Dead Runners society race report
Sale Harriers "Festive" 5 mile race - sunday 27th December
1998.
My plans for a
summer of running fast on the track as I finished off my PhD all came to a
crashing halt on saturday 25th July 1998. Running fast in Milton Country Park I
tripped up and fractured my knee :-( I came home from hospital on crutches and I
didn't run again until September. I didn't race again until we went to
Warrington for Xmas 1998, I did 2 not too serious xmas handicap races before
racing properly again. Here is part of our report on the Xmas holiday
racing.
27 Dec we went off to Manchester for a "real" race, the Sale Harriers "Festive" 5 mile race. A nice flat road race, 2 laps around Wythenshawe Park starting and finishing on the athletics track. We both did the race even though Shelley hadn't run 5 miles since she got injured in October.
Tony's race report. 2 laps of the track to warm up, left leg felt a bit sore. I felt rather unprepared for a real race, I was wearing training shoes rather than racers and I had a long sleeved Helly-Hansen under my club vest, normally for a race I like to wear as little as I can get away with. Still this was just a test to see how fit I was. Set off at the back with Shelley and some people who had come in Fancy Dress. Set off slowly and took it easy on the lap of the track before heading out into the park and out onto the road. I gradually picked up the pace and worked my way through. 1st mile reached in 8.05, a bit slower than I thought I was going. Kept going and kept working my way though, off the road and into the park again, passed a couple of ladies from Spectrum Striders. 2 miles in 15.30, last mile 7.25, a bit more like it. Onto the road again, halfway in 18.46, by now I was feeling tired. My stomach didn't feel good after all the Xmas dinner food and the unaccustomed heavy breathing didn't feel that comfortable. Still I was racing, well sort of, kept pushing and still passing runners. 3 miles in 22.36/7.06 with wind behind, tough going for next mile into wind, back into the park. 4 miles in 29.58/7.22, very tired by now but not far to go. Out of the park and onto the road again, going quite hard now to catch some runners ahead, turn off the road to run towards the track, just as I got onto the track I heard someone behind me who appeared to be doing an impression of a steam train then he zoomed past me and sprinted the last lap on the track. Kept pushing to the end and passed a couple more on the track. Finished in 36.13/6.15 last mile! Some misplaced mile markers I think. Pleased with my run, left leg was pretty sore and I felt tired but otherwise OK. When I saw the results I found that 2 Spectrum Striders runners had finished 30s and 20s ahead of me, I could have got them! Still I can try racing a bit harder at the Helsby/4 villages half-marathon on on 24 Jan.
Shelley's race report. My goal was simply to get around without stirring up my injuries. I hadn't run that far in probably about 3 months, so my plan was to take it at about 9 minute pace. I ran with father Christmas for about the first mile and did it in about 9:45. Then I decided that I could and probably should run it a bit faster than that, so I speeded up and ran the next 4 miles in something like 8:45, 8:28, 8:49, 7:52. The distance seemed very long particularly mile 4, which probably was a little longer than a mile in actuality. Mile 5 didn't seem so bad both because I knew the end was in sight and because it was a bit short. Since I started out slow I was passing people from the 2nd mile on and that was kind of fun and kept me going. It was a two lap course and I think after the first lap one of the marshalls almost tried to tell me to go where the finishers were supposed to go maybe because I appeared to be going that much faster than those around me. I kept myself going at the end by outsprinting someone on the track and then managed a total time of 43:28, just a few seconds slower than my race PW for the distance, so for the first 5 mile run in 3 months, I was quite pleased with it. And my injury seems to have survived it and I am working up now to 5 miles 3 times a week with water running on the other days. So I am definitely on the comeback.
Back to Tony. After visiting the shiny new Trafford shopping centre for lunch we headed back to Warrington to hear that Tony's sister Marie had gone into hospital. At 3.50am on 28 Dec the big news of our trip up north was the birth of Tony's niece, Louise Kathryn Parker. Tony's Ph.D. thesis was submitted the day before we left on 18 Dec. Yesterday Tony found out that his viva oral examination is in 3 weeks time on 27 Jan. So hopefully in 3 weeks time the Tiger team will consist of Dr Walsh and Dr Bell!
ORN Tony 4.8 miles slow round Milton Country Park. Shelley 31.50 water running.
bye --
Shelley Walsh and Tony Bell
Milton
Cambridgshire England
Tiger@shells.demon.co.uk
Shelley Walsh
Shelley@shells.demon.co.uk
Tony Bell
Tony@shells.demon.co.uk
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