A Wet Wallington 10K

Another Win But At What Cost

Dad, it's raining.

Rain, what rain?

Another prize.

Race no. 23 on what turned out to be a very wet night at Wallington Hall.

My day did not start well when I woke up with a sore achilles from nowhere. Treatment during the day involving ice and heat packs seemed to get rid of the problem, so Chris and I travelled to Wallington Hall in Northumberland for the 10K.

The start was roughly one mile up a hill from the hall. A downhill start thought I, " lets get to the front"

"GO" , said the starter and away I went. A glance at the Forerunner - 4.30 pace, yes that's just over four minute miling! 4.22, wow!. I was in a ridiculous fifth position! 5.34 - that's more like it. 5.45, ok, 5.09 - 6.10, obviously hit the bottom of the hill. 5.46, 5.22, dropping again.

With the left turn in sight I thought, " Ow, my achilles is hurting, should I stop?" With a possible pb on  and a first mile in 6.13,  no way.

Along a straight for another mile at 6.53 pace it was looking good, if painful. On sixteen minutes the course started climbing and continued do so so for another 24 minutes. Climbing into Scots Gap Chris finallly caught me, " push on", I said you are on for a PB.  I meanwhile was suffering a very painful achilles. The only thing keeping me going was the thought of going under 45 mins. for a challenge PB. Up and up climbed the road and more sensible runners who had kept to a reasonable pace were passing me.

Top of the climb in sight. Sharp left turn to the start and a mile to go. Could I get down to my starting pace? I hammered down that hill, but could I recapture that early pace? No. It was difficult to get it down to even 7.30, but I kept pushing as the pace got down to 7.07 for the 5 mile to 6 mile mark. Sharp left and into the Hall grounds and line for a finishing time of 45.59. We will have to look for a pb some other time.

The rain which had mostly held off during the race now became a deluge, driving most of the runners off to the cars and an early bath. Chris, I and Ivan Newton ( Tynedale Harriers), waited for the results and waited. Finally, Ivan gave up and went home. The presentation then started before a crowd of ten! Ivan was 1st V45 in 41.42 (16th place), Chris was 30th in 43.42, and I was 1st V65 in 45.59.

Today my achilles is bad and I am out of action, watch this space for my return.

Race No. 22 Newcastle Park Run

Abersoch

Caernarvon looking towards Snowdon

Back From Holiday

After a week of rest and recovery in North Wales it was back to racing and number 22 in the challenge, another Park Run on Newcastle own Moor.

Having completed a third of the challenge, I am pretty well on schedule despite a couple of rest periods, firstly for a cold, then for a calf injury. Last week's holiday in Abersoch, North Wales didn't  give me an opportunity to race, but I did enjoy a couple of runs along the coast. The second run was on the North Wales Coastal Path heading west on the Lleyn Peninsular from Abersoch. I ran just over three miles out before retracing my steps to record, roughly 10k distance and 925 feet of ascent and descent. It felt good and was a start in my preparation for the World Masters Mountain Championship this September in Betws Y Coed, just a little to the east of Lleyn.

Today, I turned out in Newcastle to get another race in, but also to see how my legs would perform. The answer was not so well, both hamstring and calf giving me some discomfort. Add in a headwind at the start and I knew my Personal Best for 2015 of 21.44 was never going to be under pressure.

At the finish I recorded 22.41, a reasonable result for 101st position ( out of a field of 459), 1st V65 and third finisher for Tynedale Harriers, Jaycee Shotton was 14th in 18.58 and Ivan Newton, 32nd in 19.58.

I am hoping to do the Wallington 10K during the week as I enter the second third of the 65forizzi challenge. With luck and a bit of common sense on my part I hope to get back into some sort of form over the next couple of months, then the target will be a sub 22 minute 5k, sub 45 minute 10K and who knows a 75 minute 10 miler?

Kirkley 10K 15th July 2015

Race No. 21

Ogle Village

Richard Hunter warming up the crowd before the presentation.

After a week's rest for my calf injury I didn't have to travel far for Race No. 21,the Kirkley 10K. It was the first time that I have done this race, but I was on familiar ground at Kirkley Hall, for some years ago I uprooted my family, a then pregnant Muriel, plus toddler,  Christopher, to live out a dream of building my own property in the countryside (actually I paid a local builder to do the work).

During construction in the village of Ogle, we lived in a farm cottage at Kirkley Home Farm, literally 100 yards from last night's start, moving into the new house just before Sophie was born.

Yes, we found it is very nice living a truly rural life style, but it's a bit quiet for a very young family and we moved on to Wylam. Almost thirty years later the Ogle area has changed not one bit.

Anyway, enough of my usual boring digressions, with a suspect calf I started quite far down the field and eased my way into the race, holding back until the half way point and the turn for home through, yes, Ogle.

Picking up my pace and a bit of pain from the calf, I was able to finish in a fairly decent time of 45.59, my watch, or 46.00 according to results, or a net chip time of 45.50 - thats technology for you.

At the presentation it was almost a Tynedale Harriers clean sweep amongst us oldies. Peter Hearn took the V50 prize in 39.12, Hugh Welch, V55 in 42.43 and I was 1st V65 in one of the times above. My new pal ( we have raced a few times now), Richard Sill, Morpeth Harriers was 1st V60 in 43.30.

At the finish a masseur (masseuse?), Anna Stokoe, was offering treatment to those in need, I was certainly one of those. As she laid her hands on the offending calf she offered the opinion that I desperately needed lots of massage on it. It was a lot better after her work, but I have booked further treatment tomorrow.

Hopefully I will be ready for my next race, soon.

Monthly Mile South Shields My First Injury

Monthly Mile South Shields
Lining up at the Sand Dancer (no. 79) with Michael McNally (on my left), Jarrow & Hebburn and some of the other runners before the July Monthly Mile.

I hadn't ran since the Red Kite Trail Race on Sunday and was still a bit sore, more from a fall in the race than the race itself. Warming up with Michael and Louise Griffin, my left calf just gave up on me and with minutes to the start I was out!

After twenty races without any injury problems it is gutting to be out of action. Fortunately, I did not have any race planned for this weekend and can only hope that some intense treatment on my calf will get me back in time for the Kirkley 10K next week.

Red Kite Trail Race

Race no. 20 Red Kite Trail Race 5 July 2015

One of 23 stiles in the race

Today's race was the longest to date in the challenge, The Red Kite Trail Race, an 8plus mile trail race in the County Durham's Derwent Valley.

I had done a recce. last Sunday with Derwent Valley Trailrunners and knew what to expect, a 100 yard dash along Front Street, Dipton, before turning onto a footpath through farm land before plunging downhill through woodland, then uphill to the finish. Sounds easy, doesn't it?

The reality as I discovered during the recce, was a series of stiles right from the start of the farm land. This required a fast start to the race if I was not to be caught in a queue at every stile.

At the gun I was away with the other whippets, they, of course, being forty years younger than this silver fox. But, I can still put in a spurt over a short distance, at one point recording a pace of 5.18.

Five runners got to the first stile before me, but having got away from the rest of the field there was no queue and this continued over the next half dozen stiles. In this way, I covered the first mile in 7.16, the second in 7.39 and we had plunged down some steep woodland paths.

Running through a couple of farms I had conceded a few places, but still reckoned I was in the top 10 places. We were now heading towards Hamsterley Mill, always on narrow, muddy paths and at one point splashed through a stream. Back into woodland, we were now in an area which was being forested. The track  widened, but at the expense of mud and tracked ruts from the heavy plant involved in the wood cutting. Now it was all uphill and my pace suddenly dropped from 8.28 for mile 4 to 10.39 for mile 5 and 10.41 for mile 6. A final lungbursting clmb for mile seven took me to the low of 11.31 and the conceding of a few more places.

One of these places conceded was to a lovely lady, white vest, red piping - Sunderland Strollers? We had a conversation during our forest stroll, in which she told me that she was definitely a road runner, not a trail runner.
" Did you do Tynedale 10K? "I asked.
 " No "she replied.
 " Blaydon?"
"Yes" she replied.
"Time?"
"39.51" said she.
"Well you were 22 seconds ahead of me" I responded.
 Should we have been saving our breath for the race? No, there is always time for a friendly chat among runners.

Now we were into the last mile which included the final climb of the 848 feet ascent in the race. With the top in sight I was able to raise the pace to 9.25 and finish in 18th position for 1hour 13.57 mins.

At the prizegiving I found that there were no age category prizes, but I think that I was first V60. For an entry fee of only £4.00 I was more than happy to settle for the moral victory.

Tynedale 10K 1st July 2015

Oh Dear A Technical Hitch

Here he comes

Looking happy at the half way point

July 1st 2015 and the hottest day of the year in the North East with the temperature getting up to 29c, not the best conditions for race no. 19 in the challenge.

After picking up my race number and timing chip at Ovingham Middle School I prepared myself for a good race in the early evening heat.
Lots of fluid onboard - check.
Nicely warmed up      - check
Stretched                    - check
Timing chip               - how does this work ? Ah, attach to laces, ok. That seems to be sticking up in the air, tuck it in, thats better, sure? - More later.

The start is about a mile from Ovingham, up the hill to Ovington. As I love the downhill dash from the start I got nice and near the front. Quite a crush , but as the hooter sounded away we went down the steep hill. A glance a the watch said 5 min. 30 pace. Pull it back and control breathing. 6.10/ 6.15/ 6.30 that's better, I thought as we approached the mile mark. 6mins 22 for the first mile, is that time in the bank, or too fast? Still, I felt good, although it was hot. The second mile showed my pace dropping as we took the slight incline towards Wylam. 7.11, hmn that's ok, but can I pick it up? 7.28 as we took the short, sharp climb into the village. A smile for Muriel (with the camera) at the crossroads as we came into my home village. Round Stephenson's Terrace and onto the track for the return to Ovingham via the Country Park.

At this point I had been passed by a Morpeth Runner,Richard Sill,  who had asked my age category. When I told him V 65, he replied, ah good, " I'm V60". I said that I would follow him round as he started to get away from me.

Mile marker 4 passed with my watch showing 7.35, push Peter, said I to myself. 7.48 at 5 miles and my target of 44 mins was not looking good. But, was that Richard Sill just ahead? With the 6 mile marker in sight I picked up the pace to go past him and the marker in 7.22 mins. Line in sight and a final effort to finish in 45.10, not a bad time in these conditions, particularly as I had seen two runners collapse from heat exhaustion in that last mile.

In the old days, like last week, it would have taken an hour to get results before the prizegiving could take place. Now it is almost instant and while I was eating my pie and pea supper fellow Tynedale Harrier, Paul Tait came up to me and said that I wasn't in the top three places. " Really", said I, "I thought I had done ok". A glance at the results showed 2nd placed Ian Richardson of North Shields Poly had done 44.18. Fair enough, but the 3rd place had finished in 50 minutes.
"Well there are only two prizes, anyway" said Paul.
" Fair enough " I replied.

Looking at the results today, I am not listed, but as all the other 600 runners managed to get their electronic chips to work I have only myself to blame for the failure of mine - look at the image below and tell me what I did wrong, please.

As if that is not bad enough, the results seem to show Ian Richardson as 1st V65, that means I should/could have been second. B.....r!

 So, is the chip under my laces?