Mission accomplished

9 half marathons down and just one to go.  The third in three weeks and following on from my slowest ever time.

The plan was to get to the end by whatever means necessary and get the job done.

Over the course of Friday and Saturday I started developing a cold that left me with a hacking cough and struggling to breathe through my nose.  Great preparation yet again.

A couple of ibuprofen and I was off to Cardiff for the 9am start having stayed some 10 miles away.  The plan was to run as far as I could before walking even if the cold made that 100m.  The start was a little chaotic with it being difficult to find the right time areas but I eventually got there just as the gun went off.  Nearly 10 minutes later, I got to the start mat and I was off.

A very flat course started well other than having to weave in and out of walkers who had clearly ended up in the wrong time zones despite all the warnings that marshalls would prevent people from doing so.  It started so well that I decided to run the first 3 miles and then walk the next 3, rinse and repeat and jog/walk the final mile.

At 3.5 miles I checked my watch and realised that I had passed the milestone and still felt OK so I kept going.  An energy gel at 4 miles and I told my legs that they could walk at halfway.  The psycological trick of ‘just a little bit further’ then came in to play. 

‘You have reached half way, you might was well get to 7 miles and your next energy gel.’ 

‘Now that you have done 7 you might as well get to 8′

At 8 miles I stopped and walked – had my second energy and a good helping of drink and at the 9 mile mark set off again.  Through Cardiff, over the barrage, through the streets back past where I had lined up for the start – all still running. 

The finish area takes you off down a long street that you use at the start before turning back on yourself for around half a mile straight to the finish.  I stopped to walk again just before the turning point!  With around 300m to go I decided that I would end this thing as I started it – waddling!  2 hours 26 minutes for the final race – medal in hand and dust in my eye – honestly!

As awful as Burnham felt, Cardiff felt great even with a cold.  I managed almost 12 miles of the 12.9 (as my GPS said) and with the sun shining on the finishers I headed back to the car.

And now it is over – 10 half marathons in 2010 – although considering the first was in April and the last in October it was only 6 months.  That final finishing burst felt great and now I get to rest!

Once more unto the breach dear friends

Once more unto the breach dear friends

Here were are again but for the final time.  Sunday sees the final race in my challenge for this year.  A 9am start in Cardiff is not something that I thought would be possible when the doctor rang in mid March to confirm my stress fracture.  If he had said ‘stop running now’ then I would not be here writing this entry.  Instead he said ‘give it a month and if it still hurts come back’ and I am here writing this.  Funny how life is decided on tiny margins.

If the numbers turn up, the Cardiff half marathon will be the biggest and potentially the most colourful of the 10 that I will have completed (I am going to complete this one whether it be running, hopping, walking or crawling).  It should have been one of the quickest but with it being the third in three weeks, I am ruling that out!

Once again my lovely wife and daughter will be there – although they will probably be in a shop somewhere rather than at the finish line!  Just knowing that they are within a few miles will be motivation to get to the end.

So far I have raised £1,100 from my amazing work colleagues, family and people who have chosen to sponsor me based on nothing more than a few tweets.  I have sent off a matched funding request to my employer Thomson Reuters and hopefully will get the full $1,000.  A massive thank you to everyone who has sponsored me or just said ‘Good luck’.

Following the race, I am planning on a bit of a running break before possibly recommencing next year.  I need to start shifting weight before I can get back to anywhere near my best.  The running goals for the future are to take part in a full marathon and to break the 2 hour mark for a half marathon.  After that who knows.  By Monday, I will have completed 13 half marathons in my running ‘career’ so maybe I look at getting to 50 before a certain age.  Who knows?  Any ideas gratefully received although I can’t promise that I will act on any of them.

Back to the hydration and Jedi mind preparation that will carry me to the finish.  Welwn ni chi yn y diwedd (See you the finish )

It might be called Eden but..

It certainly felt like Hell to me.

Preparations were not great.  Amy decided to wake up every hour and a half on Saturday night meaning that I felt exhausted just putting my shorts and t-shirt on!

A car full headed to Cornwall – myself, my wife Sarah, Amy, and Sarah’s parents along with buggy, toys, rusks etc.  The journey was pretty uneventful until we got to the Eden Project entrance and the queue of cars waiting to get in.  It took us around 15 mins to get in and park and then off to the park and ride bus and the first glimpses of the biomes.  It is an incredible sight to see this little area of wonder as you come around a corner.  There then followed a rush to get to changing so that I could get my compression socks etc on and pin my number to my Parkinsons UK  vest.  A jog (uphill) to a waiting mini bus so that I could get to the start line one time.  This is the first race where I have been rushing to get there on time and it is not a pleasant experience.

So, with me feeling tired on the start line, the 900ish runners set off.  It started well with a couple of downhill sections in the first mile.  We headed onto the trails and through some mud and then the hills started.  The race then went up and down and up and down for the rest of the distance.  Many people were walking the uphills and running the downhills – me included.

At one point, it looked like an uphill section was levelling off as it went around a bend.  Once we got close to the bend you could see that it actually went on and on upwards.  My groan of ‘Oh come on’ brought a chuckle from the lady from Tamar Trotters next to me who said that she had been saying the same thing inside.

The marshalls in this race were brilliant with some setting up unofficial jelly baby stops and all having a smile and a supportive word for the runners.  Maybe the sun had something to do with it but having experienced other races in Cornwall, I think that it is Cornish people in general.

A new personal slow – but I didn’t care.  As I hurtled down the last half mile to the finish, just getting to the end was the important part.

A nice medal and t-shirt although the rest of the goody bag was a bit sparse.  A free pasty was on offer – although that came home with me.  Also on offer was a free pint – no non alcoholic alternative.  I didn’t have enough energy to wander around the biomes and see what else the place had to offer but it was a good day out anyway.

Now it is on to stuffing myself with calories ready for Cardiff.  I am expecting a finish time sub 3 hours but it wouldn’t surprise me if I was close to 3 hours.  But again, it doesn’t really matter.

Thick and fast

The former applies, the latter, unfortunately, doesn’t.

I am writing this on a Wednesday and the ache in my legs from Sunday’s shambles is now gone.  The process of replacing the lost calories and trying to prepare my body for another 13.1 mile assault would appear to be going to plan.  We are also planning to put little Amy in her own room tonight in the hope that we (being the three of us) get better quality sleep at night.  This will, hopefully, help with the energy side of things.

It will then be on to more of the same before the finale in Cardiff.

Sunday is another trip in to Cornwall so hills galore during the race.  It starts and finishes at the world famous Eden Project site – a former china clay quarry and home to ‘the largest conservatories in the world’.  Having never been – and with free entry part of the package, I am quite excited about the trip.  My wife and little girl may be coming along and it will be nice to have them there although how much energy I will have for wandering around the biomes is to be determined.

With race entries closed, there would appear to be over 1,100 competitors which will make it the biggest race that I will have entered in Cornwall and will hopefully mean that I don’t lose sight of anyone as happened in Burnham.  It is always a worry in these smaller races that the runner in front of you disappears around a corner and you lose them.  If there are not enough marshals, that could result in a wrong turn and getting completely lost!

Every runner gets a free pasty and pint at the finish although it will be interesting to see how many people take up that offer.  Personally, I am looking for a cold drink and eating is not on my mind – except for something small and sugary to get the blood sugars heading back in the correct direction.

I am just hoping that I get the opportunity to turn the pasty down!

The Battle of Burnham on Sea

Grey, windy in places and grumpy marshals.

Half marathon 8 is now behind me and I am very happy that it is.  Getting up (at an unusually normal time this time) I could hear the rain hammering against the bedroom window and the wind trying to take the tiles off the roof.  Not the most appealing conditions for long distance running (or any running for that matter).  I resisted the urge to just climb back in to bed – when I say resisted the urge, I mean that our gorgeous little bundle of joy decided that it was playtime and that we should all get up!

I set off at a very respectable quarter past nine and it seemed that the rain had given up but the wind had stuck around.  Having left the motorway I used Jedi skills to follow a car in front and arrive at Race HQ despite not really knowing where he was headed.  On with the compression socks, off with the trackie bottoms and head for the start.  No real start line so watches were bleeping all over the place as just under 300 runners set off.  A lap around the cricket pitch brought back some memories of school runs before we were out on to the roads.

For the first couple of miles we ran hand in hand with some fairly heavy traffic before we got to a pavement section and relative safety.  A left turn took us in to back road territory and off towards lanes and fields and hedges.  Between mile 2 and 3, my legs started to feel heavy and, if I’m honest, my head went with them.  The first drink station arrived at 4 ¼ miles (would have expected it around 3 miles) and even with my energy gels, the rest of the race was a huge struggle.

Every time I got into a rhythm that felt good enough, my energy would run out and I was shuffling along.  The miles were still going by at a pace within acceptable limits but at the wrong end of those limits.  At the 9 mile mark I decided to walk for a mile to try and get some energy back.  Miles 11,12 and 13 then became a mixture of walking, stumbling, shuffling and the odd bit of normal running.  I have never wanted a race to end as quickly as I wanted that one to end.  Maybe the 2 ½ hour race cut off where marshals were to be withdrawn from the course and it would be every runner for themselves was playing on my mind and trying to get me to move more quickly than I could but I can’t say for definite.  I reached a marshal about 12 ¼ miles in and he asked if there was anyone still behind me.  My head was saying ‘I hope so’ but my mouth said ‘No idea’.  It isn’t the sort of thing you want to hear but more about that later.

I decided that the last half mile would be jogged – partly to avoid the embarrassment of trudging back around the cricket pitch to the finish.  12.6 miles appeared on my watch and I set off, 30 seconds later I saw the entrance to the sports club field and I was on the final stretch.  I shuffled around the pitch and managed to get home in 2 hrs 37.  Given that the course was about as flat as you could hope for it was an awful day.  I should have been, even in my sleep deprived state, at least 10 minutes quicker.  I tried to reason with myself that I was saving something for the Eden project run and for Cardiff.  Truth is I was absolutely shattered.  This was a PB course – if you don’t mind dodging traffic.  The only hills were bridges over railway lines.  I managed to finish 273^rd out of 275

Grumpy marshals?  I know that it was windy and grey but the rain stayed away for most of the race so I have no idea why most of the marshals just stood like lumps of stone.  I know that I have bemoaned the ‘only half a mile to go’ trap that marshals delight in setting but at least they are encouraging you.  Every other race this year around 90% of the marshals clapped and gave you a ‘keep going’ or a ‘good work’.  Here, when you actually came across a marshal, there was stony silence.  It wouldn’t have made me any quicker but someone recognising the pain that you are going through helps you bear that pain to the finish.

This has turned into a bit of a bumper effort – do I feel better having unburdened my woes?  Maybe.  But there is no time for looking back.  I need to stock up the energy stores ready for another climb around Cornwall.  Pasty and beer at the finish and maybe having a gummy little face at the end will help me when it gets tough.

One good thing to come out of Sunday was the decision that I am going to enjoy Cardiff – times and distance walked v run are irrelevant.  I want to get to the end and have some fun doing it.  It is my home country and a big field with, hopefully, plenty of cheering along the way.  I know that my little girl will be in the city and that is a huge motivation.

8,9,10 ready or not here I come

This coming Sunday sees me heading for half marathon number 8 of the year. This will be swiftly followed by races 9 and 10 in consecutive weeks.

Burnham on Sea is the destination and looking at the course profile, it is as flat as they come.  Probably a good thing given that I am heading for Cornwall the week after and back in to hill territory and because the weather forecast for this weekend is heavy rain and low temperatures.

All of this means that there is no more training at this point.  It will be a case of run, rest, eat, run, rest, eat, run and then collapse swearing never to run again.

Will there be a feeling of relief, joy or maybe anti-climax?  If I get to the end of race 10 then I will have achieved something special -  I can see that.  As well as covering all those miles (while suffering from the effects of baby induced sleep deprivation), I have raised over a £1,000 for a very worthy cause (before asking my employer for a contribution).

But, as I imagine most runners feel, I haven’t been able to run these races in anywhere near the condition that I wanted to.

To run one after having been diagnosed with a stress fracture is great but it has meant that my training is hampered by the need to ‘manage’ my legs.  I haven’t been able to do a training run of over 5 miles throughout the whole year and so am constantly amazing myself (in the flat races) by running further than this.  I still haven’t completed a half marathon without having to stop and walk.  This means that I am going to have to do more in future (although maybe only one or two a year).

So at the moment there is a feeling that I could have enjoyed the runs more if I had been able to train more effectively.  Or maybe it is just the lack of sleep making me feel blue.

Right, enough of that.  I still have 39.3 miles to cover before this is over and there are many out there who can’t do it even if they wanted to.  On to the seaside and the start of leg muscle hell!

Who put that hill there?

Half marathon 7 is now behind me – thankfully!!

The race info for the Truro half marathon described a ‘less hilly’ course.  Less hilly than the Himalayas or the Alps possibly but it caused pain on a level that I thought I had left behind in Launceston [link to Launceston report]!

It is incredible that the organisers managed to create a course that started and finished in the same place yet went upwards so much.

Around 600 people took to the start line in Truro city centre in good conditions for a long distance race.  A short figure of eight around the city centre and then we were off on to the main part of the course.  A short section of trail and than a steep downhill were the notable sections.

Two and a bit miles in we hit the first hill which went on and on and on.  Possibly a mistake to run all the way up that hill but I was feeling OK so decided to just keep going.  Following from that we set off through villages and along country lanes with more uphill sections than downhill.  A very pretty course once we got on to the riverside areas with most drivers/cyclists/pedestrians being very courteous.  Plenty of encouragement on the way.

Around 9 miles we hit another long long long climb which more or less finished me off.  The course ended up going down the big hill from earlier but there was a short sharp shock as the steep hill before the trail set my hamstrings screaming.  Walking up that hill was hard work let alone running.

A combination of jogging and walking then got me back toward the city centre and I managed to run the last quarter mile to the finish line.

A much better goody bag than the Bristol race (even though it cost almost half the price).  T-shirt, towel, beer and some other bits and bobs in a handy bag that had been pre packed and labelled with my race number.

Superb organisation on the day and a great location (with loads of nearby parking) makes this a race that is definitely recommended although you will need to do a lot of hill work to make it anywhere near bearable!

So I now move on to Burnham on Sea swiftly followed by Eden Project and then finishing in a quivering heap in Cardiff.

4 in 5 weeks – am I mad?

This Sunday sees the 7th race in my 10 race challenge. I will be heading to the capital of Cornwall for the Truro Half Marathon. The race is a multi terrain effort so hopefully it won’t rain too much as I am not sure if my shoes will cope if it is muddy. Having read a review of the course, which is new for this year, it would appear to be a couple of uphill sections, a couple of downhill sections and some flat bits. Sounds OK but the report suggests that the top of the hills will require breathing equipment and, quite possibly, a Sherpa!

I suppose I should have expected that given that the race is in Cornwall!

This race will give me some idea of my recovery powers and whether I need to update my will before taking on races 8,9 and 10 in consecutive weeks!

I am stocked up on energy gels and will be getting through a lot of isotonic drinks over the next month and a bit. Even though the finish line is in sight, I am quite nervous. The first run after a half marathon is usually quite ‘lumpy’ so I have no idea how I am going to cope with a half marathon 7 days after the previous one.

On a positive note, the good people at the Cardiff Half Marathon blog have asked me to write another piece as the last one had lots of page views. Keep your eyes peeled.

Big City Life

Bristol Half Marathon – done

I left the house at around 6.30am at the end of a week of very broken sleep (thanks to our windy 6 month old) to find that it was persisting down in Exeter.  It was also persisting down when I got to Bristol which was nice as all forecasts leading up to the day said that it would be cloudy and warm.  After a few wrong turns, I found a free parking space within 5 minutes of the starting line so decided that the omens were good for the day.

The organisation of the start was good and the only thing that they couldn’t control was the weather.  Standing around for 15 minutes in the rain with no cover was not fun.  Another gripe is the insistence of some races to draft in an instructor from a ‘fitness studio’ to do a warm up.  Cue a handful of people stood there waving their arms and marching on the spot.  I want to get to the start and run.  I know how to warm up – I don’t need someone to tell me.

And so we were walked to the start and suddenly a big gap opened between the mass of people and the start line.  Some kept walking, others jogged and some set off at speed.  Within the first half mile, some were walking and others were looking for their chips which had fallen off their shoes.   I settled into a comfortable pace and started picking off the slower moving runners.  My Garmin bleeped to register the time for the first mile with the official mile marker still ahead of me.  When I reached it, the GPS had registered 1.03 miles.  The weaving in and out was threatening to make it a longer race!  By 2 miles, I had travelled 2.05 miles.  Those extra 80 metres are important!

The rain had stopped but it remained cloudy – perfect for running.  During the first section of the course, heading out of the city, I was overtaken by a banana and a chicken.  Although I did overtake a purple dinosaur.

Drinks stations were plentiful and there were portaloos dotted around – although not enough for some people including one lady who almost ‘did a Paula’ but managed to, just, hide behind some bushes.  Once we got back to the city centre, the course got a bit congested and spirit sapping.  The section around Queen Square (where I used to work) saw me getting a stone in my shoe for the third race in a row.

Some of the sections of the course at the end involved watching runners coming back in the other direction which gives a false sense of the distance that you have left to run and made the last 2.5 miles seem much longer.  My legs decided to stop running for half a mile between 11 and 12 which was no bad thing as it meant that I could then manage the rest of the race at a plodding pace.  That mile was my slowest at just over 13mins.  All others were sub 11mins which was great.

Over the last mile, three marshals at the three different points informed us that there was only ‘half a mile to go’.  Please, marshals, unless you know it to be a fact, do not say this.  It is very dispiriting to be told again and again that the finish is actually further away than it seems!

We were then into the final stretch and among the big crowds again.  And lo, the finish line did appear and I plodded over it to record another 2 hours 23 time – but crucially 45 seconds faster than the last race so a new seasons best.  This despite my watch telling me that over the course of the race, I had run ¼ of a mile extra!!

Great medal but huge disappointment as they had run out of foil blankets.  Amy, apparently, loves the material so to come away without one was gutting.  Also the organisation for getting people back to their backs on College Green was very poor.

Two weeks now to Truro which, I have learned via a Cornish club site, is not as flat as organisers would have us believe.  Better get my hill legs out of storage then!

What a difference a race makes

I am just finishing my prep for the Bristol Half Marathon.  Vastly different to that for the last run.  Indian Queens was a two page Word document detailing the course, directions to the race and other general info.

The Bristol race info is a glossy multipage booklet with advertising, road closure info etc

I am in the pink wave (pink = really slow) and have to assemble in my ‘pen’ before the race.  There will be around 15,000 running so I am not expecting a great time but having worked in Bristol for 4 ½ years after leaving university, it will be good to see the place again.

Course should be reasonably flat for the most part and has 6 drink stations including 2 energy drink stations.  Apparently, I will be offered a foil blanket at the finish.  I am a runner and I love freebies (like all runners) so I will be accepting one J

Training has gone well.  I now have a shiny new Garmin Forerunner 205 so that I can track my pace and workouts and be able to look at graphs and things.  I am an accountant – I like graphs and things.

And the Cardiff Half marathon people have asked if I would like to write another blog piece for them.  Nice ego boost before the coming slog