Richmond Half Marathon - The Unhappy PB

Firstly, who still has Europe's Final Countdown stuck in their head?

It was only a week ago where I reflected on an unhappy PB. Where as last week I was unhappy with my personal performance, this time I find myself frustrated, feeling I could have run even better.
The Richmond Running Festival Half Marathon was the culmination of a twelve week summer programme. During this time I've set distance and course PBs, generally feeling in the form of my life. At the end of the twelve weeks I was also able to add a new half marathon best and a shiny medal to boot. Despite a big PB I found myself unhappy, why?

parkrun Volunteering

Before the half marathon I was back at Great Notley parkrun to lend a hand. My drive over to Braintree was fraught with heavy rainfall, lightning & flash floods & I did begin to wonder if the event would even take place. I usually park at the nearby Tesco & walk, but with rain lashing down  darted in to change a tenner and paid what is thought to be the highest parkrun car park charge in the UK, £3.50!!
Lightning hadn't struck the bird at the top of the hill of doom & by the time we started setting out the course the rain had cleared up. The runners were going to be met by the soggiest Great Notley event to date, certainly not PB conditions unless you had some waders and a snorkel to hand. Those that did make it to the finish at least had a batch of sausage rolls to help themselves to, my repayment to the generous support Len & his team are providing to our parkrun project.
I was given another far too responsible role, Time Keeper. I also gave the first timers briefing, so apologies to anyone that got completely lost! Alec, Emily & Paul all lined up for the start, Paula had declined the opportunity to test out her new trail shoes & opted for a lie in instead.
Being at the front of the finish funnel to record times gave a unique perspective of every finisher & their strategy for negotiating the many puddles. Some weaved or stuck to a slightly off line route. Where as a few decided to just run in the straightest line possible in order to get their time!

Run a parkrun at Great Notley & you too could be rewarded....

Richmond Half

I'd tapered nicely during the week, just a single 12km on Tuesday and resisting temptation to add further runs later in the week. In reality, how much benefit would they truly bring?
A 5am wake up call was needed to make the start line in Richmond. A combination of an early event start time and a public transport system that doesn't believe in Sunday mornings found us driving all the way. My first mistake of the day was to heed the race advice of not parking in local roads and heading to their recommended NCP car park in Richmond. Not only were the local roads plentiful in their parking, they were free, where as the pleasure of parking in Richmond would cost an eye gouging £12. And so the grumpiness set in.

What pose should be opt for this week?????

On the long walk to Kew Gardens I was able to concentrate on one thing, needing a wee. That's alright though, toilets at a half marathon would be plentiful. Apparently not. According to feedback on social media at last year's event there were plenty of portaloos and no queuing. This year they opted for the latter rather than the former. We met up with Sean and Emily who were running the 10k. Unfortunately I was so distracted with needing the toilet that I doubt I made for great conversation. We wandered off towards the start line, I asked a marshal at bag drop as we passed another massive queue for toilets if there were portables at the start line. She replied, kind of. We eventually stumbled upon the White Peaks cafe area and were amongst the first to find this facility so thankfully there were no queues. Joel called and I told him to join us here as it was our best bet for further toilet stops before the start. We just about managed another trip, sadly plenty of ladies missed the 10k start due to crazy queues for their facilities.

How about the celebrate we found a toilet before the start pose?

Starting a race in the right frame of mind is crucial. I already felt that I was carrying an injury, then was stressed and grumpy with the toilet situation. I was grumpy on behalf of every other runner, how can such a fundamental welfare issue be failed by the organisers? Despite all of this I lined up with the pacing for a 1:52 scrawled on my hand, I had the pace after all, it was all going to be down to how things went on the day. The usual factors, course, congestion, support and my own performance.
Despite multiple waves, there only seemed to be four starts for four thousand runners. The first four km winding through narrow Kew Gardens paths. As soon as we were off this issue raised it's head. The course was far too narrow and the waves too large. My first kilometre was a 5:44, twenty five seconds over target and I wasn't showing any signs of improvement, unable to find a rhythm due to constant weaving. By two kilometres I hated this race. Stressful before the start and now it felt like negotiating a running version of rush hour.
It wasn't until the fourth kilometre that I got under target pace and started to make some progress. It was also at 4km that the first water station appeared, alongside a dozen portaloos! Maybe they were delivered to the wrong postcode?
From this point we were onto the narrow tow path for a few kilometres. Though my pace improved, the course conditions made it tough to pass people, especially when towards the end of the section we started picking up the back of the 10k field. At Richmond Green we left the 10k'ers to head back to Old Deer Park and after a lap of the green we were back on the towpath. Thankfully the course opened out for a bit, the added width allowed for more space for everyone. By this stage my pace was good enough to bring me through 10k just over target, about ten seconds in debt but very manageable. Seven of my kilometres from the fourth were under target and though still grumpy, I was focused. I'd noticed my quads weren't the happiest, they'd complained during the latter stages of the Takeley 10 and I was slightly concerned they were flaring up before the halfway point.
Around the seven mile marker we found the second water station and were passed by the front runner heading for home in the opposite direction. Not that the cyclist acting as his guide was doing much of a job in warning people. I thought this might mean the next towpath section was going to be a tough to navigate out and back. Thankfully that wasn't the case. It didn't make things any easier though, the towpath appeared to be narrower than the earlier section, with a steep drop off to one side and the Thames for company on the other. I was just about maintaining pace and following the fade in Helsinki committed myself to a gel every 15 minutes from 50. At the 15km point I was still relatively on target and not feeling too fatigued, running with a decent group of people and making progress. I was however going through water so was hoping to see a water station at some point.
One finally appeared at 11 miles (ish, the mile markers weren't overly accurate) and it was the farcical one from 7 miles. Bearing in mind I was in the top 25% of the half marathon it was obvious that they were inadequately stocked. I took half a cup of water and filled up my bottle, back along the towpath into Richmond we go.

This course display has accurate distance markers, unlike the course itself......

I'd noticed my group I'd be running with were getting away from me. I was starting to fade, though not at the level I'd suffered previously and certainly a lot later in the race than past efforts. My kilometre splits were now out in the 5:32 territory. Although the physical performance wasn't ideal, mentally I was in a good place, a PB was mine for the taking, all I had to do was get to the finish. As the route came back into Richmond along the river there was finally some support alongside the course. Until 19km there had been pockets of support, now with it being slightly later in the day & also a nice day to bring people out there was a decent gathering of people along the river. Sure they weren't there for me, but it was nice to feel that they were at least there to support someone. I managed a quick chat with a parkrunner from Bushy in his 50 shirt & then he urged me on, his fade far greater than mine.

I was in countdown mode, 15 minutes left, 10 minutes left, 1 kilometre left as we turned into Old Deer Park for a dull lap of a sports field to end the race. The grass felt like it was sapping my legs of their remaining energy, in truth there was also a slight incline. The finish was in sight though, firmly in my view after the last turn. I spotted Sean & Emily in the crowd about 400m from the end & pointed for a much needed High 5. Fifteen minutes later Sean told me his hand was still ringing, it was an almighty jumping high five & combined with an immediate descend gave be a great kick to finish. For the first time in 13 miles I was smiling, this clusterfarce was nearly over.

There was a rather cool finish to the run. As I approached the finish line, the guy on the PA spotted my Um Bongo shirt & gave a shout out to just how awesome it was. The crowd cheered & I beckoned for even more cheering, meaning my finish photo is one of me beaming as I finish. At £20 a photo I'm less inclined to buy it, Sure I could buy all fifteen for £40, but the single photo fee that many of the photo companies charge is getting out of hand.

I was soon medalled, provided with a make your own goody bag kit (ice cream had already ran out) and made my way to try and find Paula, who herself had experienced some fun just trying to get to the finish festival.

y

Post run, medal did not taste of Dairylea

The Conclusion

1:52:23. Only 23 seconds over my target time, time lost in the first kilometre of the race. To take 2:31 off of my PB in four months is very pleasing, though I can't help but wonder what might have been. I've ended another training stint carrying far too many little injuries & am going to drop down my mileage for a couple of weeks just to recover before the US Half in November. When you combine this with a grumpy mindset on the day due to pre race facilities, a narrow course, a crowded course, it makes for an unhappy race. I can do better. I don't think a 1:50 is beyond the realms of possibility. Probably not the aim for the US Half or St Neots this year, but potentially for early 2015, perhaps at the Cambridge Half if I can secure a place.

Top 25% of finishers based on a field of 4000 runners. Nice.

Sure, the medal was pretty cool & that was my first reason for signing up. But a shiny medal and a decent t-shirt don't account for a failure in the duty of care to runners. By the time Joel (who PB'd by 7 minutes) came through the final water station he had to stop & wait for his half a cup of water. The last thing any runner wants to do is stop. Runners at the back of the field lit up social media, no water at all, some not even getting shirts at the end.

I don't hold the event on the same level of failure as the British 10k or Run to the Beat last year, but overall I came away disappointed. Those events were horrendous, shambolic & based on the reaction, not willing to acknowledge their failures. To be fair to the organisers of Richmond, they've appeared on social media (well mainly just facebook, twitter is pretty much propaganda) soon after the event to apologise, explain why there had been failures and promise to improve in 2015. I won't be back, but by being one of many to provide feedback I hope we'll make future experiences better for the runners.

The run bling. Very cool but also reminded me of the phrase that you can't polish a turd, you can however roll it in glitter....

I should also note that Sean & Emily really enjoyed the 10k experience, the field was significantly smaller, perhaps that's the key here. In fact all four of us recorded distance PBs. Mine will remain an unhappy PB though, another longer race where I've not performed to my full potential. My second hour stamina is improving. My 10k splits of 53:13 & 53:45 show a much more even run. I think the next half marathon plan will include some long runs with race pace sections, there is still more speed to be unlocked.
I've now completed a dozen half marathons & with each one I've learnt more. Six of those have been under the two hour mark, including the last five. I think there's a decent base there should the London Marathon magazine arrive with a Yes on the front next month.

The Eat

Of course we all know that anything consumed in the wake of a half marathon is calorie free. I'd packed a bottle of Cocio so that I could enjoy some post race chocolate milk. Though this did mean that the can of London Pride given away has been saved, I'm not sure they'd have combined nicely, didn't fancy a curdling stomach!

Post race we wandered back to Richmond, we had some time to kill before our parking fee went from a kidney to a remortgage & I'd spotted Yo Sushi. Unfortunately the branch wasn't open yet, but with one door closing, another opened & Paula spotted a Tapas restaurant across the road. If you find yourself in Richmond, head to Don Fernando's. We polished off several tasty Spanish offerings, Paula especially enjoying the deep fried cheese (well who wouldn't)!

Refuelling with a table of tapas

We can get sushi anytime, but good tapas is hard to find! Once I'd sold my kidney to NCP we were free to leave Richmond & even managed to scoff an Ikea hotdog on the drive back as we broke uo the long journey home.

The day of refuelling was completed with a half and half from Domino's. I know pizza is essentially my stomach's version of Russian Roulette, but it was much appreciated after the PB!

More refuel!

HM 11/12 - The final countdown

Admit it. The moment you read the title of this post, Europe's most famous song was spinning around your head. Not only that, it will remain ingrained for days now. I can't help it, I've had a long term relationship with Sweden's finest rock anthem from an early age. My father had a three track VHS of their greatest hits, it might as well have been a single video.
It's not just me that likes the track, this Youtube video has been viewed over 81 million times. And you'll watch it now, because the song is already in your mind, ingrained. I use the song when running. My playlists often include it, why not throw to the song in the final kilometres of a run, it can't bring you down (unless you're depressed at the hole in the ozone layer all the hairspray they used created).
I didn't intend to start this week with an ode to Swedish music (because I'd have obviously started with Roxette), but once I had a blog title, the damn song was in my head. The week just passed was the penultimate in my Richmond Half preparations, I know this because my body is displaying the usual end of training cycle groans. The achilles both hurt, the ID feels a bit funky, both glutes now hurt, the list goes on.
It was more important to assess where my form was. I'd laid out the plan so that my last parkrun of the cycle would be at Great Notley, scaling the Hill of Doom to compare where I was in July. And yet by the end of Saturday I was more consumed with how badly I'd run. Thankfully my Sunday was also full of parkrun activities & I banished negativity.

Run #1

The first run was only a mere week ago & yet I'm having trouble recalling it. What's on the plan compared with what I actually run is descending into it's usual pre race farce. I didn't want to waste the session so decided on some 3-2-1 tempo work whilst out on the Stansted loop.
This resulted in one of my faster training runs, decent up tempo sessions & worthwhile rest intervals. I do wander if I'm doing these the wrong way round, perhaps building speed in 1, 2 & 3 minute chunks would be better than progressively shorter blocks. Or maybe it's designed that way to forever reduce recovery time. I might play around with these sessions over the autumn, maybe gaffer taping on a 4 and even a 5 at the start.
A very pleasing run overall, I seem to be developing a good ability for altering my pace comfortably. Wednesday was also a poignant time for me, leaving the Grange Paddocks adult swim school after 20 months with them. I've decided to move across to the Dunmow pool as I've found the half seven start time difficult when working later & often compromised by train delays. I thanked both of my instructors, the work they've put in since the start of 2013 to get me from a complete non swimmer to now has been excellent. Gone are the panic attacks in the water, my confidence in my ability to swim has improved greatly.

Run #2

With a squash game to contend with on Thursday I deferred my easy run to Friday. This time it was the Stansted loop tackled north to south & at a far more relaxed pace than previously in the week. The lack of daylight has become noticeable at my 0600 start time, giving serious consideration to assuming I'll get into Thunder next year & just going ahead with a head torch purchase.
Not really much to write home about regarding this run, just some easy plod to keep everything ticking over.

Run #3 - Great Notley parkrun

My second of three weeks at GN parkrun, a week of running sandwiched by voluntary roles. I'd designed my 12 week Richmond plan to assess where I would be in terms of pace. With that in mind, my last parkrun before Richmond would be at Great Notley, where I'd not run since a muggy day in July. I was eager to see if I could improve on my course PB of 24:44 & finish the training strongly.
What actually happened was a PB, but not a strong finish. I'm finding parkrun much more sociable at GN, mainly because I've volunteered & also well known to the guys there. I should clarify, I'm finding myself more sociable, I know every parkrun is sociable, it's just when I tourist, even with the all conquering 50 shirt on I can get a bit introverted.
Back to the run, Paul, Emily, Patsy and Alec all lined up to the left of the main start, Paul's special place for getting a decent start. I was intrigued how close Alec and I would be, his running is going from strength to strength and he'd ran a low 24 the week previously. As we started I found myself leading our little group as we headed into the first corner. Unfortunately I was aware within 90 seconds that I had taken on suicide pace and was already suffering for it! I tried to rein my pace in, but my breathing was already all over the place. Idiot!
Paul appeared on my shoulder and complimented my pace, my heavy, spluttering response confirmed just how wrong he was and with that he and Alec were gone, in search of better times.
I've not been in this position for a while, struggling to remember any run / race (10p to the parkrun is a run not a race fine fund) where I've been trying to rescue it from such an early stage. I've had nightmare starts before, such as the busy and narrow Fulham Palace parkrun. But this was unlike previous scenarios. Usually a bad start means a slow and frustrated start with me trying to recover my pace. This time I'd floored it, knackered myself out and was now trying to get round.
I gave serious consideration to abandoning the run within the first km. Quite what that would have achieved I'm not sure. Instead I tried to grin and bare it, distracting myself with high fives to the lakes marshals and imploring myself to find some kind of rhythm. As the first lap was approaching it's end I felt a pang in my stomach and with it a slight explanation for why the tank felt empty. I'd managed to skip breakfast. To be fair I frequently run on an empty stomach, but not usually at race pace.
Alec was already a solid 30 seconds in front as the first lap ended and sights were set on the hill of doom. My climb was pretty good, it didn't appear to tax me too much, only tightening as the bird was close. My descend put the nail in the coffin for all remaining rhythm I was seeking. My fourth kilometre was even slower, despite not including the hill, my legs appeared to be wrapped in treacle, pace lacking all kind of consistency.
And yet despite all of this I clocked a course PB. The pained expression in my finisher photo tells you everything about this run. A 24:25 didn't feel deserved. I think it says more for my overall form than of the 5k itself. One positive from the visit was the form of Alec. He took over a minute off of his best to finish in 23:10, am immense time on what is a tough course.

The Eat - Cheesy Ballbags

We joined Emily & Paul at their new house and alongside Patsy tucked into some well deserved Krispy Kreme donuts. Unfortunately I'd picked up some extra donuts in Tescos and felt the need to share them. For some reason, they've felt the need to launch Smokey Bacon and Cheese & Onion flavoured mini donuts. As our hosts were veggies and fearing I'd be put off bacon for life, I opted for a bag of cheesy donuts to share.
Quite what the throw shit at the wall and see what sticks development team were thinking with these donuts I'm not sure. The flavour was there, but the texture and sogginess made them pretty disgusting. They were (probably rightly) compared to sweaty ball bags, this is not a recommendation.
Thankfully in the evening the food woe was banished. I'd placed a shoulder of pork in the slow cooker before leaving for parkrun, pouring in a bottle of Innis & Gunn ale. Eleven hours later and the meat was just falling apart beautifully as we served it up in fajitas. Slow cooking is a great way to serve up tender meat, yet it seems like such an 80s concept to have a slow cooker!

The Walk

On Sunday we drove across to Hatfield Forest to meet up with others interested in walking our provisional parkrun course. Given the public Facebook group, it's fairly open what I'm trying to do. We're about six weeks into the project and slowly getting there with funding and volunteers. One thing we do have is a provisional route, designed by Simon from the National Trust.
We were joined by Len, Great Notley's Event Director and font of all parkrun knowledge. His experience combined with everything I've picked up whilst touristing means we should be able to offer something great in an awesome location. Whilst Len & I were walking to consider the technical aspects such as marshals and signage, everyone else was being treated to what will be a challenging course. Regular readers will know just how much I like tarmac, there's none to be found in the forest! I suspect I'll be taking trips to Chelmsford on my off weeks to get my fix!
After waking for just over an our in perfect conditions we settled in the cafe to discuss our findings. We also thoroughly tested the cafe facilities, I can confirm the sausage rolls are up to expected standards!
I managed to lose some of my notes so spent the afternoon typing up the route using photo and gps prompts whilst everything was fresh in my mind. The parkrun is becoming a case of when rather than if it will happen.
More on all this at a later date, wheels are firmly in motion though.

The Conclusion

I think I've got to a stage now with my running where I can be rightfully be dissatisfied with my performance at Great Notley. The PB proves little, on current form it was almost to be expected. I ran badly, all due to an over eager start and then suffered for the remaining 23 minutes.
I'm still in good shape for Richmond & targeting a 1:52. The performance acts as a reminder to focus properly and get out of shape. So a slight downer, but much preferable to suffer it a week before than on race day.

HM 10/12 - Go long!

A week removed from the double race weekend and the mindset is a lot more positive. After taking a couple of days off following the Takeley 10 I was finally able to put in an overdue long run. By the end if the weekend I'd made that two long runs, done some volunteering and also been a run spectator for the first time in a while.

A pained expression as my pace fell away during the Takeley 10k

The Meeting

Monday evening involved a group of people, meeting for the first time, at a potential venue for a weekly 5k run. It was an exceedingly positive couple of hours, though that's a story for another blog sometime in the future.

The Run #1

Wednesday I was due to work from home, perfect situation for a long run. I got myself out of the house as early as possible and decided to add the Rickling Manuden loop to the Elsenham Newport route. I wasn't sure what the overall distance would be, but knowing the Elsenham Newport loop was normally 16km, I was confident taking a detour would get me close to two hours.
It would be fair to say my pace wasn't perfect, more of the very slow. The route was perfect though, a slight climb into Elsenham, bigger climb Quendon, rolling between Rickling and Manuden, then an final 2km ascend back into Stansted.
I got home within a minute of being out two hours, totalling 19.3km. I was out for so long that Paula was in the car on the driveway leaving for work! An overall 6:10/km pace isn't going to set the world alight, but the performance was consistent. Banking the time was more important than pace.

The Run #2

On Friday I'd packed my running gear and took it into the office. The intention was to go for runch but nothing materialised. I'd love to say that was down to workload.
Sadly the true reason for no running was a hangover. We were saying goodbye to a colleague on Thursday evening and after loading up on cocktails and a railway station Burger King I didn't find myself it great running state on Friday. A fry up once in the office & copious amount of Lucozade also minimised the chances of a run!
In truth any activity would have been a punishment run, garbage in would have produced garbage out, not running was no great loss.

parkrun Volunteering

My Saturday morning involved a drive across to Braintree to help out at the Great Notley parkrun. I was on finisher token duty, no pressure, just the most important role in terms of results being correct!
Thankfully alongside me was Vicky, another parkrun Event Director in training. She was managing the funnel, keeping everyone in order as they finished. An attendance of 90 meant that tokens were easily distributed, managed to keep in line with the timers throughout. The potential for getting it wrong is easily there, but it's also nice to say hello and well done to every runner when they finished.

Token duty at Great Notley

The Run #2

With plans to take Paula and Alec to the Cambridge Spartan at half eight I'd set myself a goal of a ten miler beforehand. The alarm was set for my usual working day time, 0535 and I was out on the route at 0557. Two gels packed and an intention to visit Elsenham, take on the hill that rises from below the M11, turn right when getting to Ugley and then add on the Rickling to Manuden loop. I had no idea how far the run would take me, other than it would be higher than 13km and lower than the 19km from Wednesday.
One benefit about being out so early is that traffic is minimal, hardly anyone was around as I passed through Elsenham before 7am. The rise under and past the M11 was about a half a kilometre climb, someone has nicely segmented this on Strava (a slightly shorter version). My pace was more pleasing than earlier in the week, starting in the low six minute kilometres and then faster in the second half. I don't recall passing another human on the Rickling to Manuden track, enjoying the buzz of the electricity pylons to keep me company.
The climb back into Stansted gave the run a tough but welcome finish, including a PB on the hill segment that approaches Bentfield Green. I'd managed to get back with plenty of time to spare before Spartan and banked those miles I was after.

The Spectating

A new role for me as Paula & Alec joined Paul & Emily's Spartan team. Whilst I'm not a fan of obstacles, mud and water, Paula jumped at the chance to enjoy the plethora of challenges laid out around Milton Country Park in Cambridge. For once I was on the sidelines watching and on bag duty. Rather than roam the course, I tucked into a Spartan Sprint Burger (not recommended but I needed a refuel following the earlier run) and placed myself next to the penultimate obstacle.
The barbed wire ditch crawl certainly made for intriguing viewing. Varying techniques were used, most walked and bent down, some crawled, I was hoping for a Dr Zoidberg scuttle style! After about 70 minutes Emily and Paul came through, slightly blocked by a girl who's hair had caught in the wire. Soon after was a guy in obvious pain, his ankle at a funky angle but determined to get to the end. Then it was time for Paula and Alec, both seemingly still enjoying the shenanigans!
I made it to the finish line to see Alec trying to help folks over the final climbing challenge. Paula then went back up the net to assist!

Paula & Alec jump the fire to finish

During this time we were treated to a modest man, whom we'll name hotpants treating everyone to a fire breathing show before finishing.
Once hotpants had finished, Alec and Paula gave up on hauling people up, climbed down the net and jumped over the flaming coals to finish in 1:29. Absolutely caked in mud, yet smiling and wearing their huge medals with pride!

The whole team, post Spartan

The Eat

With two conquering Spartans to feed I was under pressure to deliver a suitable feast. Slow cooked Beef Brisket in beer was complimented with Mac & Cheese, cream cheese stuffed peppers, sweet potato fries, spinach and some coleslaw. I was reasonably happy with the brisket, I'd not managed to get it going before leaving for spartan so it was cooked at a higher temperature than planned. It still fell apart nicely and was a decent first attempt on the joint. I was sceptical at the size of the joint, but it fed five with ease and we have leftovers for Monday evening.

The Conclusion

Despite only banking two runs the week turned out to be very fruitful. The project is going well and has plenty of interest locally. The two long runs were both good quality, slow and easy paced but taking on plenty of rolling hills. I also completed each run in different trainers and am pleased to report no blisters. I generally favour the Saucony Kinvara as they feel lighter, but it's good to note the Asics stood up nicely to a long run.
So with two weeks left to Richmond I feel in a pretty good place. I'm probably still short on distance but with a maximum of six runs left before the start line I can't see any more than one long run left for me. My pace feels really good though and I think aiming for a 1:52 makes sense next weekend. My Helsinki time was a 1:54:54 and that included a toilet stop and a fade between 17-20km. Pace wise I'm quicker, in terms of weight I'm a bit lighter after laying off the heavy carbs over the summer. The aim will be to dial into the target pace, perhaps get ahead of it in the first hour and see where it takes me. 

HM 9/12 - Takeley 10k: Justified indignation?

Final month of the half marathon training and I can't decide whether to be happy or annoyed. Perhaps frustrated is a more appropriate emotion after a week that promised a lot, but delivered less than planned.

The Run #1

I'd earmarked the bank holiday Monday as the perfect time to head out and bank a solid two hours of running. We had no firm plans and if I could get out early, even a long run wouldn't impede us from doing anything. Unfortunately the weather had other ideas. Were I to have ventured out a boat might have been necessary. I'm less of a fair weather runner than I used to be, but the consequences of two hours in driving rain outweigh any potential benefits. So I spent the day hoping it would clear up.
By Tuesday I was itching to get out. I had a day of Cisco training at home planned so a pre work run would be the perfect way to start. Unfortunately the rainfall was still horrendous, perhaps lunchtime might offer an opportunity?
I kept an eye on the window throughout the late morning, checking my phone's weather app to see if they'd be a break at any stage. By 3pm conditions were still miserable, so I ploughed further into study, promising myself a brief outing at 5pm.
Thankfully by then the clouds had started to pass, so I closed down the laptop and got myself ready for what could potentially be a wet run.
Unfortunately my this time of day my window for running had greatly reduced. I needed to get Topper to the vets for half six as he'd not been well over the weekend. This afforded me the chance to run one lap of my regular loop. Without much rhythm and long stops for traffic or to navigate dog walkers I found myself yearning for the quiet of a 6am outing!
The time was nothing special, but the opportunity to at least get some kilometres banked and fresh air into the lungs was a welcome one.

The Run #2

I didn't manage to get another run in during the working week. A competitive squash game on Thursday provided a good intense workout though (especially when I didn't take a racquet to the face). On Saturday we had plans to visit our friends on Hayling Island so I was keen to make a parkrun visit en route.
The original plan was to join Maldon for their first year celebrations, but that would take us in completely the wrong direction so I'll make a visit there some other time. We'd arranged to share lifts with some friends in West London, a strangely sparse area for events when you consider the amount of work London put into establishing parkrun in 2012.
This meant I could visit Black Park. Our attempts to visit just two weeks prior were thwarted by the women's cricket heading to a result quicker than planned. Once we'd got over Google Maps trying to take us to the centre of the park through Pinewood Studios we found the car park. At twenty to it was already busy, I noticed one course map stating no marshals on the course. My would be Event Director attention was piqued, how could you not marshal an entire course, I was certainly interested.

All was explained at the pre run briefing, the course was a simple, kind of figure of 8 & included only a few turns. Follow the signs and you'll get back & finish. This certainly gave me ideas for how to run an event with minimal on course direction!

I'd been overly conservative at the start & found myself getting off to a slow start with plenty of weaving involved. Being without music has been an evolution of my running this summer, though I was wishing the iPod was with me this time as there were some particularly chatty folk behind me that I couldn't establish a decent lead on!

Black Park parkrun. Got beaten by a dog!

The course was wide throughout & the course mainly compacted gravel, with some puddles. After a kilometre I found myself in a decent rhythm, getting quicker with every passing km. I certainly didn't feel this way though and being a busier event meant there was plenty of overtaking so I wasn't entirely sure of my pace. The only time puddles crossed the course entirely was as we approached the finish line & with that in sight no one was avoiding the mud!

I crossed the line in 24:09, ruing the slow start but moderately happy with the result. I didn't find the course too challenging, nothing like the conditions a Wimpole or Great Notley could through down so I wasn't sure just how decent that effort would be.

The Run #3

The Takeley 10k was a deviation from my designed plan, but I'd missed out on previous years so felt it would be good to take in a local event and see how I fared. Four of us were running, Paula & I, Alec & Paul. Alec fancied targeting a sub 50 as his parkrun times were now into the high 22's so he felt capable. Despite only running once under this time myself I offered to try to pace him, Paul was also considering a relaxed race so would start along side us.

At the race briefing the prospect of a Hatfield Forest parkrun was mentioned, all very intriguing! We were walked down to the start line, at the site of the old Takeley railway station on the Flitch Way. The course would be simple, 2.5km down the Flitch, 5km around Hatfield Forest & 2.5km back on the Flitch.

There was no chip timing so I noted that we were 17 seconds in when crossing the line. Despite there being signed off timing areas beforehand we found ourselves passing plenty of people early on. At this stage we lost Paul as he managed to get ahead of a number of people when we couldn't, he went on his way & clocked another sub 45.

Our initial pace was good, around the 5:00 mark despite all the weaving. A second kilometre on pace had us settled nicely but I wasn't feeling it. Just before we left the Flitch I told Alec to go on without me as I felt I was now holding him back. I didn't want a slowing of my pace to stop him from achieving his goal and soon he was breaking open a nice gap. 

Despite what felt like a slowing down my third click was under target pace & even the fourth was there for thereabouts. Once we were into the Forest the underfoot conditions got interesting & a slow 5th kilometre as I weaved around muddy ditches led me to believe that you've have to be insane to bring a parkrun here! The 6th offered some gravel tracks & again my pace recovered, but I was feeling more weary. By the time we were into the Flitch once more the gap to Alec looked to be over a minute, where as by the end of the 6th I'd got it down to 30 seconds. I went through the water station & chucked some over me, something I only tend to do when struggling.

Alec the first to finish in Um Bungo garb

On several occasions I considered slowing right down or stopping to wait for Paula, this race felt like there was nothing to be gained from it.

The people I'd been running with started to break away from me & I had nothing to answer it with. At one point I was punching my left quad to try and get some feeling back into it & recharge for the final couple of kilometres. Although the path was covered & scenic I found myself hating being on an old railway line. It was disheartening to see just a straight line ahead. No end in sight for when we'd get off the track & people just moving ever further away. Bizarrely no one was passing me, so all I saw were runners in the distance, leaving me feeling like I was running through treacle.

Not the happiest looking finisher

My quads ached & my achilles were both tightening up as we entered the final kilometre. A climb of 20 metres didn't help matters and when we emerged from the track into a cul de sac I started to wave people through that still had sprint finishes in them.

I crossed the line in a gun time of 51:54, so effectively a 51:37, absolutely knackered & not overly impressed with myself, The doubling up of effort over the weekend hadn't produced a worthy result and wasn't happy with it. I caught up with Paul who'd eased to a sub 45 & Alec, who was just over the 50 mark & claiming a well deserved PB. We waited to cheer Paula across the line & discussed the merits of the course, the guys eager to give me some straws to clutch to!

Paula finishing

Paula came across around the 1:06 mark & we were able to reflect on the lack of an ice cream van, might have at least put a silver lining on the cloud!

The Conclusion

Firstly I must apologise, complete lack of eat this week. Must rectify this, can't all be running stuff! Secondly, the parkrun effort was put into my top 5 performances in terms of handicap by Run Britain. Perhaps the weekend was a success after all?

In hindsight, a mid 51 is my best result by a long way on a non tarmac course. Because I'd been so quick at Pride a few weeks previously I'd put too greater level of expectation on my shoulders & rather than take the positives, once I'd told Alec to go I basically had 40 minutes of negativity to brood over. I'm glad I didn't stop, especially as it would have been an act of petulance rather than needing to. I still delivered a very decent result & gained experience of trail running.