Thame 10k - Race Report

YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!!!!!!!!!! I got to go for a run yesterday. The Thame 10k. I have a smile on my face again.

Lets put this in writing first of all... This is an absolutely superb event! The race was brilliantly and frequently marshalled throughout the course with some great little pockets of support who really gave myself and LG some encouragement. There was plenty of parking and it was pretty much on the start/finish line and again, well organised. The course itself is a beautiful and picturesque little route that takes on a few bigger roads, a little quaint High Street and an approx 3/4km section on a little path away from any roads called the Phoenix Trail. If you needed more positive reviews, it has a 9.30am start which is great. It's like the organisers have used their brains and actually thought 'maybe people still want to have some of the day left after the run' which I can't praise them enough for. The feel of the event was great too. A friendly, local feeling even though we out out-of-towners with the announcer calling mine an LG's names out as we were putting in our sprint finish.

This was Lovely Girlfriend's first ever 10k. In fact, the longest she had ever run was 6km last Dec so this was a big step up and was blighted by some training injuries that pretty much stopped any proper training until 2 weeks before the race. We ran the entire thing together and after some good parts and a few short walking stops, we crossed the line together in 1:06:54. It wasn't quick but it was certainly respectable considering the lack of training and the first event at that distance and when I asked her whether she enjoyed it, her words were 'more than I thought I would' which is a massive improvement on the words after my first ever event, which were something along the lines of 'that was effing awful and you're never going to see me near a pair of trainers again'. Last night she even agreed that for the one in November, she'll be aiming to go under an hour. I'm very proud of her effort. She did fantastically well!

The one bad thing I can say about the event is the lack of toilets as there were only a few in the leisure centre but to be fair, it only cost £11 to take part which I feel is a bargain and I've paid a lot more for a lot worse in the past. It just means a little bit of queueing!

I think I heard the tannoy say there were around 950 people taking part and the results list said 920 finishers which is probably about right in that heat. There were a couple of pavement eaters but they were quickly helped by the marshalls and St John's ambulance cyclists. We (nos. 56 and 57) came in 800th & 801st so LG can be very pleased. Will I be taking part next year? WITHOUT A DOUBT!! Sign me up! Event wise, this was my favourite 10k so far!

My injury seemed all good. No problems during the race and obviously aches a little now but I think that if I just keep stretching and exercising then it will be fine in the long run.

The day was complete by driving straight to a friends house near High Wycombe (where we had kind of invited ourselves) who let us use the shower and then cooked us the most amazingly gorgeous 3 course lunch. We didn't move from the table from about 1pm until around 5.30/6pm. Well and truly stuffed!!! It was a great day.

One final point, the weather man hasn't been more wrong about a day's weather since a certain October 1987 event. Overcast? Grey? Rain? WHERE??? Another race, another sun burnt head. Thank fudge for Banana Boat!

3 days and counting

I get to run on Sunday and I honestly can't tell you how much I'm looking forward to it! I haven't put on my trainers for a full 3 weeks in an effort to sort the ongoing saga of the left hand side of my body and now I think it's as good as it's going to get and I need to do some proper exercise. I'm always amazed with how much I miss it when I can't run for a little while.

Sunday at the Thame 10k will be LG's longest ever run which I've kind of pushed her into so I'm hoping she enjoys at least some of it although I assume it will only be the finish that makes her smile. Our training hasn't exactly been fantastic with niggling injuries for both but it's just about getting round. I'll be running with her all the way to encourage/abuse/bribe her to the finish and then we have a friend cooking us lunch as she lives near by and for me, that's a pretty good incentive to get to the end.

I'm hoping she enjoys it anyway as after checking my bank statement, I can see we've both been entered into the Willow 10k on the 22nd Nov. I'm looking forward to this as it's just 2 days after my 30th birthday and also the morning after the celebrations of my 30th. It's strange that the thing I wanted to do most was run a 10k with LG and eatingtrees but I reckon it'll help with the hangover and after begging them both to get up and run with me, they both (reluctantly in the case of LG) agreed.

Sunday's weather looks like a little bit of rain which is good and will make it easier but roll on Sunday. I've got some miles to make up and I can't wait!!!

Popping pills, cracking backs and a sore arse!

Hello there. Long time no blog. Well a week anyway and I apologise for it. To be honest, the injury got the better of me and started to get disillusioned with the whole exercise thing. An update for you anyway.

On the injury front, it still hurts but I went to the doctor on Friday night and he did the now pretty standard thing of covering most bases. It could be the hip and it could also be the lower back. That wasn't really news to me as I told him when I walked in that it could be the hip of the back but never mind. He's given me a leaflet on back stretches, plus a 2 week prescription of anti-inflammatories for the hip joint. I have to take them 3 times a day, only with food or they will do some weird stuff to my insides and absolutely no alcohol. Huh!! No fair! I've just taken my first one and no change yet. How long to you reckon it takes??? Anyway along with the pills I reckon I'm going to pay a visit to my osteopath this week. £40 to get beaten and man handled all in the name of reducing pain. Let me have my wine back and I'll kill the pain myself but I'm hoping that
'The hip pain's connected to the hamstring pain
The hamstring pain's connected to the knee pain
The knee pain's connected to the foot pain
And if all of the above doesn't work I'm screwed!'

So onto more pleasant things. Well it was to start with anyway. I went to visit eatingtrees yesterday to do a planned joint Juneathon but was obviously unable to take part in any running. Therefore we were left with 2 choices. Sit and smoke shisha and talk about exercise or get on the bikes and go for a little ride. We chose the wrong option and got on the bikes. Something to note at this point, I haven't been on a bike for somewhere between 4-5 years. It was a wobbly start but I was still alive and eatingtrees sensibly kept me away from any main roads for any length of time. He did however put me near a river which could have proved equally as disastrous. We cycled just over 8 miles, found a pub (for lunch and OJ and lemonade) and then cycled back. Not too bad. I felt I'd got away without any major problems then. HELL NO I DIDN'T!!!!!! I can hardly sit down, LG is having fun laughing at my expense and I have no idea how I'm gong to spend all day sitting at a desk tomorrow. Cyclists. Strange a sadistic people I'm sure of it!!

Final note, with the Thame 10k only 2 weeks away and me thinking I'll be OK for it (fingers crossed), LG went out this morning on her first training run for a while. 3.42 miles (5.51km) which is over half the distance which is bloody good going so well done to her. I can hear her talking at me at the moment though and I have a feeling she wants to do some Bikram yoga or something. I better listen now before I end up agreeing to something like I did yesterday with the bikes and end up in even more pain.

London Wa HooPA 10k - Race Report

First things strangely enough, first. In the wonderfully overcast and slightly damp conditions, I set a new PB yesterday. 51:42. Happy Days! It's the first 10k I've done in a long time and my previous best was 53:4x so I'm delighted with the time that now at least gives me a proper PB to aim for next time.

This isn't the greatest event to take part in though to be honest. There's a few too many people, 9 wave starts so a lot waiting around and the constant repeated commentary while in Green Park but the course is flat and takes in a few tourist sights so definitely PB territory.

The hip was aching a bit (I forgot the painkillers) and the hamstring felt tight but overall I felt pretty good and like I could do OK if I put my mind to it and didn't start feeling sorry for myself. Myself and eatingtrees were setting off in Blue A which was the 4th wave to go but it was clear very early on that we wouldn't be running this one together. We both had our own times in our heads and we both already plugged in to our individual playlists to get us through the run. We stayed together in the crowds for the first 2k or so and a pace faster than I'd predicted. The first 2 were both 5:05 k's. Great, now I just had to keep it up! I didn't but stayed between 5:05 and 5:15 k's for the entire race which was better than where I needed to get my predicted time of less than 53 mins.

We had a bit of rain, a couple of tiny inclines and a few cobbles but the race was pretty painless. I just had to keep reminding myself that I was on for a good time and keep pushing which I did. I ran down the mall and completed it and was delighted with my time although I have to say, with all the marshals telling you to go elsewhere, the commentary team who only seemed interested in the elite athletes and the tidying beginning very early on, it was a bit of a damp squid ending. I think this is why I prefer the smaller events so roll on next month when I will be running with Lovely Girlfriend on her first ever 10k in Thame.

Oh and just to mention, eatingtrees has found us another great event for Sept. Rat Race. We're only doing Mean Streets London but it looks like a great laugh and a little more than just pounding the streets! Where else can you mix running, sudoku, ice climbing and kayaking in a city centre all on the same day!

The first of many and trying new things

Before my holiday, I may or may not have mentioned that I accidentally on purpose signed my lovely girlfriend up for the Thame 10k at the end of June. It's one I'll run with her all the way so we can complete the distance together and it was agreed that she'd start her training once we were back from our hols. Now she hasn't run since (or any further than) the 6k Santa run in Dec so we had some training to do but I've given us 2 months to be able to run it in under an hour which I can't see being a problem.

So this morning, at 5.53am I woke up with no alarm (this jet lag business is good for early morning runs I tell you) and then got dressed and waited for the alarm to sound (Morecambe and Wise's 'Bring me sunshine'. Try it, nothing makes you smile quite as much).

The music started and you really can't help singing along so eventually Sleeping Beauty awoke. Albeit grumpily once she realised a)the time and b)we were going for a run. Stealing the duvet became my only option!!

By 6.15am we were trudging down the road at a steady pace heading for Hammersmith Bridge (2 miles away). I knew we wouldn't run the whole thing but it was about getting out and getting started. It would give us a starting point from which we could aim for improvements. After a couple of short walk breaks, LG stopped and turned around at the 1.5m mark while I pushed onto the bridge and caught her on my return. After one more walking break we pushed hard at the end and even had a bit of a sprint finish! It was a good first run!

From a personal point of view, I found it tougher than I thought. The slow bits were easy but the 1.5m or so to the bridge and back until I caught LG were quite fast and I could feel that the wandering round Asia and doing sod all running for nearly 4 weeks hadn't exactly done me any favours despite feeling I've lost a little weight in that time!

An 8 mile training run will be on Saturday followed by my first ever Yoga class in the afternoon (I figure the stretching and breathing will help with the running). Then another run with LG and the friend myself and eatingtrees bullied into doing the May bank holiday BUPA 10k on Tuesday and then my first ever hill training session on Wed. All this and because of reading The Red Bucket's post, I've just signed up for a bit of Touch Rugby as well.

What I want to know is when will it be Food o'clock and Wine o'clock? This keeping fit business is getting in the way of my other passions!