Harry's Year of Running Q3

Harry's Year of Running Q3

June

June meant driving over to Wales for the Welsh Castles Relay. As captain I had analysed the qualifying times and selected the legs for each of the runners, including some rejigging for a couple of late injuries.

WCR info meeting in the King's Arms © Caravaggio

There is a separate race report with more detail of each leg - in short there is something about the event  that draws out fantanstic performances from everyone. I’d given myself the last stage of day 1 – a mountain stage which starts with a stiff climb of 170m and but has a great finish in Newtown as all the runners come together at the end of the first day.

WCR Stage 10 start L-R ladies, Vets, Open

I was worried about pacing it correctly up the hill, and then again on the steep descent the other side – this was hard tarmac not cross-country mud. It is a great feeling running a relay when you are in the form of your life, being cheered on by other eagles.

WCR stage10 mid race

The feeling in my legs in the last mile suggested I had paced it about right.

WCR stage 10 chased down the final strech

WCR stage 10 finish line
Overall we where the 4th Vet team out of 9, a great effort for a first attempt. The 6 of us on mountain stages all had great runs, and with the quickest cumulative vet team time, were awarded Monarch’s of the Mountain.

WCR Monarhs of the Mountains (with Abi and Yvette)

One motivation for entering a vets team was to give others a chance to experience running as part of team, I was still amazed by the enthusiasm of the rookies. The moustaches were to generate donations to CALM, the campaign against living miserably

WCR group photo at the finish

I hadn’t slept well after my run, and was beginning to struggle on Sunday afternoon. I’m forever grateful to my co-driver Simon on the 17 seater minibus for stepping up to drive it all the way home and back to hire company.

Next I tried out a 5000m in a track meet at Finsbury Park to see if I could beat my new PB the previous weekend at Gunnersbury of 18:32. Some track events have tough qualifying times, but this one had a number of races graded by expected finish time, here I was in race 3 out of 7, each race with a quicker field of runners. It is a completely different feel to a parkrun or 5k road race. I knew from my one other track event that I didn’t have to worry about counting the 12.5 laps. However, I was nervous about getting boxed in by the large field, and after the first bend I unexpectedly found myself in the lead, though that didn’t last long.

Finsbury Park Open 5k
I was nervous as the absolutely flat course and springy track meant I would be disappointed not to PB, and this was my one shot. In slightly blustery conditions I managed 18:18. Then I could relax with a beer and watch the faster eagles in their races – perhaps the main reason to try a track meet. The final race of the evening had some of London’s quickest racing past within touching distance, the winner coming in under 15 minutes.

Spectating after racing

July

July meant Ealing EHM legacy summer mile series – two of which were club champs. Multiple races meant the pressure to post a time was reduced and I could concentrate on racing fellow eagles. It is a tricky race to pace and the last 400m can be painful if you go out too fast. I whittled my time down with each race and lung busting finish to beat my PB by 19s with 5:19, chasing eagles down the finishing straight.

Ealing mile finish straight sprint
June and July also meant Summer League, a series of 5 events of a main race, childrens race, and 400m relays followed by a spread put on by the host club.

Eagles pre-race photo at the 1st summer league

The first three were 5 milers in Dulwich Park, Headstone Manor Park and Perivale, where I raced hard in the summer heat, with improving times of 31:20, 31:13 and 30:47.

Headstone Manor Park Summer league

I was disappointed by a hot 10k in Regents Park of 38:51, slower than the 38:30 at the Osterley Summer 10k the month before but fortunately only the best three race scores count, particularly as I was on holiday for the last 10k in Battersea.

Perivale Summer league

Regents Park Summer league

I was not the faster V45 runner, but putting in my best efforts in the less popular 5 mile races meant that after a nervous wait for the final results, I won the V45 category with 880 points, 4 points ahead of second place. The Wedding Day 7k was also an opportunity for a PB at this unusual distance around Bushy Park.

Osterley Summer 10k

I was still putting in some long runs at the weekend, for example I ran down to Wimbledon Common for the Thames Hare and Hounds 2nd Sunday of the month 5 mile race. Timing the run down is tricky, and I usually have 5 to 10 minutes to recover. As with any race I then find myself running it hard, including the steep hill which you tackle twice. Still, they provide the best post-race complementary tea and cake which helps for the tiring run home to complete 30k.

Second Sunday of the month 5 miler

August

Not only was I on holiday in August for the Battersea race, but I was in agony with my back, but only at night lying down. I couldn’t sleep, but I could still run. Very worrying at the time, but it cleared up after a couple of weeks.

I was back in time for the West Walk Half – 28 laps up and down Ealing’s steepest path. There is also a 10k option. I have really enjoyed this race in the past, even if I did, ahem, accidently finish a lap early. I had also completed my own solo efforts in the dark at the start of the year as part of my marathon training, cracking out 28 even splits. However, this time I got it all wrong. Hoping to post a good time, I went off too fast, and then my pride kept me pushing despite my pace fading, overheating, and generally not enjoying it all. You can’t get them all right.

Suffering in the West Walk half marathon

September

September I joined a team for the Round Norfolk Relay, inspired by the reports from the first eagles team to take part the previous year, as it was possible that I would never be fast enough again to make the team. It is a proper relay handing over a baton, taking approximately 24 hours to circumnavigate Norfolk. With an early start we drove up on the Friday afternoon to stay courtesy of Jon and Tom at an idyllic location in the broads, taking in some sailing.

Round Norfolk relay group photo on the broads

I was running leg 2 on a warm sunny day from Hunstanton to Burnham Overy – a distance 13.75 miles. The sand, heat and walkers made it a tricky run, all the while terrified that I would get lost. The hardest part was right after the trail down to the beach when I found myself on soft sand in a maze of dunes. Most runners from local teams would recce the route in the weeks beforehand, but I didn’t have that luxury. I had studied the maps and sparse directions, even following as much of the course as possible on Google streetview.

Taking the baton from Greg in Hunstanton

It is a lonely race too – the start is staggered by expected finish time, and I didn’t see another runner on my leg.


Half way approaching an Eagles cheer squad

Bike support on the road section from Fiona

However, Fiona gave some welcome encouragement on the bike on the later road sections, which felt oddly privileged.

One of the few signposts

Winding up to the finish

In the end I didn’t need to consult the roll of maps once, and finished 7th out of the 59 runners.

Handing over the baton to Rebecca in Burnham Overy Staithe

No time to rest though, it was back in the van and on with the schedule. I was then bike support to Simon on a scenic dusk stage. The phone screen kept locking as I was following the route, but fortunately he had studied the route too.

Add caption

I was then down to drive the support minivan on two-night stages. Firstly watching Tom Green 6 min/mile through the streets of Great Yarmouth at midnight to ‘Rocket Man’, and then after getting no sleep, Hayley taking off her sling to pound the road ahead to Fleetwood Mac’s ‘The Chain’ lit up only by the minivan’s headlamps. Memorable.

Following Kieran on a night stage 

The team came a respectable 8th overall, 5th in the ‘Club’ category. I was worried that sleep deprivation would create problems like on day 2 of the Welsh Castles Relay. However, despite getting little sleep during our rest stop somewhere in Thetford forest, everything was fine, give or take the odd panic at the changeovers, though I was very grateful to Mark Fisher for driving us all the way home.

September also means the Ealing Half Marathon. My running journey started with the first EHM back in 2012, and as an ‘ever present’ I had been whittling my time down over the years, but hadn’t beaten 90 minutes. Now I had 85 minutes in my sight, having run 1:23:15 in the New Forest Half at the start of the month. This had ended in a three-way eagles sprint to the line for valuable club champs points.

New Forest half marathon

However, while I was on track at halfway, the undulations took too much out of me, and I didn’t quite have the finish. 

Ealing half marathon

My slight disappointment with 85:45 was a measure of my progress over the year, and how much my ‘home’ half marathon meant to me. I was one of the 'ever presents', and had steadily improved my time over the years.

Sub 10:20 in 2021?

To find out how the year ended read Harry's Year of Running Q4.

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