Grunty Fen Half-Marathon

Bit quiet in here isn't it?

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  • WilkieWilkie ✭✭✭
    I'm just about to enter!
  • Just you and me, then, Hashette image
  • Me too! Haven't done it before. Am anxious that the extreme flatness will not give me much scope for excuses for a rubbish time, unless I can arrange to trip over a turnip or something.

  • Me too!  Hope it doesn't rain/sleet/snow - first 1/2 for me.  How about you folks?
  • I'm entered - first 1/2 for me in a very long while as well .... done some 10Ks but being knackered at the end of these doesn't bode well! 

  • Flat but can be windy.

    I found the course a bit depressing but that`s probably coz I had a rotten run.

  • Five days for the weather to cheer up, the wind to drop and me suddenly to become a good runner.
  • Hi Hashette / all

    Sorry I can't make this one so I'll just say 'Good Luck' to all of you.

    Graham

  • Today looks good - what are the chances of it holding for Sunday? ....

    Que Serah Sarah, could you sprinkle some of your magic and make Sunday a 'normal' September day please?  Don't worry Mark and I shall keep the back runners company out of sympathy!  We're quite easy to recognise with our flamboyant style (and t-shirts with our monikers on display!), whilst we hand out turnips for thos doing too well!

     Really quite looking forward to this bone crunching exercise...

  • Weather forecast is looking OK:  17-18 degrees and sunny intervals.

    Good luck everyone image

  • Does anyone know what drinks they use on this circuit?  Just wondering whether to bring my lucozade sport with me or not.

    BTW - what sort of times are you all aiming for?

    Oh - and as Wilkie says - good luck everyone ...

  • Haven't done this one before, but I wasn't expecting any drinks other than some water. If you want anything in particular, you should probably bring it with. I'm not aiming for a time really - I haven't been training properly for this one.

    But I will certainly take more than 2 hours.

    To tell the truth I'm only doing it because of the name. I seem to remember a series of depatches from Our Man in Grunty Fen on the local radio when I lived in Cambridge about 15 years ago, which amused me at the time.

    Good luck everyone and have fun. image

  • The map on the website (http://www.gruntyfen.co.uk/) shows 3 drink stations - one of which you only pass on the second lap.

    As for a target time .... I'm just hoping to get round image . In an ideal world I'd hit 2 hours 10 minutes which is 10 minute mile pace but my prep work has seen me go much past 7 miles so it's very much a voyage into the unknown.

  • There's a water station followed by a beer stop at 0.5 miles and then 5ish miles outside the village pub, plus at least two more water stations but I cant' remember where.  Around mile 11 and possibly 4ish (it's the same one that you pass twice).  I'm not kidding, about the beer stops, look out for it and you'll see the sign. 

     Also if anyone fancies some serious silliness, be at the village pub at 1pm

  • Hey take it steady on the beer Hashette - at least till you are well on the way to the finish. There's also a distinct possibility of a big yellow shiny thing in the sky so drink plenty (water!).

    Good luck - let me know how you get on. See you at Standalone.

    Graham

  • Hope everyone had a good day yesterday. I ran terribly, but still had fun. I thought the organisation was great and I loved the way people in the villages brought out their chairs to cheer us on from their front gardens. Unusually for me, I didn't really fancy a beer though. Felt really thirsty, despite drinking at every water station.

    Jee- for some reason I had imagined you were a woman, so when I saw a man with Mark on his T-shirt it didn't occur to me till later that the person with him might have been you. Are you a short bald black man who was wearing a white T shirt? If so - I was running just behind you for the first few miles - a woman in a purple T-shirt with short dark hair and a sweaty face.

     How did everyone do?

  • I've had better, slightly more flattering descriptions!  But yes that was me.  I would have preferred slightly receding - but can't really argue, pretty accurate.

    2.12 in the end as I/we went out far to quickly and slowed at the end.  All in all not bad for my first ever 1/2 - quite chuffed really.

    Organisation was brilliant, and definitely a regular fixture for me as long as I'm running.  See you all there next year.

    Que Sera Sarah, I'll have a look at the pictures and see if I can figure out who you are - otherwise, just say hello next year - as you know what I look like now, I should be pretty easy to spot!

    Well done every one - it was a really satisfying day, and the weather was just about right too!

    Update - just had a look through - 298?

  • Jee - you'll be pleased to know that I will be circulating Que Sera Sarah's description of you around the office image

     2.06.32 for me (2.07 on the official list) - absolutely happy with that but badly blistered since I forgot my socks ....

    Definitely a well organised event.

     Mark

  • Lots of pictures - how are you supposed to find yourself?  Is there an easy way, or do you have to just look through them all?!

  • Mark - I expected nothing less, just waiting until we get from Mallorca for a suitably embaressing retort.

    I suppose I did 2.11 then if the 'official' clock was out by a minute?

    Anyway, another one off the list for the year - Diss 15 next (praying that my ankle is OK by then!).

    I guess everyone else on the list is still sleeping it off!  Be nice to know how everyone else did...

  • Wilkie - The pics are in order at the ~3mile mark (I think).  I was 9.30 pace and am on page 8 if that helps you?!
  • I found it, thanks jee.

    The other thing someone might be able to explain for me:  What is the age grading figure in the results?  What does that mean?

  • Jee - the official clock wasn't out .... it took us just over a minute to get to the start line after the race clock started.

    Two weeks to Diss - you'll recover!

  • Oh dear jee - what I meant of course was: 'perfectly formed and aerodynamically-coiffed'

    yes I was 298 - in at 2. 18 in the end.

    No idea what the age-grading figure means though.

  • You're forgiven!  Can't wait to go into the office now ... probably have coloured in pictures of Kojak everywhere knowing the children there.  At least the word 'fat' wasn't in the description!

    2.18 - good show, well done!  Something to beat next year?

    The age grading is the band you were in for your age group - top 10 is actually 90+ though so a little confusing.  I could be wrong, but I'm fairly sure that's what it means.

  • Sorry if I have failed to improve the quality of your working life Jee.

    Yes - I'm not a fast runner, but I did a half this time last year and was 10 minutes faster than yesterday. But I wasn't really after a time. I have a T-shirt with Grunty Fen on it, which was my primary goal (and pretty smart it is too). I might well come back in 2009 and maybe have a beer next time.

    I ought to do some work now I suppose.

  • Hello Jee and Mark - we had a chat just before the race, if you remember. Glad to hear that you finished and found it ok. I was a bit slower than I'd wanted - I finished in 1.59 by my watch (just over 2 by the official clock), but never mind - it was a great course, although I suffered a bit in the heat. I also went off too fast and slowed a lot in the second half. I always try not to, but always do!

     Good luck with the rest of your races,

    Andrea. 

  • Hey Andrea - of course I remember you!

    Good news on the time - deceptively difficult with the ever so slight inclines I thought.  Especially the last two miles - but that could have been just me being unfit!

    I'm sure I'll be doing a few winter races to just to keep the momentum going, so see you at some of those possibly ... and eventually a marathon or two.

  • I enjoyed this as my second half this year (well ever actually) and managed to shave 30 seconds off my time with a gut wrenching sprint at the finish, official time 2.12.03. Went with 2 friends who were doing this as their first half and they only came in a minute or 2 after me. Liked the beer, I did try it and was delicious.

    all round I think we enjoyed it

  • Great time Andrea - I'd love to be able to run 1:59 and be disappointed image

    Enjoyed this so much I've signed up for the Ely 10k on New Year's Eve

     Woob - I grabbed a beer but spilt most of it ....

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