Sunday Race Day (The Sport Relief Mile at Danson Park)

I picked Izzy up from her School Disco on Friday at 8:45pm.  On our way back from Higham to Bexleyheath on the A2, she asked me if my knees were feeling better?  No, was the answer.  Friday was the sorest day I'd had for a while and explained I was off to see the Physio on Monday.

Other than the walk to and from work and the little bit of walking we had to do on Saturday, I had two days to recover for Izzy's big day.  The Sport Relief Mile.  I signed her up a few months ago as something for us to do together and as it was my belated birthday weekend, it would top if off brilliantly.

Saturday we went to the O2 to see the X Factor Live.  Not a bad concert, Izzy loved it, I was fairly meh to it but it was up with the last one we went to a couple of years ago.  Afterwards, we jumped on the bus back to Bexleyheath and we went for a chinese.  Lovely.  That was the carb loading taken care of ;)

Sunday morning came.  We was up pretty early, both of us had some breakfast and we changed into our kit.  Izzy just so wanted to get her Sport Relief T Shirt on but I told her she'd be better off wrapping up and keeping her jumper and coat on until the last minute to keep warm as it was a particularly cold March morning.

So off we went to Danson Park.  Just in time for the 9am marshall/staff briefing from Race Director Mary.  We told Mary that we'd help out after we'd done our run and she very nicely gave Izzy the job of handing out the medals to the finishers.

I cant begin to tell you how cold it was on Sunday morning.  Both Izzy and I were shivering big time, despite numerous layers.  We stripped off just before the race...

I think our faces were frozen in that pic.

Anyhow, we decided on a quick warm up.  Izzy was desperate to get running by that point, so we went off on a gentle jog around the start line area.  Only a couple of minutes, just to get the blood pumping and to generally warm up.

We all got called to the start line, the official photographer wanted to take some pics with the Mayor of Bexley at the start line then eventually, we were off.

Izzy ran brilliantly. Not sure what went on with the route but we ended up running 1.6 miles. Ha. Bring it on.  I ran at her pace, so every time she slowed, I did and we went down to just walking pace for a few seconds here and there but I really couldnt have been prouder of her.

I dont think I've ever seen her with redder cheeks.

We made it round in 17:54.  Pretty much 11:00 min/mile pace.  None of that matters, just getting over the finish line was an achievement.  To be honest, I dont think she would have made it to the finish had she been on her own as it took some gentle encouragement of "come on, there's only 200 meters to go!", when it was more like 4 times that but she wasnt to know.

So after she picked up her medal, we switched to staffing duties...

The Plums hosted the Sport Relief Mile at Danson Park, with some help from Bexley Athletics Club

I'm really proud of Izzy.  Got only did she complete the mile, she also got her 200m swimming badge last week.  Yeah, 200m.  Thats like 8 consecutive lengths of the pool without stopping.  Yes, without stopping.  Holy sh*t.  I'm only just capable of that now.  Absolutely brilliant.  Tell you what, chuck in her number one sport of Gymnastics, we've really got a cracking little Sportswoman on our hands here.  The world literally could be her Oyster.

Of course, the fact I ran leads on to the obvious question.  How are the knees?  Erm, if I'm honest, not too bad.  They're nowhere near 100% but I made it round the 1.6 mile course.  99% of it was on grass.  Whether I'm capable of running 26.2 miles on tarmac, cobbles and concrete in less than 2 weeks, thats another kettle of fish entirely.

A huge thanks to everyone at Plumstead Runners for hosting a great event.  Izzy and I loved it.  I think Izzy enjoyed handing out the medals more than she did the run itself but hey, what 8 year old in their right mind would enjoy running?

Sunday Race Day (Dartford 10...ok, lets run a HM instead!)

Sunday was planned like a military operation.

Alarm set for 6:30, Nanny child-sitting booked for 8:00, estimated time of arrival at Dartford for the 10 mile race approx 8:10...it was literally planned to within 5 minutes.

Alarm went off on time.  Jumped out of bed.  Unfortunately Izzy heard the alarm too and woke up just as quickly.  I shoved her iPad in her hand and told her to watch some Cartoons on CartoonHD, possibly the greatest kids app in history which seems to have almost every single Disney Film and Cartoon on it ever made.  She was occupied, I went to have my bowl of porridge for pre-race fueling.

Then my phone bleeped...email from the race director...

Update Sunday 19th January 0630 hrs

Runners we are very sorry, but due to us being unable to guarantee a safe route to the new start and flooding along the latter part of the route we have had to cancel the race today. Please accept our sincere apologies we have done everything we possibly can to get this race on, and have been on the course all day yesterday and since 5.00am this morning but again been beaten by the weather. 

It has just not been possible to organise a race to the standard we want to offer you and we are prepared to put anyones safety at risk.

We will contact you individually later. Please pass this message on to anyone else that you know has entered or was intending to do so.

Thank you for your understanding.

Bugger.  Race cancelled.  Really could have done with the extra time in bed.  So Izzy and I went back to bed, a quick text to Nanny to tell her child-sitting was no longer required and that was that.

A nice lazy morning, eventually got to my parents and spent some time with them.  Headed up to Bexleyheath to pick a few odds and ends up, a quick light lunch and then I took Izzy home at 1:30am as she had a birthday party to get to.

So I had the afternoon free.  I'd made the decision early on that I was going to run but having seen some of the Plums had headed off for a 13 mile run that morning, I felt obliged to follow suit and it would be good training...

First half of 2014 complete. I felt destroyed. Probably should have stuck to the planned 10 and certainly not run it at close to PB pace (only 2 mins off). I need to learn to run the longer runs slowly. The average HR is a dead giveaway how much effort that went into this run. Almost 2hrs averaging 160bpm. Ouch.

My legs felt ok through to 10k but the soreness kicked in shortly afterwards.  It was the first time I'd used energy gels on any kind of run too.  I had two with me.  I took one at 6 miles and the other at 10.5 miles.  I was literally running on empty for the last 1.5 miles so god knows how bad I would have felt had I not used the gels.

Generally though, it was a good run.

I know I cant keep that pace up for full marathon distance so any dreams of running a sub 4hr marathon are way out of the window now.  Maybe 4:20-4:30 is more achievable and more realistic.  Got some well deserved stick from some of my Plums on Facebook when I posted up the Garmin data and rightly so.  Paul said he'd have a chat to me on Wednesday about working out a realistic time for the Marathon and then can work backwards to schedule the training from that, something I've yet to do!

Sunday Race Day: KFL Cross Country - Swanley Park

Sunday saw the second KFL cross-country race of the season. Was up at the crack of dawn, more to get Izzy organised and her stuff all packed up before dropping her at my parents before I headed for the race. 

I'd been to Swanley Park a couple of times in the past with Izzy so I realised that it was going to be a relatively flat and quick course.  I hadnt quite considered that flat pretty much means boggy as the water has absolutely no where to drain to, especially with around 500 runners cutting through the bog.

After an impeccably observed minutes silence for Rememberance Sunday, the race started just after 11am.


  

As Jim W had pointed out before the race, it was 3 laps of the Park and there would be a couple of bottlenecks where the race would be reduced to walking pace...and he was proved to be right.  On some of the sharp corners, the bog was so bad that a large numbers of the runners were stopping just to prevent them slipping over, whether they were wearing road flats, trails shoes or spikes.

From a personal point of view, the first lap went reasonably well but the gentle incline in the mud starting the 2nd lap saw every bit of strength from my legs drain and I was just hoping I was going to finish by that point.  In reality, I'm still a novice runner and I've got a an awful lot to learn.

Excellent support from the sidelines as per usual, with a scatterring of Plums around the course giving some encouragement.

As of 8pm tonight, I've not yet seen the official results.  I finished in 398th place but I've estimated my final time as 44:23 based on the point when my pace chart shows my strong sprint finish where I took 4 places in the last 50 yards.  Probably my best sprint finish ever.  I remember from the old school years we were always told to keep enough back for a sprint finish and I'm chuffed I can still do it.  Unfortunately, because I was so f*cked by the time I'd finished the sprint, I'd completely forgot to stop the Garmin, so I'll update the Garmin record with the official time once its published.

Me blowing out my backside....

My trail shoes at the end of the race..beasted just like me!

 

Edit:  Full Plums results as below...Garmin record now updated to 44:46

Plumstead Runners Cross Country Handicap Race

The last few weeks for me, running-wise, have been hard. I've been running with Plumstead Runners since January and almost all of the runs have been on the road, which I'm used to. In recent weeks, we've gone off road and this is a whole different kettle of fish. Uneven ground, tree roots, mud, you name it, you need to adapt your running style and stride pattern to suit the terrain and I've found it terribly difficult...and I've picked up a couple of niggling injuries as a result.

Anyhow, I gave the Plum's Cross Country Handicap everything I had. I'd done a quick reconnaissance run around what I thought was the course on Sunday evening but (i) I missed off half of the first lap and (ii) took the wrong turn at the top of the first lap so I had no advantage. It was good that when I started, I could see a few bodies in front of me and thats always encouraging. I'd passed a few people by the top of the first lap and caught the girls (Mary, Julie and Charlotte) half way down the hill on the other side of the lap. Drove on and caught and passed a few others.

I ended up finishing third overall. Was absolutely chuffed to bits with that. My average pace of 9:50ish min/mile doesnt compare to what I would be running on the road. I wish I had the confidence to open my legs up a bit more on the rough terrain. I hope I can get a bit quicker with some practice.

Official results and race report from the Plum's website below...(click to expand!)