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Report from a Small Race
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[Deleted User]
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in Events
Hi all.
The place: Little Aston. Describes itself as a small village. Really a very posh suburb on the northern extreme of Birmingham.
The course: 5.15 miles over flattish country roads. Little traffic. Water stations every mile and lots of marshals. Also a 2-mile fun run.
The cause: Raising money for the local recreation ground.
The field: Small. Less than 200 for hte main race.
The "professional" warm-up - lethal. A dancing-boy doing scary bouncy things on the back of a trailer. One runner DNF'd after pulling her calf in the warm-up. Kevin and I stayed clear and had a little jog around the field and some proper stretches instead.
The craic: Bollox. I'd reached the last mile before I found someone who was up for a chat. Po-faced gits!
The winner: Alan Jackson, in 26 minutes something, a minute or so off his own record for the course.
The celebs: Sally Ellis (ex olympic athlete) and an ex-footballer who not does local radio commentary.
The goody bag: One Fruit Shoot, one single-finger Twix, one packet of Skips and advertising material for Sally Ellis's fitness classes. Everyone got a medal.
And...I did it. Despite my four-year-old's accusatory "You lost, Mummy" as I crossed the line, I was by no means last. My time was about 46 minutes (exact details will be sent by post), my pace was even, and my legs, heart and lungs felt ace from start to finish. Bit worried when, despite my resolution to start at the back and pass nobody for the first mile, I found it impossible NOT to pass some people who were huffing and puffing within a few hundres metres of the start. Ran the last mile with a super lady 25 years older than me - she was quite breathless at my conversational pace, but kept up valiantly then produced a sprint to finish a couple of steps ahead of me.
My first grown-up race that wasn't a marathon. I am well pleased. Aldridge 10K in 2 weeks, methinks.
But...
How Kevin the Teenager did in the fun run: Brilliantly - until she got back to the starting post, didn't realise that the finish was 300 yards further on, and ambled in at snail's pace.
The journey home: Sent Mr V-rap and the kids home in the car before the prizegiving. "I'll get the train", I said, not knowing that the cross-city line was closed for "essential maintenance". So I walked. About 8 miles. Couldn't run because I had a backpack which was threatening to rub holes in my neck.
The place: Little Aston. Describes itself as a small village. Really a very posh suburb on the northern extreme of Birmingham.
The course: 5.15 miles over flattish country roads. Little traffic. Water stations every mile and lots of marshals. Also a 2-mile fun run.
The cause: Raising money for the local recreation ground.
The field: Small. Less than 200 for hte main race.
The "professional" warm-up - lethal. A dancing-boy doing scary bouncy things on the back of a trailer. One runner DNF'd after pulling her calf in the warm-up. Kevin and I stayed clear and had a little jog around the field and some proper stretches instead.
The craic: Bollox. I'd reached the last mile before I found someone who was up for a chat. Po-faced gits!
The winner: Alan Jackson, in 26 minutes something, a minute or so off his own record for the course.
The celebs: Sally Ellis (ex olympic athlete) and an ex-footballer who not does local radio commentary.
The goody bag: One Fruit Shoot, one single-finger Twix, one packet of Skips and advertising material for Sally Ellis's fitness classes. Everyone got a medal.
And...I did it. Despite my four-year-old's accusatory "You lost, Mummy" as I crossed the line, I was by no means last. My time was about 46 minutes (exact details will be sent by post), my pace was even, and my legs, heart and lungs felt ace from start to finish. Bit worried when, despite my resolution to start at the back and pass nobody for the first mile, I found it impossible NOT to pass some people who were huffing and puffing within a few hundres metres of the start. Ran the last mile with a super lady 25 years older than me - she was quite breathless at my conversational pace, but kept up valiantly then produced a sprint to finish a couple of steps ahead of me.
My first grown-up race that wasn't a marathon. I am well pleased. Aldridge 10K in 2 weeks, methinks.
But...
How Kevin the Teenager did in the fun run: Brilliantly - until she got back to the starting post, didn't realise that the finish was 300 yards further on, and ambled in at snail's pace.
The journey home: Sent Mr V-rap and the kids home in the car before the prizegiving. "I'll get the train", I said, not knowing that the cross-city line was closed for "essential maintenance". So I walked. About 8 miles. Couldn't run because I had a backpack which was threatening to rub holes in my neck.
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Comments
Fab effort!!
I took part in a race today with 10,000 participants, and no-one was chatting much in that either, apart from the other Forum members.
By the way V-Rap, you don't have to stay to watch the prizegiving - only the prizewinners do that!
Don't listen to Snoop. Why not stay and cheer the winners, one day that might be you, in a newfound good-for-species raptor category.
Snoop, it was Aston as in Little Aston (upmarket end of Sutton Coldfield), not Aston as in Aston Villa, which I know far better (can see Villa Park from where I work) or even Aston Poly (showing your age there, Snoop - it's been called Aston University for about 20 years) and where you are still likely to have your Mercedes convertible road-tested without your consent by the natives.
And they asked us to stay for the prizegiving. And it's only polite. And I hoped the lady I finished with would be getting an ultra-veteran trophy, but they didn't have an over-60s category for women (they did for the men, and the over-60 winner was faster than both the 35-49 and 50-59 winners).
Drew, yes, I was very pleased to get under 9 minute miles and will try to see if I can do the same thing over a hilly 10K in a couple of weeks. The 8 miles took about 2.5 hours including stops to buy drinks, phone home, read the notice in the railway station, give directions to lost drivers, and browse in a couple of shops. I'm filing it under "transport" rather than "weekly mileage".
Hope you're not too stiff today. Marj
When miniµ Nick did their first fun run in the summer they stopped when they got to the finish line (makes sense) but didn't realise they had to filter through so got passed by dozens of people while they stood chatting & had an official time recorded which didn't reflect their effort. The next time it was elbows out with the best of them