

After last weekends half-ironman distance triathlon in Wales last weeks running was simply a couple of easy runs and yet more carb-loading in preparation for another trip to Wales – this time as part of The Stragglers running club team who were taking part in the Welsh Castles Relay event. This is the 26th running of this relay race, which starts on Saturday morning at Caernarfon Castle and finishes late afternoon on Sunday at Cardiff Castle. There were 58 teams taking part with each team fielding 20 runners. Add on top of this reserve runners, drivers and general supporters (and the race officials) and you’ve probably got up to 1,500 people following the race.

“Ten (approx) ten mile races, back to back. Then another ten the following day. Held over the second weekend in June, the Welsh Castles Relay is a team event, but each stage is a head-to-head race. It is not strictly a relay: runners do not pass a baton to team-mates; and each stage is a self-contained race.”

“Seen from space, the distance between Caernarfon and Cardiff is not all that great, however, the country between the two is Wales, and every stage includes at least one climb or descent. Taking a cue from Le Tour de France, the toughest stages are designated as ‘mountain stages’ and the winner of each stage gets a yellow (or occasionally grey) sweat shirt.”

We drove up on Friday evening after stopping en-route near Warwick for some dinner and eventually got into our B&B in Newtown (right in the middle of Wales) shortly before 11pm. Saturday morning greeted us with blue skies and a great big breakfast! Sharon, Kirsty and myself then jumped into our car (there were a few cars in our ‘convoy’) and headed to the supermarket for supplies, which included a large bottle of water and some plastic cups – to give to both our runners and also other people in need of water during their ‘stages’.

We didn’t plan to see the very start of the race at Caernarfon but we did want to see the end of that stage and start of the second one. This was situated in Penygroes, and we got to see Dave G. set off on his 9.4 mile leg, and a few minutes later watch Faye W. finish in the first stage. All the stages slightly overlap their start/finish times to ensure that event keeps to a reasonable schedule. Because of this there is lots of leap-frogging to be done and organising of runners and cars to ensure the right person gets to the right stage at the right time. On top of this you have somewhere in the region of 150+ cars travelling the entire route so you’ve often driving at slow speeds to get from one place to another.

When supporting our runners during a leg the general idea is to drive ahead of them (hooting your horn and screaming support from the car window as you pass them), find a lay-by or side road up ahead (that isn’t full of other supporters vehicles), get out, prepare a few cups of water, wait for your runnner to come past, jump in the car and do it all again. This is the general idea of how things work for the two days. It’s manic, great fun and you get to see what seems like an endless running race across the length of Wales.

Kirsty was down to run leg 4 which started from Mentwrog at 13:30. We got there with plenty of time to spare to allow Sharon and I to relax and have some lunch (which we bought earlier at the supermarket) whilst Kirsty got ready for her leg (which basically involved a visit to the loo and the application of sun cream). The sun was beating down on us and it was pretty warm. After her race started we headed back to the car and drove along the course to find a place to stop and support/provide drinks.

We managed a couple of other stops to provide water for Kirsty before heading to the finish. About 150 metres before the finish she got into a bit of a race for the line with a girl (Carly) from Sarn Helen Club (they’d been alternating positions for most of the race). The determination in Caryl’s face clearly shows she wanted to get ahead and ultimately she did – that is until she crossed the line and practically collapsed in a heap on the ground! Great running.

After Kirsty finished and got her breath back (just) we were straight back in the car to support Pat who was running stage 5. We saw her a couple of times whilst running then raced ahead to the start of stage 7 (Dolgellau to Dinas Mawddwy) – one of the ‘mountain stages’ – Danny was running. We watch them set off then (you know the drill by now) it was back in the car to go ahead and prepare a ‘water station’. In the course handbook that we were given before the race there’s an elevation profile picture for each of the stages – with the mountain stages being coloured red. Well, after driving the first few miles of the course we couldn’t believe how hilly it was – it looked pretty horrific. The next thing I did was check the profile of my stage (which I was running a couple of hours later, at 6:20pm) and compared profiles! Lets just say I was in for a tough time. As we drove past Danny on the main uphill he was 110% committed to pushing up the hill and was working unbelievably hard. I don’t think I’ve ever put that kind of effort in on a final sprint – let alone 4 miles into a 9+ mile race.

We found a good spot to watch Danny come down one of the huge hills and after admiring the massive lead from Andy Weir (Thames Hare & Hounds) we sped to the finish and just made it in time to watch Danny come in. At this point I had to get ready for my stage. I’d not been feeling 100 percent all day and a few toilet trips confirmed that – including one after Danny’s stage in which someone in the toilet block responded to a noise from myself with the sound of “good arse”. I thanked him from my cubicle, he laughed and I never did get to find out who I had been speaking to!

We drove straight to Llanfair Caereinion, the start of stage 10 but just got to cheer Suzie at the start of stage 9. We arrived at the car park, I got changed into my racing kit and proceeded to go for a warm-up – which would be very important as the first few miles are the toughest and I didn’t fancy pulling/tearing anything early on! OK, when you’re about to start a half marathon (this is the the longest stage – at 13.3 miles) it’s not the greatest sight to see supporters eating fish-and-chips right by the start – especially when my dinner consisted of a lovely carbohydrate gel!!

After I was given this stage to run by the organiser of the event from our running club, everybody who knew about the Welsh Casles Relay said that “you’ve been stitched up”. Apparently my stage is one of, if not, the toughest stage of the entire race and is likely to kill me! “Pah”, I said! We’ll see about that.

So, my stage began and after a gentle incline in the centre of the town we turned left onto a country lane…. OH MY GOD! I was then faced with a hill – one that looked to go up into the clouds! At the side of the road there was a road sign telling me that the incline was 16% – basically this means rather steep! I just paced myself and got on with it. One or two people overtook me and I believe I got past at least one or two of them on this hill. This hill continued until about 1.75 miles and it was really slow going (but certainly not impossible) and one you get to the top you then run down the damn thing for about half a mile. Now the downhills are much much tougher. Maybe being tall doesn’t really help but I don’t find it particularly easy to run (steep) downhill with any kind of finesse or style – its just hang on for dear life and hope you don’t fall over yourself! My feet were sliding forward in my shoes with every step and after a while it actually felt like the soles of my feet were burning from my socks rubbing against my shoes – it was a feeling I’ve not felt before. Oh, on top of this your quad muscles in your legs are telling you that they’re on fire! How lovely.

Whilst all of this is happening you’re slap-bang in the middle of the (around 150+ car) supporters convoy – you get plenty of cheers and the cars don’t get in the way at all (as they know you’re running a race and want room and support). After about four miles the road then just undulates from here on in to about 11.5 miles and then it’s much flatter to the finish.

During my stage I seemed to have a constant back and forth tussle with a chap from Les Croupiers running club (the organising team of the entire event). It’s funny because I had no idea what his name was (and he had no idea what mine was) but everytime we passed our support vehicles (or they drove past us) I’d get cheers of “Go David” (or sometimes “Go Daffyd!”) and he’d get shouts of “Go Ben”. So, when later on in the race he grabbed a bottle of water from someone at the side of the road – after having a sip he said “Do you want some David?”, to which I replied “Thanks Ben”!!! So, I never knew I’d learn things from running – OK, so its just a fellow runners name, but it’s learning!!

As I got to about mile 9 I started to get stomach problems – I’ve never had this before and I guess the ‘incident’ in the toilets before the stage was probably a warning of things to come. Every couple of minutes I’d get a cramp-like pain in my stomach and had to ease of slightly with the running. As our friend Kirsty wrote in her blog…

“We stopped for him a couple more times and he seemed fine until about 9 miles when he started to suffer with some stomach distress. He signalled this to us without speaking! We found this highly amusing, the supporters next to us did not. Clearly not runners.”

Lets just say I did a lot of ‘holding-in’ during the latter miles. On many occasion rather than thinking about pulling over for water, I was looking at the foliage by the side of the road thinking that if I had to make an impromptu stop at the side, then I didn’t want to be ‘cleaning up’ with a handful of nettles. I tell you, I was so so close to pulling over – and I couldn’t care less that there were 150+ cars driving at 10 miles an hour a couple of feet away from me!

Somehow I managed to keep things under control and in the final mile you head off road and onto a path beside the river in Newtown. During the final mile I pulled away from Ben. You then get to a bridge which you have to run over (somehow I managed to see friend Liz Souness in about four different places in the space of about 1 minute at this point!) and then its a couple of hundred metres max to the finishing line – from here I had my sights on a guy who overtook me about 30 minutes previously – I dug in and rather than quietly sneaking past him – everyone (around 200 people waiting at the finish) started cheering as it looked like there was an exciting sprint finish to be had. Well let’s just say it must have been really exciting to watch – this little chap (I can say that as he was much smaller than me) looked over his shoulder after hearing the cheering, saw me and then dug in. We both raced to the line and amazingly after over 90 minutes of racing we finished a dead heat – both on 1:34:41 and joint 41st place overall for the stage. It was a great finish.

After composing myself I walked to the rest of our team who were at the finish – they were most impressed that I’d run well on such a legendary stage – and to clock a sub-1:35 half marathon on those hills and when not feeling great I think was pretty good going. After a (very necessary and rather urgent although the less said about it he better!) toilet trip we headed to the B&B so I could enjoy a cold bath, and then headed to a local pub with the rest of the team for dinner.

Sunday morning started with a 6:20am wake-up call, for Sharon and I had volunteered to help marshall stage 11 – which started at Newtown at 7am. I made sure Sharon knew where she and Kirsty were walking to in order to marshall their spot and then followed Danny in his car to where I’d be marshalling in this stage. At about 7:25am the runners appeared in sight and for the next 20 minutes or so I watched them run past whilst making sure no cars got in their way. At that time in the morning it was quite an easy job for me. I then headed back to the B&B for breakfast and then it was back on the road to support the final stages of the race.

We managed to watch a few of our runners over the course of the day with the most memorable being Chris Phelan running stage 14 – another legendary ‘mountain stage’ that takes you on a constant uphill climb to an abandoned pub called The Drovers Arms. Up near the finish of this stage its like watching a mountain stage of Le Tour de France cycle race. Watching these guys (and the amazing run from first lady Nicky Archer of Vale Royal) is inspiring. It was superb to watch. Chris (from our club) ran brilliantly and finished first Veteran – which meant in addition to a ‘veteran stage winner’ sweatshirt he would also receive a special prize at the end of event prize-giving for being first Vet in a mountain stage.

We then headed off and caught up (and supported/provided water to) a few other runners en-route to Cardiff Castle – where the event finishes. As we waited in the grounds of the castle for the finishers to head in we got the first downpour of the entire weekend – and what a suprise were were the furthest away from the car we’d been all weekend! Ho hum. After watching our runner (Hillary) finish we all got together for a team photo – with all but one of our runners present. We then watched the prize giving and bid farewell to everyone and made our way home back to London. I worked out that we’d driven 660 miles and spent 18 hours in the car during the course of the weekend!

As I said at the beginning this was my first Welsh Castles Relay and one that I thoroughly enjoyed. The team spirit, the support, the atmosphere and fun was second to none. This is one event I certainly plan to do again.

Finally….as I write this on Tuesday evening my legs are truly shot to bits – on Monday I could barely walk down stairs and on Tuesday things were only marginally better. Stage 10 of WCR was one heck of an experience – and everything that people told me about the stage prior to me running it was true – I had indeed been “stitched up!!!”

Sharon here now with her regular “Supporters Column”.

Another weekend, another trip to Wales.  This time would be more intense I thought – and I was right.  I was down as travelling reserve but I was not feeling in top form thanks to a sore throat gained at Bala the previous weekend, which seemed to be getting worse (and in fact still is but that’s another story).  By the time we eventually got to Newtown, tucked up in bed, it was pretty late and we were very aware we had a busy day ahead.  DavidDaffyd has given details of most of the stages, so forgive any repeating.

Beforehand, I was thinking I might feel a bit useless – to be honest, I kind of did (most of the time I wasn’t even taking photos).  However, providing the vital superjooce for Kirsty (i.e. Lucozade Sport!) and water for Danny and David seemed to be my main tasks – as well as driving on Saturday so that Daffyd could feel reasonably rested prior to his stage.

Before Kirsty, we missed our team captain Steve running the first of the mountain stages.  Blimmin hard it was too when we drove it on the way to Kirsty’s start – which was billed as pancake flat.  Hmmm.  Nowhere in Wales is flat is my considered opinion.  She had a good run – even in the unexpectedly melting heat and had a great battle!  Pat then “stepped up” to run a leg at very short notice thanks to some logistical errors, again running an apparently flat stage.  Once again, “Hmmm” to the supposed flatness!  As we zoomed off to Danny’s stage, I was feeling nervous for him.  On the way, we shouted support at Roy (who won the coveted first Vet yellow sweatshirt on his stage) out of the car window.  Danny’s stage was so tough!  The downhills were just horrendous…we leapt out of the car a few times to give him water/cheer him on.  He did great and came 10th on his stage – but to see him finish I made Kirsty run up a hill.  Sorry Kirsty.

By now, I was terribly terribly nervous for David.  Since we got the stage assignments, people had been going on about the infamous Stage 10.  Eeeek!  We bibbled about a bit and I felt sick whilst David warmed up.  I was even more nervous when I looked at the others who were running the stage.  I would say that “wiry, fell runner” is a good description for most of them.  Seriously scary looking runners!  Before we knew it, they were off.  The first few miles were awful.  When we started to drive up the first big hill, Kirsty and I looked at each other and said, “Oh my f***ing God”.  I couldn’t believe it, but we hadn’t passed David yet – so he must have survived!  It was tough to find a place to stop at first but then we managed to.  My favourite moment was when David came by us and trumped.  We laughed so hard – and apparently Daffyd couldn’t drink his water he was chuckling too.  The couple who were next to us supporting were, much like Queen Victoria, not amused.  Unlike us.  We could see David having battles with a couple of people around him but before we knew it, we were at the finish and waiting for him.  He had an excellent sprint finish with a teeny runner (who we had seen pelting down a hill at one point, definitely an advantage to be little running downhill) and I was glad to see they were given the same time and same position, I think that was deserved.  Somehow he survived (except his tummy!) and somehow he ate his dinner…which hasn’t been done after that stage for a couple of years!  Then off to bed again, knowing we had another early start.

We were up at 6:20 ready to marshall.  Kirsty and I had quite a complex marshalling point, involving potentially stopping 3 sets of traffic, keeping runners to the left of a bollard so they didn’t cut a corner, turning right and then keeping left once they had gone up the hill.  Unfortunately the lead runner thought my holding the traffic back meant turn left, despite us shouting turn right.  He soon realised it was right not left but shouted something at me…of course I shouted back that I was holding cars up (which I was, in two lanes).  Perhaps I should have let him get squished?  I also think that if a course has one turning point on it and you are going to be at the front, you might like to know where that turn is.  Especially when it is about 200m from the start.  Anyway.  Graham was running this leg for us and we gave him a mini-shout as he went by and he finished in a fantastic 3rd place overall.  Fabulous!  We finished our marshalling, waved the runners off up the hill, spoke to our team captain in case the runner complained (also suggesting it might need 3 marshalls in case of traffic) and headed off back to the B&B via town to get some cash.

Kirsty and Daffyd spent the morning teasing me about having to run the infamous Drovers leg (stage 14) in case Chris couldn’t…I said I would have run it, but would have missed the cut off!  I would have done it rather than get our team a penalty though.  Fortunately I didn’t have to.  The first runner we saw was PG, who ran brilliantly and was 2nd in his stage.  Awesome run and our best outright placing of the weekend.  We then zoomed off to see Chris run Drovers.  Wow.  What a course.  It doesn’t look so bad at first, then just gets worse and worse.  There was a battle and a half between the two leading runners, with a chap from Poole being eventually overtaken by one of our local rival club runners from Thames Hare & Hounds.  Incredible running by Chris for us led to him winning a shiny yellow Vet sweatshirt – though the man doing the results said, “Is he really a Vet” – of course Kirsty shouted to him that he was.

After Chris it was time to see a couple of other runners, including Cecilia, Alan and Nigel.  We periodically leapt out of our cars, setting up the impromptu water stations…I also rescued the 2 mile marker balloon from someone’s garden on Cecilia’s stage.  It wasn’t even on the course originally…they both ran really well.  Cecilia looked like she was having a grand old time…grinning away for the camera!  Nigel worked really hard and finished in a very credible 17th place on the last mountain stage of the day.  We were soon enough in Cardiff in the grounds of the castle, awaiting the final stage runners.  For us we had Hillary (our accomadation and dining organiser) running and she came flying in, looking a bit soggy though after the first rain of the weekend.  There are no official results as yet but I think we were 22nd out of 58 teams (and 18th in the “Open” category).  Our Kings of the Mountain (i.e. Steve, Danny, David, Graham, Chris and Nigel) were 10th – which considering the competition is pretty amazing!

My overall thoughts are that I loved the supportive atmosphere – though I do want a cowbell if I go again and some streamers to tie to the car!  I loved leaping out and yelling at people.  I was a bit stressed as reserve, as I know I am not fit at the moment – but I would have run if I was needed.  I also really loved seeing all the fantastic runners!  Given that I am often near the back, I don’t generally get to see the really quick runners running (unless it is a lap course) and it’s just awe-inspiring to see them literally flying along!  Phenomenal standard of competitors.

Well done Stragglers!  Now just to persuade Ranelagh that they want to enter too…that would make for even more supporting fun!

Finally, we took quite a few photographs this weekend, with our ‘more personal set’ found over at Sharon’s gallery and a more generic set over at rowephoto.co.uk (Saturday, Sunday) – together with links to full resolution versions.  Nigel Rothwell took some great photos (including one of the ones of me running above) and his full set are online at Flickr, as well as a set from Liz Souness – which includes about 5 or 6 photos of my stage).

Unfortunately I missed watching the winner of today’s race – our good friend Danny. This is his second win at Bushy Park so well done mate.

In total I have run:

663 miles, which is enough to take me from Land’s End, England to Stonehaven, Scotland (20 miles South of Aberdeen), with the majority on the M6. I could drive it in about 11 hours, however have calculated that it has taken me 111 hours to run those 663 miles! My biggest mileage month was September when I hit 91 miles. My lowest was June with only 26 miles, which coincided with a broken bone in my foot.

68 races!! This comprises 38 x BPTT 5k’s, 2 x RPTT 5k’s, 7 x 10k’s (Goring, Chichester, Sutton, Elmbridge, Bognor, Lanzarote and Brighton), 3 x 10 miles (Thames Towpath Ten, Dorking and Cabbage Patch 10 , 2 x 8 miles (one slightly longer but what’s half a mile between puddles?), 1 x 7km (Wedding Day), 1 x 4 mile (Cabbage Patch 4), 1 x half marathon (Bedford), 7 x cross country of varying distances, 3 x 5.17km (Stragglers handicaps), 1 x 5k(Belgrave), 2 x cross country relays and an aquathlon (Lanzarote)!!

I have additionally won 4 handicap prizes!! Who’d have thought I would win anything? I’ve won the Belgrave 5k Handicap prize (£75 no less!), 2 Stragglers Handicap gold medals (August and September – I have retired now) and finally the Dysart Cup Sealed Handicap – not sure f I actually physically get anything for this though…will find out in March. The last prize was a lovely shiny medal and a rucksack from BPTT, thanks to finishing 7th overall in the women’s league for the year 2006-2007.

In terms of progress and PB’s, I started the year with a 5km PB of 32:01, which I reduced in October to 25:22. My 10k PB has gone from 71:40 in January to 54:45 in November, my 10 mile PB from 1:52:08 in April to 1:32:27 in October. I will have to wait until 2008 to see if I improve over other distances, as they are strange race lengths which aren’t raced very often.

I have had lots of fun over the past year with David, Kirsty and Danny travelling to races and training together (well, I say together, I mean in the same place at the start and end of a session!). I’d like to thank them for all their encouragement and cries of “sandbagger”! I also have had lots and lots of support during races from members of both our running clubs which is great, so thanks everyone for that. I went on a running holiday, which was great and something last year I would never have dreamed I would do. My life has changed immeasurably, as has my weight (I have lost 19lbs since the start of the year with not a diet in sight, combined with the weight loss in 2006 that brings me to 46lbs lost in total). My bank balance is slightly worse for wear, I am now on my 3rd pair of shoes, as well as having trail shoes and a pair of cross country spikes! I also now have more running kit than normal clothes (actually, that’s not true but I do have an awful lot!) which further accounts for the reduced bank balance…

So what’s in the plan for next year? Firstly I need to sort out my injury. I have been injured for over 3 months now and it is really starting to get me down. I can still run but occasionally in a lot of pain and generally in moderate pain. I am contemplating having January off with lots of physio visits, just to see if that will do the trick. I will be annoyed though as there are some great cross country races in January which I want to do but then it’s more important to get my leg better I think. I also have some time targets for a couple of distances but I won’t put them in black and white here, they can stay in my head (and some people know what they are).

I think that’s about it. This is like an Oscar speech, sorry! Final special thanks must go to David for encouraging me so much with my running. He has even come out with me at my pace from time to time, which I am sure must have been incredibly irritating for him – despite insisting that it wasn’t. See you all running soon…

I ran this for the first time last year and I really wanted to see how I’d improved over the past 12 months. Conditions were ideal – it was cold and dry – lovely for running. I was feeling good for this and the end result proved it – I finished third! The race is just under 4 miles (my GPS said 3.95) and takes in a lovely route along the towpath beside the River Thames between Twickenham and Richmond.
View Larger Map

Because of the day of the year and the course route I really enjoy this race – you’re running along the path beside the river and have to navigate between the large number of families walking their children/dogs/grandparents in the sunshine. I ran the entire race alone – watching the two runners ahead of me slowly drift into the distance. Just after 3k I could hear someone close behind me but there was no way I was going to look to see how close he/she was – that would only show that I was running scared (which I wasn’t…much). I dug deep and after a while the breathing sound just faded away – phew.

My finishing time was (according to my watch 23:08) which gives me an average pace of 5:51 per mile (a few seconds off of my best 5k pace) – a time that I was very happy with. Sharon ran it in 35:50 and was pleased with her performance – especially as she’s still half on the injury bench!

Outside of our race, the winner was our good friend Danny. Last year he had a ‘navigation issue’ and went the wrong way – this year he ran brilliantly and finished first – followed shortly by another friend, Paul.

Finally, last year I ran this in 24:40, so was over 90 seconds quicker this year. I think that calls for a celebratory glass or two of wine this evening…

(Thanks to Danny’s dad for the photo at the start)

1. its all about the running exploits of Sharon and myself
2. there’s always a weekly update about our involvement and participation in the UK time trials (yup, we’re addicted!)

Since I ran my first 5k time trial in June 2006 I slowly became hooked, and by September of that year I became full on addicted. Sharon joined in shortly afterwards and since then we have just about made it to a time trial every week – unless we’ve been on holiday – although we managed to run our own “Time Trial” in Lanzarote this past August.

A few weeks ago Sharon and I were contacted by Paul (the man who started the Bushy Park Time Trial) telling us that Runners World magazine in the UK were writing an article about time trials and that we had a story worth telling! They asked me to call Nick (the journalist) which I duly did and arranged a time to have a longer conversation. The following day Sharon and I had a good telephone conversation with the guy where he asked us all about our involvement with UK Time Trials and how we’d improved (or not) by doing it. We then left it at that – curious about what would come of it.

Just over a week ago the January 2008 issue of Runners World dropped through the letterbox and if I may say so myself, what a fine issue it is! On page 82 there is a four page article about running time trials and Sharon and I are the featured “Case Study” – together with a photo of us both. I’m also quoted a couple of times in the article and I think it all portrays the UK Time Trial ‘movement’ in a very positive way.

“There’s no doubt that seeing yourself improve week by week is a huge boost,” says BPTT veteran David Rowe. “It’s made me into a real runner – something I’d never thought I’d be saying a year or two ago.”

So, if you’ve not seen it yet go and get yourself a copy of the January 2008 issue of Runners World magazine (UK), or read some of the article at their website – but if you read it online you’ll miss the case study!

My only plan for the race was to have a good run, and see how things go, and make sure I didn’t set off too quickly. The course was two laps and it was good to run with a good group of runners from Ranelagh Harriers, The Stragglers and many other local clubs in this invitational cross country race.

At the end of the first lap I headed into what can only be called a ‘Stragglers sandwich’, where I (running in blue) was caught in the middle of a group of runners from The Stragglers club – two of whom I know fairly well (Nigel and Ian). We had a right good tussle with all of us swapping positions multiple times throughout the lap until the final 400 meters or so where I managed to dig deep and get ahead. I was really pleased with my finish and certainly put an effort in – so much so that Sharon (who was watching) thought I was going to collapse!

In the overall results I finished 37th out of 111 with a time of 35:51 (the winning time was 31:47). I scored points for the Ranelagh Harriers team who finished overall in fourth place (with Hercules/Wimbledon first, Serpentine second and The Stragglers in third place).

The ladies course was one small lap around Sidmouth Wood, followed by a large lap including the hill towards The Royal Ballet School. This was a total of 4.12 miles, less than the men’s race which was two “large laps”. The first lap was OK and saw 4 of us running together, one Serpentine runner, one Epsom and 2 of us from Ranelagh. We then raced off down Queen’s Ride (but on the opposite side than that which we normally race, so that was odd), which is lovely as it’s downhill. At this point I was catching the “Serpie Girl” but unfortunately she was better up the hill to the ballet school than me and blew me out. As we turned to a downhill section after the ballet school, we suddenly were running into a gale! Wow, that was hard work…

Next thing I know, I was in the final quarter of a mile, which I always find the worst bit on these courses we use. It is relentlessly gently uphill which makes the quads burn especially if you are trying to outsprint someone to the finish. Some cheers from our Ladies Captain Marie (not running due to illness) were greatly appreciated at this point! I saw the cones and knew I was there. Phew. I finished in a time of 37:17, 53rd out of 58 runners. After a warm-down we were off to watch the men’s race.

Once back at the Ranelagh Clubhouse, we had tea and cakes (as always) and awaited the results. The Dysart Cup was won by Serpentine, in 2nd were Thames Hare & Hounds and Ranelagh were 3rd. Hurrah! The Hugh Jones Salver Club Championship was won by Anna Scally, with Clare King in 2nd and Jenny Lloyd-Jones in 3rd place. In addition to the Hugh Jones Salver, there was also a sealed handicap component to this race – which I am proud to say was won by yours truly! It’s not often you beat amazing runners like Anna and Clare…quite honestly handicapping is my only hope!

A number of photos from the race taken by David can be found at our photography website.

After last weeks top two positions were taken by members of Ranelagh Harriers this week it was dominated by members of The Stragglers – who came home with the first three positions. Ranelagh (our ‘first claim’ running club) took positions four and five, and I ran well enough to secure fourth place with a time of 18:59 (for info last week my time was 18:42).

Sharon ran the course in a time of 27:58 (last week her time was 28:27). There were 51 runners taking part this week.

Anyway, we had sussed out our starting strategy – David lost lots of time last year at the start. I kept tucked away on the left hand side and was passed by about 1000 people I reckon! The first 3 miles flew by in less than 26 minutes – which was not in my plan at all. I tried to think, “never mind, it’s time in the bank”, I was trying not to think that I would pay for it later.

At about 4 miles in, I tried out my sport beans that Heather had kindly given me the week before. I had half of them and they were quite palatable compared to gels…I had the beans on a part of the course that I am familiar with from the Stragglers Monthly Handicap. I was quite glad to see mile 5 – hurrah, the halfway marker. I reached halfway in just over 45 minutes, which meant that if I kept going at a reasonable pace, I would get a pretty big PB. However, there was still a long way to go.

Lots of cheers from marshalls we knew – especially welcome from Chris, Paula, Guy and Peej at my personal worst part of the race, mile 8 to 9. I hate it. I knew my pace had slowed a lot and a quick look at my Garmin told me I was only just under 10 minutes for that mile I reached halfway through that dreaded mile and saw Danny who shouted, “1:32″ at me – and something else which I shan’t blog about but which made me laugh…

Somehow, once in the final mile, I managed to pick up my pace again and was spurred on further by cheers from Liz and Keith (Chairman of Stragglers) up Lebanon Park and onto York Road. It was at this point that someone decided to overtake me. Oh no no no. She was wearing and i-plod too…grrrr. As we rounded the corner to the finishing straight, I dug deep and put in a sprint to make sure that I was over the line before her.

I crossed the line in 92:27 (56 seconds outside Ken’s estimate but closer to his than mine!) but more importantly in a huge PB, by 19 minutes and 41 seconds. I was chuffed to bits. David greeted me with a great big hug and I was a bit bewildered at this point I have to admit. Crossing that line was the most emotional I have been since finishing a race I think. I always imagined that crossing a line in my first 10k would make me cry (it didn’t) or getting my first sub-30 5k would make me cry (it didn’t). I didn’t cry after this race but I did grin and bounce around a lot. I wonder if I will cry after my first half marathon…

Anyway, I shall stop now. I just wanted to say thanks to all the marshalls and my fellow runners for the fabulous encouragement I received around the course. It was a great race, I really enjoyed it and will definitely have it in my calendar for next year.

We then raced over to Wimbledon Common where the mens team were competing. Over what looked like a much flatter course members of the Thames Hare & Hounds running club came in the top two positions. The first Ranelagh finisher was in 13th place but with a solid performance from the ‘A’ team we finished third team overall. More photos can be found at our photography website.

The next race is in early November and both Sharon and I hope to run for our club in these races.

One wintery Tuesday evening in November 2006 Sharon and I ventured to Ranelagh Harriers who are based just outside of Richmond. We introduced ourselves to a chap who immediately made us feel welcome and told us about how the club operates. He invited us to ‘try it out’ for a couple of weeks or so with no obligation to join. Well, within a couple of weeks we’d paid our cheque and were now members of a running club.

A couple of months later we chose to also join The Stragglers running club – the reasons for joining the club were because of 1) we know quite a few members of the club, and 2) their ‘club’ night group run is on a different day so we pretty much double the opportunities for club running during the week – which is ideal if I’m stuck late at work or whatever.

One of the things I love about being a member of a club is that you get to meet and socialise with like-minded people – you feel part of a group, which is a fantastic feeling when you’re at a race and you’re part of a group of club runners. When you’re racing, people around you know you’re a club runner and you’re serious (or at least look the part wearing the club vest!) – you’re never on your own. Additionally, since I joined a club the number of times I’ve run on my own has gone right down – there’s always someone to go running with – both on long slow Sunday runs around the park, or on club training nights when you’re working on things such as speed training.

A very good friend of mine with whom I went to University (many years ago) recently took up running has recently joined a local running club near to where he lives and has blogged about it. If you’re thinking about joining a running club then I urge you to read about Richards experience of his first night at a running club.

Finally, this time a year ago I took part in the Cabbage Patch 10 road race in Twickenham as an unattached (non-running club member) runner. Next Sunday I will be running this race again, and wearing a Ranelagh Harriers vest with pride, and I’m going to get a PB (personal best) time over the distance whilst I’m at it (famous last words eh!).

We watched the mini-marathon races that went past, and to be honest time went really quickly before the first of the elite runners past us. The women’s winner was Chunxiu Zhou of China, with a time of 2:20:38. The men followed shortly afterwards, with the eventual winner being Martin Lel of Kenya in 2:07:41.

We had a number of friends running and it was great to cheer them on as they went past – the heat (I believe it matched the record for the hottest temperature for the London Marathon) got to some people much more than others, and the pain on some peoples faces was pretty tough to see – let alone people staggering from side to side, oh, and the occasional person being sick.

I took a load of photos which can be found at davidrowe.co.uk so feel free to step over and take a look.

Now, here’s the rant….

First and foremost the London Marathon is a race, and a 26.2 mile race at that. According to the organisers (via wikipedia), it is “the largest annual fund raising event in the world”. Raising money for charity is a great thing – and I’m really pleased that the event does a lot of good for the people who need it but it is a race, and I would expect most people to run it! This does not mean talking to friends/family on mobile phones – and I saw a great deal of people doing it. Hang-on, take the event seriously – and don’t use your *&”^&*£ phone all the time. Additionally, the amount of people walking was pretty shocking to see – its all in the pacing. OK, some people really did have bloody good reasons to walk, but it did seem like an awful lot of people don’t take the event as seriously as they should have. Because of the weather conditions on the day maybe I’m just not being considerate, and if that is the case then I apologise.

Many runners get into the marathon through the official ballot (as the event is heavily over-subscribed) and some through their running clubs, who give out limited club places to their runners. The majority I feel (I have no idea of the stats) get places via charities. Now, if you get a charity place (or indeed any place), then remember, a marathon is not a 10k, its not even a half marathon or 20 miles – its 26.2 miles and if you want to perform to your best then you’re going to have to put a damn good effort in and train for it. If you don’t put the effort in, then your spoiling it for someone who will make an effort and cannot (easily) get a place.

Many people start training at the start of the year, about 16 weeks before the race. This is probably fine to adjust existing training and core fitness to a marathon schedule but for a complete “I’ve never run before” newcomer, you’re asking for trouble. You may indeed get fit pretty quickly, but the body (bones) will take a lot lot longer than 16 weeks to cope with the pressures of running 30-60 miles on average a week.

Maybe me going “off on one” is because I didn’t get into it (via the ballot, or through my running club), and that’s just how things sometimes are. If I keep entering my time will come (after five official rejections its guaranteed). My other option is to step up my training and aim for a “good for age” guaranteed entry – this would mean that for London 2008 I’d have to run a 2:59:59 or better marathon this year (before October I believe). Now, seeing as though I was originally thinking of a time of 3:45 when I entered London 2007 this is quite a challenge (and I’ve not chosen to accept it – yet). I ran a “hilly” half marathon in 1:33 almost five months ago and I’m much fitter and faster than then. I’d like to run a half marathon (preferably flat) in the not too distant future – maybe in June/July – to see what I’m capable of.

I think I’m just a bit miffed as I stood there cheering people on thinking that if I’d been the other side of the fence and running it, I’d have made sure I’d have trained hard for it and given it the best I could.

Personally, I’d love to get in via the ballot of my running club and wear the club vest (Ranelagh Harriers or The Stragglers) on the day with pride. I’d happily try and raise money for charity as well, but my aim would be to run a marathon, like the 7,500 who did in its first race in 1981. Speaking of which, there’s a group of 24 people who’ve run every single London Marathon since it began. Talk about committment. Check out the Ever Present website for more information on this unique group of people.

This was the first time I’d been to a XC event (I’d only recently seen one on TV for the first time a few weeks ago) and it was a very impressive sight. Sharon has said that she wants to get a pair of spikes and take part next year, which will be really cool.
Coming straight from the BPTT race in Bushy Park in the morning, I was armed with my camera and took over 450 photos, so feel free to have a look at them over at davidrowe.co.uk/photos/.