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Roding Valley Half Marathon
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I didn't even start - pulled out due to an annoying cold. Went down to watch the start though, although I only saw Jason and Legless. Was looking out for you Loopylou but missed you!
Pansie - I'll probably be doing the Brentwood half, so may see you there, though by the sound of it, you'll be finished by the time I've run my first mile, so I'll wave goodbye to you at the start! Are you doing the 15 mile training run this coming Sunday at Brentwood?
It was an assault course, not a road race.
The best bit was the drive home.
I'm so embarrassed about my time, I'm too ashamed to tell anyone at the club what it was.
Doing Thanet 20 on Sunday, which I think I can well and truly manage now.
Asked for results, just to see how near the end I was, but haven't heard any thing yet.
lol.
Sometimes I have the same problem and worry too much about the result. Important to learn to not take to seriously. In your case I am sure it was a valuable training unit, you main goal is possibly FLM anyway. There is always another run and you can improve your time.
I'd like to say that I was entered in FLM, but alas, no.
I started out with four other friends, who slowly left me behind in their wake.
I did the first long lap in 50 minutes, but the second long lap was a killer, as I knew where all the hills were then!
I was treating it like a training run though, thankfully.
lol
I was 8 mins outside my PB and fed up with it, I shan't do it again either.
My Mum got to see me run for the first time, and it was only 40 minutes down the road from her, so that was the best thing for me.
Other than that, no way am I doing it again.
I feel sorry for the race organiser in a way, as he doesn't have much to work with.
What was that medal about though?!
With regards to the medal, I thought the guy hands out an energy bar. Then realised it was a medal. Well they could have placed a cute girl there handing out the medals, followed by a well done
As always unfortunately you get hardly any support along the route, only the few people at the finish. A bit sad, but also race organisers could to a bit more to attract people or they should organise a race as part of a community festival. Just a thought!
Too much inspiration from URR I guess ;-)
Good experience but the hills play havoc with the HRM for a base trainer like me.
I reckon I will be doing this HM again - definitely.
they could do a lot more to make it better though
mile signs you can see would be nice - if you put them on the wrong side of the road i probably won't even notice them.
more marshalls - and maybe even ones that smile? i said (well more panted / grunted) thank you to every marshall i saw and only one responded - all the others ignored me!
and definitely more going on at the finish. actually i quite liked the medal though and the guy who handed me mine said well done and even sounded like he meant it!
i'm not sure if i'll do it again - but i certainly wont put it down as a good pb course!
i ran this in 1997 and the medal is almost exactly the same, same blue wallet and everything. Made meh laugh.
(Had a few years out from running)
if so - 1:43:34
Thank you M.
Creaky knees- do not be embarassed about your time. The fact that you can run 20 miles I think is an achievement enough - i couldn't run 20 thats for sure!
Well done everyone!
Despite the pot holes, the traffic, the sour faced marshalls, the 13 hills (or so someone told me) the needing a number 2 at 9 miles (sorry is that too much info?) and the lack of a cute girl giving out the medals I STILL enjoyed the race! Bring on Brentwood.
NRG-B, still no synchronisation of our calendars I'm afraid as I'm doing the Hemel 10 on the 14th instead of Brentwood. God knows I've spent enough hours in brentwood without going running there as well! Hemel sounds a bit more attractive. (Apologies to brentwoodies.) After that, Hatfield House is my next one - some speed training! (I wish.)
It is always a challenge to find enough volunteers to man the feeding stations and to marshall - especially as many of the club stalwarts who have done this for years have become older or infirm, but we will try and improve this aspect next year.
Regarding the course, because of the problems with parked cars/traffic, I did look at changing the course last year, but really couldn't find an alternative. At present, apart from the first small lap when everyone is together, the course at least doesn't cross any major junctions. One other alternative would be to start the race at 9am so that at least most of the runners would be past the problem before the cars start building up.
With the medals, I have tended to keep these the same each year as it is always difficult to predict how many runners we will have each year and so there is always a stock of about 200 or so carried over to the following year. Perhaps next year it is time for a change (for the second half of the field at least).
Finally, the results are now on the club website www.woodfordgac-essexl.org.uk under the results tab, or if you aren't already on my mailing list, send me a mail at dhollingworth@softek.com and I will send them to you and also notify you about next year's race nearer the time.
Thanks
thanks for your response. i've recommended your race (via our club newsletter) for anyone at our club after a bit of pre-marathon strength training next year!
finding marshalls is always a tricky one. i've seen a few tactics tried at both my running and tri clubs. perhaps saying you can only run if a family member or friend marshalls in your place? i saw that woodford green had over 10 runers so that may provide you a few?
also various incentives for marshalling instead of running (club championship points, extra entry in the club FLM place draw, or whatever else you think might appeal to your runners)
we're only quite a small club (about 120 memebers) but with these types of schemes and much nagging by the chairman we turned out over 95 of those 120 to help with marshalling, road signs, handing out goody bags etc
and maybe some "caution runners" signs on the main roads might help?
anyway - thats supposed to be constructive. my overall impression ofthe race was a good on (helped along by a pb!)
congrats to you and your team.
M xx
You don't have to have medals, mugs or t-shirts can be just as good.
As I say, a hard race, glad I did it as it will come in handy for Hastings, soem killer hills!
Roding Valley was my first HM and I enjoyed it greatly. Lookforward to the next one.
Best Regards.
This was my second Roding 1/2 and i enjoyed it,as i did last year.I am also glad to support my local race.I only live a couple of miles away from ahston.
Woodford my not get it completely right but it gets it almost right,which for most of us is good enough.
If we runners want better ran races would we pay more for it? i think not.
Perhaps we should take a turn at being a marshall once a year to see what it is like.
Thats the moan out of the way,see you next year.
The proud wearer of number 1.
If we aren't allowed to make comments that are construed negatively, then what is the point of having a forum to discuss events? What is the point of RW ranking races? You never know, some race directors might appreciate feedback and use it to improve their races!
Would I be prepared to pay for better races? Speaking as someone who's already ran Robin Hood and the Nike 10K, I don't think that's in question.
Where does this mentality of not criticising anything come from? I haven't marshalled yet, I'm not a member of a running club at the moment. But I would happily do so to put something back into running as I feel I've taken a lot out of it already. I've already volunteered to marshall at L2B.
I said "thanks" to a marshall on Sunday after he encouraged me, for what it's worth.