Dead Runners society race report
Keyworth Turkey Trot half-marathon Nottinghamshire, sunday 8th December 1996
I returned from California in fairly
good shape and trained hard with the university "kiddies" for the next term.
Shelley and I headed north for the DRS encounter on the "Hills of Death" and I
was looking for a good run.
Hi folks
yesterday the
beautiful Shelley and I headed north from cold and dreary Cambridge to cold,
dreary and foggy Nottinghamshire for the Keyworth Turkey Trot 1/2 marathon.
Keyworth is the workplace of Paul (PJ) Henney and the racecourse goes over part
of PJ's infamous Hills_Of_Death training loop.
We arrived in plenty of
time and I entered the race. Met up with PJ, Mike Hoyland and Bob Thurstans,
Shelley wasn't going to run as she's getting over a cold and an ankle injury. I
jogged for 10 mins to warm up before taking off lots of layers of clothing just
before the start. Even though it was rather cold I was going to tough it out in
my drs vest and shorts today.
Off we went, rather crowded at the start
but I went off fast for a change, I was going for a fast time today. Just before
1 mile (6.28) Mike appeared on my shoulder, I asked him what he was doing here
and he replied he was going off too fast. Downhill to 2 miles (12.34, 6.06 last
mile) and Mike was still here, I was a bit concerned that he was going to be
there for the rest of the race but at 2.5 miles a long uphill started and I
pulled away from Mike and passed a few more runners. 3 miles (19.02, 6.28), over
the top at 3.5 miles between 4 miles (25.45, 6.43) and 5 miles (32.12, 6.27) I
had a bad patch and lost a couple of places but I got going again after 5. By
now we were well spread out and I was feeling tired, I had to work quite hard
over the next few miles to maintain my place although I did manage to pass a
couple more runners. 6 miles (38.48, 6.36), 7 miles (45.21, 6.33), 8 miles
(51.47, 6.26) and 9 miles (58.08, 6.21). I put in a burst just after 9 miles to
get away from a runner but I lost 2 more places to 10 miles (1h04.32, 6.24). By
now I was very tired, my left hamstring was very sore and I still had the Hills
of Death to come. Tough going up the hill to 11 miles (1h11.15, 6.43), I nearly
gave up racing here to just jog it in but another runner came past so I hung on
to him and then really hammered on the long downhill into Keyworth. 12 miles
(1h17.57, 6.42) and I was really hurting but I still had a chance of 85 mins.
Very fast down to 12.5 miles and I passed another runner and now the fun began,
some idiot made the last 1/2 mile all uphill to the finish. Really painful
but I kept going, passed another runner at 12.75 miles, 13 miles (1h24.21, 6.24)
and into the start/finish straight. I couldn't speed up much at the end and lost
2 places in the last 192.5 yds, one just on the line but I finished in
1h25.00.
Ouch, that hurt but it was a really good race for me. I
was hoping for 85.xx before the race so I was faster than I hoped although the
conditions were great, cold, misty and no wind. Mike finished in 1h26.44, Bob
ran 1h33 and PJ ended up jogging round in 1h48 after a recent bout of flu :-( I
was 45th and Mike was 61st, we both beat the first lady.
After the race
we repaired to the pub for the fun part of the encounter. It was nice to
meet local dead Sara Batts who very sensibly decided to stay in bed and just do
the pub part of the encounter. You can run the next one Sara and we'll all watch
you :-)
I felt a little bit tired this morning after all that,
still the post-race discomfort is a small price to pay for a good fast race.
Shelley and I ran slowly round the park this morning, felt pretty bad at the
start but I didn't feel too bad for 3.2 miles in 27.20 when we got
home.
I got my application for the London marathon rejected this morning
:-( I have had a word with the Cambridge University Hare and Hounds marathon
secretary and he has given me one of our club places :-) Yesterdays run is quite
encouraging for London, if I'm this fit in December before I have started
serious marathon training I could have good run in the capital on 13th April
1997.
bye
tony.... (CUHH marathon secretary)
tony
bell ageing chemistry student and
marathoner
department of
chemistry university of
cambridge
amtb2@cam.ac.uk
Tony@shells.demon.co.uk
Cambridge University Hare and Hounds Web
Page
http://www.cam.ac.uk/CambUniv/Societies/cuhh/index.html
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