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My Last Run
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Well done on the 6 miler. You had a lovely morning for it. Fingers crossed no big reaction from the hip.
The weather was kind to us, though, and it was definitely a shorts and t-shirt day. So those that had turned up in leggings and layers did feel it.
Good to get some hills in, especially as it's the 3 Forts Half this coming Sunday.
I visited the new parkrun at Wakehurst - quite a few bluebells there too, along with gorgeous flowering trees. But definitely not flat, off.
Hip is still unhappy. I don't suppose that will change in a hurry.
Two runs over the weekend. Did Cranleigh parkrun, where I was scanned by Mr PR himself, Paul Sinton-Hewitt, who had turned up and was doing a spot of volunteering. Lovely course and very friendly group. Two laps of mostly flat, compacted paths, with a bit of running in a field and up a hill. The rain had made it a bit soft in the field, but otherwise all good and the weather was superb.
Sunday was the 3 Forts Half Marathon. This goes over the South Downs and so very undulatory. Definitely had no real training for this and so it was a case of jogging around and walking the ups. I've not done anything over 7 miles since before Xmas, so there was no expectation of a time. Fortunately I had company from a clubmate who had run the Worthing Half the week before and so was more than willing to take it easy. The weather was kind, starting off in lovely sunshine. However, the clouds did appear and it was a bit breezy towards the end. I did manage to finish before the rain started. There was then a rather long 2hr+ wait as my wife was acting as a tail runner. She came in behind the last competitor having taken 4.5hrs to complete it. The pub roast we had later that afternoon was well deserved, I feel.
And I'm just doing the strengthening stuff but I'm wondering if it's something more serious than just tendon issues. I think I'll need to see the physio again.
Well done on the half, I bet that was tough.
3 Forts was tough, it's tag line is the "Tough One". But it's one I strangely enjoy for some reason. The time always seems to go more quickly, possibly because it's a more social run. Each time I've done it I've spent pretty much the whole run talking. Plus there are plenty of aid stations and lots of cake at the end.
A 6 miler last night covering the route of our club race that's coming up this Sunday. I'm race director this year, so I've had to get involved in a lot of the organisation, from securing permission from the council and National Trust to getting the race permit and sorting out the medical cover. I have to say it's been interesting. I'm now in the process of buying paper cups as, even though we've asked people to bring their own, the likelihood is that they won't. And I have a megaphone. Got to love a megaphone.
The run was Seaford parkrun - one that I'd done a couple of times before, and as my wife was out with a bad back I thought I'd travel a bit further afield for a nice flat and fast pr. My aim of doing sub 25 went awry and I'm not entirely sure why. Numbers were up from the last time I did it (260) and I did start a little further back than I should have, so spent the first 1km running through traffic. But I didn't think it was that bad as I never felt I really pushed the pace any faster. What I thought was a good even pace turned out to be negative splits (which was good), but I wasn't particulary fast, coming in just under 26 mins. This might just be where I am at the moment in terms of not doing many fast sessions, but annoying to have not been really any quicker than I was when doing the 10K at Worthing a couple of weeks back.
Sunday we held our contribution to the West Sussex Fun Run League - the Hedgehopper 5. For those who get the RW magazine we actually appear in the May edition. A gloriously sunny and, as it turned out, very warm day. We had a touch over 300 entrants with 280+ eventually running. The course starts just beyond Foredown Tower in Portslade and is a 5 mile out and back with the first half very much all uphill. Plenty of good performances and no major incidents, which we were all very pleased about. We did have to ration the water towards the end as it looked as if we were running out, definitely due to the conditions.
Carried on a bit further from there towards the South Downs Way before heading, thankfully, downhill and back. All in all a touch over 7 miles and nice to step up to a pacier group as I think I need to be pushing myself a bit more. Legs felt it the next day, though.
Sunday was a 5K race in Hailsham. Rather annoyingly I started too far back and it was a bit of a challenge to work my way past other runners. Not helped by a group from what looked like a dance club, who I don't think had run before, hence they started at the front and charged off. Within 400m they realised they weren't going to maintain that pace and had started to walk, but strung out over the road. A further incident was running up behind a visually impared runner with a guide, thinking I was leaving plenty of space as we turned a corner to run up a hill. However there was a queue of traffic to our right and one of the cars lost patience and decided to pull out of the queue. This rather spooked the guide, who came to a complete stop, with the result that I very nearly went crashing into the back of them both. Other than that this was another undulatory run, with the first part being quite a gentle downhill run, but subesequently the second half included some sharp hills.
Having done the race, and having had a coffee and a bit of a rest, we decided to do an extra 4 miles along the Cuckoo Trail. This seemed a lot narrower than I remember it, but great to revisit a route I'd not run for about 5 years.