The Punchbowl Marathon - 12th February 2017
After a long winter's training in the glorious British weather, which gets a bit grating after a while, the first proper event of the new year always makes it seem like spring is here - hurrah! Lots of people in brightly coloured clothes (one of the best things about running is that full body neon Lycra is a completely acceptable choice of outfit) all gathered together in the grey murky landscape, like little spring flowers bursting through the mud. The excited buzz of a village hall full of people ready to walk/ run/ organise a challenge, bursts of laughing, calls to familiar faces, the smell of coffee wafting around.....that's when you know all those cold dark winter miles were worth it.
After a long winter's training in the glorious British weather, which gets a bit grating after a while, the first proper event of the new year always makes it seem like spring is here - hurrah! Lots of people in brightly coloured clothes (one of the best things about running is that full body neon Lycra is a completely acceptable choice of outfit) all gathered together in the grey murky landscape, like little spring flowers bursting through the mud. The excited buzz of a village hall full of people ready to walk/ run/ organise a challenge, bursts of laughing, calls to familiar faces, the smell of coffee wafting around.....that's when you know all those cold dark winter miles were worth it.
I'm talking of course of the fabulous Punchbowl Marathon, a 30 mile (or 20, if you prefer) event organised by the Surrey LDWA, which is always a great start to kick the year off with. Did it last year, and it was such a beautiful day, and a lovely event, and it was on Valentines Day, so everything was very romantic (that last bit isn't true). This year, the forecast was pretty terrible, and I had that horrible apprehensive feeling that you might be about to ruin a perfectly good memory by doing something again, and being disappointed by the second experience. No though, the weather actually turned out to be pretty nice. Well, relatively nice compared to my expectations, compared to the Caribbean of course it wasn't nice at all, but anything less than a blizzard in my mind.
All was going swimmingly, I was remembering the route from last year and not getting lost (hurrah!), the weather was alright, I felt quite fit, and we were running a pretty good pace and on track to do it quicker than last year. Then, we got lost, and I had a mini-meltdown (Andrew! I'm sorry!) Looking back, I can see it could have been seen as an over-reaction, I mean it's not like I'm not used to being lost, and it's not like its the worst thing that could ever happen. Still, at the time, it was the worst thing that had happened. Ever.
After 10 minutes or so of stomping around trying to figure things out, we retraced our steps back uphill (uphill, yes) to the last place we had been where we were sure we were on the route. And then carried on from there, and soon it all made sense, and we caught some other runners. Soon after, we came across our friend Gary, and soon after that we came across my cousin Sammy and had a good chat. So there you go, if we hadn't got lost (or, taken a different route to get to the same point, as more eloquently described by Sammy), then we wouldn't have met them, so everything indeed does happen for a reason. And we got a hill and extra 1/2 a mile in, both for free.
Apart from the little melt-down, I really enjoyed the run. It's a beautiful part of the world, met lots of nice people and had a good run. And knocked 9 minutes off the time from last year. And even better, a good chat with friends over hot food after a day out in the cold. And absolutely to top it all off there were jammy dodgers at the end. I'd run anywhere for a jammy dodger....
The Jaw Dropper - 18th February 2017
The Jaw Dropper - 18th February 2017
6 days later and it was time for the equally fabulously named Jaw Dropper run on the Thames Path....
Whatever you do, don't go into the water.
Good, that's the obvious pun out of the way. This run is organised by Phoenix Running who organise loads of awesome races throughout the year, and is ace, I was so excited to be back down at my favourite place to run, along the River! It was the most beautiful day, bright sunshine and blue skies. Since the Punchbowl, I'd caught man flu (it's terrible, terrible), and was struggling a bit with the old breathing, but I covered myself in Vicks, and dipped a tissue in it for good luck, which I sniffed throughout the run to keep the old tubes clear (I guess that's probably counted as a performance enhancing drug, but whatever, it worked).
The run was a 6 hour timed event, and is laps of 5km, so you can basically do as many as you want within the 6 hours. And everyone is doing different distances and has different goals, so I absolutely love these runs because there's no stress about them at all, it's like a giant family all running up and down the river and smiling at each other, and everyone just doing whatever on earth they want to really. And there's a Tuck Shop each lap, where as well as getting a hair-bobble for each lap you complete (I've got a whole load of these at home, dammit, I should have sneaked a couple in), there is a whole tent full of goodies to power you round the next lap. So many in fact, that you're gonna need a bigger boat to carry them all.
Sorry.
I don't know any more Jaws quotes, so I think we're safe now.
Anyway, it was a brilliant day, saw some familiar faces, and just really enjoyed running, even with man flu, I felt much stronger in my body and mind than I have in a long time. I did 10 laps, 32.8 miles, and got an awesome medal.
In dedication to my 100 training, I also walked 8 miles during the rest of the day (so 40 miles altogether), and met my good friend Susie at Wagamama's for tea (as refuelling and relaxing is just as an important a part of training as any other - I've just added that bit in to all the serious sounding programmes I've been reading on the internet).
The only frightening thing about the day was that I got home and took my trainers out of my bag, and a spider jumped out.
I don't think it's the water we need to be worried about to be honest, dry land seems just as dangerous in these parts.
Stay safe, looking out for both sharks and spiders.
Whatever you do, don't go into the water.
Good, that's the obvious pun out of the way. This run is organised by Phoenix Running who organise loads of awesome races throughout the year, and is ace, I was so excited to be back down at my favourite place to run, along the River! It was the most beautiful day, bright sunshine and blue skies. Since the Punchbowl, I'd caught man flu (it's terrible, terrible), and was struggling a bit with the old breathing, but I covered myself in Vicks, and dipped a tissue in it for good luck, which I sniffed throughout the run to keep the old tubes clear (I guess that's probably counted as a performance enhancing drug, but whatever, it worked).
The run was a 6 hour timed event, and is laps of 5km, so you can basically do as many as you want within the 6 hours. And everyone is doing different distances and has different goals, so I absolutely love these runs because there's no stress about them at all, it's like a giant family all running up and down the river and smiling at each other, and everyone just doing whatever on earth they want to really. And there's a Tuck Shop each lap, where as well as getting a hair-bobble for each lap you complete (I've got a whole load of these at home, dammit, I should have sneaked a couple in), there is a whole tent full of goodies to power you round the next lap. So many in fact, that you're gonna need a bigger boat to carry them all.
Sorry.
I don't know any more Jaws quotes, so I think we're safe now.
Anyway, it was a brilliant day, saw some familiar faces, and just really enjoyed running, even with man flu, I felt much stronger in my body and mind than I have in a long time. I did 10 laps, 32.8 miles, and got an awesome medal.
In dedication to my 100 training, I also walked 8 miles during the rest of the day (so 40 miles altogether), and met my good friend Susie at Wagamama's for tea (as refuelling and relaxing is just as an important a part of training as any other - I've just added that bit in to all the serious sounding programmes I've been reading on the internet).
The only frightening thing about the day was that I got home and took my trainers out of my bag, and a spider jumped out.
I don't think it's the water we need to be worried about to be honest, dry land seems just as dangerous in these parts.
Stay safe, looking out for both sharks and spiders.
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