The British 10K London run 2014

Having run the iconic London marathon two years ago, it was nice to return to the capital to run again and take part in the British 10K London run.

I was invited to the event by Gung Ho, on behalf of New Balance. I've been lucky enough to review New Balance's latest trainers and their 1260 model has become a firm favourite of mine.

It was an early start as I made my way up to London and to the Cavalry and Guards Club in Mayfair for some pre-race hospitality adjacent to the start line. I could get used to this sort of hospitality pre-race in such grand settings.

Inside the Cavalry and Guards Club

Pre-race Breakfast

After breakfast and chatting with fellow blogger Steve from Blog7t and a couple of journalists from the Express newspaper covering the event, it was then great to be sharing the balcony looking over the thousands of runner, with the Military Wives Choir who sang some old wartime songs and then listening to the retired former head of the British Army reading wartime poems.

Great view from the balcony and the waves of runners

With the Military Wives Choir

The Military Wives Choir performing

With the 100 year centenary of the First World War it all felt terribly British and I felt quite proud of my Country. With the National Anthem being sung by the Choir before the start of the race I was feeling quite pumped up and ready to run despite my nagging Achilles injury.

World War 1 procession

Another bonus I had was the chance to start in the front group, a privilege I've never had in such a big race. Me an elite athlete for the day...who would have thought!

With so many runners taking part, I was expecting a slow start and a struggle to settle into any kind of pace early on. 

However with being at the front of the pack and amongst the lead runners, I started way too fast and by the first mile was running at sub 7 min/mile pace which is unfamiliar territory for me. 

Surprisingly, I managed to keep the pace fast for the first few miles, at 5K I was not far off my PB for that distance. My running the couple of weeks previous had become somewhat subdued due to my Achilles problems, so I was more than happy to be flying along. My new New Balance 1260's were performing great on the wet tarmac streets of London.

The crowd support was good despite being a short race and a damp Sunday morning. The crowd was particularly good along the embankment and approaching Big Ben near the end of the race. It bought back great memories of the marathon but this time without the pain of being at mile 24!

In fact the best way to describe the race would be a mini London Marathon. The course takes in some of the route of the marathon and some iconic London sites like Trafalgar square,The Ritz, St. James's Palace, St. Paul's Cathedral, the London Eye, Big Ben, the Houses of Parliament, Westminster Abbey and Downing Street, All that within a 6 mile run! 

A great way to see the Capital, traffic free and I would highly recommend, especially for runners who don't want to take on the marathon but want the big London race experience.

The iconic route

I managed to complete the race in a respectable 48:26 before heading off to the New Balance Village in Waterloo place to collect my belongings. I picked up a nice New Balance goody bag and my medal and then took advantage of a free massage from YourPhysioPlan.com. 

This was great to get some long overdue attention on my Achilles and my tight calves which are causing the problem. I say 'great' but at the time it was far from that as the Physio pummelled into my knotted muscles!

Race Stats

A great morning and a massive thank you to Gung Ho and New Balance for their wonderful hospitality.

The walk back and past one of the races landmarks

Some nice race bling

Open Adventure Silva 10 trail series - North Downs

This was the toughest 10K I have run, magnified by the conditions underfoot due to the amount of rain that has hit the UK this winter.

The race making it's debut in the race calendar was held in the Surrey countryside and starts in the Village of Cranleigh. 

Race registration was in the band hall within the village. I arrived in good time parking in the adjacent car park and had chance to sit in the warm for half an hour before heading off to the start line about a mile away. This was a good chance to warm up for the race and I walk/jogged my way to the start.

We all gathered under a large gazebo for race briefing and registering our 'dibbers' attached around our wrists that would time our run.

We then made our way to the start and after a 3,2,1 countdown we were off.

The first couple of minutes was on the Tarmac as we made our way to the trail. 

The pace was good on the road but that was soon to come to an abrupt end as we turned into the first field...a very wet field and then we hit the trails...very muddy trails, all this plus the fact we were steadily climbing in elevation.

In fact it felt like most the first half of the race was climbing, and the mud and puddles were becoming ever more frequent and tricky to manoeuvre through. 

Head torches at the ready, the start and finish line

The worst part was that the mud was sapping the strength out my legs and by the time we reached the biggest hill of the race at around 4K, I was already reduced and resigned to walking the hill. Even on a good day I would have struggled with this hill, the incline was steep and I never saw anyone around me or ahead running it.

I saw some people at the start in road trainers, I dread to think how they got on, my new Soloman's were made for this type of terrain, but even they found it hard sometimes to grip in the deep slippery mud. Generally though they were brilliant on the course unlike my headtorch.

I think I had the cheapest headtorch on show in this race and a lot of the time I was thankful to be running near someone with a better brighter light. My torch was just not sufficient for this quite technical course in the dark. I don't know how I got around without doing myself an injury, most the time it was pot luck and I just went with the flow as my body slipped around the course.

As well as a couple of steep up hills there were a couple of quite tricky steep technical downhills, a combination of rocks, tree trunks and mud. My trainers definitely helped me out here.

The course was well marked with reflective arrows and a few Marshall's braving the dark around the course. It worked well but at one point a small crowd of us lost a couple of minutes continuing to run up a hill on some Tarmac when we should have turned left earlier. I think we were just enjoying the Tarmac after all the mud!

The second half of the race was definitely the easier and I tried to make up some time on the less technical down hills. The last 3K I was running alone with no one else around me which at times had me wondering if I'd gone of course, but at the same time was exciting to be running somewhere new in the dark. By this time I was holding my headtorch in my hand to get more light on the ground. 

Plenty more water to get through and dodging fallen trees but It wasn't long before the finish was in sight and I finished in a time of 1:07:26

My 10K PB is 44 minutes, so I was a long way off of that, but conditions and the technicality of the course put pay to that. In fact the winning time was 45 minutes, and I came in 38th position overall and 10th in my age group. Quite a respectable position which considering how difficult the race was I'm quite satisfied.

After a nice hot sweet black coffee and some biscuits I made my way back to the car a mile away before changing into something dry and warm and driving home.

The socks (and legs) were white before I left!

I thought the organisation was good and professional. A good course (would have been better a bit drier underfoot!) and something different. 

A little disappointed with no medal or goody bag but for £10 entry it was certainly value for money. I don't know of many races these days that is as cheap as this so well done to the organisers for keeping the price down.

Would definitely recommend and I'll be looking out for future Open Adventure events.

Loch Ness Marathon 2013 race report

Well I done it. It wasn't pretty but somehow I managed to get myself around the 26.2mile course of the Loch Ness Marathon on 7 weeks training.

Along with friend Brian we made our way up to Inverness from Gatwick airport on Saturday night. We were staying at the Inverness tourist hostel and didn't arrive until 9pm, which meant we missed race registration that day and would have to be at the race village at 6:30am the next morning to collect our numbers. We ventured out on the streets of Inverness briefly to grab a Subway sandwich before turning in for the night.

Now in my 42 years I've never stayed in a hostel before. It was different but exactly how I imagined a backpackers hostel to be. A student feel about it and a place to rest your head, nothing flash but for £11 a night, you couldn't complain. We were in a small dormitory with 2 sets of bunk beds which we shared with two others. We were fortunate to have two other runners with us, Josephine, an Australian girl from New York, the other from Hong Kong (very international!) both very pleasant and we were lucky as you could end up with anyone. Knowing we weren't sharing with 2 physco killers meant for a peaceful couple of nights.

Race day and after the early start and collecting the numbers we headed straight to one of the awaiting buses for the 26 mile drive out of Inverness to the start line in the middle of nowhere. We drove past the Loch which looked great with the mist across it. It wasn't long before we were dropped off in the Wilderness and had a very cold hour long wait for the start. The surroundings were stunning, mountains as far as you could see but we were up high and exposed to a cold wind which was biting. We sheltered behind the baggage lorries and sat in ditches filled with heather which kept us reasonably warm.

Trying to get a pre race photo caused a problem....first shot ruined by man walking through.....

Second attempt, his running partner walks through and decides to have a photo!

...third time lucky I get my photo!

Apart from the cold start the weather for the 2 days we were in Scotland was beautiful and warm, it could easily have been so much worse at this time of the year.

Finally the race got underway as we ran through the start line and the band of bagpipe players. 

With lack of training I certainly wanted to run within myself and run high 9 min/mile laps. If you look at the elevation profile of the race online it appears that the first miles are downhill, then flat then one big hill, then a nice downhill to the finish....don't be deceived, the first half the race is very undulating, the up hills slowly drain the legs and the downhill's are just as bad, and it's quite difficult to find your rhythm with the elevation changes.

Around mile 5 at Foyers, it's the first significant hill on the course and then a big down hill as you head towards the banks of the famous Loch. Make the most of looking at the Loch on the bus trip to the start, because although a good 10 miles of the race takes you along the Loch, there are few places where you get a clear open view because a margin of trees line the road for the most the route.

By halfway I was feeling positive, Brian and myself had been chatting away and running steady 9:40 min/mile laps but another couple of miles and the early undulations would start taking their toll.

I tried not to think about the miles until halfway, then I would start playing the mind games and breaking the miles down. I began to slow and Brian began to pull away at mile 15. I was OK but knew I just needed to get my head down and get to mile 17, Once I'm at 17 then 20 and then worry about the rest.

17 miles and I was now beginning to feel it, and I knew somewhere around this point the big hill was approaching. I'd been fuelling on the water handed out along the course of which there were many stops, and the Clif shots which we're being given out at certain fuel stations. I'd not used these before but the small sweet cube of jelly was heaven to an ailing runners body!

I also carried a couple of 9 bars with me, for some real food fuelling, and the plan was to get to the hill and walk for a moment and reward myself with my last bar. I got just short of mile 18 and just had to walk. The moment I stopped so did my brain and it was going to be a tough finish to the race.

The hill arrived and I walked to the top, in fact I struggled to run for the next 2 miles, when I did try to run, I'd been reduced to the 'marathon shuffle!'

I was low, so had to give myself a good talking to in my head. "You've had your rest, now you've just got to run a 10K and then we're done". Surprisingly it worked and I managed to run the next couple of miles at a reasonable pace.

4 miles to go and that's just a lunchtime run that I do at work...but I don't go out to do a 4 mile run after running 22 miles! I kept going and to my surprise had even caught up Brian whom himself was now doing the 'marathon shuffle' it was good timing because between us we pulled each other within the last 2 miles of the race.

No pain, no gain

Those last 2 miles were hell, if we kept going we were in for a chance of getting inside a 4:30 time, but our bodies were shutting down fast. It was run/walk time again as the crowds got bigger and louder and tried to help us through. The final couple of miles in Inverness takes you along the River Ness, left over the main road bridge then back along the river for about half a mile to the finish. We ran(shuffled) to the bridge, and decided to walk the bridge then run to the finish line, just a short half mile away.

That short half mile seemed longer than the previous 25 miles! I was really struggling and had nothing left, the pins and needles in both hands was worrying but somehow and with the help of Brian urging me on I crossed the line in 4:39:20. 40 minutes off my PB but never the less a respectable time on a tricky course. I got my nice medal and t-shirt, grabbed my goodie bag, desperately searching for the food items within it.

All runners were given a token for a free soup and meal for after the race. I desperately needed the calories, Brian on the other hand crashed on the grass outside the food tent, and would rather lay still than eat. 

The butternut squash soup was nasty (sorry Baxters) and the Scottish stew ( of which I can't remember the name) was OK..ish, and I sat at a table in front of the duo playing some nice Scottish folk music and consumed the meal.

The meal wasn't the greatest but that's a minor criticism. Overall the event was very well organised. The bus start, the plentiful fuel stations, the Marshall's and staff, the medal and t-shirt, the village, bag handling was all done superbly well. A very scenic road race, one of which I'm glad I've ticked off.

Inverness done itself proud and is a very pleasant town. I enjoyed the Monday shuffling around the town, the weather was beautiful as we watched the world go by sat outside the coffee shops

There is no cheating a marathon, what you put in you get direct back. If you run up hills in training then hills are going to be easier on race day. If you do enough of those big 20 mile long training runs then the 26.2 mile distance is less of a problem. I had a bad sore throat in the week leading up to the race also, but I've got no real excuses, 7 weeks is not enough time to prepare for a marathon when you've been injured and out for 5 months and it showed in the last hour of the race which was soul destroying! But I made it and that's marathon number 3 completed.

Goodbye Scotland

The Running Show 2012, Sandown 10K

One week on from my half marathon and time for race number two. This weeks race was at Sandown race track and was part of the 2012 running show. Around 400 folk turned out for the race on second day of the event. After the horrendous weather that we have been experiencing of late, it was nice to awake to clear blue skies.

The show opened at 9:30 with the race start at 10:30. I attended the show with friend and running buddy Brian (@bsmithy100).We arrived in good time and had a relaxed time pre-race collecting race numbers and goody bags and a sit down before leaving the warm building and venturing out to the start line. Despite the sun shining the morning was quite cold a very windy.

Now in my head when I think of a racecourse I think...Flat! But the course which took us around the track, surrounding grounds and stables was anything but flat, and surprisingly undulating.

We found ourselves at the front of the pack at the start and typical of me I flew out the traps way too fast with the first two miles at 7:23 and 7:01 minute/mile pacing. In fact all my mile laps were sub 8 bar one. I knew I needed these kind of laps to achieve my PB.

The toughest part of the course was in fact a long straight on the tarmac at the bottom of the race track. It meant running along one way with the wind and then loop round and back again with the strong wind against you and the low Winter sun in your eyes.

Twice round the 5K course done and I came in with a Sub 45 minute 10K at 44:07 and a new PB!

After the disappointment of missing out on a PB last week it was great to bounce back with one today.

Brian also ran an amazing race finishing sub 40 minutes and a new PB beaten by a whopping 13 minutes!

Once changed we had the running show to look forward to. Before we walked round we enjoyed a nice cup of tea and good chat with Twitter friend Lesley (@lilbeeloo67) who was at the show with her husband.

The event was brilliant this year, we chatted to some great people and was looked after throughout the day. Highlights were the informative chats given to us by Compressport and Cherryactive

Dirt Half Challenge 2012

So I finally got my racing shoes on again, this time for a trail half marathon. The race was the dirt half challenge in Leighton Buzzard. I quite fancied something a little way from home and in new running surroundings. As it turns out, half the course is on the canal towpath of which I spend a good portion of my training on back home on the Basingstoke Canal. The rest of the course was great though with some good interesting woodland trails with testing undulations, tree roots and muddy terrain underfoot. The route was fantastic along with the organisation, but it was a bad day at the races for me.

Race HQ

I'm probably being a bit hard on myself because I went into this race believing I could bag a PB...I was a minute off! My previous PB though was at a road race so I guess I should not expect to be as quick on the trails.
 

On your marks...

The first half of the race is quick. I managed to get towards the front and although the route picks up the narrow canal towpath soon into the race the pace was quick at the front. Actually for me the pace was too quick as I clocked up the first three miles with 7:15 minute mile pacing. I stopped briefly at the first water stop to take a gel early to fuel me later in the race. I slowed a little for the next few miles but kept a good pace going on the flat terrain. The towpath is well maintained and consists of a narrow tarmac path with grass verges either side to allow for overtaking.

The second half of the race was more demanding as we headed into the countryside. The terrain changes to muddy paths and woodland trails and gets more undulating. There is also a steep hill to get up. It was this hill that cost me. I hate when I'm forced to walk in races or even in training but that was  what i had to do today. My thighs were burning, I'd set out too fast and now I had thrown the towel in. I managed to run part the hill but lost a couple of minutes, it was then I thought 'sod it' I'm just going to slow down and enjoy the rest of the race. The next stage of the race was great, some quite technical trails with fast down hills and tree roots to mastermind and the route continued to be undulating. There were also muddy fields to run through which continued to sap the energy of my legs.
 

Muddy fields ahead

 The route then picks up the canal towpath again for the last couple of miles. I got chatting to a fellow runner which was great to distract from the tiredness as we exchanged stories and times of previous races. Nearing the end I asked her what the timing was (my endomondo app on the phone shut down after the first few miles) We were at 1:43:00 with a quarter of a mile to go. With this news I instantly sprinted off with my PB of 1:44:50 still an outside shot. I fell short by a minute and my fellow runner deservedly sprinted past me to the finish. I congratulated her for a great finish (Grrrr!) collected my medal and headed straight to the fine spread of cakes that had been laid on by the organisers.

Refuel!

 

Rather than beating myself up about missing out on the PB, I tried to constructively learn from the experience.

 

l  I had not given the course enough respect.

l  I had not done enough hill work recently ( Something I used to spend a lot of time on.)

l  I need to work on strengthening my quads and core, both of which felt weak and were tested on the trails today.

I've not had a bad race before. Every race I've run I continue to improve on my times but for the first time I haven't. From that point of view its been a great race as I've learnt a lot about myself.

I will definitely be back next year, the organisation, facilities and race staff were great. The course was great and so to was that table of cakes waiting at the finish line!

Shattered!!!

 

 

Love Life Love Running festival 2012

The weather leading leading up to this weekend had been horrendous so the idea of camping in a single skin 2 man tent (which turned out to be a one man dwarf size tent) and possibly running for 6 hours in torrential down pours was not appealing.

Friend Brian and myself had signed up a while back for the Love Life, Love Running festival taking place in the beautiful forests of Cannock Chase in Staffordshire. I can't remember where we saw the event advertised  but it sounded something a bit different and a bit of an adventure, out camping for one night and running for the weekend.

Ah Ha..I think we're here!

We arrived at the site around 11am on the Saturday after a 3 hour drive. The God's were obviously with us this weekend because Summer had finally arrived (for a day or 2 at least!) The vast grassed clearing set within the surrounding forest was scattered with the tents of the other participants, music was playing from the speakers as we drove around mulling over where to set up camp for team 'Running OK in the UK'.



A mile race and a 10K were being run on the Saturday, we didn't have much time before these started so we stuck to what we had originally signed up for which was the 6 hour endurance race on the Sunday. We had signed up as a pair, but the options were to run solo, or in a team of 4 or 6. Brian and myself would be running alternate 7K laps for the 6 hours and we were hoping to achieve a total of 11 laps.




Once we had set up camp and stocked up on some food supplies we decided to run a slow lap of the 7K course to get a practice lap in ahead of the next days race. However the markers were still out from the 10K race so we ended up running a hilly 6 miles instead of just over 4 miles, not the preparation I had in mind!


The elevation was tougher than we had imagined, but fortunately we had been doing plenty of hill training recently which would not go to waste this weekend.

The organizers put on a pasta party on the Saturday night. We had a good nerdy run chat with other runners including Nicky, Lisa and Claire who had done the 10K in the day before retiring back to our miniature tents.

We also met up with a Twitter friend Mike (@mikew30) who was with his family, and a great bunch they turned out to be. The event catered really well for families, which there were a lot of. There was plenty to keep the kids occupied with face painting etc. There is also a 'Go Ape' near by in the forest, plus bike hire, cafes and plenty of MTB trails. I will definitely bring my family along next year.

Me, Mike and Brian

The night's preparation for the next day could not have gone any worse with a massive sleep of....2 hours on a dodgy flat air bed. What with running the 10K course the evening before and 2 hours sleep, I wasn't sure how I was going to fare with the race.

Our plan as I said earlier was to run 11 laps, the idea was Brian would start and do the extra lap at the end. The race kicked off, Brian was gone and I had at least half hour to wait till I set off. It was not long before Brian was back from his first 7K lap laying down a low 7 minute/mile pace. Automatically I set off too fast as well and completed my lap with a 7:30 minute/mile pace. We had both pushed the start of the race too hard and would have to be more conservative on the remaining laps.

Pre race gathering

The lap starts with a half loop around the camping field before heading off into the forest and undulating trails. The terrain is a mixture of stones, sand and woodland trails with some man made paths through the more popular areas of the forest. After some early undulations in the first mile the next mile is the toughest with a hilly section to the course that by lap 4 and 5 I was cursing! After this section is out the way there is plenty of short up and downs before hitting the biggest downhill section which comes as a welcome relief. A trip past the fishing lake, a windy woodland path, one last evil short hill and then you are back in the site with a testing loop under your belt.

The live results were on a screen so you can see how you're doing throughout the race. At one stage we were 3rd in the women's pairs!!! After a quick word we were back in the male pair group which 3/4 of the way through the race we were leading! I think other teams had the same problem with their categories because by the end the male pairs list had grown and we finished up 3rd, still a great achievement.

Baton change over

In the end we achieved the 11 laps, I completed 5 and Brian 6. So I ran over 21 miles on the day. In some ways running a straight 21 miles straight through seems easier in the fact that you are not stop starting and can find a rhythm but on the other hand the break between laps was a great chance to fuel and hydrate properly.We fuelled ourselves on coconut water with pineapple, water and flapjacks.

Each lap takes in 850ft of ascent so by the end of the race I had climbed 4250ft, with the 10K the evening before and 2 hours sleep, the weekend has given me confidence to what I can achieve.

Finally time to praise the organisers, super friendly and helpful. The facilities on the site brought in for the event were great which consisted of a portable shower block with hot power showers (most welcome after the race) and a toilet block. There was also a food van selling a variety of food. The camping field is huge and plenty of space to pitch where you want.

The Monodome 2 tent from Halfords - Don't buy unless you are 4ft tall.

I will definitely be back next year and I thoroughly recommend this to everyone, the challenge can be made as easy or as hard as you want it. You can follow Love Life, Love Running on Twitter @TrainRunAchieve

Great weekend with great people.

Denbies 10



Denbies Wine Estate

Today I fell back in love with running! After the high of the London marathon, getting back into the routine has been hard both physically and mentally.

Today everything seemed to click back into place, maybe is was being back in race conditions and somewhere new to run, but it worked.

The 10 mile race took place in the beautiful surroundings of the Denbies wine estate just outside of Dorking and set in the heart of the North Downs. I love running on the North Downs trails that are located not far from where I live, though this part I had never run on before so was looking forward to the challenge. Running the Downs is definitely challenging, the hills you see behind the building in the picture were part of the course so it's not one to go chase a PB on.

Team Twitter

I was meeting up with some fellow runners that I've got to know through Twitter and local races Steve and Kirsten, Steve was with girlfriend Jo whom normally runs, but today was our official photographer!


The race started promptly at 10am, and Steve was off to a flyer. Kirsten and myself set off at a more leisurely pace and straight away began to make our way uphill! The course leads out along a tarmac road and past the vast expanse of the vineyards.



The climb of about 450 ft over the first two miles certainly gets the heart rate up but once completed the views are spectacular as we joined the North Downs Way path. For the next couple of miles the course was undulating and the couple of miles after that some faster downhill running can be enjoyed.

View at mile 4

View at mile 7.7

But what has gone up and back down then goes back up again and at mile 6 probably the hardest part of the race kicks in. Upon reaching Landbarn farm there in front of you the next challenge awaits 350ft climb in just over a mile. Kirsten and myself had been slowly picking up the pace along the run and chatting happily but at this point I couldn't help myself to have ago at attacking this hill and picked up the pace. For the next mile I done well overtaking some runners and by this time some walking but the final stretch of the hill picked up it's gradient yet again and I found myself having to walk for a minute.

At this point the final 2 miles is the same 2 miles we run up at the start of the race meaning a fast downhill finish and back to the vineyard.

Nearly finished with my stash of gels!

I finished in a time of 1:33:56 with Kirsten not far behind and Steve finishing in an impressive time of 1:17. With 3 water stops on route (I trust it was water and not wine!!!) it was a chance to take a couple.....OK take hoard loads of the Power Bar gels from the stations (Thanks to Kirsten for holding on to a couple for me as my hands, pockets and belt were full of my stash!).

Vineyards

The Events to Live team, the team that put on the Spitfire 20 race I recently run, once again put on a great, well marshaled race. At the finish you receive a nice technical t-shirt and chocolate bar, but no medal which is my only disappointment. But overall great race, great company and my running mojo seems to be back.