Dead
Runners society race
report
Bury St. Edmunds 20 mile
race - Sunday 19th February 1995
Boston
marathon training continued, I headed south for a 20 mile race as marathon
training, I had run this race in 1991. I didn't know then I would be
heading to Cambridge again for much longer than a weekend later in the
year!
Good morning deads
Tony here from england where
the sun is shining!
Saturday morning I got up
early and put on my running gear and stuffed the rest of the stuff for the
weekend into my rucksack, at 6.50am I ran the 2 miles or so to the railway
station. It felt strange running with a pack on my back. But it was only for 15
minutes and it kept the streak going :-) At 7.15 I got on a train for Cambridge
where I was going to stay with my friend Judith for the weekend.
Sunday Judith drove me the 30
miles or so west to Bury St. Edmunds for the 20 mile race, the weather was cold
and sunny, still fairly windy but at least the wind had dropped from the gales
of the night before. 1 slow mile to warm up then I gave Judith my long-sleeved
DRS shirt, I was going to tough it out
Off we went, I didn't try to
go out too quickly for the first mile, quite a few runners were coming past. 1st
mile 7.07, gradually picked up the pace but I wasn't racing it yet, at 2 miles
(2nd mile 6.46) we left the town and started our run through the undulating
country lanes of Suffolk ("Lovejoy" country for those of you who have seen the
TV series), I decided to start racing as I was thinking of going for my 20 mile
pb of 2h17.11, this was set 3 years ago when I was in the shape of my life but
it was also set on a very tough course.
Gradually started to work my
way though (3rd mile 6.55), by now we were out in the country running along a
rather narrow exposed road through some fields,(4th mile 6.50) but I felt OK. I
had got myself onto the back of a bunch (5th mile 6.57) by 5 miles
(34.35). There was a drinks station after 5 miles and I made a classic road
runners error here of getting dropped from the bunch at the drinks station :-( I
was now running isolated and pushing hard to try and bridge the gap (6th mile
7.10, 7th mile 6.46), by 7 miles I finally caught up 2 runners only for one of
them to step off the road at a first-aid post. Ran on very hard for the next
downhill mile to shake off a runner on my shoulder (8th mile 6.36), kept going
hard down to 9 miles (9th mile 6.46) but now it was starting to hurt a bit,
passed a couple of runners to halfway (10th mile 7.18) (1h09.10) but after that
a few runners came past and I had no response to them. I had a bad patch between
10-12 miles (11th mile 7.02, 12th mile 7.20). At the 12 mile drinks station I
passed olympic marathoner Sally Eastall, she was standing by the road acting as
a race official as she runs for the organising club, nice to see an elite runner
doing her bit for the club like that. At 12.5 miles a runner in a red and white
vest came past and I decided to try and stick with him for as long as possible,
all those inspiring thoughts from the Nike adverts went through my mind as I
hung on. 13th mile took 7.12 but I was now in contact and we were passing a few
runners, I knew some hills were coming and wondered if my "shadow" could climb.
Just before 14 miles came the first climb, not too long but fairly steep, I was
still in contact with my shadow (14th mile 7.12). Then down a very steep hill,
not comfortable and then up the second hill, longer than the first. This was
tough but we passed a few on the way up including some of the bunch that had
dropped me 10 miles earlier! Over the top of the hill I felt very tired, this
race has its own heartbreak hill, 15th mile 6.49 and the 15 mile split was
1h44.45, the race winner had just finished! I knew from running this race in
1991 I was over the worst, just had to survive now. The wind was now behind,
16th mile 6.49 and I was still with my shadow, there was a sense that the
runners around me weren't racing, just trying to finish. 17th mile 6.52, by now
a group of about 6 had accreted including me and my shadow, 18th mile took 7.06
and I realised that two 7 minute miles in from here would get me under 2h20 so I
pushed on and finally dropped my shadow. I was very tired by now but we were
almost back in the town, passed a few runners with another man from the 18 mile
group (19th mile 7.06), about 1/3
A good race, my 2nd best 20
mile time ever, I reckon I could have gone under 2h19 if I had got the pace
right but I was happy with the time. A good race for Boston, the way I felt
going over the hill at 15 miles reminded me not to go too hard before heartbreak
hill!
Back home on the train
yesterday, not much fun sitting down for 4 hours after the race. I plodded 3
miles through the park after I got home, I didn't feel comfortable but I was
glad for the run. Then off to see my Warrington-based family, my niece Ellen (2
1/2) helped me open some of my birthday presents, check out the "uncletony"
picture in the picture archives to see the cutest member of my family :-)
Boston now looks a lot more
likely after an encouraging chat with my boss on friday, he made encouraging
noises about our grant application for my new contract and thinks he should be
able to keep me on here for a couple more months after my contract expires at
the end of next month :-) I'm going to start checking on flights to Boston soon
:-)
well for those of you who have
got this far congratulations for reading a post almost as long as the race I
described :-)
carpe something
tony "32 years and 1 day old
today" bell
--
tony bell A.M.T.Bell@dl.ac.uk
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