Valencia Part 1 - The Marathon

As you may have gathered, I quite enjoy my blogging now. A way of keeping an online diary and documenting my thoughts, opinions and experiences.  A single Valencia Marathon blog would be pretty lengthy so I have split it into three parts or a trilogy if you will so you can choose what you want to read

Part One - Valencia: The Marathon
Part Two - Valencia: The journey to sub4
Part Three - Valencia: The weekend away

VALENCIA - THE MARATHON

Let's cut to the chase. If you are friends with me on Facebook or follow me on Twitter you will know that I achieved a sub four hour Marathon. Yes Ladies and Gentlemen, you read that right, the Jogging Hippo ran a sub-4 Marathon! I ran it in 03:58:47, so not much below 4 hours, but I honestly couldn't care less :-) It is a definite case of mission accomplished.

I had set my alarm for 7am Sunday morning, but awoke around 6am and couldn't sleep.  Weather reports all week had forecast rain and Saturday night there had been thunder storms, but a glance out of the window and a check on the Internet suggested it may now just be overcast.  Which was fortunate as I hadn't packed one the marathon runner's essential piece of attire, the 'black bin liner'

My other faux-pas (not sure what the Spanish equivalent is) was that I had not packed any safety-pins.  I assumed that they would be with my number and didn't really check properly until I got back to my hotel room on the Friday evening.  With an abundance of pharmacy's in Valencia.  I didn't envisage too much trouble obtaining these.  However, my first attempt showed this wasn't going to be the case.  My miming of running a marathon and pinning a number was obviously not up to scratch as I was offered nasal strips and plasters.  I resulted on drawing a picture.  The lady behind the counter immediately knew what I was talking about but then said 'No' they don't sell them.  I then text Ian (a fella I see from time to time at Millwall, more about him later) asking what the Spanish was for safety pins.  His girlfriend is Spanish.  Whilst waiting for a response, we found a poundshop, although I suppose in Spain it is a Euroshop and just as I found my quarry, I received a text with the same word.  So Spanish lesson time, if you need safety pins, you need to ask for 'Imperdibles'

Once I eaten my breakfast (bananas and cereal bars) and sorted myself out (getting dressed, plasters & Vaseline, if you know what I mean) I left my hotel at five past eight and was actually in the orange pen at the start by 08:35.  This is where my initial plan went out the window somewhat.  I had found out by chance that Ian was also running the Valencia Marathon, he had run the Berlin, his first Marathon in 03:57, git ;-).  So we suggested trying to meet up amongst the 7000 other runners by making a beeline for the 4 hour pacer.  It seems that the orange pen was for International runners, as when the person on the PA started announcing all the different countries taking part, it seemed all the cheers came from the Orange pen.  Incidentally it was announced that there was only 45 runners over from the UK.

With the orange pen seemingly the international pen this meant that the 4 hour pacer was in the Blue pen with about 1000 people between us!  However, due to my now traditional "you look daft" (my wife's words) Union Jack bandanna, Ian managed to locate me.

We had a chat and Ian said he was aiming to beat his 03:57.  I said I was just aiming to beat 4 hours.  At 9am there were fireworks which we thought indicated the start of the race.  5 minutes later we still had not moved.  I thought maybe it was a staggered start, but then we were asked to all move back.  This is the first time in an event that I have actually had to go backwards?  I actually started my watch as I crossed the start line at 09:09.  I knew Mich would be waiting for me at the 10k mark.  Ian and I ran together chatting away and Ian said I was probably keeping him is check, as I was conscious not to go off too fast (bitter memories from the London Marathon).

I said to Ian before we got to the 10k mark, that Mich might be concerned that I was behind schedule as I told her the approximate time I should be there.  I saw Mich and Max and managed to high-five Max as I ran past and after passing I heard Mich shout "You had better get a move on"  I laughed as I said to Ian "There you go, my official time keeper thinks I am behind schedule already"  I then said to Ian, "Listen mate, I don't want to ruin your schedule, if you want to push on, go for it" so we wished each other good luck and he kicked on.

The weather was not as expected and it was showing 19/20 degrees.  Water stations were every 5k, so I was taking a gel just before each water station and then making sure I had a few swigs of water shortly afterwards.

The support was top draw with lots of bands and music along the whole course and one point there was a group of locals about 20 of them all dressed as Sponge Bob Square Pants and at another point there was about 40 odd people dressed as cows?  I am not sure why, but they were very vocal and it brought a smile to my face.

One thing I did notice is that quite a few of the local runners had people cycling along side them handing them their gels and water.  This got me thinking that maybe I should get Mich to cycle along with Max sitting in a trailer handing me my gels and water.  I might run this past her, although I expect a two word answer with the second word being 'off'

At 16 miles I did my first mental check.  This is because it was at 16 miles in the London Marathon that I started to think that something wasn't quite right.  I knew I was running at a sensible and within target pace and I felt quite good.  At 18 miles there is a stretch of about a mile that goes through an underpass.  There were speakers that were blasting out music that any nightclub in Ibiza would be proud off.  The one tune that was playing as I entered the underpass was the bongo song, if you don't know what one I mean, click below for a listen.

Top Tune!

You could see this euphoric music brought a smile to everybody's face.  I even felt like putting on some white gloves, start raving and get the whistle posse going!  The downside to this was that satellites and tunnels don't really work well together, so average mile pacing went a little bit out of the window for a mile or two.

At 20 miles, I was feeling a bit tired but OK  but I didn't want to get too confident as I know 'The Wall' can be hit at any time. Now was the time to start the mind over matter battle.  I told myself that all I had now was a 10k run, something which I have probably done over 100 times.

At 23 miles I started to feel it a bit, but now I told myself I just have over 5k to do which is the Parkrun distance and despite slowing my aim was to keep under a 09:30 min mile which I was sure would still get me my sub4

In the last 10 miles I also saw Mich and Max twice more which I wasn't expecting and that was also a nice psychological boost.

Despite my pace slowing, during the last 3 or 4 miles, I was passing quite a few people.  In the past and paticularly during shorter races, I have taken pride in passing and beating others (my competitive nature) but I took no pride seeing people struggling and suffering in the last few miles as I had been in that position myself just over 6 months previously.

With 1k to go, going by watch I was pretty sure, barring a disaster I would achieve my goal.  The final couple of hundred metres is on like a jetty/pier construction with water either side which definitely makes for a unique experience.

I saw the clock was showing 04:01 which I was a bit confused about as I was expecting it to show something in the region of 04:08 or 04:09 as I hadn't crossed the start line until 09:09.  As I crossed the finish line with arms aloft I stopped my watch on 03:58:49 and I was so happy and relieved that I had broken 4 hours.

A smile cleverly disguised as a grimace

I then instantly felt absolutely and completely exhausted.  As I walked down the finishing funnel and collected my medal along with a whole load more goodies (whole bag of oranges, a gym towel, various drinks & pastries) doubts started creeping in.  Why wasn't the clock showing 04:08/9.  Did losing reception on my Garmin bugger up my timing?  But I was sure I had kept under a 09:09 min mile average and my watch time of 03:58:49 surely had to be right?

After 10 mins or so I found Mich and Max waiting for me.  Hugs and kisses plus me saying "I think, I am pretty sure I have done it"

There was then the debacle of getting out of my sweaty running gear and putting fresh clothes on in the public with Mich holding aforementioned gym towel trying to protect my modesty.

We then took a slow walk (after all I had just run a Marathon) back to the hotel, so slow in fact that Max actually fell asleep in his buggy which meant an opportunity to find a bar and sit outside supping a few cervezas.

It wasn't until later that evening after having a meal and some rijoca that I got official confirmation that I had indeed achieved a sub4.

Chip time aka 'Tiempo Real' is all that matters. 

Note above how I came 1st for Petts Wood Runners.  Pretty impressive when we have approx 250 members.  I won't let the minor detail that I was the only PWR running get in the way of my glory :-)

My garmin stats are below
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/245159408

Incidentally, Ian got a new PB of 03:53:56.  Well done mate!

TJH

Park Running

Despite me being a regular Parkrun participant, this is not about Parkrun.  This brief(ish) blog is about something which I do far more infrequently, in fact only the 2nd time since I left school.  But something I will be doing more often.  I am talking about Cross Country running.

Sunday was the 2nd event of the Kent Fitness League series http://kfl.canterburyharriers.org/ 

Whilst Petts Wood Runners are not formally part of the league, we can run as guests as long as we provide our name in advance.

The Petts Wood Runners men's captain Chris 'Typhoon' Turner had suggested and arranged this and his efforts were rewarded with 30 runners attending from PWR.

I arrived just gone 10am on an absolute glorious autumn morning with my support crew, my wife Mich and my little boy Max and we soon saw the PWR flag and made a beeline for this.  We then, along with quite a few other bystanders watched 4 or 5 PWR's trying to erect our club gazebo.  I would have helped, but too many cooks and all that.

Luckily, John (the club secretary) arrived to save the day and promptly explained that it was inside-out and within a couple of minutes we had base camp.  Once everybody had gathered we had a bit of a chinwag and then had a quick team photo before making our way en-mass to the start.

PWRs (with gazebo the right way in the background)

We congregated at what most of us thought was the back and then realised we were at the front!  Not a problem for maybe 4 or 5 of the group, but for most of us mere mortals a little worrying that we would be caught in the stampede.

The race was due to start at 11am, but there was a welcome delay as we paid our respects to our fallen countrymen and women with an impeccably observed 2 minute silence.

Then the klaxon sounded and we were off and it was a stampede.  I tactically filtered my way to the middle of pack (can also be read as was overtaken by half the field) and tried to get into a rhythm, but this was a little difficult due to the muddy conditions and the twisting turning nature of the course.  I was quite surprise when my Garmin beeped for the first mile, that I looked at my watch and I had run a 7:46 mile!

I pretty much tried to maintain the pace and slowly began to pick a few people off.  The course was 3 laps and just shy of 5 miles.  Near the finish, I kicked on and manage to overtake 3 or 4 people and then out the corner of my eye saw this chap about to fly past, this resulted in an all out full on sprint for the last 100 metres.  He beat me by a whisker :-(  However, after checking the results, I would like to point out that he was 6 years my junior, plus I didn't want to push it too hard with a Marathon coming up 7 days later.  Well that is my excuse anyway :-)

Almost out of the frame due to electric pace (Yeah right!)

Just after the finish line we shook hands briefly and then both returned to being bent over with hands on our knees gasping for breath. My official time was 38:58 (his 38:57)

http://kfl.canterburyharriers.org/xc_result.php?id=4138

but I didn't manage to stop my watch until 39:08 as I didn't have the energy to press the button.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/242380967

The PWRs were then rewarded afterwards with some Banana cake made by Sian and her little boy Sam (Sian, if you are reading this we now expect this every Tuesday night!)

Some of you reading this may think that it is a bit daft running this one week before a marathon.  However, as I had an enforced 10 day break recently I thought this would be a good final workout.  I will find out if it was a good idea on Sunday.

Until the next time

TJH

All about running but not much running!

Since my last blog, quite a bit has happened related to running, but alas not much actual running.  In fact my first run was this morning.  So here is a bit of a brain dump of what's been happening and my thoughts.

Under the Weather
In addition to a hamstring strain (see below) I have also battled against an attack of potential Man Flu.  Now as everybody knows, if it had turned out to be full blown Man Flu, I might not even be here now typing this, but luckily it was just a cold.  I was planning on doing a longish run on Sunday but had a migraine attack and had a repeat attack on Tuesday which resulted in a day off work and no chance of me running with PWR in the evening.

Massage or Interrogation
After my 16 miler last Sunday, on Monday I woke with a very tight hamstring. Obviously I didn''t really have much of an opportunity of a warm down or stretch standing in a cold field and then trying to get a train, followed by one and a half hours in the car. I digress. So on Monday evening I had a sports massage and also repeated this again this Monday.  Now I will tell you something, if ever I am captured by the KGB, they won't need thumb screws or have to attach electrodes to my knackers.  All they need is to get a Sport Masseur to come in and start on my IT Band and I will sing like a canary!  I thought I had a high pain threshold, but when it comes to a sports massage, I am a big girl.

Happy Endings
Briefly touching on my 'Halloween Horror experience' for the final time before putting this one to bed. After communications with the customers services and not really getting anywhere, I decided to go to the top and contacted the owner of the company and I am happy to say, I got the resolution I was looking for.

Planning Ahead
November 1st was the day that entries for the Adidas 24hour Thunder Run opened.  So I entered a team of 5.  The logic being that a lap of the course is 10k.  If we average an hour per lap, we can do 24 laps, so four of us will do 5 laps and one of us will do 4 laps.  Along with myself  'Ray' my fellow team mates (all from Petts Wood Runners) are 'Karien', 'Emma', 'Matt' & 'Eleanor'.  If you take the our first initials you get the word 'KREME'  So ladies and gentlemen, I present to you team 'KREME KRACKERED'

I also booked up a family weekend in Barcelona for next year, that just happens to coincide with the Half Marathon, which is nice.

Decisions Decisions
As you are probably all aware the NYC Marathon was cancelled.  I tweeted at the time that I feel this was the RIGHT decision, but made at the WRONG time.  I think most people knew that their wasn't much chance of the event going ahead due to Danny Zuko's girlfriend making a bit of a mess.  My personal opinion is that New Yorkers are proud of being strong, brave and having a 'can do' attitude and maybe this is why they didn't want to make what would have been a braver decision to cancel the event earlier.  Although the cynic in me thinks that maybe from an economical point of view it made sense to get as many of the overseas people into New York?

Final Prep
So with the Valencia Marathon only 10 days away and my prep being interrupted somewhat, I did manage to get a 10 miler in this morning by running to work, with touch-wood, no ill effects

STATS

I have a 5 mile X-country this Sunday and will go out with PWR Tuesday evening and then do a 3 or 4 miler Thursday morning before flying out to Spain.


Until the next time
TJH

A Real Halloween Horror Show!

I apologise in advance, but the majority of this blog is going to be a rant. Before I go off on one, a quick overview of what I did this week. Monday I did hill repeats, these were bloody tough and Tuesday I woke with a bit of a tight piriformis (which has been the bane of my running).  I stretched afterwards, but obvioulsy not enough.  A mate at work (JC, no not Jesus Christ) is doing the London Marathon next year and he saw the benefits of following a training plan (courtsey of Project 26.2) so has asked me to help him with his training, so we did just over 3 miles on Wednesday lunchtime.  He had to stop a couple of times, but did well.  Saturday, I ran the Orpington Parkrun.  The PWR men's captain 'Typhoon Turner' (he talks as fast as he runs, in fact maybe quicker ;-) has organised a Parkrun improvers league, so 19 PWR's were present on a bitterly cold morning, and 5 PWR's were in the top 10!

Jackanory Time

So, are you sitting comfortably then i'll begin.

With the Valencia Marathon only 3 weeks away, I had registered to take part in the London Kilomathon which is 26.2km, advertised as the 'perfect distance'! 

Having paid just shy of £30 to take part, the first warning signs were when I downloaded the instructions this week.  The start of ther race was at the Lee Valley Athletics stadium and the finish was apparantly at the Lee Valley White Water Rafting centre (where the Olympic canoeing was staged).  Therefore, there were buses to take finishers back to the start, BUT you had to pay and buy the tickets in advance.  £3 for runners and £6 for spectators.  So I had no choice but to pay for a ticket, which when I received it was a Powerpoint slide, that I could have just photcopied!

Also the instructions stated that at a certain point in the race those running 26.2k had to collect an orange wristband?

So Sunday morning I arrived at Lee Valley Athletics Stadium and I honestly couldn't tell if I was at the right place, no stewards, no signs, the only give away was seeing some other runners.

The highlight of the day was actually seeing an indoor track and warming up on it.  There was no real need, but it was just a bit of a novelty factor.  At age 37, I am still a big kid.  I don't know how people run on these tracks though with the camber, they must have one leg longer than the other!

Very blue!

After handing my bag in, the runners assembled on the track in the colour coded pens.  Now coded is the key word here, as both 13.1k and 26.2k runners were all mixed and the pens were not based on expected finishing time, so there were faster runners stuck behind slower runners.  Some of the faster runners were so desperate to make their way through they went off the track slightly and missed running over the chip mats!

The novelty factor continued as we did less than half a lap of the track and then was funnelled into a narrow path, therefore slowing everybody down to a walk and then having to run through a narrow gate out of the arena.  All a little pointless really.

The first 3-4 miles were through a drab industrial estate and to add to the grey day and grey scenery, my Garmin was not playing ball and would not turn on.  It eventually came to life after about 1k.

The course did eventually follow the paths around the lakes and canals of the Lee Valley.  Whilst running I was thinking about what to put in my blog this week and whilst the scenery was OK, one word that came to mind and I think perfectly summoned up the atmosphere was 'SOULLESS'  Of the 100 odd marshalls I can only remember two giving any sort of encouragement.

Then there was the split where 13.1k runners were sent one way and 26.2k runners were sent the other way and you then had to collect an orange wrist band.  I still don't know why as it was never checked or needed at any point in the race.

The finish was advertised as the White Water Rafting Centre, this was basically a lie, a couple of hundred metres before the end you had to double back on yourself to get over a canal bridge and the incline was without exageration 25%+  OK this might have only been for 20 or 30 metres, but still, it is not something you need after 16 miles.  Then there was a run into a muddy field.  The inflatable gantry had the word START on it (probably a last minute decision to get one and that is all they could get) plus there was no clock!  The White Water Rafting Centre was somewhere nearby (allegedly)

So I was given my medal and a goody bag (no t-shirt as advertised and no space blanket which would have been a godsend considering the conditions). I then went to the baggage collection.  I think a picture paints a thousand words!

Help yourself to any bag

I then had to interupt a group of 6 or 7 marshalls who were just huddled together having a laugh and ask where I needed to get the bus from.  I was pointed in the direction across the field.  So after a 500m walk I cam across a white mini bus that probably seated 30 people maximum and a queue of around 100 people.

It transpired that one of the buses was 'lost' the other bus sitting there was full, but the driver was on a break and wouldn't be leaving for another 20 minutes and the return journey would take 30-40 minutes.  So he we were, 100 odd people standing in a muddy field on a freezing cold morning after a 16 mile being told that it will probably be over an hour before we could get a bus.  As you can imagine, everybody was fine with this, but alas I had left my picnic rug at home and my pile of logs, so toasting marshmallows on a camp fire was out of the question.

We were told that there was a train station out to the right somewhere.  So I along with dozens of others start wandering to the right.  after about 3/4 of a mile we found Waltham Cross train station. Despite having a hoody on, I was now beginning to shiver a bit.  Upon arrival we were told that the next train was an hour away!

So now the next task of ringing cabs began.  I was told a 30 minute wait for a cab because surprise surprise they seemed to be very busy all of a sudden.  I eventually got a cab (sharing with others) and during the 5 mile drive back we saw some less fortunate or maybe hardcore people walking back to the start.

You don't have to be Poirot to work out that I will not be doing this event ever again, and I have some more typing to do in a little letter that will be going to the organisers, although that word should not and cannot be used for the company that put on this event.  I think Cowboys is more apt and this was daylight robbery!

26.2k may be the perfect distance, but this event was the perfect disaster!

Incidentally I did the run in 2:14:24, and will be needing to have a bit of physio in the coming weeks as the old piriformis tightened up again and was giving me a quite a bit of discomfort during the latter part of the race.

And now to top it off, I can't upload the info from my Garmin :-(

I am now going to console myself with a glass of red!

Until next time
TJH

Endurance

Well you won't need much endurance to read this blog as it is a short one.

This week I had two endurance challenges. Number one was reviewing 1200 photos and the batch processing and uploading 900 of them. These were the photos that i took at the Petts Wood 10k last Sunday. I finally managed to get this done 8pm Wednesday evening. If you want to have a look click here PICS

I was glad that I had this completed quite early on Wednesday as I had an early start on Thursday for endurance event Number Two. I got up at 5am had a couple of pints of water along with a banana and some malt loaf, 50 mins later I was out the front door starting my run to work with the little matter of a 10 mile detour. I ended up getting rather wet but managed a 20.4 mile run in 3 hours 12 mins.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/234679987

This also meant that I spent the day wearing tights.  Don't worry, I am talking about compression tights not fishnets and I wore my suit trousers of the top, so none of my colleagues were aware, well not until now if they read this!

That's it.  Told you it was a short one :-)

TJH

The Other Side!

You may think from the title of this blog that this is about me being a Jedi being lured to the dark side? alas not. This is about being involved in a running event, not as a participant but in an official capacity.

I have now taken part in just shy of 30 running events ranging from 10k's to marathons and I probably haven't really considered what is involved in staging an event. This weekend, my running club (Petts Wood Runners) hosted their 6th annual Petts Wood 10k. If I say so myself, it was a huge success. If you don't believe me take a look at the feedback on the Runner's World website.

So I just wanted to give a small insight into what is involved. I would just like to add, this is purely from my point of view and I probably don't do justice to what some of the others do.

As I said this is the 6th year that PWR have hosted this event, having only joined the club in August last year, this was the first time I have been involved. The race has already received accolades on Runner's World for being a well organised race. This in turn I would say brings it own pressures as everybody wants to ensure that the high standards are maintained.

There is a core race committee that starts the prep pretty much as soon as the previous year's race has finished and there are literally 100's of e-mails and phone calls made securing suppliers, sponsors and a million and one other things to do.

Two Weeks Ago:
A group of about 10 of us went round to the club secretaries house to sort out all of the kit for the event. The list is endless, but everything was checked and double checked to ensure that each 'Marshall group' had the relevant signs/markers, Marshall bibs, first aid kit, tool kit, red & white diagonal striped tape (not sure what to call it) rubbish bags etc etc. We then sat down to check that all relevant people, suppliers, residents had all been contacted and so on.

Last Week:
Another group of about 10 again (some same faces, some other volunteers) congregated at our Membership Secretaries house and stuffed 750 goody bags, we had a great production line going making sure every bag was complete. I was on leaflet numbers 3 & 4 :-) It reminded me of the mice factory in Bagpuss (showing my age now)

Saturday Morning:
I ran Parkrun as usual (I would just like to take this opportunity to congratulate my wife on getting a new PB and knocking almost 1:30 off her previous time)

I then went to Willet Rec, where the race starts and finishes to help start unloading a lot of the equipment for the Sunday. This again is where you realise how people help by either donating equipment or utilising their own company vans to help transport the equipment. Incidentally these are people that have their own companies, so they are entitled to do what they want with their vans. I don't want people to think that they were using their work vans without permission for non work-related things!

Also a group had just got back from running the route to give it a final check and make sure that a meteorite had not landed of something maybe not quite as dramatic had occurred. But this reconnaissance mission meant that the Marshall team leaders could be notified of any potential hazards.

Sunday Morning:
Rendezvous time for the 'Rec team' was 7am. Going out for beers and curry on the Saturday night and not getting to bed until 1am was probably not the best of ideas. But, I had my alarm set for 06:10. At 06:17 I awoke (luckily) and then realised I had set the alarm on my iPhone for weekdays only! So minor disaster avoided. A quick glance out of the window presented with me with a starlit dawn morning and a thin layer of frost on my car windscreen.

I arrived just before 7am and within 10 minutes there was already half a dozen of us there , swelling to 20+ by 07:30am. I particularly like this photo which catches the atmosphere of the glorious morning conditions.

Once again the list of tasks to do was endless and it was all hands to the deck erecting gazebos and marquees, marking out the course, erecting the start gantry setting up tables, chairs and so on. I can vouch that a 25 litre water container is bloody heavy! But as well as the big tasks there are also lots of other tasks which people happily offered to do, despite them being far from glamorous but equally important to ensure a smooth running event. Two of these that spring to mind were taking all of the medals out of their individual wrappers and separating the bunches of bananas. A camp kitchen was created to ensure that the troops were kept going with bacon rolls and tea!

By 9am all 100+ Marshalls had arrived and were getting their final briefing before donning luminous yellow and making their way to their allocated spots.

It was good to catch up with Danny Coyle (editor of Men's Running magazine) who had tweeted earlier in the week of feeling under pressure as he had been issued #1 (nothing to do with me) and I managed to get a couple of photos of him later on that are potentially worthy of a caption competition :-) Something for a Christmas blog maybe?

As the start time approached, I had to now down tools and take up my main role of the day as unofficial-official photographer. I had been snapping away during the morning anyway. I can tell you that during the course of the morning I took nearly 1200 photos and any photographer's amongst you will know that bright winter sunshine might be great for running in but it is a bit of a nightmare for taking photographs. Once the main race was underway, I then had to photograph the kiddies race. This was great fun. With all the kids having seen the adults storm off, they had Olympic time dreams of their own. The 2nd age group (6-7 I think) were particularly eager and I was almost caught in a stampede. See exhibit A below.

Once that was all over, I had to make my way back to the finish pretty quickly as the lead runner was expected back within 3 to 4 minutes. I then stood at the finish for over an hour trying to take photos of everybody as they approached the finish line. I apologise now, if anybody looking for their picture has not been captured! I also think I now have RSI in my right index finger.

Once everybody had finished, there was the presentations to all the various winners and as the Rec emptied the clean up operation began. My wife had arrived during the morning so my boy Max could run in the kiddies race. So this meant that they were having to wait around for me as I helped clear up. However, Max was more than happy with this as he now had sole use of the bouncy castle which fortunately had not been taken down. I think I left about 1pm, but there were still people there loading stuff back into vans I felt more knackered than if I had run the 10k course twice.

I purposely have not named any of the PWR's involved. It would not be fair to name or single out any individual and it would be impossible to list all the names. Everybody who helped no matter how big or small (I am talking about their contribution, not their height) is an integral part of this successful event.

So what is the point of this blog? Well it is just me jotting down my thoughts of how I saw the day. It also puts into perspective the organisation required for marathons that have thousands of runners but these will inevitably have professional companies to help host them.

More importantly I think it shows how a lot of the smaller events (hosted by local running clubs) that I and many others compete in can be taken for granted. PWR is a small friendly club with about 200 members and I would estimate that 90% have been involved in some way in helping stage this event, if not this year, then in year's gone past. It is through everybody's good will, good humour and graft that the PWR10k comes together.

So next time you are running an event and there is a person standing in yellow pointing the way or giving you a clap and a cheer, maybe give the odd one or two a little thank you in return (between your gasping breathes obviously)

I can honestly say I am proud to have been a part of this event and proud to be part of Petts Wood Runners. Right, I am off to go and do back slapping have a group hug and shout "right on" as I high-five people, such is my feel good factor. So if you see a news clip on London Tonight in the next couple of days, that a man was arrested on a train for trying to get a carriage involved in a group hug, that will be me :-)

If you want to see the reviews, click here
If you want to run in next year's PWR 10k, bookmark this link.
I am in the process of editing and uploading the photos, so will post a link once they are ready.

Cheers TJH

10-7-7-10-10

As you can guess from the title this blog is all about the 7s and 10s.

First 10
Was my run home from work on Wednesday evening.  Not sure why, but I felt a bit lethargic and the run felt a bit of a struggle, maybe because I pushed it on the Sunday for a new 10k PB?  Any experts out there? Maybe you can let me know how long it takes to recover from a hard run?

What was interesting though was my stats where alledgedly my fastest pace was a 2:43 m/mile?  not sure over what distance that was though?

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/229652803

First 7
I was back at Bromley Parkrun on the Saturday and despite going out for a meal with the wife on the Friday night and consuming real ale, champagne, red wine, limoncello and cognac, I was only 7 seconds off my PB.  Not sure that prep is something I will do regularly though!

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/230590760

Second 7 & Second 10
Sunday was my 7 year wedding anniversary (hence the meal Friday night) and what better way to celebrate than to leave the wife and go for a run :-)  In my defence, I did take her breakfast in bed in the morning. 

So just over an hour drive down into Kent saw me arriving in Sittingbourne for a 10mile road race hosted by the local Striders running club.  And what a glorious morning it was, sunny yet not too hot, no wind and a very nice run in the Kent countryside. 

There was over a dozen PWR's down there for the race and the talk was of the 'undulating' course.  Why is it that 'undulating' is always the word used?  To be fair it wasn't as bad as I was expecting with just one memorable climb, just after 1 mile and the rest was, well er undulating.  I was pleased with my time of 1:21:42

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/230854492

I managed to bump into a chap from work (Kris) so I asked how he got on, "Oh not too bad 1:01, I came 3rd" he replied.  God, I hate these natural athletes ;-)

Third 10
Last but by no mean's least is the 3rd 10 which is the Petts Wood 10k.  This is the annual event being hosted by my club Petts Wood Runners next Sunday (14th October).  This is the first time I have been involved in something like this and I am really looking forward to it and can now really appreciate how much time and effort goes into organising a race.

The PWR 10k always gets rave reviews on the Runner's World forums and was highlighted in the top 5 races in October in this month's Runner's World magazine.  So if you are reading this and are relatively local, there are still spaces and you can enter via HERE or if you want to you can enter on the day.  More info on the race can be found @ www.pettswoodrunners.co.uk

Hopefully I might see some of you next Sunday.

TJH