The Penultimate Race...

Apparently this time last year we were having a heat wave and runners doing the Wilmslow half marathon were being treated for dehydration...not this year!! Try minus 5 degree temperatures and hypothermia instead!

Of the 4800 entrants only 3700 showed up for race day but I think this was partly due to various towns and villages being snowed in as well as ‘fair weather runner’ syndrome.

Jumping around like a 'loony'!

For us hard core runners (and spectators…Matt, Meg and Harry ;o) ) it was a truly Baltic race, with a mega headwind and no chance of us throwing off our gloves and headbands due to overheating. I entered hoping to get a new PB of sub-1:30 which meant running an ave of 6:50ish minute mile, sounds painful right?…yeah it was! After the usual toilet queues (twice) and trying to stay inside for a long as possible, followed by jumping around like a loony to stay warm, much to my spectator’s amusement, we made our way to the start line and swapped headbands* (thanks Michelle!). The loud BANG startled both Meg and I – no idea why as I should have expected it – and so I started the ‘penultimate’ race!

As per usual, I got swept up in the crowds and I think my 1^st mile was done in 6:10, but I couldn’t seem to slow down and think this may be due to the fact that a) it was slightly down hill, b) I couldn’t actually feel my feet, c) I felt alright!

...and were off!

At about 6 miles I got a tap on the shoulder from a fellow female  Stockport Harrier, a very experience long distance runner with  a marathon PB of sub 3 hours.  She told me to hang on to her, I managed this for all of about 2 miles (if that), she was just too speedy and I was in need of fuel. So I ‘wrenched’ the gel from my belt, (need more practice with this) and spent the next mile and a half trying to open it and consume it…not best pleased as it slowed me right down. Anyway, I eventually got the stuff down and made the executive decision to give my other 2 gels a miss as it would slow me down too much – lesson learnt, I NEED to practice with these gels before the big day!

Michelle and I, happy its all over!

The last 2 miles nearly killed me due to the headwind, I think the only thing that kept me going was Matt, Meg and Harry screaming at me and the sense that there was another female Harrier on my shoulder who I was determined to beat (for once), and I did – YAY J

I finished in 1:29:19, and we won the team prize, that’ll do!

*my head is too small for my headband and Michelle said my purple one matched her top so we swapped (hers was Velcro and adjustable).

Snow, wind, rain, hills…and an ice bath!

Pre-race, trying to stay warm
(note the snow in the background!)

Stafford 20 was on the cards this morning and I’m gonna be honest-I wasn’t looking forward to it! Having returned from warm Madeira (20 degrees) last Monday to the UK’s positively Baltic climate the last thing I wanted to do was get up at the crack of dawn on a Sunday morning, drive an hour down the M6 and race! But hey ho, that’s what I did, with my dedicated hubby in tow J

On our way down the snow seemed to get heavier and heavier the closer we got, our car temperature gauge assured us that it was indeed, Balitc. In hindsight it’s a good thing this was a race, had it been just a training run, I really don’t think I’d have got out of bed for it.

The race started and finished at Stafford University (who even knew, I just thought it was an M6 service stop!!).  Anyway great facilities, loads of parking and it seemed to be well organised bar the fact that we had to pick up our ‘finishers’ mug BEFORE we had even started….hmmm!

 We lined up at 10:30 ready for the off and were warned of the ‘bollards’ and ‘speed bumps’ (remember the ankle incident?) around the Uni grounds before exiting to the road. Within half a mile I passed a 14 mile marker, either I time travelled or….oh yes it was laps, oh so taunting. One large lap (8miles) and 2 small laps (6).  They were all ‘undulating’ although I’d rather call them ‘hilly’ (see Garmin link below). On top of that add a mega headwind and snow =  watering eyes and a wish that I’d stayed in bed, I really was doubting myself. Two girls and plenty of guys passed me and third girl tried but I managed to shake her off and never saw her again J

Matt must have been keeping toasty in the car when I finished the first lap as there was no sign of him, don’t blame him! But sure enough he was there egging me on for the 2^nd and 3^rd lap- he actually ran along side me for the last 500m or so, guiding me to the finish (the description said the start and finish are ‘tricky’, I was paranoid I’d run straight past it!!!).

Anyway all the effort, pain, cold etc. paid off as I finished in 2 hours 25 mins and 34 seconds, ave pace 7:17 minute mile, 5^th lady and won a prize - pleased with that!

Stafford 20 mile race by samjones13 at Garmin Connect - Details

(if you're at all interested in the stats, here's the link!)

I came home and yes got in an ice cold bath for five minutes (it’s ok my legs were numb, I literally couldn’t feel them, so pretty bearable!)

Next challenge, to beat 1:30 in a half marathon in two weeks, followed by LONDON MARATHON!!!

Bye Bye XC...until next time

What a busy and exiting weekend I’ve had, starting off with a reunion of the best girl friends anyone could ask for – luckily it was a ‘rest’ day on Saturday due to my final XC race of the season today.

We all went for one of those photo experiences and dressed up, played with helium balloons and party poppers, all very cheesy, you get the picture (excuse the pun)  but so much fun! Back to mine for tea and cake then out for a scrummy meal at which point Meg said ‘you haven’t done any blog recently’… so here’s that shout out I promised you Meg ;o)

After a sufficient carb-loading dinner of pizza and baked Alaska, (sans alcohol) and good old catch up I woke up fresh as a daisy and ready to go this morning! That was until I looked outside, yes as per usual on a British weekend it was grey, windy, wet, and freezing oh so tempting to stay at home in front of the cozy wood burner Matt had put on!

Pre-race (note clean legs and huuuge puddle between me and the start)

Anyway today was the final XC race in the Manchester Area League and was held at my home club Stockport Harriers. I’ve just realised the last blog I did was also about a XC held at my club…but it was a different league (last time it was the ‘Greater Manchester XC Championships’).

Post race MUD GALORE

So today was the same course but much more saturated so higher risk of loosing shoes and socks en route, I did my laces up super tight so by the time we started I couldn’t actually feel my feet-although that might also be due to the immensely cold puddles I had to walk through to get to the start line! There were 117 of us so once the gun went off it was pure carnage and I was more concerned about falling and getting trampled on with spikes than getting into a good position! Eventually the field separated and I managed to get into 14^th place before the killer hill, then somehow got a spurt of energy again and picked off 5 girls while going up that hill. I remained in 9^th position until the end coming in just 2 seconds slower than the last time but in same position (only today it was out of 117, last time it was out of 37!).

So I think that’s a good finish to the XC season and as the terminator said...I'll be back’!

Stockport Harriers didn’t win the league but we came 5^th overall, not too shoddy!!

Hanging up the Spikes for now

Now its pure slog until marathon day 69 days and counting – eeeeek!

Happy New (and muddy) Year!

After a fab Xmas and New Year celebrations, in which time training kind of fell by the wayside, and food and alcohol took over my life…I had a race to do - today!

It was another XC (my second ever) but this time it was for the Greater Manchester XC Championships and I’d been gently pushed into doing it by my coach as ‘practice’ for the Manchester League final in Feb.

*Also note that for the past week (and probably because I let myself relax over Xmas), I’ve been FULL of snot, and haven’t run for 4 whole days. That’s a lot for me, I was getting withdrawal symptoms ill have you know!!*

Its been another wet week (?!) so the course was full of puddles and as senior ladies run at 1:30pm after all the youths, the course is really churned up…mud pie!

I checked out the course map at the clubhouse and it was 2 ‘small ‘ laps and 2 ‘large’ laps (7, 800m total distance), but there was no profile of the course and on a map it looks pretty flat!!! BUT I had heard it was a hilly course…boy that was an understatement-MOUNTAINOUS!!!

Ok this make its not look to bad, but it really was hilly!!

I was pretty much caked in mud 30 seconds after the starting gun, 1^st 2 laps were nice a flat, but muddy all the same, so far so good, then the 3^rd lap diverted us down a massive hill and I realised that if we go down, we gotta get back up again! (see troubled look on my face in photo!!!)...

eeeeekkkk its a hill

Mind you going down was treacherous enough, dodging tree roots,  deep puddles, and the odd attempt at a path which when you don’t expect it, can be a disaster - good job I had my ankle taped. Then I saw it (actually it was the girls in front of me stopping to walk that made me realise there was the killer hill).

I managed to ‘run’ (loose term as my pace somewhat slowed!) up it the first time, but second lap I’ll admit I actually ran-walked, I thought I was going to die. The cheering supporters helped me along and I eventually saw the most welcome finish line, I don’t think I’ve ever been so pleased to see those 6 letters before!

Can’t wait to do this again…*sarcastic tone*!

Note the relief on my face FINISH!

Oh and the guys had to do FOUR lap…hahahahahahaha!!!!

Weeeeee another PB :)

Its was that time again to get up and out on a cold windy and wet December morning for the Stockport 10 mile race! I particularly enjoy this one as its run by my club and there are so many friendly faces all the way. At least the temperature had increased a little from the Baltic mid-week temperatures so the course had thawed out nicely. I was picked up by running buddy Jason, leaving my devoted supporter / husband Matt at home doing DIY (I insisted he didn’t need to come an stand freezing his arse off...as long as he got the living room sorted in prep for Xmas decs!!).

For the first year it was chip timed and we had names instead of numbers on our…well numbers! I was met by Tom my, coach (officially as of 2 weeks ago on ‘power of 10’) who decided to look after me and my bag and was very keen that I did a few warm up laps and made sure I was optimally prepared (I usually try and conserve ALL my energy for the race rather than joining in with the enthusiastic pre-race warm-up malarkey).

The course Map plus Stats

A nice edition was the Olympic Torch bearer who got the race started with a lap of the track (in all his fire-proof gear despite the torch not actually being lit!!!), he then proceeded to shoot out some kind of rocket which totally surpassed me but ended in a loud bang and that was us off!! 2 laps of the track then out into the park, then the heavens opened right on queue-oh well it’d keep me cool.

I wasn’t entirely sure what I was aiming for, initially just better than last year (73:44), then I thought maybe I can do sub-70 based on the half marathon at Tatton…so made sure my watch was telling me I was going at a sub 7mm pace as I knew I’d go above that at the up coming killer hills.

At 3 miles my colleague was standing with a supporters sign and a bag of jelly sweets, which I duly grabbed – thanks Ramon! By this time 2 ladies had overtaken me and I was sure there were at least another 3 ahead already but was sure I was in the top 10. Then the hills. Starting at 4 miles and pretty much continuing until 6.7, I always get to this point in the race and think WHY do I keep coming back for more! Then I remembered that little niggle in the back of my head ‘pbpbpbpbpbpbpb’…oh yeah, ok bite down and just ‘keep driving forward’ said a lady in her 50’s who flew past me!!!??? Eeeek…I wanna be you when I grow up!

Anyway this followed with a welcome bit of downhill until the last looong hill at 9 miles. Having not checked my watch (deliberately) for the last 30 minutes or so I took a peak…OMG I was gonna do sub 70...come on!!! So that finished it off, I pushed and pushed and overtook 3 ladies and 3 guys, entered the stadium to a screaming Tom telling me I was on for sub 67 and PEGGED it like I’ve never done before OUCH!

Check out those hills!

I missed sub 67, coming in at 67:07 but I ain’t gonna complain about that seeing as I was hoping to do around 70 ish, plus I was 5^th Lady, 1^st Ladies team and got a nice bunch of prizes…’you’ll do sub 1:28 on your next HM’ (Quote Tom McNally, Coach!), no pressure then!