I don't care what the Weather Man says

This morning, I woke to see it was a bit damp outside.  Whilst doing a few things in the morning I get caught in downpour and there was thunder and lightning.  The radio suggested there was a yellow weather warning for the South East with risk of localised flooding.

I even posted on my Facebook that it certainly looked like it would be ideal conditions for a Hippo running a trail race.

So I set off for Harvel (a small village between Jcts 3 & 4 of the M20) just before midday. I got to the village a bit quicker than I expected and was greeted by Henry VIII.  Just the sort of thing you expect in Kent on a Saturday afternoon?

There were some menacing clouds, but the Sun was putting up a good fight.  I parked in a field as directed and made my way to the village green to pick up my timing chip.  Straight away you could see this was going to be a fun friendly event. Even the portaloos were individually labeled.  I particularly liked this one :-)

I have heard a quote before, that the best events are the ones organised by runners for runners and I couldn't agree more.  Especially with some of the prices now being charged for 10k events by some of the PR companies that have jumped on the running bandwagon. Anyway I digress.

To start there was only myself and one other PWR, Janet and we were surrounded by a sea of luminous yellow of our local friends/rivals the Orpies.

Slowly but surely the Black & White turned up and we numbered over 30 runners.  I haven't been running much and due to work I haven't managed to go on a Tuesday night club run for a couple of months now, so it was good to catch up with a few people that I haven't seen for ages.

The predicted monsoon had turned into glorious sunshine.  Perfect for sitting on a village green and having a beer, probably not so good for a 5 mile trail run.

800 runners lined up just before 2pm and soon we were away.  The first mile was on a country lane (closed to traffic) and then we ventured onto a trail path, this gave some welcome shade.

There was a drink stop at 2.5 miles and along with jelly babies you had a choice of water, lager or ale.  This was my kind of drink stop.  Now I am not a man to turn down a beer, so had an ale.

What sort of run is this I hear you cry.  Well the Harvel 5 is organised by the Harvel Hash House Harriers and in case you didn't know, Hashing is a form of non-competitive cross-country running with the main objective of working up a decent thirst. Great emphasis is placed on the social aspects - particularly the refreshment session at the aprés-hash. It's a fun activity and must not be taken at all seriously.

There was still plenty of mud on the course despite the lack of rain.

I finished in a time of 45:05 which is not too bad considering I am not in the best shape of moment and I stopped for a few minutes at the water, er I mean beer stop to drink my beer.

Medals were presented by local children and then it was time to re-hydrate with a pint of Kent Brewey Pale, direct from the cask.  This was accompanied by some home-made cake courtesy of Jo one of the PWRs.

All in all a delightful afternoon and run. And I even managed to catch up with a few people that I was cheering on last week at The Kent Road Runner Marathon.

Oh and to top it all, the medal..... Very unique.  It doubles as a bottle opener!

It seems that I am back running and back blogging!

Until the next time
TJH

Family

Well, it has been a while (too long) since I have blogged, so time to put that right.

Last week, I managed to take part in an event on my birthday which was a first, but I also achieved another first by running an event as a family with my wife and my son.

We took part in the BUPA Westminster Mile.

Despite it raining pretty much all week and during the morning, come 10:30am there was a window in the weather which enable us to all run round together without getting soaked.  We completed the mile in 11 minutes with my 4yo boy running all the way!  It was fantastic that the three of us could do something like this together.

Some friends of ours (Brian & Suzy) were also running with their two young boys and the finish ended in a competitive yet friendly sprint, which we managed to win :-)  That will be the only time I will ever beat Brian, seeing as he is a Sub3 Marathoner. We all had a few beers afterwards (well the kids didn't) as it was my birthday.

My Family

Saturday 31st May, I set my alarm for 05:30am to get up for another event, the Kent Road Runner Marathon.  I had entered this year's event having won a place in last year's event via Southern Running Guide. (Blog on that event can be found here)  Having immensely enjoyed last year's event despite being injured pre-race and not running  anywhere near as fast as I would have liked.  I had registered straight after.

Unfortunately, I still have issues and was unable to run.  But I wanted to be part of this great event again, so had no hesitation in volunteering.  So, a 6:30 a.m meet was arranged at the gates of the Cyclopark in Gravesend.

I along with another dozen or so volunteers met up with Ian the Race Director on a beautiful crisp sunny morning.  A lovely day was promised, for maybe a gentle bike ride or a spot of fishing, but probably not ideal conditions for running a Marathon? We all had a brief chat and received instructions and then it was all hands to the pump with absolutely loads of stuff needed to be done, too numerous to mention.  I helped unload the van, erected a large Gazeebo where all the important electronics would be for the race timing and was also given the task of erecting the inflatable arch.

Stunning Morning

It was amazing the amount of tasks that were completed in such a short time.  Wearing a hi-viz vest with 'Marshal' on it means that with hundreds of runners milling about you then become a focal point for questions, which I was delighted to help with, despite not always immediately knowing the answer, but it also meant that it gave me an opportunity to have a chat with all sorts of wonderful people.

The race started shortly after 9am.  Prior to the start I had started chatting to another volunteer Neil, who had driven up from Southampton. (I think that shows what a great event this is, that people are willing to travel that far, just to volunteer)  We were asked to be on the microphones at the start/finish line.  After an hour, another marshal was needed on the course to relieve somebody from their duties, Neil offered which meant I was on my own on the microphone.

Now, friends and family will know that I am a shy, quiet character and was worried sick being in this situation.  OK, complete lie, I was in my element.

The beauty of the KRR Marathon is that it is 17 laps of a cycle track, which meant that I got to see every runner 17 times!

Anybody who has run a Marathon I am sure will tell you how uplifting support can be.  So I made a conscious effort to try and encourage virtually every runner.  I can tell you, I had so much fun.  I was high-fiving a crocodile (as you do), telling Orpington Runners that Petts Wood Runners are better ;-) and basically having banter and laughs with the runners.  Some asked me what lap they were on, which I was able to oblige with as I could see all the timing gear.  Some people accused me of being a liar as I was telling them that they were looking good.

It was good that I could encourage the supporters to applaud finishers as I saw them coming up the hill and it got to a stage that I was even recognising and remembering names of people despite them being a couple of hundred metres away.  It felt like I made a couple of hundred new friends in the space of a few hours :-)

It was a very rewarding experience, and I know people had to run a Marathon in blazing sunshine, but I can tell you, standing there for almost 7 hours encouraging and applauding is bloody tiring :-)

But there was still work to be done as the tidy and pack up needed to commence.  I eventually left at 4.30pm.  There was still work to be done, but unfortunately I couldn't stay any later.

Just like the runners, the volunteers were also presented with a good bag which is a nice touch.

I have my own family and if you are a runner, you automatically have an extended family!

I will definitely be at the CycloPark again next May, if not as a runner (hopeful but unlikely) certainly as a volunteer!

Until next time
TJH

Another one ticked off.

My local parkrun at Bromley has now been cancelled since before Christmas due to unprecedented precipitation or as I would like to call it, 'bloody rain'. So in addition to my pilgrimage to Bushy Park a few weeks back it has also meant a couple of weeks running at Orpington parkrun.

Saturday just gone I decided to venture to Lloyd Park.  This is about a 30 min drive from me and I have mentioned in my blog before that I am quite fortunate in that I have over a dozen parkruns within about a 45 min drive from me.

I arrived about 15 mins early with the Sun making a concerted effort to make an appearance and despite no precipitation of any sort during the actual run, that didn't make conditions any more pleasant as a bloody cold wind was blowing.

As the 85 runners present warmed up and waited for the start we were treated to an acapella duet by two Huskies.  They were quite good and would give a few of the X-factor contestants a run for their money.

The course was two laps, it was very muddy and it is quite a challenging course with a short sharp hill that has to be tackled twice.  Even at the top of the hill there is ankle deep standing water which I think goes to show just how saturated the ground is at the moment.

On the 2nd lap I had to fish out a running shoe which had decided to part way with it's owner.  I did have a wry smile as said owner was hopping on one foot, as if it really mattered as all our feet were soaked anyway.

I managed to trundle round in 30:03.  This was my 64th parkrun at my 13th venue. So that is another one ticked off.

The following photo (courtesy of Kevin Hann) shows A) what the conditions were like and B) what a fat git I have become (again!).  Current weight is 15st 13lb, so only a 1lb lighter (so that is another one ticked off) than a few weeks ago but still 8lb lighter than the beginning of the year.

Smuggling a medicine ball under my top.

Until next time
TJH

A Pilgramage and looking to get back on track.

A slightly belated Happy New Year!

Over the Christmas & New Year period, my running has been non existent.  This was due to a chest infection.  This meant that I missed two cross-country events and various parkrun events as well. I was hoping to run Bromley parkrun on Christmas Day for the 3rd consecutive year.  As fate would have it, the events was cancelled anyway due to flooding.  In fact Bromley parkrun is currently postponed until the end of January.

Pilgrimage
This Saturday just gone I finally felt well enough to attempt a run.  With no Bromley parkrun an alternative was needed.  Jo a member of PWR had mentioned on Facebook that it was the 500th parkrun at Bushy Park near Hampton Court.

If you are unaware, Bushy Park is where parkrun started in October 2004.

So, Bushy Park is was.   At 7.15am myself, Mich & Max left home, in the dark! picked up Jo and had a 70min drive over to Bushy Park.

The weather forecast was for blue skies after the month of biblical rain that we had endured and lo & behold as we got closer the clouds disappeared.

We arrived just around 8.30am and then followed the crowd and once people started gathering at the start line, a crowd it was; just shy of 1200 people!

Prior to the race there was the usual announcements from the Race Director and he mentioned that he knew people traveled from further afield to take part in the event.  I was nodding contently, thinking yes, I have driven for over an hour to get here.  He then followed the previous statement with "and one person has traveled up from Yeovil this morning" So that well and truly blew my journey out of the water.

The run was a delightful if (not surprisingly) a slightly muddy 1 lap tour around the Royal Park.  I jogged round in 28 minutes. I have run over 60 parkruns now at over a dozen venues and the only reason I can is because of the volunteers.  I honestly do not know how the volunteers there managed to process 1200 runners.  But considering the numbers, there is very little waiting time to get your barcode scanned. Very impressive.

So the pilgrimage to the birth place of parkrun has now been achieved!

Back on Track
I must admit, that once I was given the news last year that due to my knee injury I would have to give up long distance running, I kind of lost my enthusiasm for running.  I was only running the odd parkrun and was also eating and drinking far too much.

My enthusiasm was slightly re-kindled by taking part in a couple of cross-country runs.  PWR are members of the Kent Fitness League which is a series of cross-country runs around Kent.  After taking part in the first couple, I decided I wanted to complete everyone in the series.  My chest infection soon blew that plan up in smoke.

Anyway, my lack of running and over-indulgence meant that that on 1st Jan this year, I was back up to 16st 7lb, only 10lb lighter than when I started training for the London Marathon 2.5 years ago.  I had got myself down to 14st 3lb.

I am pretty pi**ed of with myself that I have let myself get so out of shape again.  So it is back to running no more then 10k (except maybe on the odd occasion), back on the bike, back in the gym and back down the BMI ratings. I will be providing updates of my weight loss in my blogs.  Today I am 16st.

Until the next time
TJH

An early Christmas Present to me

Well it has a been a few months since I have blogged.  I have been very busy at work and if I am brutally honest after learning that I needed to pack up my long distance running, I kind of lost my mo-jo for running.

During September & October I ran a few Parkruns and that was about it and with lack of regular exercise and enjoying a night out or two I have put on a fair bit of weight.  However in the last 3 or 4 weeks, I have started running cross country events with Petts Wood Runners and doing a few more Parkruns and have started to realise why I enjoyed taking up running again a few years back.

In some ways regaining my appetite for running has also been frustrating, because I have realised how out of shape I have become and in a few of the events, people that I would be competing with on time or finishing positions have been leaving me for dead.

However what has also been refreshing is just running naked.  Don't worry, I mean in the metaphorical sense.  I wouldn't subject people to seeing trundling round some woodlands in my birthday suit.  I have just been running without my Garmin (of which I had become a bit of a slave to).

In fact this weekend, I have taken part in 3 events.  The first was the Bromley Parkrun on Saturday, which had been nominated as the Movember Parkrun.  So I pushed my boy (who recently turned 4 and is now getting a bit big)  round in the running buggy, in quite muddy conditions.  Everybody got into the spirit wearing stick on moustaches

Today, I had two events.  The first was a cross country mob match between Petts Wood Runners, Orpington Runners and New Eltham Joggers.  The course was a testing 2 lap-4.2 mile course.  I did in fact wear my Garmin for the first time in 3 months.  To start it would only show elevation and nothing else, so I had to reset to factory defaults and then when I did finish, I forgot to stop it until 5 minutes or so after finishing.  So a bit pointless wearing it really!  For the record, the Orpies won the mob match, with PWR taking Silver!

After finishing I had to dash off quickly as I had my 3rd run of the weekend, the Bromley Santa Dash.  This was a family affair as you can see

The course was 2k which included a steep uphill bit and a finish in the High Street.  My boy ran over three quarters of it.  The pre-race warm up was a joy to see with 500+ Santa's performing and aerobic warmup and it was great to be running with my wife and boy along the finish getting cheers and applause from the crowds and witness the atmosphere gee my boy up for a burst of energy sprint finish :-)  I am proud to say we finished in 24minutes.  Not bad for a 4yo!

So my early Christmas present is the return of my mo-jo.  I know I need to take it easy due to my knee condition, but I will be keeping to 5k and 10k events and not have to put in the training miles that I was doing previously.  But when you can have fun and get photo's such as the one below, (which I know I am obviously biased, but I love) it certainly makes running, whatever the distance, very worthwhile!

Until the next time (which will not be another 2+ months)

TJH

Tourism

This weekend, I travelled up to North Yorkshire with Mich & Max and with a mate of mine 'The Rat' and his wife and their two boys.

None of my mates have normal names :-)

The main purpose of the weekend was to visit a couple of racecourses, Thirsk on Friday and Beverley on Saturday.  Having now visited these, this now takes me now having visited 30 of the 59 in the UK. You could say that I am taking part in a kind of racecourse tourism.

Thirsk was the Super Hero Family Day and Max managed to meet SpiderMan!

 

At Beverley, The Rat and I made a tidy profit, so two successful racecourse visits were had.

So whilst up North, I thought would take advantage of the situation and take part in some Parkrun Tourism as well.  We were staying in a static caravan in Skipsea which meant that the closest Parkrun was just over 10 miles away in Bridlington.

The name of the Parkrun was Sewerby! Now I must admit having the word Sewer in the name didn't sound too appealing.

This was my 54th Parkrun and my 11th different venue and I can quite easily state this is my favourite Parkrun that I have done.  I must admit that I was very lucky with the weather.

There were around 90 runners and I did have a wry smile (being a Southerner) listening to the locals chatting and I heard at least three 'Ay Ups'

The start is in front of Sewerby Hall, a rather grand start to say the least.

The run then takes you along a coastal path, then around a cricket green, through some ornamental gardens, along some wood chip tracks, through some woods.  A delightful run, and for me the epitome of what Parkrun is all about.  As I have stated, I was lucky with the weather and I am sure if there is a gale blowing in from the North sea, the mile or so along the coastal path could be brutal!

I managed to get round in 25.25 and came 37th just being beaten by a Husky.  No stats as once again, I left the Garmin at home.

We all had a great weekend, lots of activities and I even squeezed in an hours fishing on Sunday morning and managed to catch a 3lb Carp!

Next family weekend away........................not sure when or where, but wherever it is, I think I will be checking to see where the closest Parkrun is.

Until next time
TJH

Running Naked

Metaphorically of course.  I wouldn't subject anybody to seeing me running in the nuddy!

So it has been a month since I received the news that I have to pack up long distance running in earnest otherwise I would be requiring a large piece of titanium to be placed into knee.  So despite having to knock anything longer than 5k on the head, it does mean that I can still at least run Parkrun. If albeit not as frequently.

So having not done any running at all since the Adidas Thunder Run 2two weekends ago, I decided to run the Bromley Parkrun this Saturday.  There were two main reasons behind this. 


Reason 1 -Not a Headache
I had gone into work on Wednesday & Thursday and had to return home on both days due to migraines and didn't make it into work on Friday  Sometimes you hear people saying I had a migraine earlier (thinking that it is just a bad headache)  I can assure you a migraine is not just a headache.  I lose my periphery vision, I then get black spots in front of my eyes, followed by nasuea/throwing up and then the mother of all pressure headaches.  The only thing I can do is lay down in a dark room.  So in a nutshell I spent 90% of Wed/Thu/Fri sleeping or trying to sleep.  So I had to get out Saturday morning as I needed the fresh air.

Reason 2 -All the Gear, No Idea
I have been fortunate enough along with a number of other Petts Wood Runners (for the second year running) to be asked to help test and provide feedback on a selection of running apparel, nutrition and technology.  So I wanted to test a couple of items that had been assigned to me.  Can you guess what I had to test??

I look like a packet of Opal Fruits

What you may also notice from the pic above is, no Garmin! so in running terms, I was naked!  Having spent the best part of the last 2 preceding almost every run waving my wrist at the sky trying to pick up the satellites, I just wanted to run and not worry about pace or time and not having to wait for the recognisable Garmin beep that can be heard a thousand times at most events (running or cycling).

I got round in 24:14 (only learning of my time when I got my text from parkrun in the evening). 

No link to my Garmin stats.  So here is a link to duck billed platypus instead?

The gear that I tried was Ashmei compression socks - very comfortable and despite being compression socks, not a nightmare to put on. But the acid test for me with any pair of socks is how much they seem to shrink after washing (although being Merino wool, potentially less washes are required!)

My other item being tested were the Puma Mobium running shoes.  I admit these look strange as they have what looks like a pre-formed  high arch.  Reading the bumph the idea is that the shoe effectively flattens out and moulds to your foot on footstrike but then recoils back to shape once you lift your foot and therefore getting power transfer.  Well that's the idea?  From my perspective, they were comfortable with loads of cushioning especially in the forefoot (which is important for me, being a mid to forefoot striker), and very lightweight.  I had some minor discomfort on the instep of one of my feet, but I will be giving them another whirl to see how I get on with them.

So there you have it, a brief blog by my standards.

Until next time
TJH