Westminster Mile 2018

The Westminster Mile 2018 had the same setup as previous years. Namely a great race village in Green Park with all kinds of things to do and for us a kids area where my daughter always loves to have her face painted.

westminster mile 2018

Over the last few years I have run my own time trial while my wife and daughter would follow behind at their own pace. This year was a little different because we'd just had our second child and my wife wasn't taking part. So I entered me and my daughter into one of the family waves and we ran together.

Also a little different this year was the wave I entered - for the last few years I had run in the Sweatshop Running Community wave, however that wave has now been discontinued and while it was tempting to enter the parkrun wave instead, we stuck to one of the regular ones so we could leave enough time to catch the Monaco GP afterwards.

westminster mile 2018

Our wave start time was scheduled for 11.20am, so we headed over to the start line at 11.10am to ensure we wouldn't miss it. What I hadn't factored in was the fact that we were had a D in our race numbers and waves A-C would be set off before us.

The wait in the start pen was about 40 minutes, and by the time it came around to our wave starting we were very hot, thirsty and fed up. I could easily get over this, but it wasn't so easy for my daughter. So when we finally got sent on our way, she wasn't as enthusiastic as she was 40 minutes earlier. Couple that with people randomly stopping on the course and I could tell this wasn't going to be a good year.

westminster mile 2018 [photos: mameek / dani]

As we made our way through the half-way stage, I could see that she just wasn't into it anymore - the heat was too much and she just wanted to see her Nan, Grandad, Uncle and Cousin, who were waiting near the finish line. Fortunately the final 100 metres saw some enthusiasm return and she unleashed her mission impossible sprint finish.

After picking up our medals and goodie bags, we met up with the family and had some overpriced ice cream in the sun. An hour or so later and it was time to head off to watch the Formula 1, so we packed up our bags and left. It had been a great morning out, but sadly the run itself was a little disappointing.

westminster mile 2018

Our results were sent by text message the second we crossed the finish line, which was pretty cool. She got around the course in 12.04 which was slower than the previous year by 13 seconds. Not surprising given the situation. For me, it was nice to finally go around with her rather than busting my guts, so from that point of view it was good.

Dulwich Midsummer Relays 2017

The Dulwich Midsummer Relay race takes place in Dulwich Park, London. It is hosted by Dulwich Runners and billed as an approx 1 mile relay. We pre-registered our team using an online form and paid the £12 entry fee on-the-night.

As a note on our team - two of us are with Dartford Harriers and one with Dartford Road Runners, so we used Dartford United as our team name for the evening.

dartford united / pre-race [photos: esther / 7t]

The race is a 3 x 1 lap of the main inner loop that runs through the park. Anyone that has visited Dulwich parkrun will be familiar with the route as it uses exactly the same path - the only difference being that you only have to run one lap rather than three.

The loop itself is around 80 metres longer than a mile, so if you run here don't get too disheartened if your time is a little slower than what you would expect over a perfect mile course.

By the way, the route is very simple to follow and there's no way of getting lost providing you stay on the loop and don't follow one of the exit spurs. Underfoot is 100% tarmac and it's flat - you might feel the slight sensation of a tiny upwards elevation change during the latter part of the lap, but that is all.

The start time was 7.30pm and after a team warm-up we were all ready to go. As far as organising our team running order was concerned, we stuck with our tried and tested formula of predicted slowest first through to predicted fastest last.

dartford united [photos: esther]

My recent 1 mile races [2017] had seen me run 5.57 at the Westminster Mile and 5.47 at the Swanley Relays, so I was hoping to continue the sub 6 minute streak. However that extra 80 or so metres made it impossible to achieve and I ended up with a 6.06 time for my leg.

There is, helpfully, a Strava segment set up on the loop which looks to be pretty spot-on a perfect mile, so by using that as a guide it looks like my 1 mile time would have been approx 5.44.

The official results were published the day after the event and our confirmed results were;

Richey: 6.46 (6.46)
Steven: 6.06 (12.52)
Adam: 5.36 (18.28)

Combined time: 18.28
Finishing position: 17th (out of 52)

I recorded the course with my Garmin and you can see the course data here: Dulwich Midsummer Relays 2017

It was a lovely evening for the race and we had a great time being hosted by the friendly folks from Dulwich Runners. We followed the race up with a visited to the Fox on the Hill wetherspoons pub for some well earned food and a drink. Good times.

Swanley Relays 2017

The Swanley Relay race (4 x 1 mile) is hosted by Swanley and District AC, usually on the first Wednesday of July, every year in Swanley Park (aka New Barn Park) in Swanley. I've run this race once before (2014) and subsequently, whilst injured, organised teams for another (2015) during my time at SLGR.

This time around, a few of us got together to create a team. However we were not all from the same running club (1 Dartford Road Runner and 3 Dartford Harriers), so we needed a team name to run under. I had spent some days trying to come up with a decent one, but it had eluded me until, a few hours before the race one of our team was seriously considering pulling out due to a sore hamstring.

After a bit of a discussion, he decided to proceed and that lead me to proposing the name 'Hurty Hammie and the Hoops' (Hoops being the nickname for Dartford Harriers). So after a bit of post-work rushing around we finally arrived at the venue and headed for the registration desk.

'hurly hommie and the hoops'

We paid out £10 entry fee and began to discuss which order we should run in - this discussion always comes up in relays and over the last few years, I have become a big fan of starting with the predicted slowest runner and getting progressively faster, finishing with the quickest. We all agreed that it was a sound plan and we went ahead with that method.

With our name recorded incorrectly on the official paperwork, for the evening we became 'Hurly Hommie and the Hoops' which sounds a bit like the name of a 1950s/60s band. We all actually ended up liking it despite the spelling errors. The race start time was scheduled for 7.15pm and at around that point the first set of runners from all 28 teams were despatched...

On lead guitar and vocals was 'Hurly Hommie' himself (richey), and while he held back a bit to protect that hamstring, still put in a respectable time of 06.52 (team position 23). He handed the imaginary baton over to the rhythm guitarist (me) for the second leg of the race.

putting in the effort with about 100 metres to go [photo: brian page]

I managed to pick off seven runners on my way around the course, which is mostly on grass and is generally flat-ish, but it does have a little incline and bumpy trail to deal with about half-way through. I went around in 05.47 and was happy to have achieved my goal of running under 6 minutes.

With the race half-way done, we were sitting in 16th position. I handed the virtual baton over to our funky bass player (adam). With a time of 05.21, he had managed overtake six runners and moved us up into 10th position.

Our grand finale was left in the hands of our man-on-the-sticks (jon) who smashed out an amazing drum solo and left the crowd mesmerised with his 04.56 effort. In the process, he had picked off another 3 runners and brought us home in 7th position overall.

The full results were online a few days later and our combined time was 22.56. I did of course record the GPS data of the course and you can view it on Strava: Swanley Relays 2017

Westminster Mile 2017

The Westminster Mile has become a bit of a family tradition and the 2017 event was fifth year of the event and the fourth that I had taken part in. As I had in the previous few years I entered the race via Sweatshop and ran in one of their waves.

The event takes place on the late May bank holiday weekend and uses the same set up as the London 10000 event which takes place on the Bank Holiday Monday. Last year (2016) I ran in both events, but for this year I had a bit of a dodgy ankle and decided to just stick with the 1 mile event.

I wasn't feeling particularly racy, so I set myself the goal of running an even pace and aimed to come in a smidgen under 6 minutes. If I was going for a full-on race I would have ditched the Sweatshop Running Community t-shirt that I was wearing and opted for a singlet instead. These days I find that during races even a short-sleeved tech t-shirt makes me overheat.

So I had registered myself, my wife and my daughter, and we arrived in good time to wander around the event village where my daughter had her face painted in the kids zone. There are always loads of activities going on in Green Park and worth spending some time checking it all out.

We had been put into Sweatshop Running Community's first wave which had a 12 noon start time. At about half eleven I started to warm up with a jog around Green Park and I then made my way to the start on The Mall.

As I was going for a sub-6 minute time, I headed up towards the front of the starting pen while my wife and daughter stayed closer to the back. At the 2016 event my daughter had set a personal best time of 12.11 which she wanted to beat this year.

At 12 o'clock on the dot, the air horn was sounded and we all headed of along The Mall with St. James' Park on our right hand side. I kept my pace relaxed but strong. The first 400 metres were a little congested as my sensible pace tied in with most other runners' 'run as fast as I can for 200 metres and then suffer the rest of the way around' pace.

By the time I reached the 400 metre mark, I had found some clear air and the timing clock showed 1.27 which was right about where I needed to be time-wise. Once past the 800 metre mark at 2.54 and turning onto Birdcage Walk there is a slight rise of elevation which slowed my pace a little.

With 400 metres to go the timing clock was on 4.27 and all that was left to do was maintain that pace and I successfully continued my sub-six minute streak with an official time of 5.57.

A few hundred metres down the road, my wife and daughter were making good progress and after a few minutes of loitering around the finish area, I spotted them heading towards me. The clock showing just over 12 minutes, but by the time the official chip times were confirmed it showed that my daughter had set a new mile personal best of 11.51.

With that all done, we had our timing chips removed, picked up our free lunch from Sweatshop, and collected our goodie bag and medal from the wonderful team of marshals that had made the day possible.

We didn't have much time to spare after the run as we had already arranged to head off to watch the Monaco Grand Prix with my brother (on the TV, we weren't actually jetting off to Monaco), so we shot straight off to do that. It had been another excellent morning at the Westminster Mile and I'm already looking forward to doing it all again next year.

Results page (with filters applied): Sweatshop Wave 1 Results

My Strava GPS file: Westminster Mile 2017

Related blogs:

• Westminster Mile 2013
• Westminster Mile 2015
• Westminster Mile 2016
• London 10,000 2016

City of London Mile 2016

The City of London Mile is a free, 1 mile race that takes place on closed roads in the area around St, Paul's Cathedral. 2016 marked the third year the race was held and it was the first time we had taken part. I signed myself and the family up online and as I mentioned earlier, the race is free.

On the day of the race we travelled up to Central London by train and alighted at Cannon Street Station which is just a short walk away from the race village, which was on the road which runs along the eastern border of St. Paul's Cathedral, New Change. Upon arrival I changed into my running gear and as the course was 100% tarmac I went for my New Balance Zante V2 shoes.

Number collection was available in the week leading up to the event from Run-Fast (The Running Works) in the City of London. However, I couldn't make it over there so we just collected our numbers on-the-day from the collection point. I actually had to pick up two numbers for myself because I had entered two waves; a race wave so that I could have a good tear-up and also the family mile where I could run with my wife and daughter.

pre-race [photos: dani / 7t]

We met up with some friends from Dartford parkrun and found a nice base to hang out near the finish. As each of our waves came around a few of us would head off while the others watched the bags and cheered. Incidentally there was also a bag drop facility, but we didn't use it. The queue to collect bags was pretty long later in the morning so I was quite pleased that we had had an alternative in place.

The first of our waves to head off was the wave that me and my friend Adam were assigned, which was wave 3. I have to admit being a little confused by the system that was in place at first. Runners in a wave were called to a waiting area in the race village and then moved around to a second waiting area before finally being allowed into the start pen, which was on the road to the south of the cathedral called St. Paul's Churchyard right at the point where it changes into Cannon Street.

What didn't help was that the guy calling the runners only had a very small portable megaphone thingy and we didn't hear it until he was calling wave 4. Anyway, we figured things out and ended up in the start pen with the rest of wave 3. There were 314 people in wave 3 which made the start area felt pretty tight and when the starting pistol was fired it took a few seconds to reach the timing mats.

ready to go [photos: 7t]

The course, which was slightly different from the route published on the official web page, took the runners from St Paul's along Cannon Street where the course bore left onto Queen Victoria Street and past Bank Station. The next part consisted of an anti-clockwise loop of the Bank of England along Threadneedle Street, Bartholomew Street which was ever-so-slightly downhill, then onto Lothbury. This was the halfway point of the course.

The loop continued with a left-hand turn onto Princes Street where the loop of the Bank was complete. The route then headed through Poultry and onto Cheapside for the last 400 metres. Cheapside is on an extremely gentle incline as it leads back towards St Paul's Cathedral. The finish line is located just before the junction at the north end of New Change where the runners collect their medal and are fed directly back into the race village.

As far my race was concerned, it went pretty well but I think my head gave up as I was running along that last 400 metre stretch and I just didn't want to push any harder than I was - you can see in the photo below how tense my shoulders look. Although there was, what felt like, a fair amount of congestion along the course, it didn't really affect my pace. However, the congestion did have the effect of keeping me well off of the racing line most of the way around which was frustrating. I crossed the line and almost immediately received a text message containing my finishing time - I was really impressed with that. You can see the course on my Strava trace of the race, here: City of London Mile GPS data

around the course [photos: 7t / dani]

About an hour later, and just after some of our other friends had set off, I was back on the start line for family wave 1 with my wife and daughter. This time around was a more relaxed and a lot of fun, but still very busy. There was plenty of support and my daughter really loved it. However her favourite bit was right near the end where she got some huge cheers from our friends near the finish line. She was all smiles and waves here.

A few seconds later we all crossed the finish line (again the results text message was instant - I hadn't even stopped Strava from recording when it came through). We worked our way around to the end of the finish area, collected our medals and water, and then headed into the race village and then back over to our spot near the finish line where we continued to watch the rest of the races.

I can't help but compare this event to the Westminster Mile (blogs: 2013 / 2015 / 2016), after all they are both 1 mile events in the centre of London. For me the Westminster Mile edges it as my favourite of the two and mostly this comes down to a few things. Firstly, I prefer then setting of the Westminster Mile. Green Park is the perfect race village and the green areas make for much more pleasant surroundings; ideal for a post-race picnic.

family race [photos: dani / 7t]

The City of London Mile did have the upper hand as far as entry fee is concerned (totally free) and of course the instant results text messaging service was amazing. My only slight gripe about the results was that the text message gave the exact finish time to the nearest 100th of a second, but the final results viewed on the official results page rounded the finish time up or down to the nearest second.

So my 5:42.68 finish time became a 5:43 - not the end of the world and I imagine it's standard practise to do these things. It's just never nice to think you've run a certain time only to lose a second a few hours later. I think it would have been better to have the times match, so either have the text messaged time rounded up before being sent or just publish the official times including 100ths of a second so they match in that way. Not so bad if you're rounded down because the mm:ss is still the same. *rant over*

With the running all done, we all headed off to find some food. Most of my friends are also vegetarian so it made sense to go and support a local vegetarian business. We headed off to Sagar which is a South Indian Vegetarian restaurant just off of Covent Garden. This was followed by some vegan ice cream in Yorica which is on Wardour Street. Exhausted but happy we headed over to Charing Cross where we caught the train back to Dartford.

medals and smiles everywhere

Results Wave 3:
Me: 5:42.68 (rounded up to 5:43 in the official results)

Results Family Wave 1:
Dani: 12:17
Matilda: 12:16
Me: 12:16

Full Results: City of London Mile on Chiptiming.co.uk (main page)
Full Results: City of London Mile Results (with search 'Stockwell' applied)
GPS data from my run in wave 3: City of London Mile Strava Data

Westminster Mile 2016

The Westminster Mile has become one of those races that I just keep returning to year after year, so far there have been four events and I have attended three (2013 and 2015 being the other two - I missed 2014 as I was travelling to Germany for a half-marathon). This event has grown off the back of the London 10,000 which took place the day after and turns the weekend into a celebration of running.

Even though the race itself is good enough, it's all the other small things that makes this a great event. We stayed over in London the night before the event and even had time to visit Highbury Fields junior parkrun (blog to follow) before heading over to Green Park to the main hub of the Westminster Mile event.

This year was a little different because instead of just myself racing, I had registered my wife and daughter as well. We had entered as part of the Sweatshop Running Community and made our way to the SRC tent where we did our last bits of preparation. Me and Matilda were both wearing our New Balance Zante v2 running shoes (blogs: mine / matilda's).

getting ready [photos: 7t / dani]

Sweatshop had three waves of runners, A, B, and C. I had registered first and my predicted finish time had me in wave A, while my wife and daughter were in wave C. I was a little apprehensive about the start time which was advertised as 11.55am because in 2015 the Sweatshop waves had been set off early which lead to some confusion and a little panic.

This year. the organisers stuck to the advertised time slots which was a relief. So at 11.55am, wave A was despatched and all was fine. After 2015 where I went out too hard and suffered. I decided to approach the race with a slightly different strategy this year - I went out at a strong pace but tried to keep things under control.

My goal was to finish in under 6 minutes and while on paper this looked do-able, my own confidence was a little low and I was unsure if I'd be able to do it. The race had markers every 400 metres plus an extra one with 200 metres left, so I used these to judge how I was doing. I knew I had to reach 400 metres in around 1.30, and I passed this at 1.24 which made me a little nervous that I had gone out a little too fast.

ready to go... [photos: dani / mum]

So I tried to stay relaxed through the second 400 metres in an attempt to reach the second half of the race in fairly decent shape. As I ran along Birdcage Walk I was overtaking other runners which was the complete opposite of how last year went, and mentally this really helped to get to the 1200 metre mark.

The last 400 metres was a case of giving it everything that was left. It was at this point that I spotted one of my running buddies from Dartford. He was a good 10-15 metres ahead and I wondered if I might be able to reach him if I had left enough in the tank.

As we turned the final corner and the finish line came into sight, I was about 5 metres behind. I really pushed hard and edged in front a couple of metres before the finish line. So a big thank you must go to Alec for giving me a target to aim for during that last 400 metres.

After finishing I hung around at the finish area to await the arrival of my wife and daughter whose wave were just about to be despatched. About 12 minutes later they came into sight and they crossed the line together. The same post-race system was in place as was last year. First there were the timing chip removal stations and these were followed by the goody bag station. The race medal was inside the goody bag.

We headed straight back over to the Sweatshop Running Community tent where we picked up our free lunch and found a nice spot to eat it. One of the great things about this event is that I find that I bump into so many people I know from various running groups, races and parkruns. It's such a great event for the running community and I have every intention of returning in 2017.

post-run [photos: 7t / dani]

The results were online later that day and my official chip time was 5.41. My wife and daughter completed their mile in 12.11. I've had a chance to think about things and I reckon that the track sessions I've been doing recently played a massive part in helping me to get the pacing for this just right.

Official chip time (me): 5.41 (Westminster Mile (search fields applied)
Dani / Matilda: 12.11 (Westminster Mile (search fields applied)
Official results: Westminster Mile 2016 (main search page)
Official results: Westminster Mile 2016 (run britain)

The following day I took part in the Vitality London 10,000 2016.

Westminster Mile 2015

Now in its third year, the Westminster Mile encapsulates a series of 1 mile races throughout the day and takes place on the late May bank holiday weekend. The event is linked to the annual London 10,000 metre race, which is currently known as the Bupa London 10,000. I think it's important to note that this is more than just a 1 mile run around the outside of St James's Park - this is a full-on family day out.

The 1 mile and the 10k races share their main assembly areas and start-finish infrastructure. The first time the Westminster Mile races were held, they took place on the Sunday. However, in 2014 the mile was changed to the Saturday (I missed this event as I was travelling to Germany to run in the Tivoli Lauf Halb-Marathon). I was pleased when I heard that the 2015 races would return to their original Sunday slot. The 10k race took place on the bank holiday Monday.

westminster mile [photo: 7t]

The standard entry fee for the 2015 1 mile race was £8 for adults or £6 for juniors and registration was possible in advance only (no on-the-day entries). The race organisers sent out runners' race bibs, timing chips and map of the course and immediate area. via the post during the week before the race. Mine arrived with a few days to spare.

On the day, we arrived in Central London and headed towards Green Park, which was set aside as the main hub for the event. Here there was a race information tent, live music performances, a huge picnic area, changing areas, toilets, a children's area, various entertainers walking around, plus the Feel Great Britain Mind, Body and Soul zones which offered sessions on stretching, pilates, yoga and so on.

goddit? [photo: 7t]

I had entered the race via the Sweatshop Running Community (SRC) and had the luxury of being looked after in the SRC marquee complete with bag drop area, free t-shirts and a free post-run packed lunch. Not bad considering they also covered the entry fee for all of their runners.

I bumped into loads of people I know from various parts of the running community and as more and more runners and their families arrived the atmosphere grew and the vibe was great.

marks. set. [photo: dani]

SRC are famous for their bright yellow running shirts (which you get for free after you have collected five SRC stamps) and all of the runners were requested to wear their shirts for the event, of which I was happy to oblige. I was even lucky enough to pick up a junior-sized one for Matilda.

Once she had her shirt she was keen to try out the temporary running track which also featured some tuition on the best techniques for starting a track race. She also learned a little about how to start using a starting block. My wife and daughter then headed into the children's area where Matilda had her face painted and made a sign and a medal for me.

the balloon guy [photo: dani]

There were over thirty separate races over twenty different waves ranging from the 'Family Run/Walk' waves right through to the elite men, women and wheelchair athletes. The first wave of runners went out at 9.45am and the last was at around 3.30pm. There was also a special parkrun wave which I didn't enter because I was quite content with limiting my exercise to the one solitary mile.

As I was milling around I caught wind of a rumour that the SRC waves would be going out about 10-15 minutes earlier than advertised. If anything, this proves the point that it is wise to arrive quite a bit earlier than you might think is necessary. You can easily pass the time by soaking up the great atmosphere in Green Park. Even though the published wave start times are only estimates, I do think the organisers should have tried to stick the the guideline times. a wave starting 15 minutes early could easily catch people out.

src runners gathering at the start line [photo: 7t]

After a quick pit-stop in one of the many hundreds of portaloos, I found my way to the race start line about half-way along The Mall. I bumped into a few familiar faces here and slotted into a space near enough to the front to make a swift getaway.

Being a 1 mile race, I felt fairly comfortable for about the first two minutes and then it all began to hurt. After a few more minutes of agony, I turned the final corner and headed towards the finish line which is right outside Buckingham Palace.

the mall [photo: sweatshop]

Here's an interesting thing - as I crossed the line the official timer was definitely showing around 5.39, but my official result has been recorded as being 5.41. Exactly the same thing happened when I ran this race two years ago and I had a similar discrepancy. Most of the runners I've spoken to also have a similar story (discrepancies of between 2 - 9 seconds) so it's not just me.

Further investigation found that the official results page was showing gun times while the actual chip times could be found on the Run Britain Westminster Mile results page - official chip time was indeed 5.39! Then a few days later, the official results were finally updated to show everybody's individual chip times. Phew.

a small corner of the src group photo [photo: dani]

So with that done I waited at the finish line as the rest of the SRC runners streamed through - we congratulated each other and took plenty of selfies together. Then it was on to the timing chip removal points followed by the goody-bag / medal collection point. The goody bag contained some water, a small chocolate bar, some shampoo, toothpaste, a dairy-free banana milkshake and a packet of dried egg noodles. The medal was a good quality double-sided bespoke design and very nice.

With that all taken care of, I headed back over to the SRC tent where I picked up my free lunch, met my family and then sat down for a little picnic in the sun. I found out that my wife and daughter hadn't heard any announcements about the change of timings so they missed my race completely (and as they had the camera there are no action photos for the blog). We hooked up with the rest of the SRC crowd where there was a huge group photo taken before everyone started to make their way out of the park.

team7t [photo: kat]

We had a great day out in Green Park, the entertainment and the amazing vibe made it worth attending even for non-runners. I'd like to give a huge thanks to everyone from Sweatshop that worked hard to make the day a great success for all of the SRC runners. Same again next year?

The Marathon Talk Magic Mile 2014

I first did the Marathon Talk Magic Mile in 2013. Back then I was still mostly living in Central London, so I did a few of my attempts on Victoria Embankment. The best time I managed back then was 6.04. In that blog post, I had mentioned that I might do the odd 1 mile time trial every now and then. Instead of doing that, I have introduced a 3 x 1 mile rep session that I do on the 1 mile stretch that I used for myn original magic mile. I tend to do this when I run with the Trump Street SRC. It's one of my favourite runs and I always look forward to it!

mile training?

This year I was in better shape and knew I'd be able to beat 2013's time - in fact I had already run a new personal best of 5.24 a few weeks before the 2014 magic mile competition took place. Also things had changed beyond belief - I had moved to Dartford and am part of a great running community....

So instead of just running my fastest possible mile on my lonesome, this year I decided to host my own Magic Mile event and get a few others involved. I was nervous that too many people would turn up so I didn't add it to the Marathon Talk website until the last minute. It worked out that the event attracted 5 of my #TeamSLGR running buddies. So on Sunday 3 August, the 6 of us were stood at the start line ready to test ourselves over this iconic distance.

I had thought long and hard about how I would make it work. First I found a nice flat 1 mile route around Central Park in Dartford (2 laps and a tail). Then I had to think about the method of timing. I had two ideas - firstly if everybody had their own timing devices, We could all set off at the same time and everybody could time themselves. Easy peasy.

The second plan was to send the runners off while I acted as time keeper. I could then run my time trial afterwards. The way it worked out, not everybody had their own timing devices so I went ahead with plan 2. To do this I used a stopwatch app on my phone which has a lap feature and as the runners crossed the line, I made a note of the name of the runner in each finishing position. If more people had turned up then I would have issued each finisher with a numbered piece of paper that could be used to match the runner to their time once everybody else had finished. Being a course of 2 laps, it was really easy for me to note down eveybody's half-way split times.

Once everybody had finished their 1 mile time trial, it was my turn to go. To make things simple I decided to just time myself using my Garmin. By the time I returned I had the feeling that we may have all run slightly further than a mile, but it was close enough for this occasion (the satellites kept giving me different readings so we went with the longer version to start with). I made a note to adjust it for the next time we have a mile time trial.

Sunday 3 August results from the '#TeamSLGR Magic Mile': (in no particular order...)

• Dave Reid: 7.04 - (58.2% age grade) (splits 3.36 / 3.28)
• John Annett: 6.55 - (64.4% age grade) (splits 3.32 / 3.23)
• Dawn Annett: 8.02 - (59% age grade) (splits 3.59 / 4.03)
• Rachel Bignell: 8.35 - (53.3% age grade) (splits 4.05 / 4.30)
• Jane Reid: 8.10 - (58.1% age grade) (splits 4.11 / 3.59)
• Steven Stockwell: 5.47 - (66.4% age grade) (splits 2.49 / 2.58)

I thought that might be it for this year, but the following day Dave Reid mentioned that he would be going over to the course with Jane Reid for a second attempt. Now, even though I had already run a 22km session that morning (with some fast sections), I really couldn't resist joining them. So at 7.15pm we met in the park for Magic Mile round 2, which I have named 'Reid vs Reid vs 7t'.

In order to make this second session a little more competitive, I came up with the idea of using a handicap system based on the results from the first session. So it worked out that Jane would start first, then 66 seconds later Dave would start (however we got a little confused and Dave went after 56 seconds), then finally I would set off 77 seconds after Dave. In theory, over the course of the mile Dave would slowly catch Jane and I would slowly catch Dave and Jane, and we would all finish at the exactly same time!

From my point of view, seeing two runners that I was trying to catch so far in front of me was pretty demoralising and I thought there was no way I could get anywhere near them. However, the handicap system did its job and in the final few hundred metres I drew closer and closer. I ended up finishing a whisker behind Jane and just a few seconds behind Dave who had reached the finish line first.

Monday 4 August results from the 'Reid vs Reid vs 7t' Magic Mile: (again, in no particular order..)

• Dave Reid: 6.48 - (60.4% age grade) (-16 seconds)
• Jane Reid: 7.50 - (60.5% age grade) (-20 seconds)
• Steven Stockwell: 5.40 - (67.8% age grade) (-7 seconds)

All three of us had improved our times from the day before. I think the improvements were down to three things;

1. The weather was noticeably cooler and less humid (we ran this second one in the evening)
2. We adjusted the start / finish point to make it a few metres shorter (hopefully spot on 1 mile now)
3. The handicap system introduced a competitive situation to the run which made us all push a little harder

So there we go. The 2014 Magic Mile window has now closed. I didn't manage to get as close to my personal best as I would have liked. I think this may largely be down to my current 1 mile personal best time being run during a 1 mile race (Swanley Relays) and there was probably a little more adrenaline flowing. In theory I should have been able to run the same time or faster because my fitness level should have been pretty much identical, plus the Dartford Central Park course was flat and should have been a little quicker than the course at Swanley.

We have decided that we quite like these 1 mile time trials, so we are hoping to hold them at regular (or irregular) intervals. When we do it again, we plan to continue with the handicap system. However, next time it will be based on the second running of the event, so Jane will start 62 seconds ahead of Dave, and Dave will start 68 seconds in front of me. If any of the runners from the first event come along to event three, we can use their times from event one. If anyone new comes along, I will calculate their estimated 1 mile time from a recent race time of their choice and then allocate a handicap based on that.

Huge thanks to the Marathon Talk team for providing a fun way to get people involved in running the mile. I've enjoyed my second year of magic miling and by the looks of it, my #TeamSLGR teammates are now hooked too!

Swanley Relays 2014

The Swanley Relays are hosted by Swanley and District AC. The race consists of 4 x 1 mile legs around the picturesque Swanley Park. I've heard the park described as 'the jewel in Swanley's crown' and I can see why. It is a gently undulating park with a boating lake, cafe, miniature train, children's playground and paddling pool. It really is a lovely park.

swanley park [photo: 7t]

The race took place on a Wednesday evening, and as I had the day off, I arrived, with the family, quite early in the afternoon. We spent some time in the playground and paddling pool, and also took a ride on the railway. The ride on the railway gave me the opportunity to see most of the course beforehand.

This was to be the first relay race for the newly affiliated 'So Let's Go Running' running club. I had spread the word on the club's Facebook page and managed to rope a few of our runners into forming a team. Sadly, it was only a team of three.

registering the team [photo: 7t]

The team was as follows - Steven 'so let's go buggy running' Stockwell (me), Kat 'the unstoppable' McVicar and Dave 'any excuse to wear my SLGR vest' Reid. I registered the team on the night and paid the £!0 entry race entry fee. As there were only three of us, I was nominated (or I volunteered - I can't quite remember) to run twice.

The downside of having one runner that runs twice is that it made us exempt from any potential prizes. That didn't really matter, because we were here to run as a team. Also in attendance was Brian 'SLGR' Page, the club's co-founder and, for this evening, our chief supporter and photographer!

#teamslgr [photo: brian page]

The evening also featured a junior race, and once that was finished, the first leg of the adult race got underway. As I was running two legs, it made sense for me to run number 1 and number 4. The 1 mile lap of the park is run on mixed terrain and its profile is a combination of flat and undulating.

Runners have to take care as the route, which starts on grass, passes over the miniature railway lines within the first few hundred metres. The course continues down to the far end of the park, where a gentle ramp takes the runners up onto the platform of the train station. After this, underfoot changes to a gravelly path which ever-so-gently rises as it weaves its way around the perimetre.

111 - the first leg [photo: brian page]

The course then takes a right hand turn through some trees. It is here that the toughest part of the course is found. The gentle incline suddenly becomes much steeper for a short section - fortunately there is some great support at this section and the climb is soon over. There are a few tree roots and low hanging branches to look out for along this section.

Once at the top end, and highest point, of the park, the scene is set for a largely downhill last 500 metres. The downhill starts on grass and then changes as it takes runners back onto the meandering gravelly path before returning to the grass for the final push adjacent to the boating lake.

211 - kat [photo: brian page]

The course was well marked with a white line (similar to the type you'd find on a football pitch) all the way around. At the end of each lap there was an equally well marked out change-over zone. I had been hoping for batons but sadly there weren't any. Instead we just had to tag each other in the changeover zone in order for the next runner to continue the race.

My first lap was interesting. I initially ended up pinned inside the group of runners, so I was patient as we rounded the first few corners, but as we got into a wider section, I moved to the edge in order to pass the crowd. Just before reaching the final 500 metre section, I was in fourth position, but I managed to move into third shortly after. In the final 200 metres I felt that I was gaining on the second placed runner, but the finish line arrived before I reached him.

311 - dave [photo: brian page]

I tagged Kat, who was waiting in the changeover area with an eager grin on her face. She launched into action and I stumbled off to the side to begin recovering before doing it all over again. As the minutes ticked away, I chatted to Brian and Dave as we looked over towards the top of the course, waiting for a glimpse of our black and orange kit.

Soon after, there it was. A few minutes later, Kat was on the finishing straight giving it all she had before tagging Dave and in doing so unleashed him onto the course. I stood with Kat while she recovered from her run. We chatted about our laps until we spotted Dave. I moved into position in the changeover area. Eager to set off for my second 1 mile lap of the evening.

411 - the fourth leg [photo: dani]

Closer and closer he came. I could see how hard he was working as he sprinted towards me, and then he tagged me and I was off again, but not before bumping into another team's runner and losing a precious second. As I left the changeover area, I was behind another team's runner who had just set off on his lap, but I soon passed him and ended up running alone. Until, at the far end of the course, I spotted a target. I edged closer to him as we passed over the railway platform and then overtook as we started the gentle climb. Again I was alone for a while.

As I made it into the last 500 metres, I spotted another runner and again was able to edge past. Finally I made it back onto the finish straight where I entered the changeover area for the last time and the race was over. As I mentioned earlier, we were not eligible for any prizes. So this was all about the three of us putting in our best efforts for the good of the team.

our results (central number is our overall position after each leg)

The results were posted online a few days later and we had finished in 19th position out of 28 teams overall. We were second placed senior mixed team, but as I mentioned earlier, we were not eligible for any prizes. All three of us had achieved new personal best times, so we were very pleased with ourselves for that.

In addition to the team results, there is another set of results showing everybody's individual times. I managed to finish 7th and 16th in the overall men's standings. My fastest of the two legs was 5.24, which is a new personal best over the distance. Given that the course was undulating and grassy, it does make me wonder how much faster I could go on a flat, fast course or even on a track. Overall, it was a great evening out running for our team in a very pleasant park. I can't wait to do it again next year....

Go #TeamSLGR!

The Marathon Talk Magic Mile 2013

Every year, Marathon talk run a fun little online competition called the Magic Mile. This year I put my name down for it. All you have to do is run a 1 mile time trial and submit your time via the magic mile webpage. You can run the magic mile on your own terms, at one of the events or even create an event for others to join you.

I didn't really do any specific training for this apart from the odd fartlek session, which I would have done anyway. The magic mile had to be run and submitted between Saturday 24 August and Sunday 8 September.

I thought it would make sense to have a few cracks at the mile throughout the two week period, I decided to concentrate on cycling during the first week so didn't manage to put in an attempt so I only had the second week to give it a shot or two or three. My goal was to try to run the 1 mile in under 6 minutes. My previous personal best was 6.10, which I ran at the Westminster Mile event in May 2013.

To time my runs I used the Strava running app on my phone. The advantage of using this app is that it gives a breakdown of the fastest splits over the most common races distances (400 metres, 1 mile, 5k etc) throughout your run. So even if I got the start or end point slightly wrong, the app would still record my fastest 1 mile split as long as I covered the distance, which I did because the runs were always longer than 1 mile in total.

Sunday 1 September - Attempt 1

I ran my first effort on the pancake flat Bushy Juniors parkrun course just before the kids were set loose on their 2km run. I used the runningAHEAD website course measuring tool to work out exactly when to start my effort and it worked out that the first 400 metres took me to the exact point where the first path crosses the course, so I jogged up to this point and then changed into my 1 mile time trial pace.

As you can see from the screenshot above, I managed to run a new personal best of 6.06. But as the course is all on grass and is quite bumpy in some sections I thought I might be able to go a bit faster on an all tarmac course.

I also equalled my 2km personal best on the same run.

Tuesday 3 September - Attempt 2

I jogged 3.5km over to the Trump Street Sweatshop to run with the early bird SRC group at 7.30am. It was a small group and we all ran at an easy pace together for the first half, but during the second half we did an Indian interval session, which was really really good and the first time I had ever run intervals in a group - we did 5k in total.

After the SRC run I had to run along Victoria Embankment to get back to work (3.5k) so used this as an opportunity to do a second Magic Mile time trial. From Blackfriars Bridge right round to the point opposite Horseguards Avenue is exactly a mile and all on tarmac.

This time I ran 6.16. I have to say that I was really disappointed with this effort. I don't know if it was the session beforehand that wore me out slightly or if I just got my pace completely wrong during the first half (it felt like a strong 5k pace at first, so maybe a tad too slow) or if I slowed down too soon towards the end.

Wednesday 4 September - Attempt 3

I went along to Southwark parkrun's trial run and as it is a three lap course it gave me an almost perfect 1 mile lap on which to put in attempt number three. I was unsure as to whether I should go for the time on lap 1, 2 or 3. In the end I decided that lap 2 would be good, but as it was such a lovely evening and I was feeling good I ended up dialing straight into a strong 5k pace during the first lap and stuck with it.

However, even though I changed my focus to a 5k time trial I still managed to knock out a 6.12 mile split during the second lap. So not quite what I came to do but very happy to have somehow pulled a 6.12 mile out of a hard 5k run.

Saturday 5 September - not really an attempt but I'm making a note of it 4

I wasn't thinking about the magic mile at all today, instead I was running another 5k time trial. This time at the inaugural Southwark parkrun.

However, I still managed to run a fairly decent 1 mile split of 6.13 as part of the run. So I'm sticking this one in here too. Only 24 hours left before the deadline...

Sunday 8 September - Attempt 5

Today was the last day of the magic mile, so I thought I'd stick in one more attempt. I decided to use the same 1 mile stretch along the river that I used in attempt 2. I took a longer route around the Southbank to make sure I was warmed up nicely and then I turned off of Blackfriars Bridge and met the first obstacle - I was running into a headwind!! Typical, I thought.

Anyway I pressed on, dodging the tourists out for an early morning stroll. When I reached the Embankment tube station I was forced to divert into the road as the pavement was completely blocked by a coachload of more tourists.

As you can see from the app screenshot, even with the aforementioned obstacles I ran a new personal best for the mile of 6.04 - So I am of course very happy with that!

It leaves me wondering - if it wasn't for the headwind and the weaving around tourists could I have gone a few seconds faster and maybe even have broken the 6 minute mark? For now I'll leave the question unanswered because I need a break from this intensity of running.

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I've really enjoyed the magic mile challenge - I think I might even drop a 1 mile time trial into my training every now and then. As to how to run a 1 mile, I think I still need to practice some more because I feel like I should be able to run it faster than I have done so this week. Doing some specific training for the distance would help, so I'll make a note for next year!