After a week of short distances I was looking forward to a couple of easy runs in the week & some mileage on Sunday. I didn't start any form of training until Wednesday. Monday was reserved for decorating, sometimes real life gets in the way of training. Tuesday night had been one of those days of being a hostage to the M25 that by the time I was home I found myself utterly disinterested in doing anything of note once I got home. Instead I found myself wanting to carry on watching The Jinx, an import from the USA about Robert Durst & his intriguing life. I've not been captivated by a TV show for quite some time & I would recommend tracking it down if you can (Sky Atlantic / Now TV in the UK), I even subscribed to Now TV just to watch it. Don't google Durst though if you do want to tune in, you'll spoil the entire show!
A Braintree 5k
Wednesday saw me running past my childhood home. My sister was across from the US for a fortnight whirlwind trip around all the family & friends. So whilst Mum prepared dinner, we headed out for a loop of the Fairview estate in Braintree. My only experience of running around this estate would have been as an Air Cadet or when running a very short distance to a friend's house. The estate certainly felt steeper and far longer when we were growing up. In fact we were both surprised to get back to Mum's house with only 5km clocked (just under, I had to run past the house & exaggerate a U turn to clock the extra metres on my Garmin!).
It was quite a surreal experience to run around Braintree. I knew the routes, but not completely as having last lived there 15 years ago there has been some building work & evolution. Our old house hasn't changed a bit, though having moved in 1998 I was hazy on some of the features. We didn't veer off course sufficiently to check out our first house, though neither American Clare or myself really have any memories of the place as we moved just after she was born in 1985. The cadet centre was still there, a happy memory & a place that I owe a lot to in terms of forming me & learning as I grew up. What use'd to be Steve's Video, a small shop & a pub now appear to be a Pizza Hut takeaway, no 50p wrestling video rentals now then!
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| Such a special pair of siblings |
Lunchtime Shenanigans
Needing to be in London for 8am for the majority of the week is rather inhibiting on a morning run, I can cope with half five starts, but a half four just to run locally seems a bit extreme. On Friday I instead packed my running gear & got out for another loop around Battersea Park. I was greeted both on my way & way back by a pair of gents enjoying the sunshine & some strong lager with the words Jog On, though one of them had a slightly better routine & at least asked for a piggyback!
My intention was to take on a bigger loop of Battersea, but I had some kind of stomach stitch, just above my left hip that nagged, causing enough pain to shorten the route. Although Battersea is delightful, the hordes of dog walkers (those walking multiple dogs especially) make it quite an hairy experience for those of us that don't consider dogs to be a man's best friend.
Once out of the park my heart rate returned to normal & I was heading back to Westminster, gritting my teeth & hoping for the pain to subside slightly. An easy 8km banked, not a comfortable run, but good to spin the wheels.
VMLM Expo
You might or might not be aware that a small event known as the London Marathon was in town last week. I have a distant relationship with the event, they reject my advances & only seem to deliver bad news to me. Yet despite how they treat me, I keep persisting, maybe one day they'll invite me to the party.
Like a glutton for punishment I decided to see what I was missing out on at the Expo event. Excel is relatively easy to get to from central London when everything behaves itself so I took a detour on the way home. The vastness of the Expo was on a level I've never seen before. Copenhagen Half & Helsinki City Run had probably the best setup I'd seen previously, but nothing on the scale of London. Part of this is through necessity, 40,000+ runners after all, part of it is a drive for more revenue. I wasn't complaining about the commercialisation of it all though as I was like a kid in a sweet shop! I'd wanted to visit to meet the Scimitar Sports team. We've chatted over twitter plenty over the past year since they launched the Um Bongo vests that have become my trademark race wear. Since that time I & my friends & family have sent a lot of money their way, I think Alec has most of their shirts! I caught up with John & chatted about various ranges they have coming their way, alas no Creme Egg offering is on the cards as Cadbury are a tough nut to crack. I also picked up a new Um Bongo shirt, an alternative for when a vest would be a bit ambitious. They're a great company who are looking onwards & upwards, but still keep things personal, even creating an XXS size specifically for Emily from Team Um Bongo.
Right next to Scimitar was Run Breeze so I found myself stocking up on plenty of their socks to take me through the marathon training season. On some kit it is worth experimenting, elsewhere, stick with what works. Since picking up a pair of Run Breeze socks at the Pride 10k in 2013 I've suffered far less blisters & have regularly stocked up whenever I see them at events (they're not in retail outlets at this time, purely online).
I had one last motive to tick off as part of my visit, it was time for a new pair of trainers. I will generally get 500-600km out of a pair of road shoes, with five months of marathon training ahead of me and both my Asics & Saucony's just over the 300km mark I knew I'd need at least one more pair to take me to Berlin. The Expo had every brand you would expect & quite a few you'd not normally see. I like both of my pairs of neutral road shoes, they offer different things, so I wanted to throw something else into the mix. Though the Saucony Kinvara 6 London Edition was interesting, having two pairs of super light low profile shoes might be more than I can handle, likewise the £110 price tag was a bit on the high side.
I've liked the look of the Mizuno & New Balance ranges for a while & wanted to take a closer look at both to see what would suit. On passing the Mizuno stand my potential trainer of choice came into view. A new Mizuno Wave Rider 18, in striking multi coloured & white Osaka special edition. They had a more regular colour scheme, but why be conservative when you can instead be awesome?
I gave myself a lap of the Expo to consider other options.
I wasn't convinced by the NB range, especially as my trail shoes from them always feel a bit tight & narrow. In between hunting for trainers I got chatting to the guys behind the excellent Like The Wind magazine. A high quality running publication, not the same reviews on a six monthly basis, just well written & illustrated pieces on running. I walked away from them with their London special & am looking forward to giving it a read.
My lap of the expo provided no serious alternatives to the Mizuno so I headed back to try some on. I'd been lining up alternative to buy online, but the benefits of being able to try pairs on & use a treadmill (even though I'm not used to running on them) was vital here as the size 9 I'd usually opt for felt a bit on the small size. One I'd slipped on a pair of 9.5's & given them a quick try on the treadmill I knew I had a good addition to the trainer rotation for Berlin. They appear to be halfway between the super light and low profile Saucony & the more supportive Asics.
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| Mizuno Wave 18's Osaka Edition. Too shiny to run in? |
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| My VMLM Expo Swag! |
Sunday morning the alarm was set for half five like a normal work day, the running kit was laid out & yet I found myself resetting the alarm, grabbing some extra sleep rather than enjoying early morning miles. Something hadn't felt right on the outside of my left ankle (always my left side, always!) since after the Wednesday run. I was fine through rowing & exercise bike time on Thursday & during the run on Friday as well, yet walking around post exercise something didn't feel right. I'd been parking the ankle on ice since Thursday, trying to understand quite what was wrong. By Sunday morning it still didn't feel completely right so I opted for some more sleep before a long & exhausting day ahead.
Inspiration
Running is just as much in the mind at times for me as it is physically. I can let injuries anxieties get in the way at times, wrap myself in too much cotton wool & injure myself anyway. Thankfully on Sunday I had just the pick me up I needed. The week previously I'd decided I'd like to head into London to savour the atmosphere. Alongside Harlow ED Vicky we promoted an event to our relatively young parkrun communities in the hope that we could get a good group down to support. Alas the last minute planning probably cost us as Vicky & I were the only ones present at Shadwell tube a the agreed meeting time! We wandered to a familiar stop along The Highway that I'd chosen back in 2013 as well, plenty of space & you get to see the runners at just after 13 miles & coming back at 22.
The weather was perfect for runners, a bit too cold for supporters & I was soon adding layers! As the elites made their way through halfway we were joined by Steve, already a stalwart of Hatfield Forest parkrun & now the only parkrunner to join us on a social!
At marathon time everyone focuses on how the runners prepare & perform on the day, no one thinks about what you need as a supporter. We all went out far too hard, cheering, clapping, whooping at anything that moved early on to the point that we were gassed out by the time the masses from four hour pace onward arrived. I was having to pace myself, selectively cheering folk as my voice was already struggling. What an amateur, no decent supporting strategy, didn't I realise this was a marathon, not a sprint? I needed to have saved my A game for further down the field, these quick folk are probably moving too quickly to even hear my yelling!
Speaking of crazy fast folk, fellow Forest core team member Paul whizzed by, appearing to be running at a 3 hour pace. He'd not told us what his target was beforehand, we knew he'd be quick, just not sure how quick. He looked to be enjoying himself, realising as he passed us that he was the Paul we were bellowing at, turning slightly to give us a smile & a wave. Sam from our core team was also running, though I didn't manage to spot him & I hadn't given him advance notice of where I'd be for him to claim a high five.
Once the four hour groups came through I started to offer out the sandwich box I'd filled with jelly babies, jelly beans & jaffa cakes. Cheering random folks on gives them a bit of a boost, offering them free sweets makes you an absolute hero! Both Vicky & I had boxes of sweets available & we were regularly getting runners head over to grab something to keep themselves going. It was nice to contribute this way as thanks to our awful pacing we were all struggling with the whole supporting side of things. I was now resorting to a less subtle offering of the sweet box & keeping my cheers selective to Bishop's Stortford runners, parkrun folk I recognised & people with awesome outfits.
It was getting damn cold & once we saw Paul come through on his return, got a bit of a smile & a wave we decided it was time to find a pub.
Being on the south side of The Highway makes Wapping station an easy exit point & soon we were up in Shoreditch, wearing flannel shirts & oversized glasses, heading to Spittalfield's market (some of that might not be true). After finding the most important thing, a toilet, it was time for #2 & #3 on the list, food & drink. As we wandered into Spitallfield's I noticed Bleecker St Burger, the one time food stall, now permanent offering. Everyone else was game for a burger so it was time to visit one of London's premier burger joints for the first time. I kept it simple with a bacon cheeseburger, accompanied with angry fries & a Brooklyn Lager. Steve opted for an identical order, Vicky went for the black pudding topped burger, which sounded all kinds of funky. The burger delivered, excellent quality, very juicy & cooked medium rare. The angry fries just didn't work for me, the sauce was overdone & the hot sauce wasn't really hot just peppery (I'd have probably disliked a hotter sauce though), if they had the option for just blue cheese on it's own as a sauce that would have been a better choice.
All in all a bizarre week, barely any mileage & the frustration of feeling injured. To finish the week by taking in the London Marathon reminded me of why I want to run a marathon myself.
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