Call for Blog postings

It appears that our blog is rather devoid of: - amusing stories, (....we all want to know if you have fallen into the mud at a cross country race....) - race reports (....and whom you have overtaken ....who subsequently fell into the mud because of it....) - training advice (....how to avoid mud in general....) - recipies and nutrition advice (...how to made a chocolate mud pie...and EAT IT without any guilt....) - marshalling etiquette (....how to stay calm during a race....so not to push somebody into the mud....) - good housekeeping (....how to get mud off spikes....with a toothbrush?) Any other inspiring stories springing to mind, please email me on newsletter@stalbansstriders.com. Many thanks Petra

Pheidippedes: True Story?

By Jack Brooks

It is a little known fact that there were actually 2 runners sent off on the 24 mile journey from Marathon to Athens in 490 BC to deliver word of victory to those in the ruling chamber in Athens. 

The second runner was named Opportunistes and had his story come to light earlier the marathon distance could have been established well before 2008.

Now, Opportunistes was one of those runners who is habitually harping on about injuries and prior to the battle of Marathon he had ensured that all of his fellow runners were aware that he was having problems with his left calf. 

Nevertheless, when volunteers were called for to deliver the news to Athens that the Persians had been decisively trounced Opportunistes was the first to put his name forward.  In the end it was decided that 2 messengers would be despatched and Pheidippedes and Opportunistes set off together. 

It was probably sometime during the first few miles that Opportunistes suggested that they should add some spice to the journey by making it into a race and having a side-bet on the result. Having heard the rumours that Opportunistes had been suffering with calf problems an over-confident Pheidippedes wagered his only villa against Opportunistes’ villa.  Once they had shaken hands on this proposal Opportunistes suddenly picked up his pace.  Pheidippedes continued on at a steady pace confident that his opponent’s injuries would soon catch up with him.

It was with some surprise that Pheidippedes arrived at the ruling chamber to discover that Opportunistes had already been there over an hour earlier, had delivered his message about the battle and left a message for Pheidippedes to say he was jogging on to Xerxes’ café where he would be drawing up the paperwork for a major property transfer and would like to see him there as soon as possible. 

It is at times like these that one’s thought processes tend to crystallise and it now became evident to Pheidippedes that his opponent had never really sustained a calf injury, that he had been comprehensively duped and that he was about to lose his property.  

It has been widely reported that Pheidippedes entered the ruling chamber, uttered the words “We have won” and then died from exhaustion. However, his final words were actually “He has won” after which he suffered from a major heart attack and died on the spot.

Funnily enough, the distance from the ruling chamber to Xerxes’ café was exactly 2 miles and 385 yards.  Unfortunately, historians have only been able to ratify the true facts in recent months. Otherwise the full distance run by Opportunistes of 26 miles and 385 yards might well have been adopted from 490 BC as being the standard marathon distance.

Final blog: The Get Started Park Run

By Kate Webb

With apologies to Frank Sinatra.......
And now, the end is near, and so I face the final Park Run
The bin, was our start line, and off we ran, into the bright sun
We’ve done Get Started now, we’ve travelled round St Albans’ highways
And now, just look at us, we’ve done a 5K

Blisters? I’ve had a few, but then again, too few to mention
We did what we had to do, and saw it through, with some exhaustion
Week 1 around the lake, then up some hills, and roads, and by ways
And now, here in the park, we’ve done a 5K!

Yes, there were times, today I saw, that dogs and ducks were running faster,
But through it all, with marshalls’ cheers, I buckled down and faced my fears,
We lapped the lake, ran to the end, and did a 5K.

We’ve jogged, warmed up and stretched, with Becky’s help, and tips from Helen
And now, while warming down, I have hopes for the next park run
To think, six weeks ago, I wouldn’t run, not in a fast way -
But now, in Autumn’s sun, we’ve done a 5K!

Massive thanks to Helen, Becky and all the Striders who’ve made the Get Started course so enjoyable. And for making sure it never rained!

See you Tuesday.
Kate

Week 5: There’s strength in numbers

By Kate Webb

So we are entering the home straight which means I can look back to where I started and reflect on what I now know, such as:

#1 – there are lots of runners in St Albans. Not news to the Striders maybe, but I’ve not really noticed before. Whenever I’ve been out I’ve always seen someone else running.

#2 - you need never do the same route twice. This is especially good if you get bored quickly, which I do.

#3 – I really don’t like running on my own. I’ve tried it and it’s just not as good as running with others.

Heading out at weekends, with my supportive husband for company, has been good. But when I’ve gone out on my own, I’ve found it much more difficult. I really value the chance to run as part of a bigger group on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

I’ve found that numbers are helpful in other ways. For instance there’s running time – for the Green Team week 1 meant 5 minutes, while week 5 saw us run over half an hour. We can look at it in terms of miles covered too, though to be honest, here the records are less accurate. Garmins are still on our wish lists. But we are running further, definitely.

Having built up these stats I feel that there's still room to improve, and the end of next week promises more numbers, with an answer to the all important question: ‘What pace you do you run at?’

A few weeks ago when I was asked this, the best answer I could give was a shrug of my shoulders and a bit of a demonstration! Being able to answer confidently will give me something to build on in the future – for me, there’s definitely strength in numbers.

Intervals

By Kate Webb

9 October

Week four and I had to skip a session. I missed running, tea and cake on Tuesday as I had tickets for a play. I made up for it with butterscotch ice cream in the interval.

Intervals can mean different things in different circumstances. For me, until Get Started, the interval only happened at the theatre. It meant queuing for the loo or trying (usually in vain) for mobile reception to get an update on a ‘very important’ football match or something similar.

Over the last few weeks, intervals have been different. There’s been less ice cream for a start. The gentle and considered Green Team intro to running Striders-style has majored on intervals: run, (power) walk, run, (power) walk, repeat, until you’re back at the track for a warm down.

And then, in Thursday’s session, there was no interval.

Now, at the theatre in my experience ‘no interval’ isn’t always a good sign, for at least two reasons. First, there’s no chance to spend too much money on a small tub of ice cream. Second, there has been the odd occasion when I suspected that it was simply a way of stopping me walking out of a bad play.

‘No interval’ at Striders means something else entirely: we keep on running. On paper, given our sessions so far, this was a big step. The intervals were always a chance to catch up and get your breath back.

I suppose I knew this day would come, but the week 1 butterflies made a short reappearance as I wondered through the warm-up whether I’d manage to make it through to the end without stopping.

But to my amazement, ‘no interval’ didn’t leave me in an exhausted heap, and I coped. Okay, so we observed the Green Cross Code all the way round, and from time to time we jogged at a traffic light, but by the time we got back to the track we’d clocked up nearly 32 mins! It’s been years since I managed that and I was very chuffed as I made my way home.

Would it have been right to celebrate with an ice cream? Probably not. I’ll save that for another time, maybe after the 5k in a couple of weeks time.