Sunday, 3 December 2017
I can never resist a xmas run, and I decided to make a weekend of this with the family. I had been to Nottingham many years ago when a mate of mine lived in the Aspley area, but memories had faded and I was looking forward to my visit. We drove up on the Saturday morning, an easy burn round the M25 and then up the M1 towards the East Midlands. I had booked a night in a Premier Inn just on the outskirts of the city, and quite close to where the marathon was being held the next day, at a place called Holme Pierrepont which is the home to the grand sounding 'National Water Sports Centre'.
The hotel was a short walk from the tram station, and we took the brief journey by tram into the city centre. Mel went xmas shopping for the day and I took the kids to vist the national videogame arcade. We absolutely loved this! Three floors of a mixture of retro games consoles, along with more modern day games on a huge selection of consoles. We got to play with a BBC Micro, ZX Spectrum, Guitar Hero and even use a VR headset with Star Wars Battlefront. Five hours just whizzed by before we headed back to the hotel via a pub and my usual pre-race meal of fish and chips.
The next morning dawned bright and early. It was a fairly mild and sunny day, compared to my efforts the previous weekend at 'Festive Frolic' which was positvely baltic. We had a rather dubious breakfast at the 'Fair and Square' inn, although it was a bit late at 8am. We had to be ready to run at 9am for the fun run, so we bolted it down and legged it off as fast as we could.
Driving over to start was a quick burn down the A52 towards Holme Pierrpont, although I had one eye on the clock. There was a long and slowly moving queue to get in the car park, and time was steadily ticking. So Mel and the kids jumped out of the car to go collect the numbers, and I parked up. I had to pony up a fiver to park for the day, which I though was a bit steep. The car park was just a field which was well churned up with mud, luckily I managed to get a relatively mud free space. I parked up and made my way quickly over to the reception to meet up with the family. There was just a couple of minutes left now before the fun run. Mel had got all our bib numbers for the fun run which all of us were running, and my marathon number.
We barely had time to pin the numbers on our front before we found ourselves lining up at the start for the mile fun run. This was a very pleasant run out and back along the Regatta Lake, and we went past the marathon start line en route. My daughter legged it off on the 'back' section and she beat us all by several minutes. I ran in with Mel and my son. We all received a medal for our efforts. Unusually for a fun run, this was chip timed which I thought was a nice touch. Makes sense though, as the races were organised by a chip timing company called "time 2 run".
So, after a quick drink of water, I waved goodbye to the family and they left me to head back to the hotel and get changed and have a day out in Nottingham, and for me to run my marathon.
As well as a marathon, there was also a half marathon and a 5K on at the same time, so there were quite a few runners all nervously getting prepared.
By now time was marching on to the marathon start time of 10.00am, and I took the short walk over to the start line. I passed a baggage tent on the right, where I left my bag although this wasn't manned, just as well there was no valuables in it. The course was advertised as 8 laps 'and a bit' around the Regatta lake. The start line was very close to the finish line though, meaning it was pretty much 9 laps! I'm not the biggest fan of lapped marathons as they can be mentally tough, and now I learnt I had almost a whole extra lap to do. This wasn't great and I felt my heart sinking at the thought of 9 times round this poxy lake.
As I did a bit of stretching I bumped into 'Usingh Bolt', a runner from Aldridge running club who I'd previously met at the Liverpool Rock 'n' Roll marathon, and of course a selfie had to be done.
There was a quick briefing by the organisers and a short delay with the race starting 5 mins late. As per usual, I found it almost impossible to make out what they were saying and tried my best to listen into the megaphone. As we all lined up by the start, the start Klaxon went off and we all surged over the timing mat. It was a fairly small crowd of marathon runners, perhaps 200 of us in total.
It was a lovely day and really ideal conditions for running. It was about 10C, with a light breeze and it was cloudy but with odd sunny spell. I had hat and gloves on to start but they soon come off as I heated up quickly, I also had a base layer on which I was soon regretting. I also had my camelbak with a litre of Gatoraid, so I was all set.
I was "Jeffing" this race with a ratio of 90 seconds run, 30 seconds power-walk. I had been training hard, following a program set by my personal trainer Jo Longmuir to try and get under 5 hours for my marathon time. Given the weather, and the flat tarmac underfoot, this was best my shot at going for it. I just had to make sure my head stayed in the right place as doing laps can be mentally exhausting, and not go out too fast and blow up.
The first lap I had decided just to plod round as best as I could without taking walk breaks, this would be my warm up. It was reasonably congested at the start and I didn't want make an abrupt change of pace every 90 seconds which would just annoy my fellow runners, or have one of them go into the back of me! As I plodded away in that first mile, a chap came past me who was juggling. He was doing the entire marathon with three juggling balls up in the air, and he was going faster than me. We had a quick chat and I wished him a good race, while silently cursing his speed haha!
The Regatta lake itself was just a very long and quite narrow strip of water, about a mile and half long, and of course man-made. The course was a wide path which went in a loop around it. It reminded me of Dorney Lake. At each end there were some observation towers and a boat house at one end. It was just a case of digging in and getting the job done.
By the time I had got to the far end of the lake, and past the observation towers, the half marathon crowd were starting to come past me and then the 5K runners. The organisers had helpfully put some signs up telling the runners to keep left, allowing the faster runners through. It was a little demotivating to have people keep pushing past at a fair old clip. 5K was just the one lap of the lake, and they could really put their foot down. As I came back down the lake, it started to thin out a bit and most of the 5K lot had finished already.
As this was a rowing lake, there were plenty of boats out on the lake. Some of whom were being actively coached by people on bikes. So there was a little bit of diving around these bikes to make sure we didn't hit each other.
As I looked across the water I could see the finish line which also doubled up as the lap point. I could hear the xmas music belting out from the PA system and a guy on a microphone was giving loads of encouragement to people finishing as well as us runners doing laps. This was really nice and gave the event a lot of atmosphere.
As I came to the far end of the lake, there was a little boat house. Here there were some toilets although I never needed to use them, they were a little off the course so would have added a few minutes to the finish time. I now turned the corner again, heading towards the lap line. Finishers went down a funnel to the right, and the rest of us stuck to the left. There was a table here with some writst bands, which you could optionally put on so you'd know how far you'd been. I had my Garmin on, which told me how far I'd run so I didn't bother with that. It is easy to lose lap count though, had I not had a watch on I'd definietly have used them!
As I went across the timing mat I had done my initial 'extra little bit' (the ninth lap!) and now there was the full eight laps to do. Oh gawd, what I had left myself in for. As soon as I came past the timing mat there was a short section of gentle clinb to go up, this was the only hill on the entire course. Right after it was a really good aid station, with a good selection of water, energy drinks and even some xmas cake. That went down very well!
It was now just a case of getting on with it and hanging on to my pace as best as I could. Now started the grafting of mile after mile of 90 seconds run, 30 seconds power walk. Eventually the course started thinning out, and by the fourth lap most of the half marathon runners had finished and it was getting a bit lonely out there. However, there was quite a bit to look at to keep my mind off the relentless slog. On the far side of the lake I could see another lake with what looked like white water rapids and canoes coming down it. There were plenty of people walking the other way who were giving encouragement, the odd dog walker and also rowers out on the lake.
As I reached 13.1 miles, I looked down at my Garmin and I'd got round in 2:20 so far. All I needed to do was the same again, and I had a 20 minute buffer too to get round in sub 5 hours. It was starting to get a bit difficult now, the relentless flatness and tarmac are quite hard on the legs but it was case of digging in. I got chatting to some fellow runners which took my mind off it a bit, including a lady from the 100 marathon club who had just come back from injury, and I also saw Dieter. There was a couple of ladies doing there first half marathon and suffering a bit with it, and I tried to give them as much encouragement as I could.
Another couple of laps done, and as I approached the timing mat for the 7th time I could hear some cheers from the main building. Mel and the kids were on the balcony on the 1st floor and shouting encouragement at me. I shouted back that I had just a couple of laps to go - this put a bit of a spring in my step and gave me a boost just at the right time.
So, I now had just 2 laps of this sodding lake to get round. That was about 2 more than I wanted to do... The guy on the microphone was giving me lots of encouragement as I went past, back up that little hill (which by now was a mountain) and stuffing cake and sweeties down at the aid station. I also had 4 bags of hula hoops with me, which I was eating every 5 miles. Those went down very well.
As started the last lap my Garmin was telling me I was up to 4 hours and 15 minutes. So I had 45 minutes to churn out 3 and a bit miles to get my goal of sub 5 hours. I told myself that I could walk that if I absolutely had to, and by now I was really so very tempted to walk it out. My legs were getting really tired and the thought of going round that lake again filled me with dread. The legs were threatening to go on strike and my head was telling me to take it easy and just walk it out. But no, I dug in and kept going with the run/walk. I hadn't run for 4:15 just to wuss out in the last 45 mins.
I went up and down the Regatta lake again, for the last bloody time thank god. Now I was in mile 25 and I was approaching the boat house and could see the finish. It began to draw me in. Mel and the kids had returned to the finish line to cheer me in. The friendly marshals directed me to the finish funnel and I managed a little sprint finish and across the finish line, to much cheers and applause from the friendly marshals. The guy on the mic managed to shout out my name and my finish time as well as congratulating me, that was a really nice touch. I stopped my Garmin and was really pleased to see I'd finished in 4:51, my fastest marathon time for nearly 2 years. Job done!
The lady on the finish line hung my finishers medal over my head. I was a little disappointed that this was exactly the same medal I'd received for the fun run earlier, but never mind. I had some photos with the kids who were busy mucking about, then we went into the main building where a free turkey and cranberry baguette was waiting for me. They seemed to have over catered for the free sandwiches as they couldn't give them away! I also had the biggest cup of coffee I could manage.
We headed back to the car park, through the mud. I sent the kids off to retrieve my bag from the tent (saving me the walk! I knew I had kids for a reason...) and started the long old drive back to Hampshire. I'd had a great run, and for the entry fee it was really well organised with a lovely atmosphere. That was marathon number 47 ticked off the list and a time I was really pleased with.
I see the organisers have listened to a lot of the feedback, and in 2018 they are holding the event again, this time with separate medals for each distance and also cheaper parking. Good job!
Nottingham Xmas marathon
I can never resist a xmas run, and I decided to make a weekend of this with the family. I had been to Nottingham many years ago when a mate of mine lived in the Aspley area, but memories had faded and I was looking forward to my visit. We drove up on the Saturday morning, an easy burn round the M25 and then up the M1 towards the East Midlands. I had booked a night in a Premier Inn just on the outskirts of the city, and quite close to where the marathon was being held the next day, at a place called Holme Pierrepont which is the home to the grand sounding 'National Water Sports Centre'.
The next morning dawned bright and early. It was a fairly mild and sunny day, compared to my efforts the previous weekend at 'Festive Frolic' which was positvely baltic. We had a rather dubious breakfast at the 'Fair and Square' inn, although it was a bit late at 8am. We had to be ready to run at 9am for the fun run, so we bolted it down and legged it off as fast as we could.
Driving over to start was a quick burn down the A52 towards Holme Pierrpont, although I had one eye on the clock. There was a long and slowly moving queue to get in the car park, and time was steadily ticking. So Mel and the kids jumped out of the car to go collect the numbers, and I parked up. I had to pony up a fiver to park for the day, which I though was a bit steep. The car park was just a field which was well churned up with mud, luckily I managed to get a relatively mud free space. I parked up and made my way quickly over to the reception to meet up with the family. There was just a couple of minutes left now before the fun run. Mel had got all our bib numbers for the fun run which all of us were running, and my marathon number.
We barely had time to pin the numbers on our front before we found ourselves lining up at the start for the mile fun run. This was a very pleasant run out and back along the Regatta Lake, and we went past the marathon start line en route. My daughter legged it off on the 'back' section and she beat us all by several minutes. I ran in with Mel and my son. We all received a medal for our efforts. Unusually for a fun run, this was chip timed which I thought was a nice touch. Makes sense though, as the races were organised by a chip timing company called "time 2 run".
So, after a quick drink of water, I waved goodbye to the family and they left me to head back to the hotel and get changed and have a day out in Nottingham, and for me to run my marathon.
A quick change of race bibs, and I bumped into my running buddies Costas and Dieter, who I've met at several races before. It was good to see some friendly faces and exchange a bit of banter, and to wish each other good luck. Inside the centre there was a cafe serving teas, coffees and breakfast, and it was nice and warm inside. This was a big plus - had it been cold or nasty weather, it would have been somewhere to shelter. There was also loo facilities inside.
Amusingly a lady tried to barge her way into the gents to use the cubicles, although she got short shrift from the fairly lengthy queue of men waiting to use the facilities and told to foxtrot oscar in no uncertain terms. There was also a cry from the ladies that they had run out of bog roll - I don't even want to imagine the consequences haha! They could have really done with a few portaloos outside to take the 'pressure off' (pun intended).
By now time was marching on to the marathon start time of 10.00am, and I took the short walk over to the start line. I passed a baggage tent on the right, where I left my bag although this wasn't manned, just as well there was no valuables in it. The course was advertised as 8 laps 'and a bit' around the Regatta lake. The start line was very close to the finish line though, meaning it was pretty much 9 laps! I'm not the biggest fan of lapped marathons as they can be mentally tough, and now I learnt I had almost a whole extra lap to do. This wasn't great and I felt my heart sinking at the thought of 9 times round this poxy lake.
As I did a bit of stretching I bumped into 'Usingh Bolt', a runner from Aldridge running club who I'd previously met at the Liverpool Rock 'n' Roll marathon, and of course a selfie had to be done.There was a quick briefing by the organisers and a short delay with the race starting 5 mins late. As per usual, I found it almost impossible to make out what they were saying and tried my best to listen into the megaphone. As we all lined up by the start, the start Klaxon went off and we all surged over the timing mat. It was a fairly small crowd of marathon runners, perhaps 200 of us in total.
It was a lovely day and really ideal conditions for running. It was about 10C, with a light breeze and it was cloudy but with odd sunny spell. I had hat and gloves on to start but they soon come off as I heated up quickly, I also had a base layer on which I was soon regretting. I also had my camelbak with a litre of Gatoraid, so I was all set.
I was "Jeffing" this race with a ratio of 90 seconds run, 30 seconds power-walk. I had been training hard, following a program set by my personal trainer Jo Longmuir to try and get under 5 hours for my marathon time. Given the weather, and the flat tarmac underfoot, this was best my shot at going for it. I just had to make sure my head stayed in the right place as doing laps can be mentally exhausting, and not go out too fast and blow up.
The first lap I had decided just to plod round as best as I could without taking walk breaks, this would be my warm up. It was reasonably congested at the start and I didn't want make an abrupt change of pace every 90 seconds which would just annoy my fellow runners, or have one of them go into the back of me! As I plodded away in that first mile, a chap came past me who was juggling. He was doing the entire marathon with three juggling balls up in the air, and he was going faster than me. We had a quick chat and I wished him a good race, while silently cursing his speed haha!
By the time I had got to the far end of the lake, and past the observation towers, the half marathon crowd were starting to come past me and then the 5K runners. The organisers had helpfully put some signs up telling the runners to keep left, allowing the faster runners through. It was a little demotivating to have people keep pushing past at a fair old clip. 5K was just the one lap of the lake, and they could really put their foot down. As I came back down the lake, it started to thin out a bit and most of the 5K lot had finished already.
As this was a rowing lake, there were plenty of boats out on the lake. Some of whom were being actively coached by people on bikes. So there was a little bit of diving around these bikes to make sure we didn't hit each other.
As I looked across the water I could see the finish line which also doubled up as the lap point. I could hear the xmas music belting out from the PA system and a guy on a microphone was giving loads of encouragement to people finishing as well as us runners doing laps. This was really nice and gave the event a lot of atmosphere.
As I came to the far end of the lake, there was a little boat house. Here there were some toilets although I never needed to use them, they were a little off the course so would have added a few minutes to the finish time. I now turned the corner again, heading towards the lap line. Finishers went down a funnel to the right, and the rest of us stuck to the left. There was a table here with some writst bands, which you could optionally put on so you'd know how far you'd been. I had my Garmin on, which told me how far I'd run so I didn't bother with that. It is easy to lose lap count though, had I not had a watch on I'd definietly have used them!
As I went across the timing mat I had done my initial 'extra little bit' (the ninth lap!) and now there was the full eight laps to do. Oh gawd, what I had left myself in for. As soon as I came past the timing mat there was a short section of gentle clinb to go up, this was the only hill on the entire course. Right after it was a really good aid station, with a good selection of water, energy drinks and even some xmas cake. That went down very well!
It was now just a case of getting on with it and hanging on to my pace as best as I could. Now started the grafting of mile after mile of 90 seconds run, 30 seconds power walk. Eventually the course started thinning out, and by the fourth lap most of the half marathon runners had finished and it was getting a bit lonely out there. However, there was quite a bit to look at to keep my mind off the relentless slog. On the far side of the lake I could see another lake with what looked like white water rapids and canoes coming down it. There were plenty of people walking the other way who were giving encouragement, the odd dog walker and also rowers out on the lake.
As I reached 13.1 miles, I looked down at my Garmin and I'd got round in 2:20 so far. All I needed to do was the same again, and I had a 20 minute buffer too to get round in sub 5 hours. It was starting to get a bit difficult now, the relentless flatness and tarmac are quite hard on the legs but it was case of digging in. I got chatting to some fellow runners which took my mind off it a bit, including a lady from the 100 marathon club who had just come back from injury, and I also saw Dieter. There was a couple of ladies doing there first half marathon and suffering a bit with it, and I tried to give them as much encouragement as I could.
Another couple of laps done, and as I approached the timing mat for the 7th time I could hear some cheers from the main building. Mel and the kids were on the balcony on the 1st floor and shouting encouragement at me. I shouted back that I had just a couple of laps to go - this put a bit of a spring in my step and gave me a boost just at the right time. So, I now had just 2 laps of this sodding lake to get round. That was about 2 more than I wanted to do... The guy on the microphone was giving me lots of encouragement as I went past, back up that little hill (which by now was a mountain) and stuffing cake and sweeties down at the aid station. I also had 4 bags of hula hoops with me, which I was eating every 5 miles. Those went down very well.
As started the last lap my Garmin was telling me I was up to 4 hours and 15 minutes. So I had 45 minutes to churn out 3 and a bit miles to get my goal of sub 5 hours. I told myself that I could walk that if I absolutely had to, and by now I was really so very tempted to walk it out. My legs were getting really tired and the thought of going round that lake again filled me with dread. The legs were threatening to go on strike and my head was telling me to take it easy and just walk it out. But no, I dug in and kept going with the run/walk. I hadn't run for 4:15 just to wuss out in the last 45 mins.
The lady on the finish line hung my finishers medal over my head. I was a little disappointed that this was exactly the same medal I'd received for the fun run earlier, but never mind. I had some photos with the kids who were busy mucking about, then we went into the main building where a free turkey and cranberry baguette was waiting for me. They seemed to have over catered for the free sandwiches as they couldn't give them away! I also had the biggest cup of coffee I could manage.
We headed back to the car park, through the mud. I sent the kids off to retrieve my bag from the tent (saving me the walk! I knew I had kids for a reason...) and started the long old drive back to Hampshire. I'd had a great run, and for the entry fee it was really well organised with a lovely atmosphere. That was marathon number 47 ticked off the list and a time I was really pleased with.
I see the organisers have listened to a lot of the feedback, and in 2018 they are holding the event again, this time with separate medals for each distance and also cheaper parking. Good job!
Comments
Post a Comment