Dead Runners society race report
Evenin all
Tony here in Oxford this weekend not
Cambridge due to the relentless march of science. One good thing that came from
having to work this weekend was the opportunity to do my first weekend race here
today, this was three days after doing the last in the thursday evening 4 mile
series which I had been my only Oxfordshire race experiences since I started to
work and the number 2 university in April. Here are some reports.
"Mota-vation" race number 5, Marston, 4
miles 47 yards - thursday 24th August 2000.
Here's the report on the fifth and
last of the Oxford midweek race series, I had missed race 4 as I was on holiday
in the USA.
I had done the first 3 races of this series
which all involved about 4 miles of running around country lanes in villages
fairly close to Oxford. I missed the 4th race as I was in the USA but I had
returned in time for the final race. This one was much closer to home in
Marston, a village right on the edge of Oxford and the start/finish were only a
mile from the lab. After a day of pushing back the walls of ignorance off on my
bike to the Oxford Harlequins Rugby Club on Marston Ferry Road, a road I knew
well from training runs with Mansfield Road Runners. I entered the race and got
my race number and also a slate coaster as a souvenir of this summer's race
series, my reward for showing up at 4 out of 5 of the races. Time to warm up, I
did about a mile along the Marston Ferry Road bike path and felt pretty dreadful
doing it, my legs weren't too keen today :-( I did a bit more stretching and a
few strides before lining up at the start. A good turnout for MRR, 7 of us were
out for this last race, Eurodead Bob Wells was in contention for the over 50
prize.
Bang and off we went along the bike path, a
very fast start by everyone else, after a couple of minutes I started to work my
through the field, I was running with MRRunner Alan who usually finishes about
30s ahead of me. 1st mile in 6.16 and I was already feeling tired, still with
Alan but my main target was MRR V60 superstar Everard who had defeated me in 2
out of the 3 races so far, Everard was in sight but not coming back to me. Off
the bike path, through an underpass and into the village of Marston, still
passing a few runners but Alan was ahead by now, just before 2 miles we were on
another bike path going alongside the Oxford A40 bypass with cars zooming by
very fast. 2 miles in 12.51, 6.36 for the last mile. 2 fast ladies came cruising
by and I was already into hanging on mode. Off the bypass bikepath and back into
Marston, by now a runner in white was on my tail and trying to get past, I was
working very hard to hold him off. I was trying everything, surging when he got
alongside and making sure I got to the bends first. Just after 3 miles (I didn't
see the marker) and back through the underpass for the last mile or so back
along Marston Ferry Road to the finish. I was feeling very tired by now and
wanted to stop and jog in, the runner in white was alongside me. Still only a
mile to go and I couldn't give up as we were gradually closing in on Dickie, one
of my wednesday lunchtime training buddies. Dickie is usually 1 or 2 minutes up
on me in these races, he was having a bad one, I couldn't give up as I might
never get the chance to beat him again. Hang on hang on hang on and with about
1/4 mile to go I was alongside Dickie! If he had kicked now he would have
slaughtered me, I ran alongside him until I could see the finish and then kicked
with everything I had left (which wasn't much) and kept going to the end.
Another runner came zooming past just before the line but I made it over the
line in 26.19, Dickie finished 5s behind. Very, very tired on finishing, that
last mile really hurt, I haven't had a last mile that painful since the Berlin
marathon when I just hung on to get my marathon pb!
Well I never got close to Everard but I got
another scalp instead, something to talk about on those wednesday training runs
:-) My legs weren't too keen on moving after the race but after getting a drink
of water I forced myself to jog for 5 minutes to cool down. In the end I was
69th out of 131 finishers and 5th of the 7 Mansfield Road Runners over the line.
Bob was 2nd V50 in the race and consequently finished 2nd in the series. I hung
around for the presentation to see Bob get his prize before pedalling home very
slowly on my bike. A pretty good race considering how I felt at the start but
not my best race of the series, that was the third race at Combe when I got in
the top half of the field and defeated Everard. A very enjoyable race series
reminding me of the summer evening races I used to do up north in days of old, a
totally different sort of race to my last road race in the USA, I wasn't even
close to hardware this time. If I had been a lady veteran and run the time that
I did I still wouldn't have won anything!
3 days
later…..
Headington 5 mile road race – Sunday 27th
August 2000.
This morning off on my bike again out to the
OXSRAD sports centre in north Oxford, race HQ for the 5 mile race organised by
one of the local Oxford clubs, Headington Road Runners. I parked my bike and
changed into my race gear before jogging out to the start. I did about 1.25
miles before the race, felt a little tired and my left knee was sore but I felt
a lot better than on thursday night, the race start was on the same A40 bypass
bikepath which I had raced on thursday night. There were a lot of runners here,
I could see race numbers in the 300s but none of my regular midweek training
partners were at the race which was a shame.
Bang and off we went along the bike path, a
bit crowded for the first minute or so. I didn't try to go off too hard and
consequently after the first few minutes I was working my way through, 6.19 for
1st mile, kept working my way through to 2 miles 13.08/6.49. Not a fast mile, I
must have gone to sleep there (or the mile marker was wrong). Just after 2 a
runner from Woodstock who just outsprinted me on thursday night in the 4 mile
race came past so I picked up the pace and ran on with him, now I had someone to
race! 3 miles in 19.34/6.26, that's better. Pretty tired by now but on familiar
ground, the Marston Ferry road bike path where thursday's race started and
finished.
Ran on to 4 miles with Mr Woodstock, passed a
couple more runners, 4 miles in 26.13/6.39 (thursday 4 miles 47 yards in 26.19)
so I was only a few seconds down on thursday's pace. Last mile was tough, still
battling away with Woodstock but now we were running on some fairly twisty roads
through a housing estate, Woodstock got away as we approached the sports centre.
Last 1/4 mile all on grass :-( Like running through treacle but I slogged in to
the end and I just managed to get under 33. 32.58 with last mile in 6.45.
Pretty tired on finishing but not as bad as
on thursday night, fairly good run but I think thursday took the edge off my
run. I was hoping for 32.30. This pace won't get me under 40 for 10km, this is
40.58 10km pace. Pretty warm running conditions but a lot easier than New
York! I thanked Mr Woodstock for
the race then I did 1/4 mile cool-down run around the field where we finished as
the slower runners were coming in. There were runners from all over the place at
the race, not just the local Oxfordshire clubs who have run the thursday night 4
mile series. There was even a runner from my part of the world (St. Helens, just
north of Warrington) who recognized my Spectrum Striders vest. He had run in the
Spectrum Striders Birchwood 10km last sunday.
That was my 5th race this month, now it is
time to get back to some hard training, my next race is planned to be a 10km in
Cambridge in October, it would be nice to get close to 40 minutes for 10km
again. Back on my bike and off to the lab again for some more work in the
afternoon, I should get my report finished by the end of the month
deadline.
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
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