All 3 entries tagged Half-Marathon

Dave's Marathon Injury Blog Update

Writing about web page http://www.shakespearemarathon.org.uk/

Well I haven't really blogged on this (or anything) for ages. Due to general incompetence on my part and a hectic calendar I'm running the 1/2M at Stratford this weekend and running the Edinburgh Marathon on June 11th instead of the Vienna Marathon.

So having got myself all psyched up and ready, building up to 20 miles along the Camel Trail and running my little cotton socks off in a 30:03 5–miler, I was looking forward to another jaunt down the Camel trail followed by this weekend's run. So I'm running along the Trail and coming the other way is a woman walking 5 dogs – 2 on leashes and 3 off the leash. At this point the two mutts on the leash decide that it'd be fun to try and trip me up. In attempting not to kick the mongrols in the head I end up straining my hamstring and pulling my groin. This caused me to have to cut my run short when I got to wadebridge the 1st time.

After a couple of days my hamstring has calmed down and I've been able to run without much discomfort at all, but somewhere in beating the Cricket 5th Team and getting panned at 4–a–side I've mananged to pull my groin again. 1h30 on Sunday? Maybe not, but watch this space.

: 05 May 2006 16:47 |  Tags: Edinburgh Half-Marathon Marathon Running Stratford Training |  Comments (1) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

1 hr 32 mins 24 seconds (Officially)

Follow-up to 1 hr 32 mins 24 seconds (Unofficially) from No I said DublIN marathon

Well apparently my "blue watch of gay" (Timex Ironman Triathlon 50 Lap Sleek) keeps the right time, which is nice, as it agreed to the second with the official race timing.

I came in in 81st (by time) in 1:32:24, which I'm pretty chuffed with – I was the 75th bloke… although the race was "gun to chip" so I came 96th as I was the 96th person to cross the line, which is a bit of a swizz. I guess I should have been one of the wankers that lined up ahead of their predicted time…

Results (Courtesy of RaceAhead.net ):

: 26 Sep 2005 14:02 |  Tags: Godiva Half-Marathon Running Training |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

1 hr 32 mins 24 seconds (Unofficially)

Writing about web page http://www.justgiving.com/stuckinthebubble

Well, after much hyperbole, many hours on the road, and looking (forward) to what will be my longest training week, I spanked the pants off my target at the Lady Godiva (Cov) Half Marathon. It was good to see familiar faces (and behinds) around the course as I beasted it around the ring–road, out to the Jag plant and back in a little over an hour and a half, nearly 15 minutes (1 minute per mile) under my target time.

Well done to Team Stuck In The Bubble (Sophie Martin, Liz Ness and Bryan Simon – www.justgiving.com/stuckinthebubble), Team H50ckey (Gromit, Diggler and Lister – www.h50ckey.com), Frodo, Pooja, Dickie Day and everybody else that completed it, including several others from Warwick – staff, students and alumni.

The race "began" with the usual (bearing in mind this was only my 2nd mass–participation running event) dicking–around at the start waiting for everybody to form up, then the neatly lined up (by time) groups formed a melee by the start as the course was pretty wide at this point, before narrowing considerably. At this point I'd like to have a moan at all those people (and you know who you are, including one Computational Chemist) that decided to patently ignore the request to line up by predicted times, causing carnage at the front – with me nearly flattening the aforementioned chemist.

After overtaking Scooby Doo, and laughing at the first over–hydration casualty (needing a piss 300yds in), I settled into a rythmn and kept up reasonable pace with Frodo and had a lovely tour of the ring–road, blazing along at a little over 7 minutes a mile. I only know this as I happened to spot a mile marker spray painted on the road near the gutter. The only really obvious markers after that were at 5 miles, 6 miles, 7 miles, 8 miles, 10 miles and 13 miles – I wasn't entirely impressed. Along the Radford Road, as promised was Rob Whisson, who seemed genuinely shocked to see me the first time I saw him, and who was tucking in to a Macdonalds Bacon Batch when I passed him on the way back – Bastard. (Big hand to Liz who stole some of Rob's beer on the way past.)

At the turn around, Frodo, Grom and Bryan were pretty close behind me, and then Sophie and Liz were running together a little way back, followed by Lister. I failed to spot Diggler completely. The turn itself was simply a school desk placed in the road, with a line painted on the floor to mark the turning point – not ideal.

I arrived back a broken man, after the ring–road. Frodo came in 2 minutes later, Bryan came in at 1:38:36 and was pretty pleased, Diggler came in in about 1:45, Grom at 1:50ish and Soph and Liz at 2:25ish and Lister at 2:30 ish. Not a bad showing. And so to the summary…

The Good:
The weather which, whilst hot, wasn't unbearably so.
The competitors, who all seemed to have fun, and stopped to help people when they were in difficulty.
The support almost all the way around the course from those watching.
The view of the finishing line as I came off the ring–road.
The post–race refreshments.

The Bad:
The course profile, which didn't mark some of the more evil climbs, such as the one crossing the railway line between 11 and 12 miles.
The profile of the course itself, which left some fairly tough hills at the end, including climbing up and over the flyover by the Skydome.
Those people that insisted on lining up near the front, despite walking/jogging slowly. Grrr
The lack of obvious mile markers along the whole course.
The tightness of the turn at the turnaround.
The people who didn't move their cars from the course.
Grom getting wasted the night before.
That I've got to carry on training, and that I only ran 1/2 the distance of Dublin and am screwed.

The Ugly:
Me having to shove my number down my pants as it was only held on by one safety pin by the time we hit mile 10.
The look on the baggage handler's faces when I extracted the number.

: 25 Sep 2005 17:02 |  Tags: Godiva Half-Marathon Running Training |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem