Jack's marathons - April and May 2012

Hull Marathon: 8 April 2012: This is a new, fairly flat and fast road marathon and there is an added bonus in that the race takes runners out and back over the Humber Bridge. The main problems this year were a virtually total lack of visible mile markers and an out and back section of about 2.5 miles each way along the front of Victoria Dock, which comprised lots of very tight twists and turns. There was much more support along the route than I had expected and the weather was just right for running. My time was 3:49:56.

Worcester Marathon: 15 April 2012: This was another new road marathon. The route was rural, hilly and pleasant, but there were a lot of issues that need to be resolved if they are contemplating running it again. The ‘nominal’ parking fee at the Rugby Club turned out to be £3 and there were long queues as people searched for their money. This meant that the race set off quarter of an hour late. Once we started running we discovered that what mile markers they had were in completely the wrong places. There were very few mile markers after 13 miles and there was at least half a mile between the 26 mile marker and the finish. Furthermore the 18 mile drink station ran out of drinks and there was a long gap to the next water station. I ran 3:48:35.

Madrid Rock’n’Roll Marathon: 22 April 2012: As part of my own personal mission to drag the Spanish economy out of crisis I booked to run the Madrid Marathon with a group of friends. On arrival it was actually very sad to see a large number of beggars out on the streets.

This was the first Rock’n’Roll Marathon in Europe and the organisation was fairly chaotic. Indeed, having the bag drop area around 1.5 miles from the race start caught both Spanish and foreigners out. I managed to deposit my bag and get back to the start area about 7 minutes before the race started. There was no chance of finding a toilet before the race commenced and I was subsequently advised that a number of the toilets provided had never actually been unlocked so people hadn’t been able to use them. I had run 15k by the time I actually located a usable portaloo by which time I was getting pretty desperate.

I knew the course was going to be fairly hilly and for the first time in the last couple of months my legs felt tired from fairly early on. As it grew steadily warmer I started to flag noticeably and I was relieved to cross the finish line in 4:04:48. I enjoyed Madrid, but the marathon organisers have a lot of work to do if they want to keep people coming back to do this race.

Belfast Marathon: 7 May 2012: I didn’t make the Milton Keynes Marathon on 29 April as I’d come down with a cold, but the weather at Belfast the following week was almost as filthy as it had been for Milton Keynes. When I ran Belfast in 2011 I’d run Limerick Marathon the day before and only finished in 4:19:00. This year my legs were a lot fresher and I was able to keep with the 3:45 pace group until around 23 miles, finishing in 3:46:26. The bad news was that I then had to stand around shivering for around 45 minutes before I could collect my baggage (and it was very wet and very cold).

Kildare Marathon: 13 May 2012: With my legs as tired as they were I could have done with a flat marathon and no wind. Unfortunately the Kildare course was undulating and very exposed to the wind. The race starts from and finishes at the famous Curragh race course and there were plenty of toilets and undercover changing areas. However, it was one of those days when the cold gets into your bones wherever you are and I struggled hard to finish in 3:53:48, but won the first vet 60 prize. As an extra bonus my pre-Belfast cold returned with a vengeance and travelling back on the Monday was miserable.

Druridge Bay Trail Marathon, Northumberland: 20 May 2012: This is a beautiful 4 lap marathon along trails, footpaths, roads and beaches. Whilst it was windy in places there was also plenty of sun and there were even people swimming in the sea. The scenery was truly spectacular. I’d forgotten how beautiful the Northumberland coast is and I’m now looking forward to the Northumberland Coast Marathon later in the year. It was good to see Steve Smith from Striders there (he was born a few miles away from Druridge Bay) and great to see him come 2nd overall in 3:13:58. Alison Telfer’s brother, Mike, was also running and he came 8th in 3:24:56. I finished in 4:18:05, which won me the first vet 60 award. I later discovered that I had been the only vet 60 running, but what the heck.

Edinburgh Marathon: 27 May 2012: I don’t particularly like running in the heat at the start of the summer so I wasn’t overjoyed that it was warm from the start at Edinburgh. I also couldn’t understand why the half marathon started 2 hours before the marathon. The marathon started at 10am thus ensuring that we bore the brunt of the midday sunshine. Surely it would be more sensible to have the marathon starting at 8am rather than the half. Last time I ran Edinburgh Marathon was in 1999 when the race started in Dunfermline and finished in the centre of Edinburgh. Since then the route has totally changed and the majority of the route follows the coastline. The first 17 miles were not too bad as we benefited from some breeze off the sea, but after that I started to wilt and I was certainly pleased to finish in under 4 hours on this one. My time was 3:53:08.

Jack Brooks

St Albans 10K - the day the sun came to town

It was the day the sun came to town..... Sunday 13 May and the St Albans 10K. Like the Fred Hughes 10, the St Albans leg of the Mid Week Road Race League, and the cross-country, events like the 10K rely on the enthusiasm and dedication of club members and they couldn’t happen without their expertise. So, on behalf of those runners who got in touch with comments and feedback afterwards, here’s a ‘wordle’ thank you card to everyone involved:

To the marshals, the bakers and great sandwich makers,

The race leaders and sweepers, and important time keepers,

The course setter uppers, the photograph takers,

The course taker downers, the lovely tea makers,

The givers of medals, our slick registration, 

And those who ensured our runners’ hydration

The vital first aiders, the litter collectors, 

And last, but not least, to John, race director!

Cheers! We couldn’t have done it without you! 

MWRRL Stevenage - a view from 'near the back'

The train from work at Finsbury Park to Stevenage taking me to my first ever Midweek Road Race League fixture passed through a bleak, torrential  thunderstorm. It felt like the end of days. What had I got myself into?

But after a short taxi ride, I arrived at Race HQ and  felt reassured. Lots of familiar yellow and blue vests, many smiling faces. We run this distance (10k) every week, so why worry?

Our race numbers attached, we jogged gently to gather at the start. For the uninitiated, this was quite a surreal sight. The six clubs in the league all have very bright running shirts, and it looked to me like a group of Grand National jockeys who had all lost their horses.

Even so, we cantered off, helped by a downhill start, through a series of damp underpasses and along a ring road for at least a mile. Wasn't it supposed to be a beautiful valley?

For a while I ran with about eight burly Fairland Valley Spartans runners. Nestled in amongst them, I pretended that they were my bodyguards.

As I am new to this, I have a question: how do you do the 'middle miles'? The beginning is fine because I'm nice and fresh, and the end is helped by a healthy dose of adrenaline, but I'm never sure how much to push it in between. Answers on a postcard please....

Seeking help, I decided to try and find Striders running an even but fairly challenging pace (for me), and was lucky enough to latch on to Peter (King of the Marshals) and Mercedes, with whom I ran miles 3, 4 and 5.

Running can be a solitary pursuit, even in a crowd, and I really felt the benefit of our small team of three, while the many Striders vests stretching in front of me gladdened my (rapidly beating) heart.

And as we ran around a huge park and lake in Fairlands Valley, I remembered to look up and admire the surroundings, which were – at last – beautiful.

The final mile or so was deceptively twisty, not to mention turny. Aware that my final 'spurt' only lasts 50 metres tops, I struggled to know when to push on. Still I got round in just over 48 minutes which I was delighted with, pretty much matching my PB from the St Albans 10K only two days earlier.

This is 'reportage' rather than a race report, but I have to record how awestruck I am by the Striders' perfomances. Tom won the men's race, Vicky won the women's race, we won the men's senior and vets team and the women's senior team races. Six of the first eight men were Striders. All 12 of our men's 'A' team came in under 37:30. And the sheer numbers of yellow vests were only matched by the 'home team'. We were dominant, to put it mildly.

From a personal perspective, I was 39th Strider home, and would have scored some points for any of the other teams, so played my little part in pushing those behind me down the ranking by a place. I'll take that.

And so as we car-shared back to St Albans, Marc, Lucy, Emma and I – happy debutants one and all – basked in our runners' highs and compared notes, first impressions and discussed tactics for the next time. Bring on Welwyn!

Richard Sved 

That elusive 3 miles? Smashed!

So somehow, I've survived and managed to make it to week 3 of the ‘Get Started’ course. AKA  – half way. How has that happened? How am I actually managing to run these distances? I’m actually getting better?! Well apparently so – and in such a short space of time as well.

I’m going to backtrack to last week when I went on my first solo run without the Striders and the flatmate (yes – week one I was naughty and couldn’t quite bring myself to leave the house whilst it was heaving down with torrential rain. I hadn’t formed my runner’s guilt back then). Bearing in mind, I’d complained all around the Thursday session, and was a little saddened I hadn’t quite hit 3 miles, I was a determined little soul, slogging my way around Green Wood Park in Park Street. And believe it or not, that Sunday morning I actually wanted to get out of bed and run. There was no runner’s guilt here – I actually ‘fancied going for a run’. (For those who know me well, this is an oddity. Again, I must remind you of my history of sport. It’s not great…) So, iPod in, Nike GPS set, my 80s Casio special on my wrist to time intervals (a rather fetching gold colour) and off I went.  

I must have looked a sight. Sweaty, out of breath, but still managing to sing along (quite loudly) to my running playlist that I had created; the dog walkers and people taking their children to burn off some energy did give me rather a wide berth. However, I did it. 3.24 miles to be exact. I was beyond smug! I’m sorry to everyone I bored rigid that day with details of my run. It is official: I have become a running bore.

So back to the course. Tuesday. Yes, Tuesday. Not much to report here I’m afraid as I was in a poisonous mood and didn’t want to speak to anyone. I’d already stropped at my work colleagues for 8 hours, and couldn’t bear to put the Striders through the same ordeal. So I stayed at home. And felt horribly guilty. My flatmate reported back it was a particularly hard session with lots of hill work – but I was slumped in the bath at that time so can’t really comment. Sorry!

However, I was back in fighting form on Thursday. Abby was apparently poorly (get well soon!) so Julie led our run. More mean streets of St Albans running, more growling, more 'Simon Says' (love that game!) and another 5k smashed. Can I hear a ‘HURRAH’?! 

I was chatting to another Striders member around the course - Cazza - who was full of encouraging advice and helped me block out the pain of running when I was truly knackered. Getting hints and tips is invaluable from experienced runners, and definitely helps me stay focused when the going gets tough. We’re also getting up to 7 minute runs in our intervals. 5 minutes now seem a piece of cake (!) and it shocks me again how quickly I’m progressing. I know, I know, I sound like a broken record – however if I hadn’t joined the ‘Get Started’ course, I’d still be faffing around at 2 minute runs or such like. Or maybe even given up trying to run.

Finally, I’ve just come back from another solo run (with the flatmate this time) and we’ve clocked just less than 4 miles running around the village. I’m not quite sure how we did it, but we did. (Granted, with intervals but there was only a total of 6 minutes walking. The remaining 35 minutes was running.)  So now I’m pushing myself to get to that elusive 4 mile mark. Maybe next week, huh?

Also for next week - I’m still waiting to be taught on how to ‘Spit like a runner’ which was promised last week… all ladylike decorum and poise goes out the window apparently. I can’t wait!

Jemma Western

Puddle! Post! Pedestrian!

So, second week in and, apart from a pulled muscle in my collar bone (yes, I know you don’t need to say anything, only I could injure myself in such an obscure way), I’m feeling pretty good about myself.

This week the Green group saw themselves having to leave the relative safety of the park and run on the mean streets of St Albans. Across roads and everything - yes, it IS as scary as it sounds. Although I did feel for the Amber group who apparently had to do hill training on the Tuesday. Sorry guys, rather you than me.

Tuesday, we met the lovely Julie who will be our run leader for the Tuesday sessions going forward. As an ex ‘Get Started’ member herself, she detailed exactly what we would be doing in our session and instilled the group with confidence. More intervals – running for up to 5 minutes in total with one minute walks around Prospect Road, Cottonmill Lane, Holywell Hill, the Abbey and of course the obligatory lake circuit. The group found itself inadvertently playing a game of ‘Simon Says’ as we ran – bellowing all obstacles that would cross our paths. Starting with Julie, it would then echo its way down the group much to my amusement (they don’t call me Foghorn Leghorn for nothing). What the residents of St Albans would have made of us I don’t know, but definitely kept my mind off the fact I was running for 5 minutes straight. Mileage for that session was 2.65 miles.

Thursday was particularly tough for me. The flatmate was suffering from a nasty cold and had decided she wasn’t going to join me on the session so she wouldn’t exacerbate it. Along with the freezing, drizzly weather I must admit I was very tempted to ‘Bunk off’, stay in my nice warm house and watch rubbish television with her. But apparently you get runner’s guilt very quickly so I soon found myself shivering by the running track at 7pm with calls of ‘Blogger, you’re back’ from the other Striders. 

Abby was our run leader again, and apparently was still as evil as the week before, in the nicest possible way! This time, she got us up to a 6 minute run and up a very steep hill. Although I MAY have complained all the way throughout this run, Abby was fantastic at keeping us going and congratulating our efforts and hard work. We ran for 2.89 miles (so close to that elusive 3 miles.... maybe next week). I also managed to run my fastest mile, so in effect I can already run for faster and for longer, my recovery is already much better and it’s only my second week. Thank you so much Abby & Julie!

I can’t believe what I have achieved already and how quickly my stamina and endurance has built up with running. Of course, having a group of like-minded individuals helps, and the camaraderie is great. Whether you’re growling at each other over a particularly vicious hill (when I say growling, I mean the sound a dog would make rather than being horrible to each other), or encouraging other members who might be struggling that they CAN do this, having this kind of support is not something I would have expected would actually help so much. And what is really great is that there is no competitiveness. We’re all in this together.

The homework for this week is 5 min and 6 min runs with a hill. I think I’ve got my course mapped out and am planning on doing it Saturday morning with the flatmate. And if I think I won’t? That old runner’s guilt is there to chivvy me on. 

Jemma Western

The Mid Week Road Racing League - a fan's view!

The MWRRL is a series of five evening 10k races in Herts and Essex for local clubs. Striders are in the top league with five other local clubs. Points are allocated to the top 12 men and top six ladies (and vets), with the club with the best points score over the first four races winning the league. We finished 2nd in 2011.

Since it's a closed event for six clubs, the races are great for socialising and friendly rivalry with other runners from local clubs. The ability is quite mixed, with times anything from 31mins to 70mins, and up to 500 runners in each race. 

Striders’ former Chair, Sally Onn, was a great fan, so Tom Crouch interviewed her to find out more.

Tom: Tell us about your first MWRRL race

Sally: My first MWRRL was in Royston in 2008 in terrible wet weather! I turned up with a new friend I had made at the club just in time to buy my Striders vest and get to the start line. I can't remember much about the race, but I was very excited to have my first proper running club vest! It was also the first time I had chatted socially (over sandwiches and cakes afterwards) with the people I had met at the track. Doing the MWRRL was the start of some brilliant friendships at the club.

Welwyn road race, 2011

Tom: What was your favourite MWRRL race?

Sally: That has to be the WGC fixture last year. It was a lovely evening, I managed a 10K PB and finished 3rd lady - my best ever position.

Tom: Which is your favourite MWRRL course?

Sally: The mob match at Trent Park is probably my favourite. It's two loops off-road with a few testing undulations and a great flat finish. Stevenage and Welwyn are more urban, but have great PB potential. The St Albans course is tough, but as the end-of-series show-down it's always an awesome race!

Tom: What was your best league result? 

Sally: I got a trophy for 3rd senior female overall at the end of both the 2010 and 2011 series, which I am still really proud of. As I usually only managed to finish around 6th lady in any individual race, it goes to show that the most important thing is to turn up!

Tom: What do you think is the biggest MWRRL rivalry?

Sally: Well that has to be Striders vs Garden City Runners! When I first raced in 2008 we finished runners-up. In 2009 the ladies won but our men were 2nd. We had an awesome year in 2010 winning the men's, the ladies' AND the overall team trophy. In 2011 we only managed 2nd place, but that certainly means there's some revenge to be had on GCR this summer.

Tom: Finally, tell us 10 things you love about the MWRRL

Sally: Well..... 

1. It's free! 
2. You get to run on some lovely routes in the Hertfordshire countryside 
3. At least a couple of the races will be measured 10ks, so a good chance to go for a PB
4. You’ll be rewarded at the end with excellent refreshments
5. You’ll feel amazing for the rest of the week: you have bagged a race on a school night when most other people were sitting at home watching TV
6. The atmosphere is awesome - friendly marshals and great rivalry with the other clubs
7. You can use it as an excuse to skive off your hard midweek session and do a recovery jog instead (Coach Jubb even allows this on a Tuesday sometimes!)
8. There's a great feeling of bonding amongst the Striders – you’ll feel so proud in your yellow and blue vest
9. It frees up the Sunday morning race slot for a spot of gardening/baking/lying in bed
10. Every single runner can help the Striders to win the title! Trophies and glory await!

Interested? Want to find out more? More details about this year’s MWRRL are available on the forum