My PBs from May 2008
Details (e.g., entry forms and results) of running races (e.g., 10K, 10M and half marathon),
both road races and multi-terrain,
in North East England:
Northumberland, Tyne and Wear,
County Durham,
Teesside, North Yorkshire, ...
Generated: Fri 03 Sep at 00:01:20 BST
I took up running in March 2001 and ran until November 2004 when I developed a knee injury. During three and a half years, I completed 149 races. Because of the knee injury, I decided to stop training. However, I started again in December 2007, and did my first race after the break in May 2008.
Here are the results of the races that I have completed,
where the races are given in pb order.
These are just the races from May 2008 onwards.
There are separate tables for the 10Ks, 10Ms and
half marathons.
The fastest time is given by the first entry of each table.
| date |
day
time |
location
distance |
my time
0.5K pace K pace M pace win time me/win win/wor |
who ran links |
comments, comments, comments | splits | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | May 2009 | 17 | Sun 1000 | Oxford 10K | 46m44s 2m20s 4m40s 7m31s 32m23s 1.44 1.18 |
| "Oxford Town and Gown 10K"; This was a different route from last year and I preferred this year's. The only problem was at the end of the race when people leaving the park collided with late runners. There were thousands of runners; there was good support and it was well marshalled. Although the rain kept off before the race, it rained quite a bit for the first half of the race (which was refreshing). I got a hamstring twinge at 3K which hurt more at 6.5K. Even so, I ran this race to my plan. I was aiming for 1K splits of 4m39s. My actual times for each 0.5K were very consistent: they varied from 2m07s to 2m25s and didn't change from one 0.5K to the next by more than 10s. My watch made this 10.17K but I think that was because of a loss of signal. | 2m07s, 2m09s, 2m14s, 2m13s, 2m23s, 2m14s, 2m22s, 2m20s, 2m15s, 2m19s, 2m23s, 2m22s, 2m14s, 2m23s, 2m19s, 2m25s, 2m22s, 2m24s, 2m22s, 2m12s, 0m45s (0.17K) | |||||||||||
| 2 | May 2010 | 16 | Sun 1000 | Oxford 10K | 47m03s 2m21s 4m42s 7m34s 32m26s 1.45 1.19 |
| "Oxford Town and Gown 10K"; A slightly revised route this year. In particular, we started outside the Keble gate to the Parks. A bit crowded at times for the first 5K. At each K, I was comparing my times with those of last year's race. My improvements for each K were +9s, +7s, +3s, +7s, -5s, +5s, -6s, -9s, -13s, -12s. So at 4K I was 26s ahead of last year's time but I then slowed up to finish 19s slower than last year's time. This was disappointing. My watch made the race 10.21K but it loses signal in a few places. | 2m02s, 2m05s, 2m08s, 2m12s, 2m14s, 2m20s, 2m17s, 2m18s, 2m15s, 2m24s, 2m20s, 2m20s, 2m23s, 2m20s, 2m27s, 2m26s, 2m29s, 2m26s, 2m29s, 2m17s, 0m58s (0.21K) | |||||||||||
| 3 | Feb 2010 | 28 | Sun 1030 | Bourton-on-the-Water 10K | 47m05s 2m21s 4m42s 7m34s 30m33s 1.54 1.12 |
| "Bourton-on-the-Water 10K"; This 10K has two laps around the centre of Bourton followed by an out-and-back course along the road that goes towards Great Rissington and then another 1.75 laps around the centre. After last year's race, they decided that the turn-round point was too early: so this year they re-measured and it was definitely 10K. Drizzle, cold and a slight wind made it less enjoyable. The publicity says that it's an "ideal course for a PB". I didn't aim for one and didn't realise I was close to one until I crossed the line: I finished in 47m05s which is 21s slower than my post 2007 10K PB. If only I'd known. This was despite the overcrowding in places and a lot of puddle-avoiding. Although my time was 1.54 times the winner's time, I got a 1.43 against the second place as the winner had a lead of over 2 minutes. | 2m01s, 2m08s, 2m13s, 2m16s, 2m20s, 2m21s, 2m22s, 2m24s, 2m16s, 2m18s, 2m22s, 2m22s, 2m29s, 2m22s, 2m26s, 2m25s, 2m23s, 2m17s, 2m15s, 2m15s, 0m41s (0.17K) | |||||||||||
| 4 | May 2010 | 03 | Mon 1030 | Shinfield (Reading) 10K | 47m49s 2m23s 4m46s 7m41s 33m09s 1.44 1.21 |
| "Shinfield 10K"; This race starts and finishes at the Green in Shinfield and uses pavements, roads and lanes to pass through the neighbouring villages (Ryeish Green and Spencers Wood). Although it has three gentle uphill long climbs, most of the route is flat. It's the third year I've done this race and once again there was a change to the route: the last 2.5K were different. This change included an off-road narrow footpath across a field in order to get back to Shinfield. It lasted from 8.2K to 8.8K and there was a strong, cold headwind as we crossed the field. And in the last K there was a short section on an uneven pavement. Unlike last year, this year the race was licensed by UKA. Officially I finished in 48m04s but I made it 47m49s. That's strange as it took me less than 15s to get to the start. Last year, my watch made the race 9.88K with my watch roughly agreeing with the K markers all the way until the final K which was short. I completed 9.88K in 48m42s. So that made a 10K time for last year of 49m17s. My improvements on each K against last year's 1K splits were: +4s, -5s, +13s, -1s, +23s, +28s, +11s, +19s, +4s, -3s. Overall that was 1m28s better. The pressure is on to beat my post-2007 10K PB at the Oxford Town and Gown in a fortnight's time. At the finish, there was a Mayday fete including the 4Bs: a bouncy castle, a band, a barbeque and a beer tent. | 2m08s, 2m18s, 2m23s, 2m29s, 2m28s, 2m13s, 2m16s, 2m25s, 2m32s, 2m19s, 2m17s, 2m38s, 2m23s, 2m20s, 2m24s, 2m28s, 2m25s, 2m37s, 2m26s, 2m05s, 0m18s (0.09K) | |||||||||||
| 5 | Dec 2009 | 13 | Sun 1100 | Chesterton 10K | 47m52s 2m23s 4m47s 7m42s 32m31s 1.47 1.19 |
| "Andy Reading 10K"; This is "a fast, flat course through the village of Chesterton and around the airfield at Weston-on-the-Green". For the first time, chips were used. Last year, I did this race in 49m10s. This year, I aimed for 48m00s which is 1.45 times last year's winner's time. That's 2m24s per 0.5K. But, stupidly, I started running without getting my watch sorted out. As I hadn't crossed the chip, I should had stopped. But I didn't. So I started my watch at the 1K marker and guessed I had run the first 1K in 4m30s and worked with aiming for 43m30s. When I crossed the line my watch said 43m25s. For some reason I thought I was aiming for 42m30s and so I was unhappy with this. BUT <cue-fanfare/> my official chip time was 47m52s and so even with all this faffing I managed to beat my target by 8s. Needless to say, this year's winner was faster than last year's and so I only got a 1.47. It was a chilly day (about 3 or 4 degrees) and I wore an extra layer but regretted that later. | 2m14s+2m13s (4m27s), 2m19s, 2m20s, 2m26s, 2m24s, 2m22s, 2m28s, 2m24s, 2m22s, 2m20s, 2m27s, 2m28s, 2m28s, 2m31s, 2m32s, 2m23s, 2m26s, 2m24s, 2m04s, 0m17s (0.07K) | |||||||||||
| 6 | May 2008 | 18 | Sun 1000 | Oxford 10K | 48m01s 2m24s 4m48s 7m43s 31m53s 1.51 1.17 |
| "Town and Gown 10K"; | 4m29s, 4m31s, 4m51s, 5m00s, 4m53s, 4m59s, 5m07s, 4m57s, 4m52s, 4m22s | |||||||||||
| 7 | Jun 2008 | 01 | Sun 1000 | Fairford 10K | 48m14s 2m24s 4m49s 7m45s 32m00s 1.51 1.17 |
| "Fairford 10K"; gentle rain; undulating with a hill between 4.8K and 5.8K; unusuallly, I started to push for home at 6K; was pleased with the times for the last 4K except I got a strange time for the last 1K; although my time for Fairford was 13s slower than the Town and Gown, Fairford is harder as it's undulating (but the winning time was only 7s slower) | 4m31s, 4m58s, 5m04s, 4m55s, 4m47s, 5m23s, 4m50s, 4m34s, 4m29s, 4m47s | |||||||||||
| 8 | Nov 2009 | 08 | Sun 1000 | Leatherhead 10K | 48m21s 2m25s 4m50s 7m46s 34m42s 1.39 1.27 |
| "Leatherhead Fire Station Charity 10K"; This race is organised by Red Watch of Leatherhead Fire Station to raise money for a local charity. The race is reasonably flat for the first 1.5K but then during the course of about 2.5K there is a gentle climb from 50m to 120m. Over the next 2K, you loose all that height and the remaining 4K is flat. About 2.5K is off-road on gravel tracks through a wooded area called Norbury Park, about 3K is on a cycle path whereas the rest of the course is on roads. Presumably because the race was being timed by chips, the results were being put up almost immediately. I aimed for 1.45 times last year's winner's time (34m33s). That means I was aiming for 50m06s. But, when coming down the hill (from 4K to 6K), I pushed myself with 0.5K splits of 2m11s, 2m14s, 2m08s and 2m18s. Then, on the flat, I rested a bit by slowing down for the next K, but, even though I was tired, I kept pushing myself during the next 3K. In the end, I got 48m21s which is a 1.39. I was delighted with this. As the start and finish was at the Fire Station, I was amused to see the fire engines being moved several times during the course of the morning out of the way of the runners presumably just in case they had to attend a fire. The scenery was good, the signage was good, the organisation was good, the post-race refreshments were good: I'll be back next year. | 2m06s, 2m33s, 2m27s, 2m50s, 2m39s, 2m19s, 2m36s, 3m06s, 2m11s, 2m14s, 2m08s, 2m18s, 2m32s, 2m39s, 2m25s, 2m24s, 2m18s, 2m25s, 2m20s, 1m53s (0.4K). | |||||||||||
| 9 | Nov 2009 | 29 | Sun 1030 | Eynsham 10K | 48m29s 2m25s 4m50s 7m48s 33m16s 1.46 1.22 |
| "Eynsham 10K"; This 10K is a two lap race which uses a mix of Eynsham's main streets and the roads that bypass Eynsham. It was timed using gun-to-chip. The race requires a lot of marshals and they did their job well. It is advertised as "flat and fast" but I found it difficult to get a good time partly because the terrain was a mix of road and thin footpaths with a few grass verges. Although I aimed to beat my best Oxfordshire 10K time, I came nowhere near this: I just got under 1.5 times last year's winner's time. | 2m03s, 2m11s, 2m14s, 2m24s, 2m29s, 2m28s, 2m24s, 2m27s, 2m34s, 2m26s, 2m23s, 2m14s, 2m24s, 2m30s, 2m31s, 2m31s, 2m30s, 2m31s, 2m27s, 2m16s, 0m33s (0.15K) | |||||||||||
| 10 | Mar 2010 | 07 | Sun 1100 | Southbourne 10K | 48m40s 2m25s 4m51s 7m49s 33m40s 1.45 1.23 |
| "Southbourne Fast and Flat 10K"; Southbourne is between Christchurch and Bournemouth. This 10K is along an out and back course starting with 0.8K along a road that goes to the promenade and then it's 4K along the prom as far as Boscombe Pier where you turn round. On the way out, the pier looked such a long way away: I could hardly see it to begin with. Although the sun was shining in a cloudless blue sky, there was a cold Easterly wind: so after going round the roundabout outside the pier, the return trip from 4.8K to 9.5K was a battle into this headwind as is clearly demonstrated by my 0.5K splits. So the "Southbourne Fast and Flat 10K" was flat but not very fast. Although there were no cars along the prom, there were a lot of walkers, some cyclists, some stray dogs and some stray children: you had to manoeuvre a way through this lot! | 2m04s, 2m11s, 2m16s, 2m23s, 2m21s, 2m22s, 2m24s, 2m24s, 2m21s, 2m26s, 2m33s, 2m40s, 2m37s, 2m33s, 2m35s, 2m34s, 2m30s, 2m36s, 2m32s, 2m13s, 0m07s (0.03K) | |||||||||||
| 11 | May 2010 | 09 | Sun 1130 | Crowle 10K | 48m41s 2m26s 4m52s 7m50s 33m43s 1.44 1.23 |
| "Crowle Gunpowder Plot 10K"; The race started (and finished) by going 0.75 times round a field. It then went along a narrow track to get to the road. On the way out, this was crowded. It was an out and back course except for a section in the middle. At the bit of the course that was furthest away we ran down one side of the road for about 1K, turned round and ran back the other side of the road. For this, the road was divided in two by cones, but people slowed down as it got crowded. So, at times when there weren't runners coming the other way, I ran the wrong side of the cones in order to overtake people. There were short hills at 2.3K and 8.5K and two gentler hills at 6.5K and 8.1K. Other than that it was reasonably flat. It was very sunny and I found it hot. Foolishly, I didn't have a plan for this race. Last night I had worked out what 1.44 times last year's winner's time was but I failed to remind myself before running. So I had nothing to aim for. After returning to the car at the end of the race, I discovered I had got 1.43 against last year's winners time which pleased me. However, this year the winner was 18s faster but I still got 1.44. | 2m13s, 2m21s, 2m15s, 2m19s, 2m32s, 2m30s, 2m31s, 2m27s, 2m26s, 2m18s, 2m31s, 2m33s, 2m40s, 2m46s, 2m30s, 2m26s, 2m38s, 2m24s, 2m15s, 2m06s (0.47K) | |||||||||||
| 12 | May 2009 | 04 | Mon 1030 | Shinfield (Reading) 10K | 48m42s 2m26s 4m52s 7m50s 32m22s 1.50 1.18 |
| "Shinfield 10K"; new route for 2009; "race starts and finishes in Shinfield and passes through the villages of Shinfield and Spencers Wood"; "generally flat and fast"; "medal"; "mayday fete including a bouncy castle and a barbeque"; got a calf twinge before the race; felt sluggish in the second half with some pain in my shins; to begin with I could hardly walk afterwards; disappointed at my time; relative to the winner, I got 1.50 which is disappointing; my watch made the race 9.88K with most of the problem being a short last 1K; so I make that a 10K time of 49m17s with a pace of 7m56s | 4m30s, 4m47s, 4m54s, 4m50s, 5m14s, 5m23s, 4m54s, 5m11s, 5m06s, 3m55s (0.88K) | |||||||||||
| 13 | Mar 2009 | 15 | Sun 1000 | Exbury Gardens 10K | 48m52s 2m26s 4m53s 7m51s 36m07s 1.35 1.32 |
| "Exbury Gardens 10K"; limit of 350; journey: 74.3M, 1h46m; "flat and fast circular course run over country lanes which starts and finishes in Exbury Gardens, taking in spectacular views of the Solent and includes approx 500m of beach front running on shingle foreshore path at Lepe beach"; 3K marker was too early: it was where the white paint on the ground was but that differs from the printed map; I wasn't very hydrated and it was a very sunny, hot day; even so, I started fast and although each K was getting slower I maintained a face pace to get me my third faster pace since restarting racing in 2008 and a 1.35; very well pleased; I should easily beat last year's Town and Gown 10K time in two month's time | 4m28s, 4m35s, 4m45s, 4m49s, 4m49s, 5m01s, 5m06s, 5m12s, 5m02s, 4m45s, 0m20s (0.08K) | |||||||||||
| 14 | Jun 2009 | 14 | Sun 1000 | Wargrave 10K | 48m52s 2m26s 4m53s 7m51s 34m05s 1.43 1.25 |
| "Wargrave 10K"; journey there: 26.6M, 0h55m; This 10K is at Wargrave (which is between Reading and Maidenhead). It takes place on undulating rural lanes. As there were 628 finishers, these narrow lanes were a bit crowded for the first 3K (at least they were where I was). There is a hill between 3.6K and 4K, but it's mainly downhill or flat from about 5K onwards. The hardest parts are the straight and flat mile just before 8K and the last 0.4K which are on grass going three sides round the recreation ground. This is especially so when it's hot as there's no shade. The race was well marshalled and there were three water stations. Chips were used for timing. 20 runners were from the Teignbridge Trotters running club which is in Devon. Querying a few of them before the race as to why they'd travelled so far, I learnt that they were suffering from a stag day the day before! However, lots of them finished in front of me even though I'd only had one beer the day before: their first two finishers were at 15th and 17th. I also saw some runners with T-shirts saying 'wide fitting "briefs"'. I asked one of them, during the race, an obvious question to which he giggled and replied '38 inches'. Given last year's winning time of 34m40s I was aiming for somewhere between 48m32s (1.4) and 52m00s (1.5). I was well pleased with 48m52s which is 1.43 against this year's winning time. It was very hot (23 degrees?). | 2m11s, 2m24s, 2m27s, 2m26s, 2m34s, 2m30s, 2m47s, 2m43s, 2m29s, 2m21s, 2m24s, 2m26s, 2m31s, 2m33s, 2m20s, 2m28s, 2m23s, 2m11s, 2m12s, 2m16s, 0m21s (0.10K) | |||||||||||
| 15 | Dec 2009 | 31 | Thu 1730 | Barcelona 10K | 48m58s 2m26s 4m53s 7m52s 28m41s 1.71 1.05 |
| "Cursa dels Nassos - Sant Silvestre de Barcelona"; The San Silvestre 10K is a chip-timed race that takes place in the main streets of Barcelona on New Year's Eve at 5.30p.m. It starts just as it's about to get dark. The race is also known as the "Cursa dels Nassos" which is Catalan meaning the "Race of Noses". One web page says that the name "comes from the fact that the date coincides with the last day in the life of the Man of Many Noses, a popular character in Catalan folklore". It was a hard race to run as it was very crowded: space was difficult to find and it was difficult to achieve a constant running pace. I and a few others spent a lot of time being naughty by running along the pavements and even behind spectators in places. This was more hard work because the pavements were sometimes uneven and there are many roads to cross, but I could concentrate on running rather than space-finding. In some ways, this aspect of the race reminded me of the Great North Run. Throughout the race, people were overtaking me at a much greater pace and I was in turn overtaking those who were gently ambling along. This was happening throughout the race, even within the last couple of Ks. They have divided the video of the runners finishing into one minute segments (but I haven't found one of me). Anyway, you can easily see how crowded the race was by looking at one of these videos. | 2m28s, 2m20s, 2m22s, 2m29s, 2m22s, 2m25s, 2m24s, 2m26s, 2m29s, 2m27s, 2m31s, 2m29s, 2m35s, 2m27s, 2m26s, 2m29s, 2m22s, 2m25s, 2m22s, 2m16s, 0m13s (0.05K) | |||||||||||
| 16 | Dec 2008 | 14 | Sun 1100 | Chesterton 10K | 49m10s 2m27s 4m54s 7m54s 33m06s 1.49 1.21 |
| "Andy Reading 10K"; This is a 10K race at Chesterton which is a few miles South of Bicester. It is a reasonably flat course, but it's a bit boring as about 4K is on a straight old Roman Road called Akeman Street and another 4K goes round the perimeter road of a disused airfield. Disconcertingly, whilst on the airfield, you can just about see the lead car on the other side of the airfield about 2.5K ahead! This was the first time I had done a race with my new watch, a Garmin Forerunner 305. I had set it to beep at every 0.5K and so I was getting feedback every 2.5 minutes on how fast I was running. This was so cool. And I can get a .kml file from it without much effort. Here's how my race looks in Google Maps. At 8K, I did some mental arithmetic and decided that if I pushed it I could get in under 50m. This proved to be hard work, and I kept pusshing myself as the splits show: I did the last 0.5K at a pace of 6m52s per M. I got a me/win factor of 1.49 which I am very pleased with. Lots and lots of marshals. The race was very well organised. | 4m37s, 4m53s, 5m04s, 5m05s, 4m59s, 4m56s, 5m07s, 5m06s, 4m49s, 4m27s | |||||||||||
| 17 | May 2008 | 05 | Mon 1030 | Shinfield (Reading) 10K | 49m16s 2m27s 4m55s 7m55s 32m25s 1.52 1.19 |
| "Shinfield 10K"; | 4m50s, 4m58s, 4m43s, 5m14s, 5m11s, 4m58s+4m57s (9m55s), 5m06s, 4m46s, 4m35s | |||||||||||
| 18 | Feb 2010 | 21 | Sun 1030 | Winslow 10K | 49m24s 2m28s 4m56s 7m57s 34m21s 1.44 1.26 |
| "Lions Club of Winslow 10K Road Race"; After not racing for 3 weeks because of various excuses (cold and sore throat, bad weather, lack of fitness, lazyness), today I did the Winslow 10K. Winslow is in Bucks between Aylesbury and Buckingham and this 10K is organised by the Lions Club of Winslow. This year it was held on a cold morning and, although the overnight slight scattering of snow was still lingering when I drove round the course before the start of the race, it had melted by time we ran it. Besides the puddles that this caused, the roads also had quite a few pot holes which was one of the points made by the race organiser before the race. Curiously, it drizzled very slightly from when we were just about to start until just after I finished. Although my map of the route says it varys from about 85m to 113m, it felt fairly flat when I drove it. However, when I ran it, I found a long gentle incline lasting from 3.5K to 5K and another short one at 5.5K. But the cruel bit was at the end: there was a steep hill from 9K to 9.5K. Needless to say this is where the official photographer was positioned to catch all the grimaces. This hill is noticeable in my last four 0.5K splits: 2m34s, 2m30s, 2m48s, 2m22s.My Garmin said that the K markers were accurately positioned apart from the 1K marker which was a little early. All the markers apart from the 3K marker were on the left. The route was well marshalled: there had to be quite a few of them as there were several winding sections and a few junctions. The route twice goes under the railway line from Bicester to Bletchley (currently freight only) and through Verney Junction which was once an important railway junction. So when we ran pass Station Kennels I was looking out for a pretty disused railway station but found a horrible electricity substation! Last year's winner's time was 32m32s and because I was lacking in fitness and was still suffering from a cold, I aimed for 1.5 times that time, i.e., 48m48s. I was initially disappointed with my 49m23s. However, this year's winner took 34m21s and so I got a 1.44 which is very good. Once more this demonstrates the silliness of aiming for a time based on last year's winner's time. | 2m04s, 2m09s, 2m20s, 2m22s, 2m24s, 2m29s, 2m32s, 2m37s, 2m37s, 2m33s, 2m30s, 2m28s, 2m19s, 2m27s, 2m33s, 2m32s, 2m34s, 2m30s, 2m48s, 2m22s, 0m12s (0.05K) | |||||||||||
| 19 | May 2008 | 26 | Mon 1100 | Upper Boddington (Banbury) 10K | 49m26s 2m28s 4m56s 7m57s 34m06s 1.45 1.25 |
| "Upper Boddington 10K"; managed the first 4M in 31m00s which is 7m45s per M but there was a strong head wind for most of the last 2M; last 0.25M was around a grassy playing field; strong gusty winds and rain throughout the race; really pleased with the 1.45 against the winner's time which is good given the course; and I got a trophy for being 3rd in my category; junior race as well (at 1230) | 6m54s, 7m36s, 8m16s, 8m15s, 8m35s, 8m14s, 1m37s | |||||||||||
| 20 | Mar 2009 | 22 | Sun 1030 | Marwell Zoo 10K | 50m02s 2m30s 5m00s 8m03s 33m00s 1.52 1.21 |
| "Marwell Zoo 10K"; I hate zoos, and the first 2K of this race was around the footpaths of the zoo; the rest of the race was along quiet country lanes; it was undulating with four hills; virtually downhill from 6.5K; well marshalled with two drinks stations; these were useful as it was hot; it was a difficult race to pace; at about 6K I decided to aim for 50m and my 10K time was 49m41s; I got 1.52 which is disappointing | 4m56s, 4m48s, 5m24s, 5m19s, 5m56s, 4m38s, 4m55s, 4m41s, 4m47s, 4m16s, 0m21s (0.08K) | |||||||||||
| 21 | Jun 2009 | 28 | Sun 0930 | Thame 10K | 50m11s 2m30s 5m01s 8m04s 33m53s 1.48 1.24 |
| "Thame CPM 10K"; journey there: 19.4M, 0h33m; HRR-RC; "chips"; "T-shirt"; "spot prizes"; fun run as well; I didn't enjoy this, mainly because it was very hot (23 degrees) with little shade and also because of the 0930 start. As there were over 900 runners, some parts of the route were crowded. Because it was crowded, at one point I found myself running at the speed of the pack instead of my planned pace (2m20s per 0.5K). At a few places on the Phoenix Trail and also on the path at 9K, it was difficult to overtake because it was crowded. It was well marshalled and there were a lot of enthusiastic spectators along several sections of the route. Generous goody bag as well as a T-shirt. | 2m12s, 2m17s, 2m26s, 2m30s, 2m24s, 2m28s, 2m30s, 2m27s, 2m36s, 2m30s, 2m42s, 2m24s, 2m36s, 2m33s, 2m37s, 2m39s, 2m35s, 2m32s, 2m30s, 2m29s, 0m15s (0.08K) | |||||||||||
| 22 | May 2010 | 30 | Sun 1100 | Ropley 10K | 50m14s 2m30s 5m01s 8m05s 32m14s 1.56 1.18 |
| "Ropley 10K"; Ropley is about 13 miles east of Winchester. This 10K takes place on traffic free country lanes which were often lined with tall trees. Although there was brilliant sunshine, a chilly breeze made it not too hot. It is a demanding course as it starts with a 50m climb during the first 1.25K and is then undulating for the rest of the course. There is a short sharp climb at 5.5K but you are rewarded with a 40m drop at 7.5K. A final gentle incline at 9K is followed at 9.5K by a gentle decline to the finish. That didn't stop them at the front from fighting it out. Supporters and onlookers were entertained by the display of a very close finish put on by Toby Lambert (Winchester & District AC) and Haggai Chepkwony (Bristol & West). Lambert put on a superb display of last minute strength and stamina to take this year's win from Chepkwony right on the finishing line. Both competitors recorded the same time, but Lambert was judged to have finished just ahead of Chepkwony by the referee and officials on the line. It was one of those events that brings the village to a halt with most of the roads closed. The race was well marshalled and well supported by people in the villages en route. You could enter teams. I saw a team of American Footballers and a team from the army wearing 44lb backpacks and raising money for "Help for Heroes". They were still smiling at the end. Earlier in the morning, for children, there were 100m and 500m dashes around the Recreation Ground and a 3K Fun Run around the village. All of the events were very well organised. I found this a difficult race to pace. Although I was aiming for 48m06s (1.45 times last year's winner's time) or 49m45s (1.5), I got 50m14s (1.51). This was my first race in my new shoes (Brooks GTS 10). | 2m18s, 2m32s, 2m49s, 2m26s, 2m31s, 2m34s, 2m22s, 2m20s, 2m32s, 2m33s, 2m48s, 2m53s, 2m40s, 2m40s, 2m24s, 2m16s, 2m21s, 2m26s, 2m35s, 2m01s, 0m13s (0.06K) | |||||||||||
| 23 | Dec 2008 | 07 | Sun 1100 | Bromham 10K | 50m39s 2m31s 5m03s 8m09s 34m08s 1.48 1.25 |
| "Bromham Pudding Run"; Last week's 40m32s at the Wolverton 5 gave me a pace of 8m06s per M which is 5m02s per K. That was for 5M. So today I thought of doing that pace for 10K which would give 50m18s. However, I had too much beer last night and so early this morning I thought Id be happy to get round! According to the car's thermometer, it was -6 when I left home and -2 when I got to the car park. So long johns, two layers up top and I decided to wear a hat. It was a 20 minute walk from the car park to the race route. I then ran back to the 9K marker and then ran to the finish and then walked to the start which was about 0.5K from the finish. What a lot of warm-up. Although it was foggy when I got to Bromham, the sun started shining and warming the place up. When running, I only got one icy patch. The Bromham 10K is a two lap race which means you can easily suss out the end. | 4m55s, 5m00s, 5m10s, 5m11s, 5m11s, 5m22s, 4m57s, 5m12s, 4m57s, 4m44s | |||||||||||
| 24 | Aug 2009 | 09 | Sun 1000 | Aylesbury 10K | 50m42s 2m32s 5m04s 8m09s 31m22s 1.62 1.15 |
| "Bearbrook 10K"; "memento"; "K markers"; "course is mostly flat with a long hill on the A4011 from Wendover to the Halton Airfield turn, the remainder of the course being a slow downhill to the finish at the Rugby club"; As I got some injury to the top of my hamstring last Sunday at the Hooky 6, I took it easy today. It was also very hot, about 22 degrees. I did whatever speed I felt like, rather than using my watch to pace me until the last K which I did in 4m11s. I partly blame the injury on needing some new shoes. I got some yesterday and ran in them for the first time today. In the last few years, the winning time has been somewhere between 31m37s and 33m31s. Today, the course record was broke by 15s by a member of a local running club. He finished in 31m22s with the 2nd person home in 33m30s. I got 1.62 compared with the winner and 1.51 compared with 2nd person. Much of the course was on footpaths or cycle paths which were very uneven. The final section of the course was around the field. The race was well organised and well marshalled. | 2m20s, 2m25s, 2m34s, 2m29s, 2m38s, 2m40s, 2m33s, 2m37s, 2m42s, 2m43s, 2m46s, 2m51s, 2m42s, 2m26s, 2m32s, 2m31s, 2m39s, 2m24s, 2m08s, 2m03, 0m04s (0.02K) | |||||||||||
| 25 | Mar 2009 | 01 | Sun 1100 | Goring 10K | 50m48s 2m32s 5m04s 8m10s 33m48s 1.50 1.24 |
| "Goring 10K"; undulating rural lanes and footpaths with three hills including a hill for the first 1.5K; lots of runners (1200?); I made the route 10.15K and I don't think the markers were accurately placed; was hoping to do the 10K in under 50m but got 50m05s; the last three 0.5Ks were done in 2m15s, 2m01s and 2m10s but 1K of this was downhill; I got 1.50 times the winner's time | 5m18s, 4m26s, 5m06s, 4m57s, 5m04s, 5m30s, 5m12s, 5m34s, 4m59s, 4m11s, 0m43s | |||||||||||
| 26 | Jul 2010 | 03 | Sat 1030 | Kingham 10K | 50m51s 2m32s 5m05s 8m11s 34m14s 1.49 1.25 |
| "Kingham 10K"; This was the first Kingham 10K using this route. It started calmly with a run through the village but after 1K there was a 2K hill taking us from 127m to 190m. This was followed by a single track footpath through some woods and then some drive ways of the Daylesford Estate. So it was mainly flat from 3K until 5K when we descended into Cornwell. After turning round and going through the village again we retraced the hill that was the descent into Cornwell: it was about 30m ascent in 0.6K. At 7K, there was a little dip and then at 7.5K we retraced the long outward ascent. So for the last 2.5K it was downhill to the finish. It's all shown in the splits. As it was about 28 degrees, the two water stations at 2.5K and 6K were very welcomed. The parking arrangements were laid back: find somewhere in the village. And there was only a 5K marker, but I saw white paint on the ground for 2K, 3K, 7K, 8K and 9K. | 2m12s, 2m34s, 2m48s, 2m45s, 2m47s, 2m55s, 2m31s, 2m27s, 2m39s, 2m41s, 2m14s, 2m14s, 2m56s, 3m22s, 2m41s, 2m21s, 2m15s, 2m16s, 2m16s, 2m05s, 0m04s (0.02K) | |||||||||||
| 27 | May 2009 | 31 | Sun 1030 | Wallingford 10K | 51m20s 2m34s 5m08s 8m15s 36m35s 1.40 1.34 |
| "Wallingford Thames Run"; journey there: 13.8M, 0h31m; "multi-terrain course of wide river paths, field tracks and road along beautiful stretches of the River Thames and its lovely Oxfordshire countryside"; "starts and finishes in the grounds of Howbery Park where a number of attractions will be available"; last year's winning time of 32m36s on a course which was less than 10K (I didn't know how much less) made me aim for somewhere between 45m38s (1.4) and 48m54s (1.5); it was very hot (22 degrees?), and I got 51m20s; this slow pace worried me when I was doing the race; however, this year's winning time was 36:35 which means that I got 1.40 which pleases me a lot; the terrain was a mix of tarmac, cart tracks, paths through grass and paths through fields; the route involved crossing fields, some with cows, negotiating recent cow pats, at least five kissing gates and one stile (which caused a queue as indicated by the 3m02s in my splits); other people have said they got held up by 2 minutes and 6 minutes at this point | 2m08s, 2m18s, 2m23s, 2m33s, 2m37s, 3m02s, 2m34s, 2m35s, 2m34s, 2m38s, 2m49s, 2m36s, 2m32s, 2m37s, 2m38s, 2m34s, 2m39s, 2m44s, 2m40s, 2m17s | |||||||||||
| 28 | Oct 2009 | 25 | Sun 1030 | Blenheim Palace 10K | 51m43s 2m35s 5m10s 8m19s 35m37s 1.45 1.30 |
| "Blenheim 10K"; In my 4.5 years in Oxfordshire, I'd not been to Blenheim Palace before and today I managed to see a lot of its grounds in this 10K race organised by the Rotary Club of Woodstock. The race had a new route this year. Although some runners afterwards described the new route as hilly, I thought the ascents were reasonably gentle, the whole course only varying in height from 75m to 120m. Foolishly, I'd not done my homework and so I didn't know last year's winner's time and so had no time to aim for. And in the early part of the race, I moaned to myself about having two beers the night before as my body didn't feel like racing. Although the surrounding countryside was beautiful, the route was on a wide tarmac path throughout except for a few short off-road sections. At about 6.5K I was running at the same pace as another much younger runner and we swopped positions a few times and it seemed to me he didn't like this. At one point I feel a bit of "road rage" occurred as "we" jostled for position (with no other runners about on this wide path). Just before 8K, on a downhill section I went with some other runners ahead of him and then forgot about him but I see from the results he was only 5 seconds behind me. It meant my splits for that section were faster than they would have been: 2m21s, 2m27s, 2m25s. It was getting near to the end of the race where I usually go faster. At 8.5K my mind was on someone else: a member of my running club who I usually beat had surprisingly overtaken me a lot earlier but he was not far in front. I overtook him with 0.5K to go. It sounds competitive; I see I finished up with a 1.45 (times the winner's time) which surprised me and pleases me a lot. | 2m18s, 2m30s, 2m30s, 2m22s, 2m32s, 2m42s, 2m40s, 2m21s, 2m52s, 2m40s, 2m56s, 3m14s, 2m38s, 2m21s, 2m27s, 2m25s, 2m46s, 2m35s, 2m14s, 2m16s, 0m25s (0.1K) | |||||||||||
| 29 | Jun 2010 | 27 | Sun 0930 | Thame 10K | 51m47s 2m35s 5m10s 8m20s 33m33s 1.54 1.23 |
| "Thame CPM 10K"; All week I wasn't looking forward to this race: the route has two long boring straights and the weather was forecasted to be hot. It turned out to be about 29 degrees. On the start line, I chatted to another Fetchie who said he'd read my comments about the Otmoor Challenge. I began well adopting a pace very close to last year: at each K marker I was only up to 7s different from last year and at the 6K marker I was just 3s slower than last year. But, by about 6.5K, I was exhausted, questionned why I was pushing myself in this heat and slowed the pace down. This was a race in the HRR Road Championship and I was going to come second in my age category: there really wasn't much point in trying to beat last year's time. About 1K later, I saw another HRR runner in front and I wasn't sure who he was and so I increased the pace but slowed down after I'd passed him and discovered he was not in my age category. It's all shown in the splits! In the end I was 1m35s slower than last year. The race was timed by chip-to-chip. Like last year, there was a lot of encouraging support all along the route. At about 9.5K, one man and his child were on a platform on a crane high above the road: I shouted up to them that this was a bit OTT; he shouted back that what we were doing was OTT. Like last year, there was a generous goody bag and a T-shirt and lots to drink at the end. Like last year, it was too damn hot. | 2m14s, 2m13s, 2m27s, 2m27s, 2m28s, 2m35s, 2m32s, 2m31s, 2m34s, 2m21s, 2m32s, 2m35s, 2m39s, 3m18s, 3m27s, 2m38s, 2m17s, 2m27s, 2m39s, 2m37s, 0m15s (0.08K) | |||||||||||
| 30 | Feb 2009 | 15 | Sun 1000 | Salisbury 10K | 52m23s 2m37s 5m14s 8m25s 36m37s 1.43 1.34 |
| "Salisbury City 10K"; starts and finishes at the Raymond McEnhill Football Stadium; "medal"; route includes a run round Old Sarum; 10K walk, 5K run and 5K walk as well; disappointingly, we finished and started in a field adjacent to the stadium; the route was a mix of tarmac and off-road; there were slippery patches, a kissing gate and a stile whilst running round Old Sarum; the 1K marker seemd to be 0.15K too early; there were three places where they needed another marshal; a couple of tough inclines | 4m33, 5m09, 4m48s, 5m12s, 6m14s, 6m09s, 5m06s, 5m07s, 5m16s, 4m50s | |||||||||||
| 31 | Oct 2009 | 18 | Sun 1000 | Frieth 10K | 52m52s 2m38s 5m17s 8m30s 35m00s 1.51 1.28 |
| "Frieth Hilly 10K"; This 10K race takes place in the Chilterns and consequently the route was wonderful with beautiful scenery. The organisers say the race "involves sections on road, trails and footpaths through woods and fields, including challenging off-road descents and ascents". Very accurate! The race starts in the village of Frieth (which is about 5 miles from Marlow). The route is gently undulating for the first 1.5K first along a lane but then along a path through a wood. In a short break in the wood, there is stupendous view across to the other side of the valley. The Chilterns look wonderful in their Autumn colours. During the next 0.5K, the route throws you down from 160m to 90m. Then the route is reasonably flat along a 1.5K lane from the village of Fingest to the village of Skirmett. And then there is a long hard climb. Although the contours on the ascent are not so close as they were for the descent, it's hard work: in 0.3K you go from 80m to 110m. This is on a footpath that then flattens out for a bit (in Hatchet Wood) before another push in all taking you from 80m to 160m in about 2K. From 6K to 9.5K the route is mainly along country lanes but there is about 1K that is along the side of a field. Although it is mainly undulating, you do gradually drop from 170m to 140m. However, there is a final sting to the race; the last 0.5K is a climb back up to Frieth, from 140m to 175m. If that isn't enough detail for you,here is a link to a map of the route. Throughout the race, there was wonderful atmosphere. Before the start, the Rev John Wigram gaves us his "runners" version of Psalm 23 followed by a blessing. And there were people clapping, shouting and cheering almost anywhere where the route hit a road junction. Following feedback from the inaugural race held last year, this year there were K markers. According to my Garmin, these were accurately positioned. Because of the changeable terrain, I didn't attempt to pace myself. However, before the start I decided to try to aim for 52m54s which is 1.5 times last year's winner's time (35m16s). I did run all the way, resisting the temptation to walk the steep ascents! It was only at 7.5K that I looked at my watch to decide whether it was possible to complete in 52m54s. It looked possible but when I got to the bottom of the 0.5K uphill climb to the finish I wasn't so confident. But when I crossed the line I was jubilant as my watch said 52m52s! A bacon roll, a hot dog, a piece of cake and excellent coffee then followed. What a tremendous morning! So make a date in your diary for the third installment of this race: it's on Sunday 17th October 2010. | 2m16s, 2m14s, 2m22s, 2m20s, 2m23s, 2m28s, 2m29s, 3m09s, 3m16s, 2m50s, 3m26s, 2m54s, 2m46s, 2m27s, 2m22s, 2m28s, 2m44s, 2m19s, 2m25s, 3m08s, 0m07s (0.3K) | |||||||||||
| 32 | Jan 2009 | 11 | Sun 1030 | Woodcote 10K | 53m39s 2m40s 5m21s 8m38s 35m26s 1.51 1.30 |
| "Goring, Woodcote and District Lions 10K"; "undulating by-roads, kilometre marked"; "free hot drinks"; "medal"; elsewhere on the web it says "tough road race, 5K downhill followed by 5K uphill" | 4m41s, 4m48s, 4m52s, 5m03s, 5m10s, 6m19s, 5m15s, 6m00s, 6m24s, 5m06s | |||||||||||
| date |
day
time |
location
distance |
my time
my pace win time me/win win/wor |
who ran links |
comments, comments, comments | splits | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mar 2009 | 08 | Sun 1100 | Salisbury 10M | 86m21s 2m40s 5m21s 8m38s 51m10s 1.69 |
| "Salisbury 10"; journey time: 64.5M, 1h21m; chips; excellent run from Salisbury NNW along rural roads up the valley of the River Avon to visit the villages of Little Woodford and Middle Woodford. In Upper Woodford, the route turns east for 0.5M before going due South down the other side of the valley through Salterton and Little Durnford; the route is undulating throughout with the only significant hill being at 6.5M; there were water stations at 2M, 3.5M, 5.5M and 8M, and as the sun was making it hot I grabbed water at each of these; there was a bit of a cold head wind at times during the last couple of miles; although the race was marked with mile markers, I chose to get feedback from my watch at every 0.5K; my watch created a map of the route | 5m07s, 5m10s, 5m30s, 5m35s, 5m34s, 5m30s, 5m30s, 5m46s, 5m24s, 5m28s, 5m36s, 5m21s, 5m10s, 5m11s, 4m58s, 4m45s, 0m58s | |||||||||||
| 2 | Sep 2009 | 13 | Sun 1030 | Witney 10M | 92m46s 2m52s 5m45s 9m16s 58m42s 1.58 |
| "Cotswold Classic 10"; HRR-RC; This is advertised as "a tough 10 mile one lap road race in the picturesque Cotswold countryside": it lived up to that description. The race was well marshalled and marshalled with enthusiasm! I'm currently 3rd in the age 60 category of the Headington RoadRunners Road Championship. The guy who's 2nd is Kit. I need to compete in both today's race and a 5 mile race on October 11th. Normally it'll be a doddle to beat Kit but with the injury to the top of my hamstring I'm worried about even being able to do 10 miles. I've done the sums: today I just need to finish. If I don't beat him today, I need to beat him at the Hanney 5 which should be easy enough to do. Last year he did today's race in 1h29m30s which sounds like a good time for this course. The only 10 mile I've done recently I did in 1h26m21s and that was on a reasonably flat course. I decide to aim for 1h28m which means 2m45s per 0.5K. I drove round the course beforehand and lost track of the number of hills: there were a lot of sharp descents and ascents. Even so, when I was running I found the difficult bit was the endlessly long but gentle climb of 90m: a gentle hill lasting for 4K from Crawley to Leafield. I decide to take it reasonably gently but trying to keep to some thing like 2m45s per 0.5K. However, because it's so undulating/hilly, it's difficult to judge whether I'm doing this. At about 7.5K, Kit overtakes me. This is a bit of an upset to the plan! I decide the best idea is to sit on his tail. I run behind him for about 0.5K but he slows down when we get to a hill and so I overtake him. This is probably a silly move as for the remainder of the race (8K) I'm worrying about how far behind me he is. In the end, I finish 50 seconds in front of him. So if I've really done the sums right, I just need to get round the Hanney 5 to finish 2nd in the Road Championship: I could even walk it in just over an hour! | 2m29s, 2m31s, 2m48s, 2m57s, 2m42s, 2m55s, 2m59s, 2m55s, 3m04s, 3m02s, 3m09s, 3m02s, 2m48s, 2m47s, 2m30s, 2m41s, 2m56s, 2m49s, 2m37s, 2m34s, 3m08s, 2m39s, 2m57s, 2m46s, 3m16s, 2m50s, 3m04s, 2m42s, 3m40s, 2m47s, 2m49s, 2m36s, 1m19s (0.23K) | |||||||||||
| date |
day
time |
location
distance |
my time
my pace win time me/win win/wor |
who ran links |
comments, comments, comments | splits | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jul 2009 | 11 | Sat 1500 | Rovaniemi (Finland) half marathon | 115m15s 2m43s 5m27s 8m47s 77m33s 1.49 |
| "Rovaniemi Half Marathon"; Rovaniemi is in Finland a few Ks South of the Arctic Circle. A 10K takes place earlier in the afternoon, and this takes a nice route whereas the Half is the route of the 10K plus 5K down one side of a straight dual-carriageway and then 5K back again. I found the dual-carriageway bit boring and hard work in 22 degrees Centigrade. There's also a full marathon that does the Half twice. As last year's winner's time was 1h15m27s, I aimed for 1.5 times that time, i.e., 1h53m11s, which is 2m40s per 0.5K. As my 0.5K splits show, I managed to achieve that for 7.5K but my attempt for 1h53m11s didn't allow for the 22 degrees Centigrade. Maybe this was was the reason why this year's winner's time was 2m06s slower than last year's. My time was 2m04s slower than the 1h53m11s. I got a 1.49 which pleased me. The change from one split to the next was 5s or less in 75% of the changes. | 2m17s, 2m26s, 2m33s, 2m44s, 2m39s, 2m42s, 2m41s, 2m41s, 2m37s, 2m36s, 2m39s, 2m39s, 2m38s, 2m37s, 2m38s, 2m42s, 2m44s, 2m46s, 2m44s, 2m49s, 2m45s, 2m49s, 2m43s, 2m45s, 2m45s, 2m41s, 2m42s, 2m50s, 2m56s, 2m46s, 2m47s, 2m52s, 2m47s, 2m50s, 2m53s, 3m00s, 3m02s, 2m51s, 2m47s, 2m45s, 2m35s, 2m35s, 0m59s (0.27K) | |||||||||||
| 2 | Apr 2010 | 11 | Sun 1000 | Grove (Wantage) half marathon | 117m19s 2m46s 5m33s 8m56s 72m39s 1.61 |
| "White Horse Half Marathon"; HRR-RC; The route is flat on country lanes. The race was well signed and well marshalled. The running conditions were good: some hazy sun with an occasional cooling cold wind. As I hadn't done much training during the last two weeks, I was apprehensive and from about 4M onwards I frequently wanted to give up. Curiously, even though I wasn't enjoying it, I was achieving good times. My plan was to get in under two hours and to do about 2m40s to 2m50s per 0.5K. My 0.5K splits show that for most of the race I was well within this pace, but I tired a lot at the end. At about 10M, I was wondering whether I could beat my post-2007 PB (1h55m15s), but a bit of arithmetic led to an answer of "no". In the end, I got a second best time. | 2m23s, 2m22s, 2m24s, 2m22s, 2m32s, 2m35s, 2m30s, 2m28s, 2m36s, 2m37s, 2m37s, 2m38s, 2m43s, 2m34s, 2m35s, 2m47s, 2m44s, 3m24s, 2m43s, 2m44s, 3m19s, 2m41s, 2m46s, 2m46s, 2m45s, 2m46s, 2m45s, 2m54s, 2m45s, 2m48s, 2m52s, 2m57s, 3m01s, 2m50s, 2m53s, 2m58s, 3m04s, 2m49s, 3m04s, 3m01s, 3m00s, 2m54s, 1m23s (0.26K) | |||||||||||
| 3 | Nov 2009 | 01 | Sun 0930 | Marlow half marathon | 118m38s 2m48s 5m37s 9m02s 75m30s 1.57 |
| "Marlow Half Marathon"; A return visit to the Chilterns: a fortnight ago I was here on a bright chilly dry Sunday morning for the Frieth 10K; today it rained most of the time for the Marlow Half Marathon which has a "challenging and undulating scenic route over quiet country lanes through the Chiltern Hills". Meaning that the first 2K is up a hill, and that there are four other uphills at 3K, 5K, 13K and 17.5K. Of course every uphill has a downhill, and as usual I didn't know whether to take these gently or to gain a few seconds by charging down them. Besides being very wet, it was also windy. We tried to avoid puddles and splashing each other but on several occasions we got wet as there were mini lakes to run through. I had driven round the course yesterday afternoon and so I knew where all the uphills and downhills are. I knew it was going to be tough. Before the race I had looked at last year's winner's time (1h14m42s). Multiplying this by 1.5 gives 1h52m03s. As I thought it was unlikely I would get anywhere near this time, I didn't try: I just wanted to get round. As I've already mentioned, the first 2K is all uphill (where my 0.5K splits were 2m48s, 3m00s, 2m46s and 2m44s). During this 2K, I was beginning to feel a pain in two familiar places: my right knee and the top of my left hamstring. This didn't bode well and it depressed me for several Ks. When I looked at my watch at just after halfway, I saw that I'd done that half in about one hour. So I wondered whether I could finish in under two hours. However, there were still two uphills to come. But there had been uphills in the first half. The most significant remaining uphill was between about 12.5K and 13.5K where my 0.5K splits were 3m36s and 4m39s. I did some more sums at the two thirds point. These suggested I would finish in 2h03m. This spurred me in adopting a faster pace for the level and downhill sections from 15K to 17K (2m21s, 2m34s, 2m36s, 2m28s). The final hill then appeared and like others I walked a bit of it (3m26s, 3m05s). After that it was flat for 1K and then downhill for 2K: so there was no stopping me trying to get in under 2 hours. My splits for the final 2K were 2m33s, 2m26s, 2m12s, 2m03s. In the end, I finished in about 1h58m. I'm pleased with this: it is 3m slower than the Half I did in Rovaniemi but that was on a flat course. However, it is 2m faster than my appalling Half on a flat course at Krems. The race was well marshalled and marshalled with enthusiasm which was nice given they had to stand around for about 4 hours in the rain. Several of them said "well done Headington" which I liked. There were several water stations also being cheerfully and efficiently manned, often by kids. But unlike some races they knew what to do. And probably because it was often pouring with rain I said more thank yous to these people and to the marshals than usual. | 2m48s, 3m00s, 2m46s, 2m44s, 2m39s, 2m30s, 3m28s, 2m28s, 2m53s, 3m00s, 3m06s, 3m07s, 2m55s, 2m55s, 2m51s, 2m37s, 2m47s, 2m43s, 2m31, 2m45s, 2m50s, 2m36s, 2m47s, 2m44s, 2m41s, 3m36s, 4m39s, 2m51s, 2m51s, 2m48s, 2m21s, 2m34s, 2m36s, 2m28s, 3m26s, 3m05s, 2m38s, 2m42s, 2m33s, 2m26s, 2m12s, 2m03s, 0m43s (about 0.2K) | |||||||||||
| 4 | Jun 2009 | 06 | Sat 1400 | Horton-cum-Studley half marathon | 118m50s 2m48s 5m37s 9m03s 75m01s 1.58 |
| "Otmoor Challenge"; I enjoyed this: it was along footpaths and roads around the Otmoor. Pouring with rain before the race which eased off as we started to race and was only drizzly from then on. There were two long sections of mud and one short section. As this was my first Half since November 2004 and I've done no training at this distance, I just aimed to get round and hoped to finish within 2h. Although some have claimed this is more than a Half my watch made this 20.99K which is pretty close to 21.0975K. It's mainly off-road for the first 4K and this explains the 3m23s 0.5K split: it is for a mud section. Then for the next 6K it's along a road where I repeatedly did times close to 2m46s per 0.5K. The over 3m splits are another mud section. The long hill in and steep hill out of Beckley accounts for the 3m16s and 3m27s. I managed to achieve some fast times in the last 2K. Here's where we went in Google Maps and in WheresThePath. I saw runners from Oxford Hash stop for beers on three occasions! | 2m31s, 2m41s, 3m23s, 2m44s, 2m38s, 2m41s, 2m49s, 2m47s, 2m46s, 2m48s, 2m45s, 2m47s, 2m44s, 2m49s, 2m51s, 2m46s, 2m42s, 2m49s, 2m52s, 2m52s, 3m12s, 3m31s, 3m06s, 2m50s, 2m54s, 2m58s, 2m59s, 2m56s, 2m36s, 2m44s, 2m58s, 3m05s, 2m54s, 3m16s, 3m27s, 2m37s, 2m41s, 2m42s, 2m25s, 2m28s, 2m32s, 2m17s (0.485K) | |||||||||||
| 5 | Sep 2009 | 20 | Sun 1000 | Krems half marathon | 119m48s 2m50s 5m40s 9m08s 65m03s 1.84 |
| "Wachau Halbmarathon"; This half marathon from the village of Spitz to Krems is alongside the River Danube for the whole distance. On the same morning, there is also a full marathon and a quarter marathon which also start in other villages on the Danube. On the day before race, I had walked the last 3K of the route of the race, and had found white paint marks on the ground for the 19K, 20K and 21K markers. On the morning of the race I had to get a bus from outside Krems railway station to the start of the race. There's a choice of a ship at 8am (which takes 90 minutes) and 20 buses at 8am and another 20 buses at 9am. I have booked a seat on the 9am bus. I do a 2K warm up by running from my hotel first to the 20K marker, then to the finish and then back to the railway station. I'm in plenty of time for the bus. It's very crowded in Spitz, there being about 4 thousand runners. About 6 weeks ago in Finland, I'd done a flat half marathon in 1h55m55s, that's a pace of 5m27s per K. That day, I was aiming for an average pace of 5m20s per K, but failed to achieve that pace because it had been so hot. I try for that pace again today. But again I don't achieve it. However, today it's not very sunny and, although it's warm, it's not too hot, and so it's ideal to get a good time but I don't feel motivated. The course is again flat but it feels long. Because the Danube doesn't twist much, the route has long straights. The only thing that motivates me are the crowds alongside the route as we run through the villages of Woesendorf, Weissenkirchen, Duernstein, Unterloiben, Oberloiben and Stein before reaching lots of support through the streets of Krems. In the early stages of the race, I see a runner that has no feet. His legs end in stubs to which are attached some weirdly shaped, artificial legs/feet. It's impressive and some times he's ahead of me and some times behind. I don't know whether he beat me. Although my 0.5K splits don't change much, they gradually get slower: at 5K I'm doing 2m45s, at 10K it's 2m47s, at 15K it's 3m00s. Aside: at about 10.9K, my Garmin watch goes AWOL as we go through a 0.9K tunnel and it thinks I do an extra 0.11K. At 16K, with 5.1K to go, I work on how I can get in under 2h. I keep working out whether it's achievable to do this if I average 3m00s per 0.5K (which I can do without too much effort). It keeps looking that it's on. When I get to the 19K marker (which I saw yesterday), I start to speed up. I'm encouraged by passing several runners and by knowing these streets. I get to the 20K marker which is where I warmed up earlier. As I enter the long straight finish in Ringstrasse I look ahead. Because I've done my homework I know where in the distance the finish is and I get my 0.5K pace down to 2m30s. Foolishly, in the last few seconds of the race, I keep glancing down to my watch. I really want to finish in under 2 hours. The watch is only showing hours and minutes and not seconds; each time I look it says 1h59s, and it still says 1h59s as I cross the line. Yippee. I made it 1h59m46s. The winning time was 1h05m03s which gives me a ratio of 1.84 which is not impressive. The first seven finishers in the Half Marathon were from Kenya and Ethopia. The first woman was 10th overall. Although I should have done a better time, I came 17th out of 41 finishers in my age category. The races are very well organised with lots of details truely thought out. There is a free early morning train service from Vienna and a free bus shuttle from car parks in Krems to the railway station where there is free transport (bus, train, ship) to the starts of the three main races. The race is chip-timed from start to finish. And after the race, the competitors pass through a large funnel containing water, isotonic drinks, bananas, energy bars, apples, cakes. There is then a park where you can buy lunch (such as bratwurst) and beer/coffee. Two criticisms: although there were numerous refreshment stations en route (where you could get water, isotonic drinks, banana, gels), there were insufficient people manning the drinks and so you would have to wait to get a drink. You could purchase a chip or pay a deposit for a daily hire of a chip, and, although there were lots of signage for various things after the refreshment tunnel, I didn't see any for getting your chip deposit back. Being shattered, I nearly forgot to get my deposit back, and when I did remember I didn't know where to go. In the end, it was obvious: it was where I had got the chip in the first place. | 2m31s, 2m37s, 2m35s, 2m44s, 2m35s, 2m42s, 2m41s, 2m42s, 2m43s, 2m45s, 2m43s, 2m54s, 2m46s, 2m43s, 2m47s, 2m48s, 2m44s, 2m50s, 2m45s, 2m47s, 2m48s, 2m52s, 2m57s (0.39K), 2m51s, 2m49s, 2m54s, 3m00s, 2m55s, 3m01s, 3m00s, 3m05s, 3m06s, 3m03s, 3m06s, 3m04s, 3m06s, 2m57s, 2m58s, 2m45s, 2m48s, 2m33s, 2m30s, 1m15s (0.30K). | |||||||||||
| 6 | Jul 2010 | 10 | Sat 0945 | Adderbury half marathon | 128m28s 3m02s 6m05s 9m47s 79m50s 1.61 |
| "Adderbury Half Marathon"; This Half Marathon is a mix of off-road and tarmac. It was mainly a flat course with a few inclines. We met all sorts of traffic: motorway traffic, slow moving canal bridges, a hot air balloon and even a steam train! We also met stiles, steps, kissing gates, old wooden kissing gates that wouldn't move and cows that were standing across the path. It was hot (about 23 degrees); thankfully there were four water stations and these were cheerfully manned. It was a race where people exchanged words as they passed, and it was a race where people looked after each other. At 6M I asked a walking runner if he was OK and he retaliated about 0.5M later. And whilst crossing a stile I glanced back and saw the runner behind going the wrong way. I ran back to the junction and shouted to her. I had to do the stile again. Grhh! I hate stiles. After finishing, I learnt that a fellow HRR runner had gone wrong there too: a direction arrow or a marshal was needed. As it was hot, I didn't try to get a good time. Since last year's winning time was 1h21m04s, I thought I might do 1.5 times that time, i.e., 2h01m36s. So that means doing 6 minutes for each K. So that was the plan for the race. However, I started too fast and spent a large amount of the first part of the race trying to slow myself down failing miserably as the splits show and exhausting myself. Still I was happy with 2h08m28s. | 2m10s, 2m35s, 2m30s, 2m41s, 2m45s, 2m34s, 2m37s, 2m46s, 2m45s, 2m49s, 2m48s, 3m40s, 2m52s, 2m54s, 3m21s, 4m01s, 2m51s, 2m49s, 2m50s, 3m41s, 3m32s, 2m58s, 3m05s, 3m32s, 2m57s, 2m52s, 3m28s, 3m10s, 3m21s, 3m47s, 3m08s, 3m06s, 3m21s, 4m08s, 3m09s, 2m44s, 4m16s, 2m47s, 2m34s, 3m09s, 2m29s, 2m36s, 0m23s (0.09K) | |||||||||||
| 7 | Jun 2010 | 05 | Sat 1400 | Horton-cum-Studley half marathon | 138m04s 3m16s 6m32s 10m31s 77m55s 1.77 |
| "Otmoor Challenge"; The Otmoor Challenge is a half marathon along footpaths and roads around the Otmoor. Together with 5 mile and 13 mile walks for walkers, it forms one of the events of Horton-cum-Studley's Otmoor Day. Last year, when I did this for the first time, it was very wet and the route had three very muddy long sections. This year it was very hot and humid (25 degrees). I didn't cope with the heat: I had to stop and walk. There were others doing this and I had several long conversations. Although I started off well on my way to beat last year's time, this plan was soon ditched. When I finished, I didn't even wonder what my finishing time was for about 10 minutes. I made use of two of my four stashes of isotonic drink but the 500ml were too much. This was my 26th half marathon and it is now my personal worst time beating my previous by 17 minutes. I would like to thank the organisers who put out extra water en route and to those kind people of Noke who used their garden hoses to cool us down. Thanks also to the St Johns Ambulance: I chatted to one of them at Noke, he seemed worried about my state and was all smiles (like me) when I saw him again on the road in the last mile. | 2m15s, 2m27s, 2m35s, 2m32s, 2m34s, 2m36s, 2m38s, 3m02s, 2m35s, 2m43s, 2m40s, 3m33s, 2m45s, 2m48s, 2m52s, 3m25s, 4m58s, 3m03s, 3m00s, 3m37s, 3m09s, 3m32s, 3m03s, 3m00s, 5m04s, 3m08s, 4m21s, 4m13s, 2m59s, 3m12s, 3m55s, 4m04s, 4m13s, 4m58s, 6m13s, 2m59s, 2m57s, 3m13s, 2m45s, 2m51s, 3m06s, 2m34s (0.460K) | |||||||||||