St George's Day Marathon

Brighton Aftermath
The "run up" to this event was more like a painful shuffle.  Having got it into my head that I needed to try running on tired legs after Brighton marathon and also finishing that race so well, I was out on the Tuesday and Thursday for steady club runs and quickly found that I should have been doing a lot more rehab (massage, stretching) to get over the effects of that run.  Tuesday had me glad of other people's injuries so I could drop back and jog/walk with them nursing my own hip flexor and knee issues and then Thursday I felt some developing achy pain at the top of my right Achilles, which came from having very tight calf muscles and then going out for a hilly jog.  Time to panic!

I spent Thursday evening foam rolling and massaging my calves and booked a treatment session at Reform and Renew Osteopathy, vowing to spend every bit of free time between now and St George's Day doing rehab exercises and getting my calves back in shape. At least on Friday I managed to get out of bed without pain in my Achilles, just very tight right calf muscles.  It was starting to feel like a retrievable situation, but I knew I had to do a lot of work to get my legs right or I could end up putting the rest of the year's events in jeopardy.

My treatment at R and R Osteopathy with Abby resulted in a lot of needles going in to relieve tension in various bits of calf muscles, particularly the offending piece of the right calf that was pulling most on my Achilles.  I then got taped up on both my right calf and left hamstring (I had forgotten about that injury, but Abby found it again!) with blue tape, which slightly compromised my St George's Day colour scheme.

St George's Day
This year St George's Day, the 23rd of April, was on a Thursday and I took the day off work to do the marathon.  It was going to be another 5am start as the marathon was due to start at 8am and the trip down to the venue in Walmer in Kent would take about 2 hours.  I needed to be on the road before 5:30am to give myself a chance of getting there on time.  As I was also planning to make a detour on the way home to go to the London Marathon expo to pick up my race number and then head straight on to Abby's for a massage, I was going to have a very busy day.  This was a mission needing expert planning and precision timing!

I loaded up the motorbike the night before, so it was ready to roll and laid out my race gear so I could wear it all under my motorbike gear. Then I could just step out James Bond fashion ready to run.  The journey down (round the M25, down to Dover, then heading north towards Deal) went reasonably smoothly.  I arrived in the car park on Walmer sea front at 7:15 in time to get my kit sorted and have a loo break.

Kit for the day had to include lots of red and white, being St George's Day, which turns out to be quite easy for a Sandhurst Jogger. So, SJ race vest, newly purchased red/white cap, old London Marathon jacket to keep warm in case of inclement weather and red calf guards.  I was back in the Hokas since they had worked so well at Brighton, but left the quick-draw laces on, which turned out to be a bit of a mistake.

74 patriotic people at the start

This event is organised by SVN Marathons, run by Traviss Wilcox (also chairman of the 100 Marathon Club).  The event had 74 people taking part, so about as far away from a big city marathon as you can get, with just a few friends and family as official spectators and volunteers manning the one aid station at the start/finish.  We all gathered together at 7:50 for a briefing and announcements for Ed mills, who was running his 100th marathon and Elaine Dean who was doing her 99th and was presented with a Flake to go with an ice cream after the run (99! get it?).  Then, after a hearty attempt at singing Jerusalem, we were off.

Chasing the Dragon

At the pier, about a mile to go to the turn point

The course is a simple completely flat set of 5 laps of an out and back course, briefly heading west from the start to Walmer Castle about 200m away, then turning and heading along the seafront path to Deal, past the Lifeboat Station, the old Regent cinema, the pier and out to the turn-around point at a set of steps on the sea wall.  I set off with my watch set at 9:30/mile pace, which should have been quite comfortable, and found myself trotting along at 9:15/mile pace for the first lap.

I first met Karen Summerville just after she had fallen and
broken her shoulder at Thames Meander marathon in March.
She finished that race in a sling. Amazing woman!

Back at the aid station, I stopped for a drink, piece of cake and nutty fudge and to adjust my laces, as the right shoe was coming loose again. My pace continued like this for the next 2 laps, doing about 9:20/mile for 4 miles, then having a break at the aid station to eat and drink.  By the 4th lap, my loose shoe was becoming the same annoying issue as at Brighton and I was really regretting not sorting this out and changing the laces.  Even though my right leg and heel was taped up I could feel a blister starting to form on my heel and little toe.  I tried tightening the laces up again, but the discomfort in my right foot was starting to give me issues with calf muscle pain, which
worked up to my hips and pelvis too.

End of lap 2 coming in for more cake and squash

At the start of the last lap, I decided that I would jog/walk the last 5 miles and try to avoid doing any more serious damage - I had London Marathon to consider and that was only 3 days away.  The last lap was a fairly painful and slow trot and walk.  I had spent some time running with Jonathan Burton from Norfolk, but with me slowing down and a possible 4:20 PB on offer he had pulled away.  Just before I reached the turn I saw Jon walking slowly towards me, staggering a bit.  He sounded OK, just completely lacking energy and I handed him my bottle of squash.  After the turn I caught back up to him to check how he was and he was fine to continue the walk back for the last 2 miles, so I jogged on eventually making it to the finish for a time of

                                                                                   4:34:04.

At the finish with Janet (Greg Ward's better half),
Jonathan Burton (right) recovered to finish just 5 minutes after me 

I got a massive medal hung around my neck by Traviss, a well stocked goody bag and had some photos taken with Janet Foran in her medieval gown. I then spent an hour eating as many scones as I could while drinking squash and fizzy wine and cheering in the remaining runners.  Unfortunately I couldn't stay for Greg Ward and Ed Mills' finish and Ed's 100th marathon celebrations, as I was on a strict schedule and needed to load up the bike to head up to the ExCel in London to pick up my London Marathon race number.

London Marathon Expo

With my main rival at any big marathon,
the only runner I actually try to beat!

The bike ride up through London turned out to be another great way to get hot and even more
dehydrated, so once I had my number I made straight for the Fullers stand to get some free beer samples.  My St George's Day marathon medal was a great talking point for many people around the expo and was really useful in getting a few more free samples of protein recovery bars.  I managed to see Katy Mead and Emma Lewis, then at 4:30 I left the expo to head across town and Abby's treatment table for a post race check up and massage.  Either I am getting used to the pain, or Abby was being very gentle - I suspect the latter.

So, St George's Day Marathon, proved hard work.  The course was a bit dull, but the other runners were a really good friendly crowd and the aid station, volunteers, medal and goody bag were great.  I have already decided to sign up for next year at the bargain price of £30.  Next year it will be on a Saturday which I think will put it on the day before London, so it could be my first double marathon weekend!

Very impressive medal and a steady and sensible finish time

Contents of the well stocked
goody bag also included an England cap

(PS: just found out that SVN are holding another Wonderland Caucus Run (6 hour challenge) the day before St George's - so this could turn out to be a triple!)

Brighton Marathon 2015 - Race Report

Before Race Day
The lead up to this marathon saw me in possibly the best condition ever, with no injures and having got a lot of training miles in before what was supposed to be a short two week taper, but actually resulted in me doing more miles in a week than I have ever done before (52m including the marathon).  At least with my "anti-taper" I didn't have time to go stir crazy with not running much and didn't feel like I had to wrap myself in cotton wool to survive till the race.  I also didn't have to worry about putting on weight with a drop off in mileage during a taper and I got to the start still at a good race weight.

Kelvin, me, Ben, Phil, Abby, Jenni and Sarah at the expo.
Numbers ready - now for some serious carb loading! (photo Phil Jelly)

This year Brighton was a week after Easter and I had the week off, so I had the added benefit of not spending the whole week sitting at a desk but getting out doing all sorts of activities with the family including Go Ape and swimming (both good cross training) and Frimley parkrun followed by massive full English breakfast the day before. I'd also spent some time in the week carb loading by making and eating plenty of my nutty flapjack energy bars (recipe in another post!)

I had thought that I could persuade the family to come to this one for a weekend away in Brighton, but then rather dropped the ball by not booking up a hotel months in advance like 10,000 other people did. So, with no room at the inn anywhere within a marathon distance of Brighton, we had to make do with a day out at the Expo then leaving me to make my own way to Brighton on race day.

Race Day and Plan of Attack

All the important stuff.

I had sorted my kit for the day the night before as usual: SJ running vest, short tights, RedVenom calf guards (really tight!), Nike toe socks and the new Hoka 1-1 Bondi 3s - or the "Brothel Creepers" as they are now known.

I was up at 5am, dressed, breakfasted on porridge and out of the door by 5:30 to go and pick up Emma Lewis for the drive down to Brighton.  There were no traffic issues and, apart from a stop on the A23 at "The"Most"Disgusting"Toilets"in"East"Sussex", which we abandoned, all went smoothly.  I had a park and ride place at the Moulsecoomb campus of Brighton Uni, which we found despite a complete lack of signposts and, after catching the shuttle bus, we got to the start area at Preston Park by about 7:30.  First job was to get to the loos while there were no queues, which was just as well as just half an hour later and we would have been at the tail end of 50m long lines to all of the toilets.  These queues lasted until moments before the start when most people just gave up and started running.  Definitely not enough loos for an event of this size! By the way, have you noticed how everyone coming out of a portaloo is rubbing their hands like they just thought of an evil plan?

Looks of triumph and relief! We made it to the loos
without having to queue!

My not-so-evil-plan was to meet and run with a friend of mine from Frimley parkrun, Simon Burfield.  We found each other by the time we needed to get in our start pens, but Simon had a pink number, two pens behind my red one, so I dropped back.  I met Dick and Erol from SJ
briefly before they went to drop bags off and then Emma and I went to get in our start pens.

The Race 
The start time was 9:15.  Back in the pink pen we waited and waited for the red and blue runners to get under way and then we watched as the elite and faster red bib runners went by as they came through their first mile on the road next to us.  There was a slight delay after the final blue runners had left to provide a small gap between us before we were released, crossing the start line at 9:30am.  Luckily I was on the right side of the road so I got to high five Jo Pavey just past the start.

My plan was to set out at 8:50/mile pace and keep that going for as long as possible.  As usual, I had my Garmin virtual pacer set up to just tell me how many seconds ahead or behind plan I was so I didn't have to do any complicated mental arithmetic.  Starting with slower runners wasn't too bad, though we did have to do a bit of weaving to get past some people and the congestion held us up every now and then.  However, if you are not too anxious about pacing and can spare a few seconds to chat, there are some interesting stories to be had talking to some people running for charity.  The first 4 or 5 miles passed by fairly quickly like this.  The congestion didn't ease off until we got out of the town centre and on the run up the hill above the marina, where the roads were straighter and wider.

The route. The profile looks more hilly than it feels and it's quite a quick course.

Still breezing along at mile 18,
Simon just behind me. (photo Bob Fudge)

Conditions for the race stayed sunny and breezy for the whole time and the heat gradually built up from a chilly sub 10⁰C to about 15⁰C by the finish.  The air quality was fine after the previous few day's smog scares, but I was glad I had decided to apply some Factor 50 (if you want to stay cool and not overheat when marathon running, then control your skin temperature - burnt skin doesn't sweat so well and stays hot, so it's best to either cover up or apply sunscreen).  There were plenty of water stations with both water and Gatorade and the cups were not a problem - I walked a few paces whenever I wanted a drink and the paper cups didn't cause a tripping hazard like half full bottles can.

I didn't really have any problems with injuries out on the course - a little tightness in my left hamstring got me running with a bit of an exaggerated knee lift for 5 minutes on a couple of occasions and my only real issue was with the laces on my right shoe. These came loose around 8miles and later at 15miles and I stopped to tighten them up both times. Unfortunately I didn't stop early enough and my foot moving around in a loose shoe caused blisters on my little toe and heel.  Once my foot was secure, the little pain I had from the blisters mostly went away.  Oddly, the left shoe was absolutely fine.  Lessons learned - if you have a problem, don't wait to sort it out, no matter how small it seems and change the Hokas to regular laces.

The course has a few hills, but nothing too strenuous. What it does have are lots of out and back sections.  This could be seen by some as a bit of a drag and the section from 14 to 18 miles along Church Road parallel to the seafront did seem to go on forever, as did the section out to the power station. However, much like at Portsmouth marathon, the out and back sections give you a chance to see supporters and runners several times.  I saw Emma, Madeleine, Pam and Vicky H, Lisa Hale, Gemma Potter, Dick and Erol from Sandhurst Joggers, Kelvin from Cove Joggers and a few Windle Valley runners who I didn't know but gave a shout out to anyway. I also managed to get my picture taken while still looking fit at about 18 miles (thanks Bob Fudge!)

Crowd Support
The crowds are what really make Brighton a good marathon and throughout most of the route, there are hoards of cheering onlookers.  There are only two sections where the crowds are a bit thin - out to the marina and back and then down to the power station.  At least the marina section happens when you are reasonably fresh and the views are nice from miles 7 to 11, but the drag out to the power station is dull industrial estate with not much going on from 20 to 23 miles. I took quite a mental dip on this section and felt some tightness in my left hamstring for a while and I ended up doing my slowest miles along here.  With 4 miles to go I realised I had dropped my mate Simon and it was time to push on if I had anything left in the tank.

Getting off the power station road was like a breath of fresh air, as the crowds were back to full strength and kept cheering all the way to the finish.  With just 3 miles to go I got back in my stride and felt better for picking up the pace and running more naturally.  As each of the final miles was ticked off I felt I could push harder, building up to near 7min mile pace as I went through the last mile.  The run in to the finish line seemed to take forever to appear and wasn't even in sight as my Garmin announced 26miles, but eventually I could see the finish gantry and crossed the line running flat out to finish in 3:51:19.  That was an amazing finish for me - it is the only time in 11 marathons that I have finished with enough energy and with legs that work to actually run to the finish instead of slowing to a painful shuffle.  

All the Sandhurst finishers - Well done!

Afters
I was a bit wobbly after crossing the line, just taking baby steps to get to my medal. I then waited for Simon to come in and he crossed the line 8 minutes behind me, just below 4 hours.  We then shuffled along with the finishers to collect a cotton T-shirt, bottle of water, Gatorade recovery drink (ew!), banana and melted chocolate biscuit.  After collecting my bag from the bag trucks, I left Simon getting a massage at the NSPCC tent and wandered round to the beach area where I met up with Erol and Dick at the S-for-Sandhurst meeting flag for some recovery food (milk and BBQ Hoola Hoops) and we sat around checking the Marathon App for updates on SJ and Frimley parkrunner's progress.  After meeting Emma and comparing feet, we headed off for the shuttle buses and the drive home.

This was a new PB for me by 1 minute and there were lots of good performances by Sandhurst runners, as you can see in the table.  Well done to our 15 runners who made it to the start line; everybody finished.  Extra special mention must go to SJ's Madeleine Duncan-Booth for smashing her previous best by over an hour!  And for real heroism (and doing it for charity) Abby Fudge and Ben Curtis who managed to get round on the back of injuries and illness leaving them with almost no training in a very respectable 4:39!  

Simon waiting for his post-race
massage (photo: Simon's dad)

A total of 9426 people started the race and 9200 finished. I came in somewhere in the top 30% overall and top 25% in age category (v for vintage or something like that).  This was the one marathon of the spring season where I was going to push for a good time, so I was very pleased to come away with a PB.  It almost felt like I had trained properly for this one!

My next race is in just 11 days at the St George's Day marathon in Kent, followed only 3 days later by London Marathon on 26th April.  That's a key block of training on my way to my solo attempt at Endure 24 in June.  So far recovery from Brighton has gone very well and I'll be out for a 6 or 7 mile jog with the club just 2 days after the marathon. Running on tired legs and back to back long runs are what I need and so far the sensible progression in increasing the mileage is working well.  My next go at a "fast" marathon will wait till the autumn when I have another go at Abingdon.

Ever onwards!

Shoe Review: Hoka Bondi 3

A Perfect Fit?
My search for the Holy Grail of running shoes, the ones that perfectly suit me and stay endlessly comfortable, is a quest that I am yet to fulfil.  I have no real brand loyalty when it comes to shoes and I have tried pretty much everything. Maybe I just haven't tried the right pair on, but when I do, I expect my feet to be bathed in an ethereal golden glow and the shop to fill with the sound of choirs of angels.

My current road shoes are Brooks Ghost 7 and Adidas Glide Boost 6 for general road training and Brooks Ravenna 4, currently reserved for half and full marathon races.  I have done about 50 miles in the Glides, 100 miles in the Ghosts and 120 in the Ravennas, so they are all relatively young.  Yes, I keep a track of the mileage I do in each pair of shoes that I have, which may sound massively anal, but is really easy to do by choosing the shoes I ran in when I log my runs on Fetcheveryone.  I also know how many miles a month I have been doing and it runs at 120 to 150 miles at the moment. That's over 1400 miles a year and, if you go by the usual 400 to 600mile replacement rate, about 3 pairs of shoes.

So, as I'll be buying at least two pairs of shoes a year I want them to last and I also want them to be reasonably priced.  You could buy shoes at lower prices from the web, but it's a bit of a risk not trying a shoe on first and it's usually only worth doing if you're replacing a shoe with the same model. Good advice, but not what I did with my latest shoes, the Hoka 1-1 Bondi 3.


I have a mid to forefoot strike with a running style marrying a shorter stride with a quick cadence.  I'm not so interested in what is going on in the heel area of a shoe as I don't feel it affects my running or foot comfort much.  What I really look for in a shoe is something that has a lot of forefoot cushioning and above all is comfortable - after all, I'm going to spend a lot of time in these shoes.

What's in the big blue box?

The Hoka brand have become quite popular with some marathon and ultra runners, especially those doing multiple events in a year, but you don't see them much elsewhere.  They aren't that easy to find in running stores, so I bought mine on-line at SportsShoes.com for £99.95, which was a decent price - Hokas range of shoes are anywhere from £80 to £140 in the shops and they do a range of road and trail shoes.

Out of the Box

Extras! - a nice surprise.

So, what do you get for your money?  To start with, a big box.  The shoes have a large stack height to accommodate all that cushioning. Inside you get a pair of laces and an additional pair of thin insoles so you can adjust the fit, either leaving the thicker insoles that are already fitted in the shoes, or combining the two.  The laces aren't spares, they are there to replace the fitted quick draw lacing system (similar to Salomon trail shoes) if you want to.

Insoles to adjust the fit of the shoe and regular laces if you
don't get on with the quick draw laces fitted.

I went for a quiet looking pair of shoes in subtle greys and white, mostly because I was a bit unsure about drawing attention to myself in these slightly odd looking shoes.  The Bondi 3s come in reasonably tasteful blue and lime, but also red, grey and yellow, which were a bit Ronald McDonald for my taste.  Maybe if I like these shoes a lot, I'll go for something a bit louder in my next pair.

Smart but understated colourcheme, at least for Hoka

Compared to my other marathon running shoe, the Brooks Ravenna 4, the Hokas really make you stand out from the crowd.  Having said that, they don't have a much different heel height - 33mm to the Ravenna's 35.1mm, but the forefoot cushioning is bigger with 29mm for the Bondi 3 and 25.8mm for the Ravenna. This also gives you a reduced heel drop of just 4mm compared to 9.3mm for the Ravenna and actually puts the Hokas in the realm of minimalist shoes as far as heel drop is concerned. It's what you might expect for a racing flat, not a high mileage shoe.

The weigh-in before the big fight!

You might think that the Hokas would be much heavier than a conventional shoe, but that is not the case.  The claimed weight of a Bondi 3 is about 310g compared to the Ravenna's 315g.  I checked the weight of my shoes and found that my Bondi 3s were a bit heavier (bigger size?) at 352g compared to my Ravennas at 339g.  This puts the Hokas into the realms of most conventional looking shoes, with a very similar weight to my others.

Not so heavy, considering I had worn off some rubber from
the Ravennas in 120miles of running marathons.

Fitting
Putting the shoes on you don't really notice anything different from any other shoe.  The quick draw lacing works well and there are a couple of loops you can use to tuck the end of the lace loop into.  They have quite a thin looking tongue above the laces, but it's more cushioned under the laces. I went for a UK size 9.5 (EU 44), which is the size I need for Brooks and Mizuno shoes and the fit was a little smaller than the Brooks Ravennas in this comparison.  The Bondi 3s are Hoka's widest shoe type, what they call a "generous" fit on their website and they didn't feel any tighter than the Ravennas.  Hoka appear not to use just one last, with other shoes in their range described as medium or medium to narrow fit.

Road Test

Face Off done. Time to go running.

For this review, I just did a quick back to back run of 1km on local roads, which included flat and hilly sections on wet tarmac - it was raining. I'll put a couple of medium training runs
in later in the week, followed by Brighton
Marathon and will update the review after that.
First impressions were quite a revelation.  The forefoot cushioning gives a very plush feel to the shoe.  There is no chunky feel to them to go along with their looks and pick up is just the same as the Ravennas.  The huge difference comes in foot strike, which is a bit of an odd squishy feeling to begin with. However, given just a few minutes at sub-marathon pace, I quickly began to enjoy the gentle impact and the roll through to a springy push off that the Hokas give you.  The grip on the wet ground was good and I had no issues with fast downhill turns on the smooth wet tarmac.

Getting back into my Ravennas really showed up the effect of the extra cushioning of the Hokas.  In the Ravennas I was back to feeling every little bump, ripple and loose stone in the tarmac, but the Hokas insulated my feet from that. Now, I know some people like to feel "connected" to the ground they are running on and there is something to be said for that, especially if you are running shorter races on uneven ground where you might want to feel like you have a more stable platform. However, having recently done the Thames Meander Spring marathon along the Thames towpath, much of it on stony ground, I was starting to get seriously cheesed off after 20 miles of feeling every little stone and cobble digging into my feet. I think that for what I want these shoes for - running 4 to 5 hours at a time on roads and fairly flat dry trails - the extra cushioning could be a great benefit.

Verdict
Initial thoughts are that the fit and feel of the Hokas are quite conventional, belying their chunky looks and they do feel similar to my regular shoes.  The cushioning is far greater than anything I have ever worn, but after the initially odd squishiness, I quickly got used to the feeling of the soft landing and roll through to toe off and ended my first short run smiling.  I think for longer distances, these shoes could really suit me.

Hoka also make some bold sounding claims regarding impact reduction and injury prevention for their "Oversize Concept" shoes, supposedly providing benefits for 80% of runners: Energy expenditure reduced by 3.3%, tibialis anterior effort reduced by 15%, impacts on the body reduced by 25% leading to longer runs injury free and potentially faster recovery.  That could be good news for people who suffer from impact and overuse injuries.

We shall see in the near future whether any of these claims in any way hold up for me, as I come into an important training phase on the way to Endure 24. In the next 3 weeks I'll be doing maintenance and recovery mileage, with marathons at Brighton (12 April), Walmer in Kent (23 April) and London (26 April).

Update following some marathon running.
I did Brighton marathon wearing the Hokas and they generally performed well.  The good things were that they felt comfortable all the way round and I felt in good enough shape to pick up the pace in the last 4 miles from 9 to 7 minute mile pace.  Afterwards I felt knackered but not sore in my lower legs and ankles, which I usually do.  My only issue was with the quick draw laces to the right shoe which loosened during the race and even though I stopped three times to tighten them up I ended up with a small blister on my heel and little toe.

I ran St George's Day Marathon in Kent with the same laces and had the same issue (doh!) and had to tighten the laces up a couple of times. Eventually I tried tying a knot behind the toggle to stop it coming undone and this seemed to work.  I went to the Hoka stand at the London Marathon expo and they suggested replacing the laces.

For London marathon I ran with normal laces and had no issues with the shoe getting loose.  I did notice that, later on in the race, when I was running on more heavily cambered roads, the sides of the shoes were digging into my ankles a bit. The sides of the Hokas do seem a bit firmer than my other running shoes.  However, I was wearing my thinnest Injinji toe socks and having something thicker around the ankle might have prevented this discomfort.  I think these socks are meant as a liner with something going over them, so next time I'll try something thicker.

I did get a bit of a blister on the outside of my little toe and on the end of my second toe on marathon runs, which sounds a bit like they are a little bit small, but could also have been down to the lacing.  Moving to regular laces has helped, but I think I will still go for half a size bigger to give me more room in the toe box.  Having done 10 marathons in these shoes, they appear to have firmed up a little bit but are still very well cushioned. The uppers have lasted well, but there is significant wear in the soles.  There is only hard rubber in the heel and end of toe area and not the mid-foot area, which just gets a different colour of the midsole foam.  This isn't a particular problem for road and flat/dry trail use and I can say that they work really well for me and I will definitely get another pair.

Mad March part 3: Fleet Half marathon

Pre-Fleet (pre-London) Half Marathon recovery
Having done a decent time at Surrey Half without trying that hard and the following week surviving reasonably well the spur of the moment decision to do Kingston parkrun just an hour before Thames Meander marathon, I thought I should have a quiet week of recovery before deciding how to tackle Fleet Half.

It's Rio time for Elinor after her
latest parkrun PB.

Marathon recovery started well with staying on my feet scoffing cake, fudge, bananas and squash, being driven home and then having a curry before a hot bath stretching and massage.  I find getting some protein in me as soon as possible after a race helps with recovery as does keeping moving, stretching warm muscles and some massage.  Apparently chillies are also good for reducing swelling and have some pain reducing effect, so the curry at home was a welcome surprise with additional benefits.  I had a massage booked for Monday evening and easy club runs on Tuesday and Thursday and the usual Frimley parkrun where, if I wanted to avoid having the hard stare treatment, I was running with Elinor.

Monday's massage was one of the least painful I have had in recent times as I was in pretty good shape post marathon (no pain, able to walk up and down stairs).  Tuesday I was leading the slow group for a 5 mile 11 to 12min/mile run, which was good recovery again, followed by the Sandhurst Joggers' AGM.  I'm doing a lot more run leading this year with the Tuesday and Thursday groups and I decided to take up the suggestion to join the club committee and take over organising the Thursday night runs.

The Thursday club run was a steady, pain free 7 miles including my jog to Crowthorne and Elinor and I managed 25:51 at Frimley parkrun which was a new PB for Elinor.  She was determined to go fast and showed real grit to keep the pace going in her run.

Race Morning
I forgot that this race started at 10:30 instead of the traditional 10am so I had the family up, dressed fed and watered and at the race village in Calthorpe Park by about 9am, which Julia was not that pleased about, but it was a sunny morning and Costa coffee was open in the mall on Fleet high street.  Come to think of it I should have realised something was amiss with my timing when people on twitter were saying they were getting to the start at 10am! I thought that was a bit too casual.

SJs Paula, Madeleine and Chris pre-start selfie

Anyway, with the wife and kids away to find refreshments I got to chatting with the many folks I know from Sandhurst Joggers, Cove Joggers and Frimley Lodge parkrun.  We had 22 SJ runners taking part, which was a pretty good turnout given that Reading Half marathon was also on the same day.  I met up with a few club mates and we had our photo snapped for a local newspaper and I chatted away with friends enjoying the sunshine until about 10:15 when I took my top layers off and went to the baggage tent.  This went like clockwork as there were no queues at all and I made my way out to the start to stand near the 1:45 sign.

Kit for the day was SJ vest by itself, short shorts, Red Venom calf guards, toe socks and my "marathon shoes" Brooks Ravenna 4.  I remembered this race last year being one of the most painful things ever as I got a small calf muscle tear at 1 mile, was in discomfort all the way round and couldn't walk for day or two afterwards.  So, why calf guards today and not last week at the marathon?  Who knows, it just felt like the right thing to do for today.

At the start with my "Everybody knows me" race vest on.
Brian Holden (Cove) and Martin Gay (Frimley Flyers) at right
(photo: Bob Fudge)

Out at the start it looked like nobody was really paying attention to the pace boards and were lining up anywhere, so if you get upset having to pass lots of slower runners, best to get a bit further forward.  I had an idea about going for a PB (1:47:03) as I was close a coukle of weeks ago at Surrey Half without too much effort.  A 1:45 time would be 8min miles so I set the Garmin for that and thought I would see how my legs felt over the first 2 miles.  As you'll see later, starting where I did in the crowd didn't have much effect - the first mile was my slowest, but only by 10secs and I probably got more out of continually catching up to people rather than being passed.

The course was the same as previous years with a the first mile or so a loop around the race village park to get back onto Fleet Road (the high street), then down to the station before a loop around the northern edge of Fleet before getting back to Fleet Road again at nearly 5 miles.  This is followed by a long loop to the east then north and west of Fleet before coming back to the end of the high street and the final run to the finish.  The high street is at the top of a small hill.  It's short but at a noticeable gradient and you have to do it three times, but the cheers from supporters help you get up there each time.

The initial miles round Fleet were quite entertaining as there were loads of people out on the local streets and Fleet Road itself was packed along its whole length with cheering crowds.  I saw many friends out supporting down there and managed to High 5 the kids on my second pass.  Particular mention goes to Bob Turner who was biking round the course and I saw three or four times for extra cheer. The first 5.5 miles went by quickly as there was so much going on and people to look out for, but reality bites at Fleet Station when you climb over the railway bridge and you quickly leave the town and head for the quiet countryside.  Now it's just you and a steady sea of runners stretched out before you.

The countryside and village sections are pleasant running and there was welcome shade from the trees. As ever I was chatting to anyone who would listen as I made my way gradually up to and past the runners in front of me along the undulating lanes behind Fleet services on the M3 and on towards Winchfield.  It was getting warm on this section and I found myself seeking out the shady side of the road.

The water stations were pretty good with large paper cups or a kind of big pouch with a thin spout that you had to give a good squeeze to get water out.  These were good to carry and I kept one with me to sip for 4 or 5 miles, but getting water into your mouth was sometimes a hit or miss affair and I managed to squirt myself in the eye a couple of times.  It was good to see that there was't much stray litter around the course and, apart from a few gels obviously dropped by accident, runners managed to drop their litter by the water stops or the hippo bags 100m later.

At 9 miles I came up to Gabby Bassett (SJ) and we ran and chatted together for a while. Then, approaching 10 miles and the Barley Mow pub at Winchfield I had my only wobbly of the day when my left hamstring started to get tight.  I thought it was the start of the kind of cramp that I got at last year's Milton Keynes marathon and might cause me to have to jog walk the last 3 miles.  The only way to run comfortably was with an exaggerated lift of my left knee, but after half a mile of this and with the sound of the crowds at the Barley Mow coming closer, it eased off and I was running normally. With most twinges during a race these days I tell myself "Don't worry, it'll pass" and it usually does.

With 2 miles to go you quickly pass through the villages of Dogmersfield and then Crookham before getting into Fleet again.  With 2 miles to go I spotted another SJ vest ahead of me and that gave me some incentive to chase harder.  I caught up with Phil Turner who urged me on, but with the heat building I could just about maintain the same pace until I got to the last mile where the crowds gave me more of a boost and the energy for one last push up the hill to the high street.  The crowds were 3 or 4 deep at the cross roads and there was great cheering from everyone here.  The last 500m to the finish really flies by as you hit a steep descent before turning into Calthorpe Park and sprinting for the finish.

I hadn't looked at my watch to check pace or time since about 3 miles in and had spent the rest of the race going at what I thought was a comfortable but quick pace. I collected my medal, drink, banana and kit bag, taking in some of the finish line atmosphere before looking at the Garmin and I was really pleased to see my time of 1:43:01.  A PB by just over 4 minutes.

Afters

All smiles for the medal shot with the Frimley Flyers crew
(Photo: Peddle family album)

I met up with the SJ runners who had just finished ahead of me and found my Frimley friends for a
bit of a debrief.  Nearly everyone had had a good race and there was a good number of PBs.  After finding the family and getting changed it was time for lunch at the Prince Arthur.  I felt really good after the race with no soreness and enjoyed the chat and a pint afterwards.


Splits for this race were again nice and even, though the course was undulating:

8:10 7:55 7:57 7:53 7:54 7:41 7:54 7:47 7:59 7:56 7:42 7:55 7:25 0:51@5:56/m

Selected Sandhurst Joggers finishing times:
Tim Rogers 1:28:22; Charlie St.Aubyn 1:33:53 (PB); Lucy Zirbser 1:34:09; John King 1:36:47; 
Paula Vine 1:41:15; Chris Lambourn 1:43:21; Phil Turner 1:45:09; Gabrielle Bassett 1:45:41; 
Sarah Alexander 1:49:10; Mike Gascoigne 2:05:30; Madeleine Duncan-Booth 2:04:59

Others:
Cove Joggers: Alison Lenaghan 1:38:28; Kelvin Gower 1:46:14; Brian Holden 1:58:43; Duncan Ball 2:03:43; Louise Mcintosh 2:06:32; Hannah Gray 2:09:58; David Lenaghan 2:11:52

Lisa Hale 1:31:55 (Fleet and Crookham AC)

Frimley Flyers:  James Ball 1:35:56 (PB); Martin Gay 1:55:53; Lee Marshall 1:56:14

Windle Valley Runners: Paula Fudge 1:52:24; Abigail Fudge 1:56:31; Sarah Erskine 1:44:27

and Neville Gascoigne 1:20:19 (Bristol and West AC son of SJs Mike and Fiona)

Well done everyone! It was another very good half marathon, very well organised by Fleet and Crookham Athletic Club and the support out on the course was great.

Thames Meander Spring Marathon and ultra parkrun

Pre-Race Preparation - it took half an
hour to do my bow tie!

Pre-Race Party
My first marathon after deciding to focus on this distance was the Thames Meander marathon which starts at the YMCA Hawker Centre next to the river near Kingston.  The night before was Sandhurst Joggers' end of year Grand Ball, which was not necessarily the best preparation for a marathon, but the food was very tasty and the company excellent and to top it all I picked up an award for winning the club Handicap competition for the year.  I was good though and apart from a very small half glass of wine I stuck to water to drink and avoided any wild moves on the dance floor.

With the ball the night before, I had sorted out all my race kit and food the before going out and just had to get up at 6am for breakfast of porridge and a home made nutty energy bar.  I also downed a couple of glasses of beetroot juice left over from last week.  It's supposed to be full of nitrates which can help oxygen transport round the body but tastes awful (I don't like beetroot) and has the odd side effect of turning your wee pink.  I got picked up by Emma Lewis, who I have run Portsmouth and Milton Keynes marathons with, at 7:15 and we made it to race HQ by 8am, a full 2 hours before the marathon and plenty of time to get our race packs and have a cuppa.

A Warm-Up Run
Emma mentioned that there was a parkrun that started nearby, so we asked the race organisers about it and found that the parkrun finish line was at the same place as the marathon.  Usually I would be doing a marathon on a Sunday and a parkrun the day before is not an issue.  I might decide to save my legs and volunteer, but mostly I would both volunteer and run a very gentle and chatty parkrun.  Should I run a parkrun that finished just 30 minutes before the marathon start?  In the end I found a spare barcode in my race bag and the decision was made.

Kingston parkrun is a simple but pleasant out and back course along the Thames starting and finishing near the YMCA.  A field of 128 parkrunners was swelled by 10 or more slightly foolish parkrun addicts who were also running the half or full marathon.  We all got a cheer from the regular Kingston crowd and were off.  There was a kilted Scot along as entertainment to play bagpipes for the marathon runners who also played us out at the start of the parkrun.  I set off at a gentle jog trying to ignore any twinges around the knees, chatted to some of the local parkrunners at the back of the field and finished in a fairly sensible 28:45.

Thames Meander marathon route

By now it was 9:40 and with 20 minutes to the start of the main race I found Emma with my race bag and went to find the loos and sort out my gel belt.  Today's kit was SJ running vest, taped up nipples to avoid bloodying the vest, short leggings, toe socks and Brooks Ravenna 4 shoes.  These shoes are very comfortable with good forefoot cushioning and mild support.  They also have reasonable grip as
we were warned that there might be some muddy patches on the course. I tucked 6 Hi-Five gels in my belt and went to find the bag drop tent.

Teddington Lock - a scene of tragedy in the late 1960s

The Marathon
At the start I lined up at the back with Emma and decided to start the first few miles running with her. Emma was aiming for a 5 hour time which is about 11:30/mile pace, but I noticed that we were doing 10:20 pace over the first 2 miles.  Emma seemed to be fine with that and we chatted along, first upriver to Kingston Bridge, then turning back on ourselves past the start and at 3 miles passing Teddington Lock, which marks the extent of the tidal river Thames and was the scene of Monty Python's Fish Slapping Dance Sketch.  The last time I was here I lost my favourite blue teddy while walking along the weir; that was about 46 years ago!

Most of the route looks like this

At 3 miles the fast half marathon runners started to come by after they had started at 10:30.  After 4 miles I thought it would be better for both Emma and me if I pushed on and continued on at a comfortable 9:30 pace.  The weather had started off cool and sunny, but started to cloud over and get a bit breezy after an hour, but it stayed fine for the race.  The marathon is a simple out and back course  to Putney Bridge and back and I thought that it would be fairly urban.  Actually, most of the course feels like a canal towpath in the countryside with woods and parkland on both sides of the river.  For those who know Frimley Lodge parkrun or the Basingstoke canal in Surrey, the surface is very similar being mostly hard packed gravel with a stony texture.  There were also sections of tarmac path, concrete and cobbles for a bit of variety.

There are a few landmarks along the way to keep you interested such as the parkland around Ham House (4-5miles), Richmond Bridge (6miles), Kew Gardens (7-8miles), Leg of Mutton Nature Reserve (11.5miles), Craven Cottage (13.5miles) and Putney Bridge just before the turn around at just beyond 14 miles. It was around this point that we all started to have some problems with crowding on the course. For the last half mile before the turn, there were loads of rowers getting their boats out of the water and raised on to trailers after their regatta.  The road and footpath were packed with people either ambling about or trying to load each half of their Eight boat and I had to dodge and duck around to make progress.  I came through this area unscathed, but one runner I talked to after the race had a boat dropped on his head as he tried to pass and dropped to the floor stunned!  He said he was dizzy for a while but he managed to finish OK.

Thirsty Work
The congestion caused another problem as the marathon organisers were told to remove their aid station at Putney.  I had been making a stop at each aid station to have a gel, eat some of the amazingly tasty home made brownies and have a drink of squash, so I was looking forward to another break at the turn.  The aid stations were at 5, 8 and 11 miles (Barns Bridge) and there was supposed to be one at Putney just after 14 miles.  Without that there was a bit of a big gap from 11 to 18miles without a stop, so I had an extra long feed and drink at Barns Bridge.

A hefty medal to show for it

On the way back beyond Barns Bridge my legs and feet were starting to hurt from the cobbly ground and I found myself searching out the smoother path at the side of the track.  I also started to think "If I hadn't done the parkrun this morning I would be into my last 6 miles."  But to counter that, I also thought "I got to do a parkrun I haven't done before, got some bonus miles in and this isn't a target race, even got to do something a little bit ridiculous."  I'll also get to have a go at getting two course PBs later in the year!  I kept my spirits up in the usual way, having a chat with whoever I caught up with, however, that last 3 miles was quite tough and my pace dropped to slower than 10min miles with a bit of jog-walking.  The last couple of miles are along a winding path and you don't get a good view of the finish from any distance away.  Having done the parkrun, though, I knew what the run to the finish looked like with the finish coming into view with just 150m to go.

Emma sprinting her way to a sub-5 hour finish

I crossed the line in 4:23:26, got an impressive medal and made straight for the excellent cakes. Whoever thought of putting mint Aero balls in chocolate brownies and making biscuit coated fudge is a genius!  There were plenty of bananas and crisps and more squash to have for a good post run snack after which I got into dry clothes and came back out to wait for Emma.  I thought she would be coming in around 5:15 or a little later but she came round the final corner with 4:59 on the clock and managed a sprint to come in at 4:59:25 looking very comfortable. That was just as well, as she was running another marathon the next day in Wiltshire.

Afters
Splits for this race were a bit all over the place even though the course was pan flat. It shows where I was stopped at aid stations for a proper drink.

10:20 10:12 10:27 10:11 9:26 10:31 9:47 9:20 10:46 10:33 9:53 9:24 9:20 9:30 9:45 9:17 9:15
10:29 9:29 11:59 9:15 9:22 10:32 10:36 11:50 11:50 9:51

But this started with Kingston parkrun which went like this: 8:55 9:28 9:23 and a bit, which almost makes it an ultra marathon day.

I'm starting to recognise a few faces who turn up to marathons regularly, but Emma was the only person I knew in the marathon field of 297 runners.

There was a half marathon too and Sarah Boulter of Sandhurst Joggers finished in a new PB time of 2:14:24.  And this week's special mention goes to Karen Summerville who I saw when she was a mile away from the turn waving and smiling at me, though with a sore looking left arm. As she passed she said she had fallen and dislocated her shoulder.  She got a sling at the turn point marshals and managed to finish in 6:05:34, then went to hospital to find she had a broken shoulder. That's one tough lady!

I'll be doing this run again at the end of August and then again in November to complete the Thames Meander Triple Crown.  Next race is Fleet Half marathon on 22 March.

Surrey Half Marathon (Woking)

In Two Minds
I had entered Surrey Half last year just after the Guildford race when the price was at its lowest, basically being a sucker for a bargain, and not having any thought about how this might fit in with race plans later in the spring.  Having decided to do Brighton and probably London marathons on 12th and 26th April a half marathon could fit in as a pre-marathon race, but I really think of Fleet Half later in March as fulfilling this role.  However, my training plans at the end of January took a big hit when I came down with flu which caused a 10 day lay-off, left me much weakened and 4-5lbs lighter (a bonus, but not a diet I would recommend).  I ran Wokingham Half on 8th February and really struggled around in 1:56:47 almost collapsing over the line with a coughing fit.  It felt like quite a struggle to recover from that illness and I had to build back up slowly with a few medium distance runs a week at a gentle pace.

Having recently re-evaluated my long term running goals to focus on marathons and ultras, I entered the Thames Meander marathon the week after Surrey, followed by Fleet Half and then a 20 mile club training run the week after that!  March was looking very congested and I was thinking that I could do without another race, especially when realising that it keeps me away from the family for some part of every weekend in the month.  However, looking at my training, I had done a couple of near 40 mile weeks in early March followed by a recovery week.  With Surrey Half, the week prior to my next marathon would be back to 36 miles, a good volume for me and so a steady half marathon was looking like a good run.

Race Day
This year's Surrey Half Marathon was hosted by Woking after the inaugural race last year started and finished in Guildford.  I initially thought this would mean that the race would be held over the same course as last year and be an out and back to Guildford - effectively a reverse of last year.  Instead we got a completely new course starting and finishing at Woking Leisure Centre and running out of the town centre and looping round the countryside to the south of Woking.  The route includes three significant hills at about 6, 8 and 10 miles with some undulations in between.

Kit for the day was club vest (first vest only day of the year), short leggings (no chafing!), toe socks (no blisters!) and my newish Brooks Ghost 7 shoes.  I have done about 80 miles in 3 weeks in these shoes which are neutral and a wide fitting with good cushioning in the forefoot.  I think they suit my running style, but I think I need more support for a marathon, so won't be wearing them next week.

It was a 9am start for the race so I was up at 6am for a breakfast of porridge and beetroot juice (a mystifying choice as I hate beetroot) and I set off for Woking at just gone 7am arriving at the Leisure Centre after a 15 minute walk in cool sunshine at around 8am.  Unlike my last event I really did have everything packed and was wearing my Garmin when I arrived.

I had a mooch around the marquees and met Sarah Erskine who was there to Tweet the heck out of the race, then went up to the Leisure Centre cafe to wait in the warmth and see who else would turn up.  I met Lee Marshall, who was running and Hannah and Chris Gray, who were spectating.  As soon as the queue for the bag drop got noticeable inside the Leisure Centre I joined it and down in the sports hall, met Chris Szabo-Hemmings (SJ) for a quick chat before coming back up to the cafe.  By 8:45 the queue for the bag drop had grown enormously and stretched for 50m out of the Leisure Centre and through the main marquee.  I found James Ball (Cove/Frimley Flyers) and a few SJ runners in the queue and thought they wouldn't make the start on time.  I directed the SJ runners I could find round the back of the sports hall so they could get bags dropped and out to the start on time.  I think this will need a bit of sorting for the next time they run the race from here - and maybe sending people out round the back of the sports hall instead of through reception would give a better flow through the hall.

Start Line
Lining up behind the 1:50 pacers I asked them what a 1:50 pace was in min/mile and then dialled something slightly slower into the Garmin virtual runner.  I met SJ runners Chris Lambourne, Jackie Kent and Collette Callanan at the start and we started the shuffle forwards on time at 9am.  I'm sure I started forwards with the 1:50 pacers next to me, but by the time I had got across the start line they were already 100m away with Chris and the others also out of site.

I thought I would start out for a mile or so aiming for a 1:50:00 time (8:24/mile) and see how it felt, which turned out to be OK, so from then on I just occasionally took a look at my watch to make sure I wasn't getting too ahead of myself.  At about 2 miles I saw Robin Wakefield (Windle Valley) who I know as a Frimley Lodge parkrunner and caught up to him for a bit of a chat.  We were going at about the same pace and were in sight of each other for the next 8 or 9 miles with Robin passing me on the descents and me catching back up on the uphill sections.

Getting an early jump shot in at 4 miles.

The first 2 miles was a run south through Woking's suburbs with a decent amount of support from the locals and the occasional band playing.  From about 2 miles to 11.5 miles the course is out in the countryside, woodland and farms and small villages with pubs popular with supporters.  One section of the course comes out onto the main A320 at about 3 miles to 5 miles on an out and back loop.  Not long after I got on to this section the elite and fast club runners started to pass by on the other side of the road with an almost 2 mile lead after only 35 minutes!  This section affected my pace quite a lot as I sped up when running opposite the fast guys, then after the turn, when the people I could see on the other side were slower, I slowed down myself. Time to get back on track.

Paige being shadowed by Monica of SJ.

The hills on the course were not that dramatic, lasting only 5 minutes or so for the bigger ones and it seemed easy to just flow along at a comfortable pace.  Not being stressed out by time pressures or hot weather meant I felt relaxed and I got to chatting with whoever I came up to, pulling people along with me for a few hundred metres at a time.  Around half way Collette Callanan came cruising up from behind for a chat. This was a bit of a shock as Collette is usually breezing along at sub 1:30:00 pace, but she was using this event as a training run trying to get used to the idea of running slowly and we stayed together for a few more miles.  "People back here are breathing hard and putting a good effort in!" she said. A bit of a revelation for someone usually at the pointy end of a race.  Actually slow runners work just as hard as the fast guys and they do it for much longer too, so it's worth staying behind and cheering in the bottom half of the field at the end.

Helpful support from Hannah on the way back into Woking
"Stop looking at this sign and keep running!"

As with any long race, with 6 miles to go I start to break the distance down into the smallest numbers possible and it starts with me calling out 2 parkruns to go, then 5 and 4 miles (counting on one hand now!) and then only 1 parkrun.  With 3 miles to go I still felt good and decided to pick up the pace a bit after climbing the final hill.  The run in to the finish felt really good, and seems mostly downhill or flat all the way in apart from one railway bridge and a little rise of a few metres with a few hundred metres to go.  At 12 miles I could see the 1:50 pacers just in front and caught up to them to thank them for doing a good job and they cheered me on as I ran past.  With 400m to go I passed Collette, with cheers from her ringing in my ears, and crossed the line in 1:48:15.

Past the finish line we got water, a Bounce ball of energy food, a banana, but no bag full of leaflets, which was just fine by me.  After getting changed and back out to the finish I met up with SJ and other runners who all seemed pleased with their morning's effort.

Afters

Me, James, Paige and Alex

That was my second fastest half marathon, just over 1 minute from a PB and felt really comfortable. Realising just how easy that run felt reminds me just how much my running has come on over the last year and gives me more confidence for the coming races.  Splits for this race were nice and even, even though I was doing a lot of chatting along the way:

8:21 8:18 8:21 8:19 8:26 8:16 8:19 8:26 8:26 8:24 8:15 7:53 7:28 1:02@6:21/m

Selected Sandhurst Joggers finishing times:
Erol Ali 01:34:02, Chris Lambourne 01:40:02, Jacqueline Kent 01:43:02, Philip Turner 01:44:41, Katie Harris 1:46:12, Chris Szabo-Hemmings 01:47:26, Matt Johnson 02:05:54, Kerstin Johnson 02:24:33, Monica Bannergee-Burbidge  02:33:16.

Others:
Robin Wakefield (Windle Valley) 1:51:55
James Ball (Cove/Frimley Fliers) 1:37:37
Alex Halfacre 1:37:39
Philip Clark 2:06:08
Paige Dixon 2:34:05

Special mention goes to James Ball and Alex Halfacre for, as James would put it "Smashing through 100 minutes!" for a new PB.

Well done everyone! It was a very good race, in good conditions with good support out on the course and lots of people posted very good times.

Thanks to Chris Gray for taking the photos.