This morning Dave and I competed in the Cranleigh 21 mile race. It is a pre-London Marathon race hosted in rural Surrey. The race is on roads and consists of one nine mile lap followed by two shorter laps of six miles.
I had arranged with George to drop Kane off with him for the morning while we ran. As I arrived in Ashtead to drop off Kane I realised that I had forgotten by running shoes. So Dave and I had to return to Sutton before heading down to Cranleigh.
It was touch and go as to whether we would get to the startline in time. I drove quickly and we just missed the start by two or three minutes.
This meant I had to run through the whole back end of the field before I could settle into a rhythm with my running. As a result I ran the first mile too quickly in 6:20. After a couple of miles, I settled down and started to enjoy the run. The first nine mile loop was very comfortable. The start of the first six mile loop was a little tough, but I think that was mainly psychological, as there was still so far to go. Again I settled down and was comfortable until the last mile and half when I was feeling tired, but it was easy enough to hang on to the end.
The running conditions were cold and wet and the nipple rash was so severe on my right nipple that there was a circle of blood on my running vest.
With the times I am currently posting, I am becoming increasingly confident that I should be able to run 3:05hrs or thereabouts for the marathon. My main hindrance will be my starting position which will be with other runners trying to run four hour pace. I will ring the organisers tomorrow to see if I can get my starting position changed.
Run stats: 142:58 minutes, 21.2 miles - 6:45 minutes per mile
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1 comment:
Hi Bruce
Dont worry about your starting pen.
There are three very easy methods of getting around this.
1) Ignore the starting pen number & simply climb over a barrier closer to the startline. No one tries to stop you.
2) Print your own starting pen number & stick it on your number with prit stick glue. no one looks closely enough to tel lif its genuine or not. ( I've done this, no problem ). There is even a Runnersworld forum thread that tells you what font & point size to use on your printer !
3) The easiest. Wait outside the barriers until runners are allowed to move forward. This happens about 5 mins before the start. At that point, all the starting pen marshalls leave & you can get into any pen you want.
On the blue start, you can wait by the roundabout 50 yards from the start & just wander into the group when the marshall leaves.
Have fun.
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