Bedford Half race report

An extremely brief race report to cap 2012 (unless you count my
company Santa Dash on Wednesday that I'm organising).

Today was the Bedford Half Marathon. An insulating course with a few
good hills but some downs too! I had high hopes of finishing the year
with a PB but a bad chesty cough and cold all week meant I was toeing
the start line in less than ideal form. I was still intent in going
for it but wasn't sure what pace I was capable on.

Early on I recorded mile splits between 6:32 and 6:50 but by mid race
these had slipped to 7-7:10 pace and I was hanging on. Despite this I
gave it 110% and whilst knowing I wouldn't PB I still gave it
everything to record a descent time. Between mile 8 and 9 I was
starting to be passed. I had a choice: I could either continue to slow
down and watch as other disappeared into the distance or dig deep and
up my own pace. 2 chaps passed me with a lady tucked in right behind.
Immediately I made the decision to do the same and up my pace to stay
with them. I was putting in maximum effect to stay there but stay
there I did (for a while at least). When I finally lost them I picked
up another runner and used him to push on up the hills.

Mile 9 to 10 is all down hill and was great posting a 6:40 mile. The
final 3 miles are very flat. I was spent but still going. My final
mile was a 6:38 as I finished with a flourish and crossed the line in
1:29.52. Job done and great feeling that I didn't give up when I could
have easily have used feeling crap as an excuse for taking it easy
today.

Roll on 2012... Which depending on whether I get a place in the UTMB
ballot which opens this Friday could be quite a year!!!

Tribute to Nannie

Dad asked me if wanted to say a few words about Nannie. I've never been the sort of person to say no, so I said sure thing. Where do I get this positive attitude from.... Well from Nannie of course. Nannie had so many special qualities that made her the very special person that we love so dearly, so I wanted to share just a few of these with you all today.

I've already mentioned her ever so positive and sunny outlook on life. She really was a girl who rarely got down in the dumps about anything. Even when finding out that she had Cancer she didnt change or feel sorry for herself. 'What will be will be' was Nannie's attitude and outlook on life and she took everything in her stride.

And then there is Nannie's honesty! She told it how it was even if her views were a little too honest at times! One example that illustrates this ever so well is baby names. In the last 3 years of Nannie's life she became the proud great-grandmother of 5 great-grandchildren.

That's 'great' in both senses of the word. She was so proud. But what was especially hard was finding baby names that Nannie approved of! It became a bit of a game between Stephen, Caroline and I when naming our children to find a name that Nannie liked because if she didn't she told you! But her grandchildren are equally strong minded just like Nannie so she always came around.

And then there was the time when I bought Nannie a garden ornament for her patio in Worthing. Whilst unwrapping it she said 'I really hope it's not a pig'. Of course having said that it was indeed a pig! But she smiled, we all laughed and she said a geniune thankyou. She cared so much more for other peoples feelings than her own and always put others ahead of herself.

Another great characteristic was Nannie's dress sense and demeanor. She was a very elligant lady and always carried herself so well and quite effortlessly. Something I most definitely didn't inherit!

And then there is Nannie's culinary skills which were on a par with Jamie Oliver. She made the most amazing roast potatoes in the world which had a crunch to them that 'Granny Smith' would be jealous of! Unfortunately though Nannie takes her secret roast potatoe recipe to her grave so I won't be appearing on Dragons Den anytime soon.

Anyone who knew Nannie will know that she was an extremely independent lady. Her independence was so important to her and is what she lived for in many ways. After her fall last year she lost this independence and couldn't drive. But she was a very determined lady and fought hard to get back her independence and used this as motivation to recover and get back behind the wheel at the age of 89! This is a quality that I can see in both our children Lili and Jasper, both are independent and they also love charging around the house in their cars.

Lastly there was Nannie generosity. She was generous in so many ways. With her time, with her money and with her love for her family. My childhood memories of how she looked after Grandad with such love and devotion when I'm sure everyone else would have given up on him is testament to this love, generosity and commitment to her family. I asked Nannie the day before she died what she is going to say to Grandad when she sees him. She replied that she will tell him that they have 5 beautiful great-grandchildren. Family was everything to her and she was everything to us. We will miss her ever so much. Thank you Nannie for everything you have given us.

St Albans XC race report

It was the third cross country fixture in the Chiltern League on
Saturday. The hosts for this one were St Albans Striders and a new
course at Veralium Park. It was a tough course with mud and hills!!
Just how XC should be. The format for the mens senior race was 3 x 3k
laps.

It rained the night before which made for perfect XC conditions. The
spikes were coming out! Bring it on. As far as the LBAC senior mens
team was concerned we were a little light. Many of our fastest runners
were enjoying themselves out in Lanzarotte at the Club La Santa
running champs. This left the rest of us to dig in and put in a
performance that will give the club a fighting chance in the 2
remaining fixtures to remain in League 1 - something we are confident
we can do.

The gun went and I was off. The start was sloping downhill and this
was a good opportunity to get early position before the first climb. I
was running far too fast for a 9k but who cares... no pain no gain.
The first up hill revealed the extent of the muddy conditions. Quite
frankly if you weren't wearing spikes you would have struggled to even
make I up the hill! It was that bad!! - meaning it was great ;-)

Santa's Dash pics

5 mile race & Santa's Dash Race Report

I haven't blogged for a while as there hasn't been too much to report
but this week was different with two races - a company 5 mile race
that I organise which attracted 20 staff and the Leighton Santa's Dash
on Saturday which I volunteered to be the lead 'Christmas Pudding'!

First it was the 5 miler on Wednesday. Called the BRE 5 mile
Anniversary Run it has been running every year since 1980. My first
attempt at this event in 2003 saw me literually crawl over the finish
line in 43 minutes! It was the furthest I had ever run back then!!!
Fast forward 8 years and I was chasing a PB and trying to better my
2009 time of 29:40. 2010 had been run in Santa outfits and wasn't
taken so seriously but 2011 was different. I've done a bit of speed
training in the last few weeks to try and increase the leg turn over.
The pre-race favourite and winner if he turned up was colleague Glen
Watts. This kid (he's only 24 or so) has run a 66minute half marathon,
and ran this course last year in 24:42 which was a course record.

I pushed hard from the start and Glen was right there with me. He had
said before the race that he wasn't out to challenge his own record as
he had a hard race coming up on Saturday in the National XC
championship. So he was a true gent and paced me around the course for
the first half of the race. There was I giving it everything and
breathing really hard whilst Glen just jogged beside me not even
trying! He's not human!! I had a normal watch on just to check the
half way split and final time. I'm definitely of the opinion now that
seeing your actual pace whilst racing simply doesn't help. The half
way split was 13:58 which I've never done before. At this point Glen
started to pulled away and I did all I could to hang on as he edged
off into the distance. Those behind me were a minute or so behind by
this stage. The second half has a few climbs so it is slower. Despite
this I pushed on up the final hill and down the last 400m straight to
cross the line in 28:30. Better than I had ever hoped for and a PB by
1:10. Loving it. Glen finished in 27:15 taking it really easy and 3rd
place in 32 minutes went to George.

Next up was the Leighton Santa's Dash on Saturday. This was a bit of
fun which I ran last year coming third whilst pushing Lili in her
pushchair. This year I was approached by the organisers (Leighton Fun
Runners) and asked if I wanted to be the Christmas Pudding! This was
an ominous task as it required you to be the lead runner and stay
there! No pressure then. The photos pretty much tell the story. It was
a 2.5 mile course from the centre of town a short double loop around a
park and along a few roads below heading over the canal and looping
back into town. It was always gonna be hard and hard it was! I had
expected to be given a bit of a head start but that didn't happen so
as the Town Mayor started the race I had to sprint off the line like
Ussain Bolt as 45 or so Santa's gave chase. Despite the brisk start I
had company and the lad in 2nd place wasn't going to give up lightly.
Considering I had 2.5 miles to run the pace we were running which must
have been sub 5 mpm was not sustainable. I huffed and puffed all the
way around as I managed to grow the gap slowly but surely. It was soon
all over as the Christmad Pud give good. I was effectively the pace
maker so couldn't take the real victory which went to fellow LBAC
running Billy Mead who pushed me all the way from the start to the
finish. Well done Billy great running. Don't know my exact time but it
was definitely sub 14 minutes.

On Sunday I joined four fellow LBAC runners for a 13 mile offroad
jaunt in the countryside. A lovely morning with the sun shining and
wind blowing! Great times.

Watford XC Chiltern League race

Yesterdays XC race at Watford was quite a bit different from the
running I have been doing of late. LBAC compete in the Chiltern League
which features 5 races between Oct and Feb. I missed the 1st race of
the season so this was my first XC outing this year... Just 2 weeks
after SNOD too, so no speed training for the best part of a month (or
two!) going into this race. It was an undulating/hilly 6 miler in
Cassiobury park, Watford. All XCs go out hard and this was no
different... The gun went and we were off joistling for position. I
found my pace and fell in line behind a few team mates. Tom and Pete
quickly pulled away though (both sub 3hr marathon runners) so I went
about my own race not getting too carried away as I knew it would
destroy me in the latter stages. As I was expected it was really tough
going and my breathing was really hard from start to finish. Partly
because I was less race fit and also because I was pushing so hard.
It's the only real way to race XC... you do pace it to some degree but
it's at a pace that you know can only be sustained for a very short
time. Hopefully for the length of the race but that remained to be seen.

The course consisted of a first larger loop and 2nd slightly shorter
one. Both loops however climbed the main hills which we would be
tackling twice. As I said I was pushing hard throughout and breathing
heavy. I was passed by a rush of runners on the first half of the
first loop but after that despite running right at the peak of what I
was capable of I held my own and didn't lose many more places. The
pattern went that I would past runners on the downs and the up hill
sections but I would get passed on the flats. For me this worked the
best.

By the second loop everyone was spent so it was just about hanging on
and digging deep, and dig deep I did. The final hill was a real killer
but I pushed hard spurred on by fellow female LBAC team mates and
picked off a few runners as I climbed up to the finish which is always
a very satisfying way to finish a XC. Gasping for all the oxygen I
could get I crossed the finish line in 38:58 minutes and seconds for
the 6.05 mile course (measured on a mates garmin). I was as good as
dead but so alive at the same time! I dunno what it is about XC racing
but there's nothing else like it that makes you work so damn hard and
push yourself to your limits. I love it. I think the fact that you are
racing for your team more so than yourself is a huge factor in it. You
just don't wanna let anyone down but competitively you also wanna get
as close to your team mates ahead of you too!!

I finished 4th LBAC runner out of the 12 of us that ran, and 121st out
of 359 senior men overall. Time to get training and improve that for
St Albans XC on 3rd December.

The other reason for needing to get some essential speed training in
is that I've recently agreed to assist in the Leighton Santa's Dash on
27th November. I will be dressed up in full Christmas Pudding costume
and chased down by 50+ Santa suited runners over a 5k course. The
shame of getting caught is not something I want to think about so I
must in effect win... no pressure then. I just hope that no serious
runners would enter a Santa's Dash!!...would they? :-O

More SNOD pics

I won't apologise for ripping these photos off the marathonfoto
website. Their prices are absolutely scandalous! If they wanted to
attract more potential customers and real runners to buy their photos
they should charge sensible prices! And until they do I won't be
buying them.
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