My last post closed with the completion of the first two events
in my autumn challenge. In the last two
weeks as I’ve taken on two further half marathon events it’s been not so much “grin
and bear it” as “grin and gurn it”!
Sunday 5th October saw me lining up for event
three of the challenge – the inaugural River Thames Half Marathon, a course
starting and finishing adjacent to Walton on Thames Bridge.
With the memory of the previous week’s 1pm start at
Windsor in a temperature of 20˚C plus, it was with unusual lightness of heart
that I left the warmth of home in the early hours of a Sunday morning and found
a heavy dew, not far from being a frost, covering my car.
In fact, the event could hardly have been
held in better conditions, an autumnal chill to the air combined with the
brightness of morning sunshine in a near cloudless sky. The scene along the Thames was a picture
being enjoyed by numerous anglers who were soon probably not too amused by the
pounding of a thousand runners scaring the fish!
Nevertheless the scenery was a side scene as I tried to
work out my race plan. The on-going
problem in my right leg had left me abandoning plans of training runs between
events and after the struggle at Windsor I had little idea what I would be
capable of.
It was with some relief that,
on setting off, my leg didn’t feel too bad and I found myself settling into an
ambitious but (unlike Richmond two weeks previously) not near suicidal pace of
about 8 minute miles. I was well
satisfied as I kept this pace consistently for 7 miles and even started doing
that dangerous thing of working out the possibility of a PB. Mile eight put that thought firmly to bed as
I found myself slowing and, I have to admit, I found myself drifting into a 5
mile spell of negativity. This was initially
kindled from frustration about my leg but then compounded by the loop in the
final couple of miles of the course.
This took the course almost within arm’s reach of the finish line only
to carry on by the river for a further mile and then loop back for the final
mile along the road. For good measure, there
were even a couple of spiteful hills thrown in at this point!
I just about found it in me to raise my pace
for the last 50 metres, just on the off chance that it would make the
difference between going over or under 1 hour 50 mins (I’d avoided checking my
watch for most of the last mile so genuinely wasn’t sure).
As it happens it didn’t have such a
significant consequence on my chip time (1h51m28s) but the flurry at the end
certainly would have helped me if I’d been in a gurning competition!
Overall, I had no complaints about the time but was
disappointed with the manner of the run – I might even have been happier to
have had a slightly slower time but run at an even pace throughout. Nevertheless, such disappointments are
totally inconsequential in the overall scheme of things, and there was no
negativity in the mood of the numerous Bearcat Running Club team mates who began
to find one another in the after race melee, particularly as there were some
truly outstanding PBs to celebrate (especially for the legend that is Gareth
Coombs, coming in at 1h36m!) and a pub not too far along the river bank with a
table reserved for lunch!
With no improvement in my leg over the following week there
was a certain sense of déjà vu as Sunday 12th October drew closer - the
day of the Royal Parks Half Marathon.
Things probably weren’t helped when a few kicks of a football while at
the park on Saturday with grandson Harry left a throbbing pain for much of the
rest of the afternoon! However, an evening of carb loading with Bearcat chums,
never fails to lift the spirits and, on the back of that, even getting up at
5am on Sunday was less of a challenge than I’d expected.
It’s great when everything goes to plan and Sunday
morning couldn’t have gone better. The
car park I had to use near a train station was pleasingly free on Sundays (I’d
expected to pay £12) and despite engineering works closing off my originally
planned route, the reserve route worked perfectly. I therefore arrived in plenty of time to have
no problem exchanging the ill-fitting souvenir Royal Parks shirt I’d been sent (somehow
my original race entry had me down as a large female and there was no way I
wanted to be considered a “big girl’s blouse”!). Once more there were no
complaints about the weather – cool with more than a few glimpses of sunshine (we were so lucky the torrential rain held off until the late afternoon!). Of biggest importance, most of the Bearcat
contingent found one another and my race plan fell firmly into place – start
out with Gareth and Phil D (on his first half marathon aiming for sub 2hours)
and hope my leg would allow me to keep up.
This turned out to be the run I’d been disappointed not
to have at the River Thames event the previous week. After a first mile at just over 8 minute mile
pace we settled into a groove of 8m20 to 8m45 up to mile six and then
marginally increased the pace from there until the final mile which we blew
away in under 8 minutes. I was more than
happy with a chip time finish of 1h52m07s on the longest half marathon course I’d
ever done (the amount of weaving necessary in a field of 15,000 probably
contributed to the distance registering 13.35miles on my watch).
So, that leaves me with just one more event to complete my
autumn challenge – the Cabbage Patch 10.
Right now, the leg may be on ice but the spirit is on fire and I sense a
steely look will be in my eye as race day approaches (even if it wasn't when I was in the cold bath)!
I close again with a note of great appreciation for the
donations made to my fundraising for Shooting Star Chase, now over 80% of the
way towards my target of £750.
Shooting Star Chase say about their work, “Whether lives are measured in days, weeks, months or
years, we are here to make every moment count." When I started planning my running schedule
for the autumn the thought was very much in my mind of making as many as
possible of my own moments count. I very
much hope the autumn running challenge I have set myself will inspire donations
for Shooting Star Chase and help them to make more moments count for more
children and young people.
To find out more about Shooting Star Chase and help me
reach my fundraising target please visit my Just Giving page: https://www.justgiving.com/John-Reece/
With very best wishes...
John
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