Dead Runners society race report
"Mota-vation" race number 2, Combe, 3
miles 1585 yards - thursday 6th July 2000.
Here's the report on the third of the
Oxford midweek race series.
Evenin all
Tony here in cold, wet and chilly England,
this is summer? I was so spoiled last year in the south of France!
Last thursday the grown-up runners of Oxford
University ventured north out into the countryside near Oxford to the village of
Combe for the third in the local "first thursday of the month" summer evening 4
mile series. I had run in the first 2 of these races already this year. In the
first one I didn't go off fast enough, in the second I went off too fast and
blew up in the last mile, I wanted to do this one properly.
After we arrived I entered the race and then
did a couple of miles to warm up. I had heard that this race had a really nasty
hill in the last mile so I jogged the last mile in reverse until I saw the
dreaded hill, it looked steep but not too long. Jogged back to the start on the
Combe village green. 8 of us from Mansfield Road Runners (OU staff running club)
had come to the race but only 7 of us actually lined up as our star runner Anu
had forgotten his running shoes! For once there wasn't much delay at the start
and off we went.
Didn't try to go off too hard, I let the fast
starters zoom off and then started to work my way through. The first 3/4 mile
was downhill so I held back. Just ahead of me down the hill was MRR Everard,
star V60 runner who had beaten me in the last 2 races even though I had been
ahead of him at some stage during both races. As the downhill finished I put in
a spurt up the hill and overtook Everard, 1 mile in 6.37. Kept working my way
though, lost 1 place to an Oxford
City runner. In the second mile the runners were well spread out but I kept
pushing and picked off the runners one at a time. By 2 miles (13.17/6.40) I was
feeling tired but still racing. Into mile 3 with the big hill coming, a runner
in a white t-shirt caught me and I ran on with him. Down a steep hill and then
up, tough going but I passed loads more runners, feeling pretty wobbly at the
top and white t-shirt got ahead. As the road gradually flattened out I reached
the 3 mile marker (20.01/6.44), 1585 yards to go. Feeling very tired by now but
from my warm-up I knew what was coming. In the last of these races Everard
passed me in the last mile so I really pushed on hard now in to the finish, back
to the village of Combe, still passing the odd runner. Past the village green
and nearly finished, down a little lane, right turn onto the cricket ground and
over the line. 3 miles 1585 yards (all of these races are odd distances) in 25.52, pretty good considering the
rather undulating terrain :-) Everard finished 30s behind me :-)
Very tired on finishing, I got a drink and
jogged once around the cricket field to recover. That was a good run, nice to be
really racing in the last mile of a race like that. Eurodead Bob Wells was the
first of the MRR to finish.
My next road race will be a couple of laps of
a park on an island off the east coast of the USA, I understand that one or two
other deads could well be around for this race? :-) The day afterwards I intend to travel
over to the mainland for another road race.
ORN 3.5 miles at ultra-slow pace after a lot
of travelling over the weekend.
bye tony....
Dr Tony Bell Tony@shells.demon.co.uk tony.bell@chemistry.oxford.ac.uk Weekends - Milton, Cambridgeshire. Midweek, Dept of Inorganic Chemistry, Oxford University. http://www.shells.demon.co.uk/tonyweb.html <http://albums.photopoint.com/j/AlbumList?u=227580>
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