Mid Kent 5 Miler 2014

I signed up to this race for one reason - to run a new 5 mile personal best. I had heard that the course was fairly flat, with just a few mild undulations, and that it had pb potential, plus my standing 5 mile personal best was run at the Fairoaks Five 2013, which is a trail race and was run in the middle of a torrential rain storm in October 2013. Beating that time would be child's play.

i was wondering which way to go, then i saw this.... [photo: 7t]

One thing about this race that is special is that it was the first one that I had entered since becoming an affiliated member of a running club, so I received a discount of £2 over the unaffiliated £12 entry fee. I signed up using the runners world website, so after they had added their booking fee it worked out that I paid £11.50.

the clubhouse - refreshments, race hq, toilets, showers, bbq [photo: 7t]

The Mid Kent 5 Miler website contained all the necessary information such as course map, parking, prizes etc.. There was also a Facebook group which I found very helpful. The race HQ was at the Staplehurst Cricket and Tennis club, on the day I left home at 7am and arrived by about 8am. The race start time was scheduled for 9am so that left me an hour to collect my number and timing chip, warm up, use the facilities (there were toilets inside the clubhouse and some portaloos outside), take some photos and to chat with any familiar faces I might bump into along the way.

timing chip [photo: 7t]

At a couple of minutes before 9am, the race director (Nick Jordan) called all of the runners to the briefing point just inside the grounds of the club. He gave a very good briefing complete with course description and warnings that the roads, while quiet, were still open to traffic. We were then lead the 100 metres or so along the adjacent road to the start line.

nice smooth surface (like this) most of the way round [photo:7t]

I knew that I would finish somewhere towards the front of the field so I made sure that my starting position roughly reflected that. The race was then started and I headed off as part of a crowd of 247 runners out onto the country lanes around Staplehurst, which was probably quite scenic - but as you'll read in a second, my vision was slightly compromised during the race.

being in the countryside, you get to see sheeps [photo:7t]

The forecast had been warning of heavy rain and strong winds - something to do with hurricane bertha apparently (another wet five miler was about to unfold), so it was a relief to find that at this point the rain was fairly light. The first mile of the race had quite a bit of position jostling going on as usual, but once that first mile was out of the way, those that had started a little too fast naturally started to fall into their appropriate paces and things settled down.

more tarmac [photo:7t]

As I mentioned before, the race takes place on country lanes. It is 99% tarmac, which is mostly smooth but some of the smaller roads are a little worn and ever-so-slightly pot-holed. The first of the noticeable undulations comes at around 3.5km on the approach to the village of Frittenden. By this point the rain had got much heavier, my glasses were covered in rainwater and everything was now just a blur. I could only just make out the marshal and signage up ahead - both of which were excellent all the way around the course by the way.

more sheepses [photo:7t]

At 5.5km there was another slightly steeper section. I wouldn't call it a hill but there was a noticeable incline. Shortly after this point, I spotted Tony Giles, the event director of Great Lines parkrun with its incredibly awesome downhill finish (I have run there twice - the inaugural and the christmas day special). I can't remember the last race I ran in Kent where I didn't bump into him - he's a top guy and is easily spotted in his trademark hat. I had chatted to him before the race and knew that he would have his camera ready to take some snaps around the course.

i'd love to claim that i was just too fast for the camera [photo: tony giles]

As I passed him, he took a picture of me but as you can see from the photo, the weather conditions didn't make it easy for him, Thinking about it, the picture looks a lot clearer than anything I could see through my glasses, so I'm really happy with it! I really appreciated the support and am very grateful that he let me use the photo on the blog.

the last section is on the beautifully manicured cricket ground grass [photo:7t]

The remainder of the course was flat and before I knew it, I was running back down the road towards the cricket and tennis club. I had been following another runner for the entire race and as we neared the end I noticed that he had caught the runner in front of him and I was doing the same, but as we entered the grounds of the club he was still just too far in front to catch. The very last section of the race took the runners off of the tarmac and onto a short stretch of grass and straight to the finish line.

selfie (with medal showing the inscription on the reverse side) [photo:7t]

As always at races, the finish line is a welcome sight. And with the rain still falling, I was now soaked from head to toe and my shoes were squelching with every footstep. There were some children giving out medals at the end of the finish funnel and then there were cups of water on a table, which was another welcome sight. After a minute or so I had recovered enough to start thinking straight....

finally out of the wet gear... [photo:7t]

... however, I was dripping wet with rain water and starting to shiver, so after I chatting to a couple of other runners, I grabbed my bag of dry clothes (and my towel, which I actually remember to bring this time!) from the car and went into the clubhouse and made use of the changing facilities within. If I had been more organised, I would have brought some soap and used the showers too.

... and into something dry [photo:7t]

The provisional results were printed and displayed on the clubhouse door shortly after I had finished so I had a little peep at those to discover that I had finished in 10th position overall (out of 247 finishers). There were a few names missing at this stage (I imagine they were probably on-the-day entrants) but my position was correct. The official results were put online later that same day.

the provisional mens results [photo:7t]

I am happy to report that I achieved my goal of running a new personal best (no surprise there) time of 30.48, which gave me an age grading of 71.7%. I beat my previous 5 mile personal best by 3 minutes and 10 seconds. Everything seemed to go really well apart from the weather (which got even worse during the drive home), but even that brought with it its own charm. A big thumbs up to the organising team and the marshals!

British 10k 2014

If you have read my previous race blogs, you may have noticed that I usually tend to stick to smaller, local events. However, when the opportunity presented itself to run the British 10k as a guest of New Balance - who were the official sports brand partner - I just couldn't resist. This year the British 10k became part of the Vitality Run Series.

vitality british 10k london run 2014 [photo: 7t]

With my entry confirmed way back in January, I had a long wait until I received my race pack, which arrived about 10 days before the race. It contained my race bib with inbuilt timing chip, some safety pins, the official programme and my commemorative tech t-shirt. On my original entry form, I had asked for a small t-shirt. However, the t-shirt that arrived was a medium and swamped me. I attempted to have it exchanged but sadly it wasn't possible.

I was also given a free subscription to runcoach to help prepare me for the race, but after signing up I didn't use it because I have been following an anti-plan method of training for the last year which has been very successful for me. The runcoach plan wanted me to do certain workouts on certain days and I just couldn't make it ft in with my haphazard (lacking any obvious principle of organisation) style of training. For most people who actually train properly, I imagine it would be a very useful training tool.

breakfast in the cavalry and guards club, piccadilly [photo: 7t]

As I was a guest of New Balance, they had arranged a special pre-race breakfast at the Cavalry and Guards Club. I arrived at 8am kitted out in my black and orange 'So Let's Go Running' club vest and was issued with a VIP guest pass. I proceeded up to the main breakfast dining room where I was escorted to my table. It was here that I met some journalists from a newspaper (but I can't quite remember which one) and also fellow blogger, Ian, who writes the 'running ok in the uk' blog. I also bumped into Adele, who writes the 'fitartist' blog. Both of their reports (Ian's / Adele's) from the day are a great read and definitely worth checking out.

Before the race started, there were some speeches, songs from the Military Wives Choir and poems to link in with the theme of this year's event which was the 100th anniversary of the start of the First World War. And in keeping with this theme, the official charity of the event was Help for Heroes. The speeches, songs and poems all took place from the balcony of the of the Cavalry and Guards Club and I was fortunate enough to be able to stand with them on the balcony during the formalities (I even spotted myself on one of the big screens). Another bonus of being based within the building was that I didn't have to queue to use the portaloos, I got to use the lovely, fancy-pants toilets in the club.

from the balcony, i could see the starting waves lined up [photo: 7t]

An additional perk of being a special guest was that I wouldn't have to join the mass of runners queuing for the start along Piccadilly. So when it was time to get in position to run, I was simply allowed to join the first wave of runners. I filtered through to the front, where I found a line of marshals separating the first wave of mass runners from the elite. Upon leaving the club, New Balance had also issued me with an 'Elite Athlete' pass, so I was allowed to go through the line of marshals and start right at the very front with the proper elite runners.

After a brief downpour of rain and a rendition of the national anthem, the race got underway at 9.35am sharp (video of the start). I headed out at fair old pace along Piccadilly (starting with elites has that effect) and ran past all the runners that were waiting patiently for their turn to start. I kept my eyes peeled for any runners I knew, and to my surprise, in one of the waves of runners queuing on the opposite side of the road, I saw a fellow runner from Dartford, Ben, he called out my name and we managed a high-five as I passed. I had chosen to wear my New Balance 1080v3 road shoes - they are still my favourite road shoe and they did a wonderful job, as always.

elite athlete access pass [photo: 7t]

The race then passed The Ritz and then took a right hand turn and headed slightly downhill along St. James's Street towards St. James's Palace before turning along Pall Mall where I'm sure I heard someone in the crowd say 'oh, that was that buggy runner guy' as I passed - that gave me a nice boost and made me smile as I ran through Trafalgar Square and then reached the 2 kilometre point. I was still running at a pace way faster than I could maintain for 10k.

The route then continued down towards the river, where I turned left onto Victoria Embankment and ran past Embankment Station to the cheers of the thousands of people that had come out to watch and support the runners. I really was amazed to see so many people out this early on a Sunday morning. I'm not used to having so much support and I felt a bit guilty for not being able to acknowledge every single person that cheered me on.

about 2.5k into the race [photo: dani]

As I reached Somerset House, I made the very conscious decision to drop the pace a little (by about 10 seconds per km) because I had covered the first 3 kilometres at a faster pace than my current 5k personal best pace. Not the greatest plan for a 10k race. This part of the course was quieter and not so pleasing on the eye as the other parts, as it passes through the 1960s concrete of the Blackfriars underpass and surrounding buildings. A 180 degree turn just before reaching Southwark Bridge marked the most easterly point of the course, before sending the runners back through another section of underpass and up on a strange loop where the halfway point is found.

My official halfway (5k) time was 18:36, which is only a few seconds off my current 5k personal best. Thankfully I was now maintaining the slightly slower pace (more or less in line with my proper 10k pace). I looped around and rejoined Victoria Embankment where I now headed west. It was at this point that I finally got to see the rest of the runners again. I even heard someone shout 'So Let's Go Running' during this section - so I raised a hand to acknowledge her. The weather conditions were a little on the humid side and I was starting to feel it.

a but further along and not looking quite so comfortable [photo: dani]

As I reached Embankment Station again, the crowds gave me an incredible boost, especially as I passed under the train line into Charing Cross station - the noise was deafening (in a good way) at this point. A couple of children held their hands out for a high five around here, and I happily obliged. I continued on with the London Eye to my left and eventually the sight of the Elizabeth Tower (Big Ben) came into view. When reaching the end of Victoria Embankment, the course turned left and went over Westminster Bridge where, on the other side, there was a double decker routemaster bus parked in the middle of the road for the runners to loop around.

Coming back across the bridge, I spotted my wife with the camera, gave her a quick wave and continued to focus on the last two kilometres of the race. I had spent most of the race a few seconds behind the eventual winning female runner, and I did start to gain on her slightly at this point. Next I ran clockwise around half of Parliament Square, past St. Margaret's church and Westminster Abbey, and headed off for an out-and-back section on Victoria Street with the turnaround point outside New Scotland Yard. This section was mentally tough, mostly, I think, due to the fact that you are running away from the finish line when you are approaching the point of exhaustion.

the routemaster bus (and the #teamslgr runner) [photo: dani]

After turning around, it was a case of returning to Parliament Square, continuing the clockwise loop and finally onto Whitehall for the last 300 metres, which included passing the Cenotaph and Downing Street before reaching the finishing line, which is almost on the exact spot of the execution of Charles the 1st, outside Banqueting House. I couldn't quite catch the first finishing female in the end, but that didn't matter because I had just run my fastest ever 10 kilometre race.

At this point I didn't know my exact finishing time because I forgot to stop my stopwatch as I crossed the line and of course I wasn't paying attention to the big clock right in front of me. My time wouldn't be confirmed until later in the day when the results had appeared online, but I knew it was somewhere around 39 minutes and I was hopeful that it would be sub-39. Once over the line, a marshal gave me a bottle of water and I continued to walk along Whitehall towards Trafalgar Square.

#teamslgr and the eventual women's winner by the gun, but not the fastest woman to complete the course [photo: dani]

Being such a large event, the post race arrangements felt quite odd and spaced out to me. I knew I had to continue walking onto The Mall and then up to Waterloo Place towards the baggage areas. However, it wasn't particularly clear what the medal-collection process would be. Once up at Waterloo Place, it became apparent that the medals were being given out by the staff that were manning the baggage areas. During my time in this area so many people came up to me to ask where they could get their medal. For the record, the medal was pretty decent - it was a bespoke design showing some of the iconic landmarks and had the date of the race etched onto it (there's a photo of it further down this page).

The other reason for going to Waterloo Place was to meet up with the lovely people from New Balance again, and to visit the New Balance Village. Here there was a New Balance stand where runners could pick up special deals on clothing and other bits and pieces, and check out shoes at the Sweatshop pop-up store. There was also a garden area with mini golf and free popcorn. Shortly after arriving, the day's musical entertainment began - the performance was by The Rinky Dinks - The UK's first ukulele supergroup!

the finish line on whitehall

After picking up an extensive collection of swag, including shoe laces, t-shirts, NB water bottle, shoe fresheners, drawstring bag from Tiger Balm and other assorted goodies, I joined the queue for a free massage provided by YourPhysioPlan.com . It was a pretty full-on (painful) experience and it really sorted out my sore calves, which were very knotty. After a brief discussion about my race times and frequency of running, the advice was to have someone look after my legs on a more regular basis, so I may be on the lookout for a physio with an equally firm pair of hands in the near future.

I spent some time wandering around looking for people that I knew, but there were so many runners milling around that I gave up and headed off home. Once there, I went online to try to find out my official finishing time. The official British 10k results page was still displaying 2013's results but I managed to find this year's results straight away by going straight to the webpage of the official chip timing company - TDL event services.

in the new balance village

If you are interested in my GPS data you can view it on Strava. The app brought the course out slightly long, but when you look at the fact that I passed through two tunnels and the line the satellites picked up weaves all over the road, it's not surprising. I imagine the course was spot on.

The total number of runners that completed the course is unclear. I've read somewhere that there were 19,000 of us, but the official results page only shows 14,298 finishers. This number has changed a few times and I imagine it will change some more after I have published this blog.

the first sixteen finishers [screenshot: tdl event services]

My stats:

Time: 38:41
5k splits (18.36 and 20.05) - oh dear.
14th finisher (by gun)
13th male finisher (by gun)
29th position overall (by chip) (some runners in subsequent waves ran the course faster than me)
27th male finisher overall (by chip) (including other waves)
I finished in the top 0.2% of runners (based on the 14,xxx figure)
Age Grade: 71.84%

and of course, the finisher's medal

Overall, I had an brilliant morning at the event. The route was pretty good, but I think because I run on these streets so often, it felt a little like running one of my training runs, and the landmark buildings didn't wow me in the same way as they might for someone from out-of-town. It was, however, the support from the spectators around the course that has really stuck with me - they were amazing. I have a feeling that my experience and finishing time would have been completely different if I had entered in the usual way (with a £50 entry fee) and had started in one of the mass runner waves.

The New Balance and Gung Ho staff were absolutely brilliant hosts and I can't thank them enough for giving me such an amazing experience. The Elite Athlete pass really was the icing on the cake!

Buggy Running 5k Time-Trial at the Cyclopark

I wouldn't usually write a blog post about the 5k cyclorun, which takes place at 8am on Sunday mornings at the Cyclopark near Gravesend in Kent, but on this occasion it was special. Instead of turning up for a normal run, I took my daughter and our running buggy. After two years the time had finally come to do a proper buggy running time trial effort.

The goal was to try to run under 20 minutes, and I was confident that I could get close... on a flat course. However, the cyclopark track is not completely flat. It has undulations most of the way around and I wasn't quite so confident that I could break the magic 20 minute barrier.

So on Sunday 8 June 2014, we lined up on the start line with 14 other runners (including another buggy runner). At 8-something sharp we were sent on our way to complete the two-lap course. I started politely (that means that I gave the other runners some space and didn't crash into anybody with the buggy wheels) and after 50 metres or so, the runners fell into their desired paces and positions.

We were in third position at this stage and we stayed close behind the runners in positions 1 and 2 until just before the 1 kilometre point when we edged into the lead - which is where we remained for the rest of the run. We completed the first lap in 9.49 - within the time window for running a sub-20 time, but I was exhausted.

I pushed (pun intended) as hard as I could around the second lap, but I knew I was a little slower than the first. The last kilometre of each lap is largely uphill, and as we ran up the incline towards the finish on the second lap, it was as if the finish line kept getting further away - a feature of this course! My daughter was loving every minute of it, and I usually talk to her as we go around, but at this stage of the run, and at this pace I just didn't have enough puff to talk and run at the same time!

Finally we crossed the finish line and I instantly parked the buggy and sat (or fell in a heap) on the floor to recover. I was in complete agony during the last incline and was relieved that it was all over. I had stopped my watch as we crossed the finish line and I now had a chance to look at it. It read 19.49, this was followed up by confirmation from the official timer that I had indeed run a sub-20 buggy run.

The second lap had indeed been slower than the first (10.00), but we still managed to keep it within the buffer zone. Over the moon, we took the buggy back to the car, packed it away and then went to the cinema to celebrate our first sub-20 5k buggy run! We're now on the look out for a flat course to see how much faster we can go.

Hildenborough Road Races 2014 - 10 Mile

The Hildenborough road races are held on the first May bank holiday each year and have been a fixture in the local calendar for over 28 years. Although the races are the highlights of the day, there are many other reasons to go along to this family day out. For the first time in the history of the event, the organisers put on all kinds of fun things for the kids including a bouncy castle and a coconut shy. There were stalls and a barbeque and music. The recreation ground has a playground and a huge open grass playing field where you and the family can find a nice spot and have a picnic and sunbathe. It really is a great event.

hildenborough road races dot com

Before I go any further I'm going to get my grumbles and/or downsides out of the way. First the parking is fairly tricky in Hildenborough - the lanes are narrow and the car parks that do exist are tiny and full to the brim hours before the races are due to start. You will find a space somewhere, probably along Riding Lane, but it is tight. Secondly, I entered on the race on the day. Online the race was advertised as £9 for advance bookings but with an additional £2 for those that register on the day. So I was slightly surprised to find that I had to pay £12 on the day. And apart from the lights failing in the toilets just before the race, everything else was great!

course map

Car parked and registration fee paid, I went off for a 2 kilometre warm-up along part of the route. This is where I found out that the official description of the course being 'flat' was just a big fat lie! I'm not going to go as far as saying hilly because I know that it's uncool for runners to use this word, so let's just say that the course is undulating. Definitely not flat. It's not that I mind hills, in fact I really like them. It's just nice to know roughly what to expect in advance. I used to live in Tonbridge so I have run/cycled parts of the course before and suspected that they weren't flat in advance.

family fun day

Being in Hildenborough, it was great to see the village's most famous sporting resident, Dame Kelly Holmes, lending her support. She had a stall showcasing some food from her forthcoming coffee shop and she started the races. She also presented the trophies at the end. I thought I'd be cheeky and ask to have a photo with her and I'm pleased to say that she was happy to oblige.

dame kelly and the slgr runner

So as I was chatting to @iandpullen (Ian's blog entry) and @diamondlitefoot before the race. I mentioned the undulations and we were unanimous in our feeling that this was definitely not going to be a pb course. As the races had a 2.30pm start time, we had all spent a little more time planning our lunch - I got mine in early and kept it fairly light. A few minutes before the races were due to start, we made our way across to the start line. The start and finish are within the recreation ground and are on grass. The rest of the route is run entirely on tarmac and pavements.

me having a bad flat hair day and also the diamond litefoot

I was here for the 10 mile race, but it wasn't the only race of the day. Earlier on there was a 1 mile race for under 11's which took place on a marked out course on the grass through the recreation ground. Now the main event was about to start and it wasn't just the 10 mile runners in the start funnel. There were also runners taking part in the 2.5 mile and 5 mile races. You can identify them by the colour of their race bibs. The 10 milers had a red background, 5 milers had a blue background and the 2.5 milers had a lighter blue background, which I imagine made things a lot easier for the marshals where the different length races divided.

given the most people go off too fast, i thought this road marking was quite helpful

The route (official course map) was made up of one big 5ish mile loop around the quiet country lanes on the north side of the main road (B245) that runs from Sevenoaks to Tonbridge. I say a 5ish mile loop - but there is also an out-and-back section to run on each lap to make up the full distance. The turnaround point is different on each lap but there are of course marshals to advise where to turn. The course ventures onto the main road, but fortunately it has a pavement that the runners were able to run on. The 2.5 mile race stays on the main route for the first kilometre or so before turning off and doing its own thing. The 5 milers complete one full loop, while the 10 milers do two.

almost at half-way

My race plan consisted of going out fairly hard, but not too hard bearing in mind the undulations, I hit the first mile marker in about 6.25 and then just kept the pace going the best I could. I reached the 5k point in just under 20 minutes. Then at 32 minutes I reached the half-way point. Before starting the race, I had about 70 minutes in mind as a finishing time, after all I ran 66 minutes on a almost-flat course a few months earlier so it'd take me a little longer to get around with the undulations, right?

a typical hildenborough country lane

The second half of the race panned out in the usual way for me - I focused on the runner ahead and slowly worked to catch up with them. Once passed, I looked for the next runner and tried to do the same. I think I actually hit the 10k point in just under 40 minutes. As I passed one runner he said 'well run, Steve' (or something like that) but it wasn't until afterwards that I realised that it was the Tonbridge parkrun event director, @alester229. I plodded on, picking up a cup of water at every other water station - I think there were four in total, so there were eight opportunities for the 10 milers to hydrate which was brilliant because it was a warm and sunny afternoon.

Finally at mile 8, the hard pace, the undulations and the previous water intake took its toll on me. My stomach started to hurt and running became more uncomfortable. My legs started to feel heavier and I felt like I was working a lot harder to maintain the pace. I had just overtaken a Dartford Road Runner and was closing in on another before this. However, I couldn't keep with the one in front and he ended up pulling away from me. Then I think the 15k point was reached in just a smidgen over the hour.

the medal

I was relieved to finally arrive back at the recreation ground where, looking at the video above, I finished in quite a relaxed manner. The announcer had been notified of my arrival and it was nice to hear him call out my name and finishing position as I entered the recreation ground. I crossed the line, collected my medal and continued to walk. Almost instantly I knew that I had pushed really hard as my quads began to ache. After a few minutes of walking, I switched back to jogging to have a proper cool down and did another 2 kilometres on the soft grass surface (I also wanted to round off the day's running to an even 20k).

they only had print outs of the individual categories, i was the seventh senior male

After watching the presentations, I had a sneak preview of the finishing times and I saw that I ran the course in 64-and-a-half minutes, which is a two-minute personal best. The full results can be accessed via this page and the official photos are here. What made the pb even better was that it was run on an undulating course. I suppose the aching quads were worth it for a pb! The only downside is that some other runners reported the course as being slightly short - my gps recorded 16km which is spot on. Just to reiterate, this a really nice, friendly family day out. The funny thing is, the whole time I lived in Tonbridge I didn't know about this race. It is a fairly low-key affair. I'm glad that I finally found it and I know exactly what to do if I find myself at a loose end on the first bank holiday in May!

917 days (aka Riddlesdown parkrun 150)

As it was to be a landmark event number at Riddlesdown parkrun, I decided to put the touring to one side and pay a long overdue visit back to my parkrun home for my 70th official run there. I have been running fairly well lately, plus I had heard that the course at Riddlesdown had almost dried out following the very wet winter. So I set my sights on using the run as a time trial, with the thought in my mind that if everything went well, I could possibly beat my course personal best which had stood for the last 2 years, 6 months and 5 days - which is 131 weeks, or 917 days.

pre-run briefing [photo: ken hooks]

I set myself a few goals:

Try to beat my course best time (19.25 at Riddlesdown parkrun event 12)
Try to beat my best parkrun time (19.18 at Fulham Palace parkrun)
Try to beat my 5k personal best time (18.54, which was set at the Morunning 5k in Battersea Park)

After a thorough warm up I lined up at the front of the start funnel and after the run briefing I headed off with the other 129 runners in search of a new course personal best. The eventual first finisher of the run (Kevin Quinn) happened to be the Riddlesdown parkrun course record holder, so after watching him sprint off into the distance, the remaining sub-20 runners formed a pack along the opening straight.

p2, p3, p4 and p5 just after 1.5km [photo: ken hooks]

Before too long, the eventual second placed finisher (Dylan Wymer) pulled away from the pack and some others dropped off the back of the pack leaving myself and two other Riddlesdown parkrun regulars (Zhan Su and Ian Watson) to battle it out for third place.

For the whole of the first lap, Zhan lead us, with myself and Ian following immediately behind. I was hopeful that staying with these two runners would bring me in well under 20 minutes, but how far under I didn't know. Thankfully at Riddlesdown parkrun there is a volunteer calling out half-way times. As Zhan, myself and then Ian passed the half-way timer our time was 9.23 - The pace was good. I knew that it was well under my course best, and a bit of simple maths suggested that a sub-19 might be possible.

just after the trail section [photo: ken hooks]

We continued in this order back past the start line. Once we were back on the opening straight, I decided to push a little harder and by the time we reached Condon Corner, which was renamed today as Barrie's Bend, I was in third position. However, I could hear the other two runners close behind me and the thought of losing the position spurred me on to run as hard as I could all the way through to the finish.

I held onto the position and crossed the line in 18.54, which worked out as a 31 second course personal best, a 24 second parkrun personal best, and an equalling of my overall 5k personal best. My 2.5km splits were 9.23 and 9.31. It also worked out that I went over 70% age-grade for the first time at a parkrun. The full results are here.

with about 300 metres left [photo: ken hooks]

After the run it was time to catch up with people that I hadn't seen for quite a while and sample some of the special cakes that had been made for the event. I had also arranged to shadow Dylan as he processed the results after I finally arrived at the Horseshoe. I should add that for anyone patiently waiting for their result in the pub, the delay in processing them was all my fault. I momentarily forgot about the arrangement and went off to buy a few bags worth of bananas and other assorted fruits on my way to the pub.

After everyone else had left the pub, we and event director Nicki ordered some lunch (I still think £6.95 for a jacket potato is a bit steep!) and chatted until well into the afternoon, almost beating our post-parkrun social record of six hours.

Headcorn Half-Marathon 2014

23 February 2014

I entered this race the day before online registration closed (£15 for club runners or £17 for an unattached runner). It was a last minute decision and my initial plan was to use it as a training run. The training run then turned into first half at training pace with the second to be run at race pace. Then the day before the race I changed my mind again. I would aim to run the race at a pace that would bring me in just under my half marathon personal best time.

headcorn village green

On the day we headed down to Headcorn and parked up in the train station car park (£1). From here it was about a 5-10 minute walk down to the White Horse public house, which was being used for registration and as the secure bag storage area. I collected my number (45) with integrated timing chip and headed back to the car to get ready. (edit: the pub was quite small inside but their original larger hq arrangement fell through and the pub was used as a last minute replacement.)

The conditions on the day were pretty good for February. The temperature was around 9 degrees, and it was cloudy. The only downside was that it was a tad windy. The headwind at some points was fairly strong and I'm pretty sure it was worse during the second half. Overall, considering what the last few weeks had been like (storms, floods etc) I think we got a pretty good deal weather-wise.

Heading back over to the village green, we found the start/finish gantry and the public toilets. By now it was gone 8.50am and the race was due to start at 9am and the queues for the public toilets on the green were fairly short. There were also some toilets at the train station and at race hq. (edit: apparently there were some portaloos but there was no signage so I didn't manage to find them).

race hq at the white horse (list of runners)

The start/finish was on the village green and was quite muddy. With all runners lined up, there was a pre-race briefing but there was no amplification so I couldn't really hear anything. Anyway, I caught wind of the fact that the countdown had started so I was poised with my finger hovering over my GPS start button - ready to hit it with two seconds left to go before switching to my stopwatch and hitting that on the sound of the claxon.

The first part of the race was a lap on the grass around the village green which as I mentioned earlier was muddy. Once off the green the course is 100% tarmac all the way round (apart from the finish, but we'll get to that later). The race was advertised as being flat, and to a certain extent it was. I wouldn't say that it was pancake flat but it was flat enough to earn the 'flat' label. You could say there are some mild undulations throughout the course, the steepest of these was a 6.8% incline at its steepest point (according to my gps data) just before the 14 kilometre point.

the start

My intended pace was approx 7.30 per mile (4.40 per kilometre) which would have taken me around the course in about 1 hour and 38 minutes (resulting in a one minute pb). As we covered the first couple of miles it became apparent that I was running a little faster than this pace. I considered slowing slightly but as it felt very natural to run at this speed I stuck with it.

The race continued through the small country lanes around Headcorn. The roads were still open to traffic so every now and then we had to move to one side to allow vehicles enough space to pass. It worked pretty well and I made a point of saying thank you to the patient drivers that I encountered.

I think there were four water stations out on the course. Three of them were handing out water in cups and one in bottles. I took a drink at three out of the four stops, but only took a few sips each time. I haven't done any training runs where I drink whilst running so I didn't want to overdo it. It seemed to work out ok.

the runner completing the lap of the village green

As far as signage and marshaling were concerned, I can't fault either. The marshals were friendly and gave clear instructions on where the route was heading. They also had a bit of traffic management to contend with so I take my hat off to the marshals for doing such a great job.

Everything was going well up until the fifth mile. At this point my legs started to feel a little heavy - I have a feeling that running 12 kilometres (2 parkruns - one at time trial pace - plus a bit of jogging in-between) the day before had left me with slightly fatigued legs. I maintained my pace but a few other runners had begun to pass me - I let them go and didn't attempt to do anything silly.

Me (45) approaching the end (if you look closely you can see the hole in my glove) [photo: Funkydooby (blog)]

By the time I had got to the ten mile marker (16km), my legs had started to feel slightly refreshed. So I felt confident enough to push a little harder. I caught some people and moved in front of them. Then I caught some more. As I worked my way through the last five kilometres I kept pushing harder and harder. I caught and passed a few of the runners that had overtaken me during the tough middle miles. This was particularly satisfying.

Into the last kilometre and my legs were tired but my pace kept increasing. Again I overtook a few more runners here which helped boost my confidence even more. With a few hundred metres left to run, I overtook the next runner but he fought back and re-took the place and held on to cross the line just in front of me. The final sprint was back on the muddy village green - maybe some work could be done to relocate the start/finish to a tarmac area and avoid the potentially muddy grass at both the beginning and end in the future.

the finish (I'm there, just under the blue bike)

The only goodie on offer at this race was the medal, and this was handed to me as I crossed the finish line. There was also a water station with jaffa cakes at the end. We had intended to hang around for a little longer to watch some other runners that I know finish, but the ladies had been out in the wind for long enough and we all wanted to go and find some food for our lunch.

You can see my splits and the hill profile by looking at my GPS data from the race on Strava. I was pleased that I managed to hold my pace throughout the tough middle miles when my legs felt bad and I was very pleased that I was able to increase my pace every kilometre for the last six kilometres.

the obligatory shot 

My official finishing time by chip was 1 hour, 33 minutes and 8 seconds. The official results are on this web page. However, it looks like there may have been an issue with the timing chips system as quite a few runners have identical gun and chip times even though they didn't pass over the mats until almost a minute after the gun sounded. Something's not quite right there. I'll add an update if I hear anything else.

Finishing time (chip): 1:33.08 (new personal best)
Position: 47/380

Related links: The full set of photos by Funkydooby can be found on the South East Running Snaps blog - Headcorn Half Marathon 2014.

Battersea Park Morunning 5k 2013

The Battersea Park Morunning 5k is now in its fourth year and I have run at every one of them. This time of year the park is looking fantastic as the trees are showing off their autumn colours.

battersea park - the pond and trees

As this is a flat and very fast 5k course, I set myself multiple time goals, with each one progressing a little from the previous.

Goal 1 was the very achievable: Sub-20

Goal 2 was the hopefully in good enough shape for: New course best ( currently 19.37)

Goal 3 was the top end of realistic goals: New personal best (currently 19.18)

Goal 4 was the dream goal should the day turn out perfect: Sub-19

a section of the run

Morunning is part of the whole Movember thing and raises awareness for mens health issues - it is also a time where we are encouraged to grow a moustache, or to use the trendy version - a mo! Something that as I'm not the hairiest of people doesn't come easy to me. Anyway, I tried.

terry collecting his race pack

My friend Terry accompanied me to run this race for the third time, we (me and the ladies) picked him up at 8am and continued on fairly traffic free roads over to Battersea and we were in the car park at about 8.50am. Car parking on Sundays is £2.50 for up to three hours.

my race pack

We had arrived so early because the race packs are not sent out in advance and we had to leave enough time to queue to pick them up and then to attach our bibs and timing chips, then to warm up and have time to visit the toilets. Finally we needed to get near the front of the pack as I didn't fancy starting in the middle of 758 runners, especially as I knew that I'd be finishing quite close to the front.

morunner7t?

This year, as part of the entry fee the runners were all given Morunning headbands and these were given out along with the race pack. I had been looking forward to getting mine so once I had my hands on it, I unwrapped it and popped it on.

mo-tilda

The nice ladies at the registration desk gave my daughter her own race number to wear, so she promptly had it attached to her coat and loved it! Thank you, nice ladies! After the photo was taken we did add here name to the white box, so for the morning so she became Mo-tilda! The marshals out on the course were great and even had some fun signs to hold up!

yes. we do!

The conditions were really good and actually very similar to 2012's race. It was dry with no wind and the temperature was around 7 or 8 degrees - not bad for mid-November when the forecast for the following weeks was for sub-zero temperatures and sensationalist headlines claiming the worst snow in the history of the world was on its way. The bottom line is that everything was in place for a good run.

on my way to the front of the pack

As 10 o'clock approached I hovered around the start pen entrance so I could get right to the front - just after 9.50 we were all allowed to move into the pen, and I'm happy to report that I made it right to the front. By the way, I used my New Balance 1080v3 shoes, which I love.

i'm in there making a funny face

The course that this event uses is a very simple two laps of the park starting and finishing at the band stand. The only part that requires any thought or adjustment of pace is a short (30 metres or so) out-and-back with a 180-degree turn around some cones that you do once on each lap in order to make up the full five kilometres.

another section of the course (cones to separate runners from vehicles)

After a countdown, the horn was sounded and we were on our way. I took off at a strong pace down the opening straight section and was happy to have started without being held up. I could focus on just running as hard as possible. I didn't check my stopwatch until I got to the 2km mark, but I know from my GPS data that my first km was run in a little over three-and-a-half-minutes - this is much faster than the pace that I could maintain for the entire run.

half-way

Fortunately my pace settled after the opening section and I reached the 2km mark in, I think, 7.21, the 180 turn slowed my pace slightly and I hit half-way in about 9.28. After this, I didn't check my stopwatch again until I passed the 2km marker again (so I was at 4.5k-ish) - I knew from here that I'd have about 2 minutes to reach the end...

the end

... the time on my watch at that point showed 17.08 so I knew I'd be finishing close to 19.00 minutes but I would really have to work hard to break into the 18's. I pushed as hard as I could without pushing myself into the vomit zone, as I reached the final 20 metre section I glanced at my watch and saw that I could just about squeeze under 19 minutes so I did everything I could to sprint but there wasn't really much left in the tank.

morunners!

After the race the organisers gave me my participation medal, this year it was shaped like a moustache. I staggered out of the finish area and picked up some water. Post-run bacon sandwiches were given out to all runners, but as I'm vegetarian I passed and carried on over to the timing computer to find out my official time. All you do is type in your race number and your official finishing time comes up on the screen. It also gives you a print-out that's like a little receipt. It was brilliant having my result just minutes after finishing!

result print out

My official chip time was 18.54 and I finished in 14th place out of 758 runners. That puts me in the top 1.8 percent of the runners on the day. According to the running app Strava, I also set new personal bests for 400 metres (1.19), 1/2 mile (2.49), 1km (3.34), 1 mile (5.54) and 2 miles (12.06) during the run. It really couldn't have gone any better. After checking some age grading websites it seems that this finish time means I have broken the 70% age grade. The running for fitness website calculates it as 70.2% and the runners world website gives me 70.16. This means that I am possibly fit enough to run a sub-40 10k.

The full official results can be found here.

the medal deserves its own close up

As usual - a huge thank you to the wife for taking most of these photos to help me tell the story of the day and for agreeing to get up so early to accompany me to races almost every weekend over the last few months. It's a fun little event and I expect we'll be back next year too!