The Bard

"In the highly unlikely event of a plane landing on the course during the race, please take evasive action."

Thus spoke the race director at the start of last Saturday's Shakespeare 10km on an old disused airfield near Stratford-upon-Avon.  I've heard some pretty strange things uttered on race start lines over the years, usually by mayors in their robes and chains or Norm Lane on top of a ladder at Bourton, but this was definitely a new one on me.  Apparently the airfield is still registered as such so would come into play in an emergency - I half expected MH370 to make an appearance - although given the numerous potholes around the course any sensible pilot would enschew the offer.

This was certainly a race with a difference, in fact four races in one; all on the start line together: 5km (1 lap), 10km (2), half marathon (4), marathon (8).  Sadly the race numbers didn't differentiate between distances so it was hard to work out who one was racing against.  The 5km 'lap' made life even more interesting consisting as it did of a star-like structure with five 'arms'.  Thus course was, essentially, out & back five times with a u-turn at the tip of each arm.  Of course the wind blew hard, making conditions pretty tough for all on the bleak flat landscape.  But it was fun; second guessing who was running what distance was intriguing and something I got totally wrong.  A negative split gave me a respectable time especially as I'd been laid low once again in the week leading up to the race with the consequences of eating cream cake (lactose intolerance kicked in with a vengeance).

With the race being on a Saturday, it was possible to get out for a decent long Sunday run just like the old days.  It is understandable that most road races have to be on Sundays these days but it does make life difficult for runners.  We were very lucky in years gone by when all races were on Saturdays: a good social with a few pints after the race then a long recovery run on Sunday morning made for the perfect weekend.

Weekends are so key in the training cycle of most runners who work full-time that they need to be utilised as best they can.  When I was at optimum mileage, my training week was set-up by how much I did on the weekend.  Typically it would go something like this:

Saturday: easy morning 5 miler; afternoon 2 mile warm-up, 8 mile race (mob match for example) at tempo pace, starting slowly, easing into the race, then running as I felt, 3 mile warm-down.  (Although I raced most weekends, most events were treated as tempo runs.)

Sunday: morning lsd of around 20 miles; late afternoon 3 mile recovery jog followed by large whisky, the Sunday papers and Rachmaninov's piano concerto blasting out on the stereo.

So, before getting into the working week a good 40 miles had already been ticked off.

Slaughter of the Heathens

Yes, still here.  This rarity, a blog from Wrighty, is dedicated to a Ranelagh chum David Rowe.  Not only does he openly admit to reading my efforts but he has a trigger on his system every time that the blog is updated.  Wow!  DR is a serial blogger himself as well as being an excellent photographer - the two go well together - so I should flag up his site for avid blog spotters: http://rowerunning.co.uk/  His musings from last year's Hawaii Ironman (Kona Diaries) are definitely worth scanning, especially for any others who, in DR's words, 'move across to the dark side of triathlon'.

Including school fixtures, of which there were many, I've been racing in Richmond Park for 45 years now, yet I've never seen it as wet as it was for the last of this season's mob matches against old rivals Blackheath Harriers.  Add in gale force winds, which at least conspired to blow the rain clouds away and avoid further topping-up, and conditions were tough in the extreme.  With a turnout of 75 we well and truly thrashed the Heathens for our first hat-trick of wins against them since 1923.

After another difficult winter for me, not helped by a tooth abscess necessitating root canal work, I was just glad to be able to run round at a half decent pace on the first half of each lap, before the aforementioned winds and puddles, that were more like sink-holes, dictated survival rather than competitive running was the name of the game.  Was pleased to beat Chris Owens for the first time this winter, albeit afterwards the 2013 V60 World Triathlon Champion said that he's currently training hard but doing little running.

My only Wynne Cup victory, unlikely though it seems at this early stage of SLH mob 1982.
Other Ranelagh: Riley, Harvey, Currie, Forrest, Hedger, McLachlan, Wise, Peace
Click on picture for enlarged view.

Ranelagh has had an excellent season: the men finished sixth in the highly competitive Surrey XC League Div 1; the women won promotion back to Div 1 and the club won three out of four mob matches, only losing very narrowly (one runner would have made the difference) to Orion Harriers.  A lot of credit has to go to the new club captain Phil Killingley - an appropriate winner against Blackheath and therefore Ranelagh club champion (the prestigious Wynne Cup) - and his team for instilling a great team spirit.  Not only are numbers turning out to the mobs but there's also an enthusiasm pervading the start line mass and support for fellow runners finishing down the field.  Members are turning out because they want to not because they've been press-ganged into running.  Wonderful to see.