The slightly crazy guide to getting back into running….Part Two
Do a run on the Saturday night, thoroughly enjoy it, so postpone your father on fathers day in order to go and do another one on Sunday morning, tee hee.
Sunday morning brought the Rubery Rumble. Last year this had been a two distance option race, one or two laps being 5 or 10 miles. This year it was a 7mile route, incorporating the 5mile lap, plus a few detours. I’m not sure what those detours were as I was thoroughly confused as to where I’d been and where I was going fairly early on, but I’m pretty sure there was an additional nasty hill.
Having learnt my lesson of 4pm lunches not being conducive to good 6pm running the evening before, I was up early for crumpets before setting out for the race. I arrived in plenty of time to register on the day, and do a lot of tealle top spotting. It would take most of the report space to name everyone, but lets just say there was a good BvH turnout for this local, fun, reasonable start time (11am) race, oh and we believe it’s in the Grand Prix.
Also learning my lesson from last night, off I went for a two lap of the football field warm up, including some dynamic stretching. I was a bit tired after that and wondered what on earth I had been thinking, but the money was paid and I was going to do it. Unfortunately Lynne had to drop out due to illness, but as she was already there, she made a welcome sight as a marshall part way round.
As the BvH dominated race lined up at the start, Jamie and Mike made their way to the front while the rest of us loitered somewhere in the middle of the field. A lap of the football pitch saw Jamie make early progress at the front, I was just about on the back straight in time to see him exit the field, and that was the last I saw of him.
My plan was very similar to yesterdays, stick with Terry for as long as possible and try not to do anything too silly. Throughout the course of hills, both long and shallow, and long and steep, decents in equal measure, climbing stiles (not my strength), negotiating paths, cattle and mud, Terry and I were each making the most of our strengths and a lot of overtaking was going on. I’m not sure when I finally pulled ahead, but apparently he was letting me beat him as he won last night, yeah, OK Terry.
The route was really good, very challenging, but a nice mix of terrain. There were narrow paths where, if behind a group you could take a bit of a breather, or if in front of the group felt the pressure of the footfalls itching to go faster behind you. A good helping of steep hills, on which I walked whilst keeping up with the man in front trying to run, definitely helped keep the interest going. Open tracks to jostle for space and position allowed the real racing to take part. The icing on the cake had to be the last section of the race being down hill then flat!
I think everyone enjoyed the day. Keith gallantly kept Sprog and Scott, as last men, company, with Oscar and Jasper receiving medals for their all important last dog roles.
Linda
Tony's Pics. Full results here
| POS |
RUN |
TIME |
NAME |
AGE/ |
| No. |
GENDER |
| 1 |
46 |
42.13 |
Jamie Johnston |
30/m |
| 10 |
47 |
48.37 |
Mike Berry |
36/m |
| 14 |
21 |
50.14 |
Gary Mason |
41/m |
| 21 |
340 |
51.53 |
Linda Howell |
29/f |
| 23 |
58 |
52.29 |
Terry Doherty |
53/m |
| 27 |
55 |
53.12 |
Paul Dugmore |
47/m |
| 48 |
49 |
56.48 |
Martin Foster |
53/m |
| 61 |
65 |
01:00.6 |
Graeme Beavers |
49/m |
| 68 |
56 |
01:02.0 |
Primo Zavoli |
61/m |
| 70 |
357 |
01:03.6 |
Helen Lawrence |
42/f |
| 77 |
348 |
01:05.6 |
Kelley Sprawson |
33/f |
| 82 |
57 |
01:07.4 |
Simon Newman |
33/m |
| 83 |
347 |
01:08.1 |
Rachel Partridge |
37/f |
| 98 |
39 |
01:17.3 |
Anthony Ariss |
44/m |
| 100 |
18 |
01:23.2 |
Keith Elliott |
55/m |
| 101 |
Last Runner |
|
‘SPROG’ |
|
|
