Tag Archives: kent

#Race – Sidcup 10

March 9, 2014

After running the St. Peter’s Way I had decided that I wasn’t going to run for a week or so at all and I wasn’t going to race again until I was ready to tackle the March Virtual Run, this all changed the moment that my OH mentioned that I could join the Sidcup 10 mile race this morning.

I was still pretty bunged up when I rolled up this morning I was continuing to bring up phlegm off my chest I was cautious about whether I could do the race and more importantly I was concerned about the heat – yes readers, the heat! Regardless, I joined the main group at the starting line and moved swiftly to the back – this was not going to be a fast one.

We headed out at 10am and spun down the main road and I quickly realised that this probably wasn’t going to be the most exciting course as we passed through the local housing. There was a promise that the course was pretty flat but having been running around Sidcup for a number of years I was aware that actually there were a few tasty hills. The first section of the run out was flat and followed by a solid downhill but with a nice incline to the second main turning and then heading back along towards the start along another straight and a nice final bit back on a downhill and straight. Easy

I was hitting about 24.5 minutes per 5km which was in line with expectation and the first lap passed without incident. On the second lap I saw a young lady from the Orpington Roadrunners take a nasty fall that resulted in a ambulance being called, I saw her writhing about in agony (thankfully a couple of runners had already stopped to help her and so I continued onward). The second lap was equally uneventful (for me at least) and I moved up and down the mildly hilly course into the final lap, doing my usual laughing and joking with the volunteers (of which there were many).

As the final lap kicked in I could feel the heat catching up with me and I knew that I was due a bout of heatstroke but there was only 3 miles to go and so with a bit of a push I started to speed up. The idea was that I would come in at 1.15 but as I drifted along to the section where the Orpington Roadrunner had been taken out I also caught my foot and fell forward, pulling myself to safety but cutting my hand open and clearly pulling something in my groin. The runners around me asked if I was okay and I simply laughed it off but I started to slow down through the pain in my groin. A few minutes later I was caught by a chap called Richard who was running the Sidcup 10 as a warm up to the Brighton Marathon and he was pushing himself (not something I could admit to). What Richard provided was 3 miles of incentive, he needed a target and I needed a chaser – together we pushed on, I was shouting encouragement (or abuse depending on your perspective) and he was calling out that he was on my tail.

With less than 500 metres to go I put the afterburners on and sped home, overtaking the two or three runners infront of me to cross the line sometimes around 83minutes, nothing spectacular but it would do for today. I collected my medal and headed for the water station after having delightful man hugs with the lovely Richard.

I did make a few mistakes today, the first was that my normal double T-shirt technique was a problem – I was too hot from about half a mile in. I wore my Newton MV2 which are not suited to the 10 mile distance – 10km at best – I should have gone with the Adios! Worse though I seem to have given myself a mild case of plantar fasciitis for wearing the wrong shoes. I also failed to wear sunglasses or adequate sun protection for my neck and head – but it is early March and I really wasn’t expecting such immaculate running conditions. But regardless I did complete it and for that I’m very happy.

Conclusion
This was a curious race, the reviews said the course was a bit dull and they were right but the reviews also said that the organisation and marshals were excellent and that too was right, it is a fast course and if you are looking for something speedy this wouldn’t disappoint. The medal was okay considering that it only cost £10 to run but it wasn’t a classic (see photograph), the changing facilities and toilets were excellent as it was all held on a school and truth to tell I really can’t say anything bad about the race but nor can I say anything exceptional. Would I run it again? Maybe, but not for a few years I feel.

Next Race: Sidcup 10, can’t believe my good fortune

March 6, 2014

Racing, running, training, ultraboy, ultraboyruns

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‘There’s a race on Sunday isn’t there in Sidcup’ said my other half through a weary haze of cold and flu like symptoms. ‘Yes’ I replied, I think there is, ‘but I’m not doing it, too soon after the last ultra’. Strangely she seemed annoyed and so I probed further, ‘why?’

‘Oh, well Sue and Kirstie were hoping to catch up, you could run the race while we walk the dogs’

Well blow me down, you could have knocked me over with naught but a feather. No sooner had she she finished the word race than I had my debit card in hand and was at the computer signing up for a 10 mile road race in sunny or probably quite watery Sidcup. I’m now blogging about it because I fancied making some pre-race visuals (hence the graphic above) and also I can’t believe my luck. Mindue I think I’d have preferred a 10km as the chest infection is still bugging me and I haven’t run much this week but you never can look a gift race in the mouth… can you?

Happy running chaps.

Day 12 / 02.02.1l4 / 400km30days

February 2, 2014

Arse Kicking, cycling, endurance, injury, suunto ambit 2, training, ultra, ultraboy, ultraboyruns

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Two days off to rest my hip and knee and I’m feeling a bit better – the hip is a long term injury but I decided that a bike ride was the way forward. I loaded a route onto my Suunto that would take me to the start line of my next race – the Valentines Run in Gravesend – and off I set.

Now the Suunto is only as good as it’s user and human error kicked in about 10km when I turned down a bit of a blind alley and my road bike met the worst of Kent’s boggy fields. Holy shit, I had to push my bike through 5km of wet mud and when I finally reached the road again I got back on the bike and looked down to see I’d brought half of the mud with me. Thankfully, the roads of Kent are also flooded and so I was able to clean my bike and feet. I had a lovely time, just over 45km cycled, a shitload of mud, hills that could break you and a maximum speed of nearly 50km per hour. I might not have run this weekend but I feel much better for having gone and gotten the wind in my hair!

Hope everyone had a good weekend of exercise and a huge congratulations to @mia79gbr who completed the Thames Trot in a stunning time.

Day 5 / 26.01.14 / 400km30days (a big thank you Tweeters and Bloggers)

January 26, 2014

cycling, family, FAT, fun, kit, running, trainers, training, Twitter, ultraboy, ultraboyruns

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This morning was a simple three stage affair – 5km bike ride, 5km run, 5km bike ride, half of effort was very uphill and the other half was nicely downhill. The weather added in an unpleasant challenge and as the rain lashed my face I did wish I was still tucked up in bed but hey ho, all fun. Hope everyone else has had glorious Sunday running.

Additionally I’d like to say I wasn’t advertising either the colour blue or OMM today, I just chose a very OMM and blue kit!

I’m also adding a dog picture to this post because dogs make me happy, especially my dogs who were waiting for me when I got home. Cute 🙂

On a final note for this posting I’d really like to say thank you for all the support and responses to my posting about my ‘running argument’. There has been a huge amount of messages and conversation about the value of tweeting and blogging about running and the need for community. Needless to say I won’t be leaving the blogging and twitter community, not because I think I’m something special, but because you guys are amazing and being part of this wonderful community is helping drive me on to a successful. 2014.

#Race (No)Review: Dartford 10

January 19, 2014

Racing, running, suunto ambit 2, time, trainers, training, Twitter, ultraboy, ultraboyruns

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5.30am and an email arrives – the Dartford 10 miler is cancelled, 3 years I’ve been trying to run this, once I pulled out because of an injury and now twice it has been canceled and I haven’t been available for the re-scheduled date. The good news is that the race organiser made the right decision, the River Darent had broken it’s banks and the water, several days later, hadn’t drained.

Instead I did a very hilly 10 miles in a pretty healthy 1hr 17minutes. So no medal but a really positive run and I got to test my Salomon hydration belt, nice and easy to use and very comfy – though it gave me a seriously sweaty back.

I hope everyone else had a lovely sunny January run.

Coaching and Clubs: a #running dilemma

January 16, 2014

London, running, teamwork, time, training, Twitter, ultra, ultraboy

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Four ultra marathons, four marathons, about a dozen half marathons, loads of 10km, a few random distances and a couple of outdoor swims – that in a nutshell is the last few years of my life. I’ve pound the ground at every opportunity, I’ve run up hills, down hills, across fields and forded streams, there has been no race too long, tall or difficult. I’ve tried them all, but even I recognise I’ve hit a bit of a wall.

What type of training do you do?
Well @hitmanharris describes my training as ‘running’. He went on further to say that if I wrote down my training plan on an A3 bit of paper I’d basically just write ‘RUN’ in big letters. I’ve never really thought about disciplined training and plans but actually that all sounds a bit too much like running by numbers – no matter how tailored to you it is. I tend to get up in the morning and decide I fancy 15miles or decide I fancy a fast 5km. There’s not a lot of rhyme or reason, I try and mix my running up by doing some fast, some slow, some bigger distances, trail, road, hills and flats. I’ve added in Pilates and swimming over the last year or so but the truth is that I’ve seen myself plateau since I started ultra running and trouble is I’m finding giving up the smaller distances really hard to do – already in the first eight weeks of 2014 I will hopefully complete 2 ultra marathons, 2 ten mile races and possible even a duathlon, that’s a lot and hard to train for because your preparation needs to be for the ultra but then I turn up to the shorter races and want to give it my all but I’m then not performing well enough to race decent times.

At this point last year I was still running a reasonably good 3.30 – 3.45hr marathon distance but a broken foot and a shedload of ultra training and this time has being slowly eroded to the point where I think I’m more like a 4.00hr marathoner. And the trouble extends further to the point that when I go back and do speedier running all I find is disappointment as I can’t quite get in under 20 minutes over 5km ( I don’t think ParkRuns count as I’ve usually just ridden 15km to get there – uphill). I’ve also got my desire to do my first triathlon this year and I still can’t do more than about 50metres freestyle before I need to revert to breaststroke. I see trouble ahead.

Twitter
I’ve been extensively watching the timelines of all the runners I follow on Twitter and have noticed there are a lot of runners who use coaching or have joined a club and the conversation is almost universally that this has helped them overcome issues of levelling out, overcome the mental block of not being able to focus on a couple of specific goals, not being able to give up all the bad food that gets consumed and adopting a healthier lifestyle in eating as well as exercise.

Joining In
I know I would benefit from the social and training support offered by a club or by the knowledge of runners who have been there and done that. I used to run with the London Social Runners for about 6 months until I found that each week I got caught up nursing home one of the really slow runners and becoming resentful of that, so I stopped going and convinced myself that group running simply wasn’t for me. However, because I can’t find a way out of my spate of injuries, my lack of direction and a bit of a lack of enthusiasm I think I need to do something. But what? I’m also confident that actually I could offer something to less experienced runners – for good or ill I’ve got a lot of experience now and I’ve adopted some good practices as well as some bad ones, I should be sharing this experience more.

Problems
I have two problems, the first is that I don’t think I would be committed enough with one to one coaching, I’d lie and cheat, I’d run when I was supposed to rest, I’d race short when I was supposed to run long, etc. And effectively I’d just be cheating myself, wasting their time and mine – I need someone who I have to look in the eye very week and say ‘yep I did as I was told’. Suffering from guilt so easily makes it better for me to have to face someone and the public humiliation of being in a group and not being competitive because you’ve not done your training horrifies me.

However, there is the second problem which is that I travel on average four hours a day, usually a bit more and getting to a club is almost impossible. If I join a Central London one I’d be regularly left waiting around because of my works finishing time, plus not getting home until really quite late and then I’d need to travel into the city at the weekend, which is very rarely practical. If I join a club nearer to home (and there are a lot of them) I’d never get there in the evenings and my racing habit generally means I’m not available most weekends.

A change of job and location would enable me to join a club closer to home and reducing my commute time is one of my aims for 2014 but until then I can’t see a solution to help me break through the glass ceiling I seem to have reached. I’d be very interested in hearing about the coaching and club experiences of other runners and the benefits they felt and also how runners feel about one to one coaching over club running.

Happy running

Race to the Stones and Project #ThunderClunge

January 6, 2014

adventure racing, endurance, preview, Racing, running, training, ultra, ultraboy

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I realise the phrase Project: ThunderClunge might be a hint offensive to many but believe me it is very appropriate for the situation I find myself in and in fact Project: ThunderClunge will adapt its name in about 100 days to Project: ThunderPunch which in context is actually probably more offensive but hohum.

What I’m trying to say is that this thing is actually having an effect on my ultra running! Arse!

The Project has managed to knock a bloody big three month window in my schedule without even hinting at injuring me further than I already am and this has meant some rejigging of my running schedule for 2014 and I’m now hoping that my entry into the CCC doesn’t come off because that’s at the eye of the storm. With all this in mind I’ve therefore been looking to cram more running into the first half of the year and towards the back end of the year. Thankfully I’m lucky enough that things like Country to Capital, St Peters Way and SDW50 will remain unaffected and touch wood NDW100 won’t take a hit either. I should then just be coming out of the other end of Project ThunderClunge to be able to compete in the Winter 100 if Centurion ever make any more announcements .. I’m on edge about getting a place for that one .. anyway I was looking round for another 2 UTMB point run and had seen the Pilgrims Way and thought that would be ace but just my luck – it had sold out. I started the search again and not fancying travelling up to the Lakes or Wales because of the distance and difficulty in reaching the start lines I looked a little closer to home. Annoyingly the company Ultra Trails has now folded and so I couldn’t run with them again but there was the Race to the Stones which takes place not a million miles from my OHs parents home. I quickly checked with Twitter who described it almost universally as overpriced and a perhaps not the greatest race to run (especially of the ultra options in the area) and while I agree it is overpriced for the distance it fits in quite nicely with where I need to be and also my qualification aims for the 2015 UTMB. I’ve also managed to chat to a couple of chaps who had competed in it and their opinion that while it wasn’t the best route you’ll ever run it certainly wasn’t the worst and is a well organised and good event to do. Therefore I’m headed to the Race to the Stones in pretty good cheer, although £120 poorer, I’ll let you know in six months if I thought it was good value.

I’m now contemplating a few other bits to supplement my ultra running this year, probably highest priority is a triathlon and there are currently two that catch my eye, the first is the Bewl triathlon where I would hope to banish the much hated ‘Curse of Bewl Water’ and there is the Red Venom event in Southport, near Liverpool – this has the benefit of being near to my dad and I’d have a place to stay, transport, etc. Both have a lovely sprint distance available and there is the standard as well. The only other triathlon that I might consider would be the Midnight Man which is organised by the amazing people who brought us the Dartford Bridge 10km and they too have multiple distances available and I’m pretty sure I could be competitive at one of these.

In addition to this I’ve been invited down to the New Forest to run a 20 miler which could be good fun but the dates I think clash with other races in the season and so that one might be missed but I’m likely to sign up to both the British 100 and the Kent Roadrunner marathon because although I ran it last year I did rather enjoy it and both the National 100 and the Kent Roadrunner are at the Gravesend Cyclopark and I think a track base ultra marathon would be a uniquely excellent opportunity (or perhaps a very dull experience … we shall see). However, I’m normally the one hands out ideas for races but this year I’m a bit stumped, I’d like to a run more new races, so maybe the Ashford Half Marathon, but I fancy a few 10km, maybe a few adventure races like the Major Series or Wolf Run or even the Nuts Challenge but as with all of these there are only so many race days available and I have to be mindful of both my body and Project ThunderClunge.

So runners, what would you recommend for a race day this year? What are you running? And just how far will you push yourself?

Buying your #running kit

January 3, 2014

retail, running, shopping, training, ultraboy

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As anyone who knows me I buy more running and training gear than is normal, it has gotten to the point now where I no longer have any real clothes – I have only running, hiking, swimming and activity kit. The few bits of real clothing I own are locked away in a cupboard somewhere and they almost never come out, my work clothes are on a bit of a rotation and I replace them only as they wear out – however, I’m not here to discuss the details of my wardrobe – no – I’m here to discuss some of the excellent retailers I have purchased from this year and perhaps the reasons I avoid other retailers

Sportsshoe.com
I’ve bought several pairs of running shoes from these guys, including my much loved and also much maligned S-Lab Sense trail shoes. These guys offer great value for money, they offer excellent service and I’ve never had a single days problem with them. Their website is pretty simple to navigate, although the top navigation could do with a little bit of clarity, perhaps the fact there is more than running gear here is the reason it can feel a little cluttered but it has never stopped me from finding the things I want and the payment system is quick and easy. Highly Recommended.

Wiggle
I only discovered Wiggle this year and despite a stupid name it offers excellent prices and excellent products. I was able to source my Suunto Ambit 2 from these guys at less than £300 and have purchased several excellent running tops from them. Their site tends to be crammed with goodies but it can be a bit of a chore going through it all and my recent search for gaiters led me to try elsewhere. However, the service is impeccable and incredibly speedy. These are good guys to buy kit from and the regular sales they run are generally very genuine. Perhaps the best bit is the inclusion of little Haribo sweets in their deliveries.

Sports Pursuit
There is something about trawling through my hundreds of early morning emails that I don’t mind and that thing is the offers that Sports Pursuit insist on sending me. Now this may sound like a bad thing, but it isn’t. Again this is a retailer I discovered only this year and while you are required to wait a little longer for your products they offer great value items that you can’t get elsewhere. Skora runners and Vibram Fivefingers have been my primary purchases from them during 2013 and each purchase has been excellent. It’s fair to say that sizes can difficult to come by sometimes and the returns are a little haphazard in what happens (there is no guarantee on return that they can get you a different size) but SportsPursuit are clear in their endeavour – bringing you great stuff at a decent price. Communication is excellent, packaging and delivery is excellent – what more could you ask for.

Centurion Running
What an ultra runner really wants from his shopping experience is people who know what they are on about. The Centurion store is not jammed to the rafters with kit – no. It has a couple of choices in key categories. So for example if you want a running vest/bag they have Salomon or Ultimate Directions, both of which are very high quality products and both used by in the ultra community. Additionally this was the easiest place I could find to buy Harveys Maps! It’s also nice not having to wade through oodles of crap choices and they have lovely communication, great customer service and speedy delivery. The fact that Centurion is run by runners for runners really shows and I’m very much looking forward to further purchases and events with them in 2014.

Ultra Marathon Running Store
A bit like the Centurion store really in that it covers a great selection of good quality gear but with a little more choice (and the home of Dirty Girl Gaiters in the UK). Service and delivery are top notch and you feel it’s good value for money. Again they tend not to fill their site with things that ultra runners won’t use – we get a range of products at various price points. No complaints about this store whatsoever. I shall be looking forward to further purchases in the near future.

Decathlon
This is a bit of strange one, I’ve got some running Tshirts that are nearly a decade old from Decathlon that cost about £2.50 each and they rock but these days I find their running kit no longer fits me very well, but they do a great range of bikes and this year alone I have bought a rockrider, a triban and a hybrid (for my OH). I’m also a fan of their general equipment, things like lights, bandages, tapes, locks, etc and they do a decent range of swim kit – though I prefer mainly their speedo stuff. The great thing is that Decathlon staff are generally pretty well trained and not only know their own sporting area but also a bit about other departments. Add in regular vouchers and competitions through their loyalty card and actually you have a company that seems on the face of it to care. The letdown is their website which seems to have been built by a six year old or had a management hand in the navigation. Once you drill down to product pages it’s all pretty good but finding stuff is a nightmare. With. Decathlon I’d always say try and visit a store as the experience is so much better.

Sweatshop
These guys have been a bit a bit of a class act for several years and although I’m not as regular a shopper there as I used to be I still find them pretty darn good and with a good selection of items. I suppose though that Sweatshop has been a victim of its own success via both growth and attempting to be all things to all runners. This means that there is a decent range from beginner to very experienced runner but not as much depth as you might like, it feels quite mainstream – although saying this I have seen more obscure products like On Cloudrunners, Nathan running vests and Salomon S Lab clothing in store over recent months and this was also the store I got all my OMM packs from. Sweatshop remains the best of the major high street running stores. However, on a couple of occasions (and a less positive note) I have noticed in store there has been a lack of running knowledge, especially in younger members of staff, however, I am still a reasonably regular visitor to Bluewater, Dartford, Rathbone Place and Trump Street and these guys have always been on top of things, so when considering a store to purchase from where you can try things on, these guys remain good.

Run and Become
I’m a bit of sucker for a good shoe collection and great service and this is something that you always get from Run and Become. The staff are all runners, all very knowledgable (at least in the London store I go to), they have a great range of products in store and there is a feeling that they wouldn’t sell you a shoe that wasn’t fit for purpose. These guys are so popular that there is often a reasonable wait to be seen by the staff but it is worth it. My last purchase was some Vibram FiveFingers and Injinji socks and what I received was not only the basic back story to the shoes but also a bit of knowledge about the lady serving me, who was also a VFF user. If you happen to be near St. James Park and are in need of some kit or just to view some running porn – this is the place 🙂

Pete Bland Sports
Pete Bland will be getting more of my business in 2014, great service and quick delivery and a website that despite a rather strange navigation it just works. I bought my first pair of Hoka from Pete Bland Sports and they generally have a great range of running gear but being based in the Lake District is the thing that makes me love them as the Lakes are just about my favourite place in the entire universe. The little thing I loved the most was the later Twitter interaction about my experiences with the running shoes I had purchased. Classy

Cotswold Outdoor / Ellis Brigham / Snow & Rock
No good if what you are looking for is road running materials but if you are looking for trail running kit then Cotswold Outdoor, Ellis Brigham and Snow & Rock are pretty fine. All have a good range of footwear, clothing and accessories covering brands like OMM, Rab, Salomon, Hoka and Inov8. If you are in London then all three can be found with big stores in the heart of Covent Garden and all have highly trained staff who generally know what they are talking about and if they don’t they’ll get someone that does. Each of these stores has provided me with key pieces of kit over the last year or so and will continue to do so. In terms of online then I find Cotswold to be the easiest to navigate and find what I’m looking for but both Ellis Brigham and Snow & Rock offer excellent online services.

Sports Direct
I do have one bugbear though and that is Sports Direct. I find myself disheartened every time I walk past one of their stores and if I ever find myself in need of going in to one I generally find myself leaving quickly without purchase. I know some will argue that they offer competitively priced equipment but I find what little Karrimor equipment I do own never gets worn because it just isn’t as well made as some of the similarly priced clothing from Sweatshop or Decathlon – this of course is just an opinion but it is based on the experience and longevity and general feeling of the kit. The worst part of the experience is the staff don’t appear interested in whether you are being sold suitable footwear, suitable equipment or your general well being as a customer. I haven’t bought much here for quite some time and I don’t see myself heading back there anytime soon. Overall a disappointing retail experience.

Favourites?
Anyway, there are lots of very good retailers out there, these are just some of my personal favourites and ones that I have gone back to time and again. I’m sure you’ve all got your favourites and I’m always keen to learn about new places offering useful kit, great advice and most importantly brilliant customer service.

#Running – a fuck up waiting to happen (contains blood and injury)

January 2, 2014

cycling, endurance, fun, running, trainers, training

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So I’d cycled the ten miles to my run, I’d locked the bike up, I’d strapped my bag on nice and tight and set the Suunto to go. 100metres, all fine on the track, 350metres, up the trail steps into the undergrowth and the mud, 750metres, tight cornering – use the tree to help balance me out, 800metres, fuck I’ve fallen and I’ce ripped my old favourite tights and I’m in a boatload of pain. My first thought was I’m in the middle of a forest and nobody around me, the second thought was I’m ten miles from home with no way back other than under my own steam, my third thought was, ‘shit if I’ve broken my leg then that’s the C2C out the window.

Thankfully I got up – ran back the way I came, took a quick look at the various cuts on my leg and saw the bleeding and made it back to the bike, lay there a little while and then raced like lightening all the way home. A lesson for us all, but mainly me, careful where you go running in these rather difficult conditions – if I were the kind of person who blames his shoes I’d say ‘naughty Merrell barefoots’ but I think that would be unfair they had been pretty good the rest of the adventure

#RunCommute and picking up my pace

November 6, 2013

endurance, govember, London, running, trainers, ultraboy

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I used to be fast, well faster… 37 minutes over 10km, 1.36 over the half – I then started the transition to big distance running, started picked up injuries and my pace has never been the same. However, there have been glimmers of light at the end of a very slow tunnel, my comeback from the TG100 has been more muted than usual and despite the Achilles problem I’ve been building up slowly, doing all the stretching and looking after myself. My Royal Parks Half Marathon time was okay given I had done no training whatsoever and I came very highly placed at Xtreme Beach, this is all coupled with a pretty good first half to the Snowdonia Marathon – there is for the first time in ages reason to be a happy runner.

And so I entered Govember I was keen to push on from my gentle progress and my methodology is simple, 10 miles a day broken up into 2 x 2.1mile hill runs and 2 x 3mile urban run (one gently uphill, one gently downhill). As I write this sat in the train I realised I had hit my first of the hill sessions with at nearly 6.30per mile – congratulations to my Adidas Adios. This morning, so far I’m happy and if I can do my uphill urban running in under 20minutes I’ll be pretty content too, we shall see.

But the crux of this post is that no matter how bad your injuries are, no matter the setback – you will return to strike fear into the roads you run on. It won’t always feel easy and progress may be slow but you will get there. Now get out there, and yes, that does include you.

#Race Dartford Bridge 10km

October 1, 2013

Arse Kicking, Racing, running, ultraboy

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You’re watching the road
You’re watching the sky
You’re watching the arse of the pretty runner in front of you
You’re waiting for the horn to go off
You’re anticipating the moment you cross the line
You’re thinking of your sprint finish

And you’re thinking that you really want to beat the guy stood next to you because he’s a bit of a dick.

Let me start properly by saying that I loved running the Dartford Bridge 10km race. Yes it had much to shout about as an event, it was flat, fast, easy to get to, good range of post race snacking, an excellent and reasonably price tea wagon, it had an announcer who was an absolute legend bringing us home along the final stretch and it had a race organiser who I found it an absolute privilege to chat with.

Anyway as I am sure you are aware I’ve been on the comeback from injury recently, after a year of niggling and not quite so niggling injuries I’m still not better but continue to race but the injuries are slowly easing and therefore I decided that this was to be an on the day entry. I rolled up at 8am, nice and early – handed over my £16 and got hold of a precious race number. The people organising the event were an absolute delight and I enjoyed their company for a bit before strolling off for a steamy cup of delicious tea and a wander around the course.

Being early let me watch the build up play out quite nicely and although the field could hold about 400 runners there was about 250 there which gave it a nice enough race atmosphere when combined with the supporters. The race was set to kick off about 10am and so after a quick change of clothes, a deposit in both the bag store and the loo and I was ready. My aim was under hour but in my head I had about 52 minutes.

I set out from the back of the course with my fellow tweeter @RichKisbee who I’d met just moments before the start of the race and after a minute or so I threw the gauntlet down to myself and kicked on passing a couple of other runners who I either knew or knew by sight. The reality is that the course wasn’t the most picturesque but it wasn’t without its charms and with both Essex and the Dartford Bridge in the background actually I quite enjoyed it. As the first lap came to a conclusion I grabbed some water, had a laugh with the crowds and some of the marshals and picked up my pace. I’d had a slightly slack moment between 3 and 5km which was going to affect to my finish but this was due mainly to the fact the injuries I had been suffering with were back and kicking at me. Anyway the second lap had a slightly faster pace, I’d picked myself a runner up who was using me as a pacer (Kimberley, I found out her name near the final corner so I could shout her in!) and I felt I could manage a sub50.

With a faster push towards the final kilometre I knew I could start to pull away from Kimberley and continue overtaking people. In the distance I could see the clock counting towards 50 minutes, never have my little feet and Hoka pushed so hard to cross a line and failed to deliver – I really didn’t have much of a sprint finish left in me. However, I crossed the line with the clock at about 50:14 which gave me a 49:30something finishing time and I’d take that at the moment. I collected a decent medal and some lovely biscuits and swiftly turned around to congratulate Kimberley who had been my shadow until the final few hundred metres.

Anyway, after standing on the sidelines to clap in some of the later finishers I can quite happily say this was a great little race and I will certainly be turning up to this again next year. The people at the Dartford Bridge Triathlon are a great group of people with a great series of events. This was a race with something for everyone and I look forward to seeing you all there next year.

#Race Oliver Fisher 10km

September 24, 2013

Arse Kicking, Racing, running

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This was the inaugural Oliver Fisher 10km held in the delightful Capstone Country Park in Kent and what a little corker of a 10km it was. Now let me start at the beginning … on the Thursday before the race I decided that it was important to finally go to see the physiotherapist about my hip problem (something that only started after I took up cycling). Anyway, I he decided that if his general pummelling would get me across a 10km line I’d sign up for the race. Well fellow runners the good news was that a combination of acupuncture and pummelling did indeed free up all the muscles and I was able to run.

The night before the race I decided I’d loosen up the limbs with a little 4km run and this set me up quite nicely for deciding whether I was going to turn up and rock this one out, the 4km was slow and steady on the tarmac of London, the race was very different – this perhaps is what you get for not reading about the race or the profile or even the ground you’ll be covering.

Saturday morning rolled around and I headed off to Gillingham and Capstone Park feeling rather pleasant, there was a light wind, conditions were damp but not torrential and it was only 10km. I picked up my race number and hid back in the car, the autumnal morning was rather getting to me and there was still an hour before kick off.

With 15 minutes to go I started a gentle warm up and thrust myself through the wet grass and let it whip around my legs, lovely and then disaster as I crossed a very wet bridge – I slipped off and straight down the little embankment. Annoyingly I landed on my hip and I’d tried to save myself by also falling on my wrist. With 7 minutes to go before the gun went off I was a little embarrassed and also a little sore, however, I dusted myself off and took my place near the back of the group.

In my head I had assumed this would be a PB course! no idea why but I imagined, flat, fun and fast – what I got was wet, hilly and challenging and I was incredibly grateful for this. There was a huge sense of delight as I raced my way through the crowd and wound my way into the secondary pack of runners, catching them at about the 1km marker and although I knew I wasn’t going to keep pace with them for long it was nice to be able to see the leaders for a little longer than normal. Hitting the first hill I went at it hell for leather and attempted to make the first few kilometres count.

But i discovered I was much more interested in the scenery and having a bit of a laugh and so I chatted with a number of my fellow runners and just had a good time. As I turned into the final corner of lap one I saw the final hill which I’d have to do twice and as I turned into it I gave it all I had but then as a rather cruel twist I saw the other runners walking the bugger. And yes I slowed to a pace more associated with my injured crawl back from an ultra marathon.

With lap 2 I therefore knew what was coming up and I was able to pace the distance, prepare for the hills and punch it when there was an opportunity and with that knowledge I actually ran the second half of the race a little faster than the first and as I thrust myself forward for my sprint finish I knew that I had achieved my primary aim which was a tough trail run in under an hour (actually about 57 minutes). Not a fast course given that the leader only actually did it in about 40 minutes but it was a lovely race.

I have not a single complaint about the race, it’s organisation or the medal and Tshirt – it was a £15 race with a medal, tech Tshirt and a great route on a Saturday morning, seriously if this one runs again I hope to see you all on the starting line supporting a fantastic event.

—UltraBoyRuns

Saving the world one run at a time

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Tag Archives: kent

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