All 4 entries tagged Robin Hood

I lied…

Follow-up to Someone must read my blog… from No I said DublIN marathon

...clearly no other bugger reads my blog ...

: 09 Oct 2006 22:27 |  Tags: Coventry Half-Marathon Lady Godiva Nottingham Robin Hood Running Training |  Comments (3) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Job done

Follow-up to Someone must read my blog… from No I said DublIN marathon

Well that wasn’t so bad after all…

Sunday was the Experian Robin Hood Half-marathon in Nottingham and Nick Seagrave and I took part as part of Mixed Hockey’s fund-rasing for Ovarian Cancer Action (phew, that’s a lot of links). My task was to haul Nick’s scrawny arse around the course in under 1hr 45mins (Chip Time, not Gun Time) – 8 minute miling. Considering Nick was originally aiming for sub-2.00 this was going to be a tough-ish ask, but he’d cruised around the Godiva Harriers Autumn 5 in a little over 38mins (7min 38sec miling) the week before so eights were on the cards.

We lined up slap bang in the middle of the 1hr 40-50 block and set off at a reasonable pace, perhaps a little fast, but the hills at 2M and 4M made sure we weren’t too far ahead of the game and miles 6-10 were bang on the money. Nick was finding miles 11 and 12 a little tough going and I was a little alarmed when I heard my watch beep 10 seconds before we’d hit the mile marker. We kicked for home as I was concerned we’d have to pick up the pace about 30s/M and little goals of catching people seemed to spur him on as we overtook over 100 people in the last mile. As we hit the finishing straight (why do they insist on finishing road races on grass?) I put the foot down and squeezed through a closing gap between two runners to leave him for dead (which he later “thanked” me for) and we both got in before the clock got to the 1hr 45 mark – 1hr 43mins 7s and 9s respectively by Chip Time.

Considering I’ve done bugger all distance work recently (more speed stuff) I was quite pleased, but I suspect I’m going to have to get some “hard miles” under my belt if I want to get sub 1hr 25 for the Lady Godiva.

: 14 Sep 2006 12:21 |  Tags: Coventry Half-Marathon Lady Godiva Nottingham Robin Hood Running Training |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Someone must read my blog…

Follow-up to Lady Godiva Half–marathon route to take in Campus from No I said DublIN marathon

... cause the University have nicked my post title.

Not looking forward to Nottingham , although it will be my largest race to date with over 12000 entrants (including the full marathon. Not sure I’ve got the distance in my legs, but I guess there’s only one way to find out…

: 07 Sep 2006 18:41 |  Tags: Coventry Half-Marathon Lady Godiva Nottingham Robin Hood Running Training |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Lady Godiva Half–marathon route to take in Campus

Writing about web page http://www.ladygodiva-halfmarathon.co.uk/images/New%20Route%20Map.pdf

Once again I've not blogged for what seems like an age. In fact my last entry was way back in June, and was just to say that I was broken after a very unsuccessful Edinburgh Marathon. However I'm back in the running game and am looking forward to running the second Lady Godiva Half-marathon on October 22nd. As preparation for this and as I'm a bit soft in the head I'm running the Experian Robin Hood Half-marathon in Nottingham as a birthday present to myself on September 10th. I'm also running in the Godiva Harriers' Autumn 5 in the Memorial Park this Friday.

I'm not the only one that's a bit soft in the head and a large–ish group of Mixed Hockey members will be running the Coventry 1/2M in aid of Ovarian Cancer Action – please support us as we look to raise over £1000 for this charity which funds research into the disease, provides support to sufferers, and attempts to raise the disease's profile to ensure earlier diagnosis.

I'm particularly looking forward to the race this year as it takes in a large part of Coventry that I'm familiar with, and in particular, that I'm used to running. The route was recently published and is much changed from last year's a) dull, b) less than enjoyable and c) traffic–chaos–inducing jaunt around the Ring Road and up the Radford Road and back. Starting off by the Police Station, the route travels past the Butts Arena, up the Allesley Old Road, past the end of my road to the A45, through Eastern Green and up to Tile Hill, then in to Canley and down Charter Ave, to Westwood. Through Westwood, down past Vandelinde Uni House, past the Sports Centre, down Health Centre Road, up Gibbet Hill, and then down the Kenilworth Road to the Memorial park and the finish back by the Police Station. Running through campus is a great idea to me, as the roads are relatively quiet, particularly on a Sunday morning, and there's a captive audience so hopefully there'll be more support on the route. There are a couple of less than friendly hills this year – the most notable being Gibbet Hill, but also the Allesley Old Road is less than flat and there's a bit of a hill as you come of of Eastern Green – however I'm not convinced that they are any worse than last year, where you seemed to be running uphill both ways along the Radford Road and the finish is relatively flat, with a downhill final mile.

: 29 Aug 2006 11:49 |  Tags: Coventry Half-Marathon Lady Godiva Nottingham Robin Hood Running Training |  Comments (2) |  Close comments |  Report a problem