Always write when the pain is still fresh… that’s what I reckon!
The day was gray & drizzly and curling up by the fire seemed like the best idea, but instead Mister Thomas’s jalopy turned up at the appointed hour to whisk us away to play. Cliff, the tall man with the gray hair, was already there whilst Pete turned up in the nick of time… not bad, bearing in mind that he had cycled from Brighton to warm up!
Cliff & Pete acted as the advance party, Kim brought up the rear, whilst Dai and I just cruised along in the middle, the beeps of his sat-nav watch suggesting that someone could have been more accurate with the mile markers. Seven, eight and nine minute miles were the order of the day, depending on the gradient therein, which augured well for the sub-two-hour goal.
The weather was basically pants (that’s a technical term) and although warm enough on the lungs and cool enough on the back of the neck, it played havoc with my hair, making me look like a drowned rat.
Two tips for anyone who’s interested. Firstly, when you’re running try to land towards the outside of your heel, rolling your foot forward as you pass over it to depart from your big toe. This is very efficient and is great for allowing you to lengthen your stride… which means that you can reduce the number of strides you have to take if you’re a lazy oaf like me! It’s also softer on your knees, welcome for the vets amongst us!
Secondly, judging by the gasping going on around me, the lungs are a greatly under utilised asset to many runners. Although I do accept that you have to do what works for you, I was taught (some 25 years ago by a Police diver) to run four paces breathing in and four paces breathing out. This slower intake means that you can breath in through your nose (helped today by a Breathe-Right strip, at least until the sweat and rain washed the sticky stuff away towards the end) and also means that you get to fully inflate your lungs. After five minutes focusing on breathing this way, it is amazing how easy the uphills are, as the blood has that elusive oxygen stuff, that muscles lap up, in abundance.
At the 12 mile marker my watch said 1.40 and I picked up the pace slightly to chase a new target of 1.50, helped by a kind man in a green vest. In the last 400m a tall guy came running past, kamikaze style, only to slow to a walk ahead. As he picked up to run again at the 200m mark, he became my new target in a sprint to the finish. I hoped the man in the green vest would come with me, but I ended up pipping the tall man and two or three others to the post alone.
The results are still not out, but my watch was a gnats whisker before 1.50 so I hope to have a one forty-nine-something time. Slightly better than Dai at 1.59 and Kim at 2.34, but not as good as Cliff at 1.42 and Pete at 1.36.
Pete was all set to cycle back to Brighton too, mad fool, but accepted Dai’s offer of a lift in view of the inclemency of the weather!
The fire was finally lit and a fry-up devoured along with copious cups of Earl Grey tea… Twining’s of course! And hey!, it’s only six o’clock!
For the finishers photo, you need to go to Dai’s site… enjoy the grins!
Well what can I say but the last three miles hurt like hell and the Earl Grey and fry up with a master stroke.
A nice run but to my mind should have used more of the wonderfull off road paths that we seem to run by, my legs and back would of enjoyed this to say nothing of my soul 🙂
Well done – good work all round – and nicely warmed up for Wednesday when you can run at the same pace as you did the weekend!