Leicester Half Marathon

Looking for a new goal and safe in the knowledge my fitness was already pretty good, I took the “instant gratification” route of signing up to a race in the same month to see what I was capable of rather than embark upon a more traditional 12 or 16 week training block with a goal race at the end. Looking at my personal bests and balancing that with the availability of races across the range of distances, the half marathon distance was the one I picked to try and beat. I set my best time (of 79:25) in Wrexham back in 2017 when I ran well on a fast course in a race stacked with fast runners. It was still the only time I’d broken 80 minutes and I really felt there should be more to come given my times over other distances. I decided to run the distance hard in training to see where I was at so on October 10th, I set out on my “Super Half” route which takes me 50 yards from my front door out to Shenton and back in an elongated loop to the east. I squeezed in a two minute warm up prior and set about my task. The weather was perfect and the route reasonably flat and traffic free. I returned in 82:37 which gave me hope that in a race I might go three minutes quicker or thereabouts. I’d be happy with sub 80 and ecstatic with a PB. That night, I scouted races that might suit. Leicester and Coventry both had races on at the end of the month. I expected them to be competitive and well attended as well as local obviously, although the courses weren’t perfectly flat. Flatter races were available but required more travelling time and there was the risk of being isolated mid race if the entry numbers were in the low hundreds rather than thousands as would be the case at Leicester and Coventry. I canvassed opinions and decided that I would go for it at Leicester despite the final mile being a bit of an uphill slog to the finish. My mate Neil Russell had done it a few times and I trusted his recommendation which ultimately swung it for me. I went on to run what, on reflection, was probably my best ever race to date over any distance.

I took the week off from running in the lead up to the race save for testing out a new pair of socks I planned to race in. The long range weather forecast looked reasonable but race week presented a very different picture. Heavy rain for the duration of the race. Checking several times daily, the only positive I could glean was that if there was a change in the weather, it could only be for the better!

Things weren’t great at the start. The car park I had planned to use was full, traffic was backed up everywhere and I couldn’t find the alternative car park I was directed to. Luckily, I knew my way to Victoria Park where the race was based so pitched up there and drove away until I could a place to park on a side street. I’d be warming up beforehand anyway and it worked out fine other than I left my gloves in the car! When I reached the start, I warmed up in my bin bag, a last minute but immense idea from my wife, Louise. The rain was relentless, there was a modicum of shelter by the trees but it was cold and wet. Then news filtered through that the start was to be delayed by ten minutes due to the traffic problems and people being late to the start. I carried on moving about to keep warm and rued the fact that I would have had time as it turned out to go back for my gloves.

One of the benefits of dropping into a race at short notice is that you don’t have that big build up of pressure or that long bank of specific training to endure. I had high hopes before the race but the weather seemed to have put paid to a fast time. I would run anyway as I had paid my money. Louise wanted me to stay home and were it not for the fact that I had to collect the LRRL trophies for the club at the presentation which was to conveniently follow the conclusion of the race, I probably would have taken her advice. I chatted with Lee O’Connor from OWLS at the start and we shared the view that a fast time would be unlikely given the ferocity of the rain. It really was torrential. No let up.

I couldn’t wait to get started for the simple reason it would enable me to get a bit warmer! The delay seemed to be capped at five minutes, possibly due to safety concerns of the runners already there. The race was decided on chip timing anyway so it wouldn’t matter in theory exactly when a runner started, I suppose a fast runner coming late would not be able to “do battle” with their peers at the top of the race but the lad who won was so far out in front, it made no difference whatsoever.

The first mile was a fast gently swooping downhill. Lee and I buddied up with West End’s Simon Mayes who very helpfully briefed me on some aspects of the route which I thought might be worth knowing. My plan was to run at six minute miles for as long as possible and in reality, I would look to run with Lee and Simon for as long as I could to help me get a good chunk of the race out of the way. I fully expected them to beat me so I reasoned that if I could hang onto them or even just one of them for up to 8 mile distance, it would just leave me half an hour or so of running alone which is significantly easier than double that time! There were a lot of runners there, 1620 to be precise, but I was in a familiar position to many of the road league races I had run in the summer, top twenty. Four miles in, Simon started dropping back. Maybe he wasn’t feeling it today. Usually he starts slow and winds it up as the race wears on. Not to worry.

The rain was horrific. Picking the least wet line through the standing water across the roads was a futile challenge. Nobody was keeping their feet dry today. Six miles in, Lee started to lag behind a touch. I slowed down to allow him to catch up. I felt I would benefit me more with him being alongside me for as long as possible rather than just leaving him to his own devices. But it didn’t last. He fell back again, only marginally, but I felt good and had nothing to lose. I was here for a time, the rain might stop me but I was going to try as best I could anyway and if I blew up with three miles to go, so be it. My mile splits were all below 6 minutes per mile and I felt strong. I saw Gurmit Singh from Roadhoggs up the road, he is another veteran athlete, younger than me but on the up. I usually beat him in the league races but by smaller margins each time. He was going really well but I caught him and passed him while we wished each other well for the rest of the race. There seemed to be a really nice spirit in the race from competitors and brave volunteers alike. Never before had I had as much respect for those hardy souls who freely gave their time on an absolutely filthy morning, to positively encourage all who ran.

I went through 10K in sub 36, albeit with a downhill opening mile. Things were looking good. Could I hold the pace I’d set for myself? Would I go the wrong way, after all, visibility was dreadful, even with my contact lenses in rather than glasses? We headed into the aptly named Watermead Park and I was now well on my own. I could see a runner ahead through the rain and almost went down after a marshal warned me to “watch the puddle”. I heeded the warning and tried to ensure my foot placement was overly deliberate and with a perpendicular action, but such was the build up of leaves and mud at the bottom of the surprisingly deeper than expected puddle, my foot slid sideways and my knee touched the floor. I caught, ran with and passed another two runners and went through ten miles in 58:34, six seconds inside my PB and incidentally my previous best ever run, set at the John Fraser 10 on a slightly warmer day back in 2018 when I led the club home to help us beat Hermitage Harriers on the crucial last race of the season and with it end their dominance of the previous four seasons. It was at this point that I could see a PB was on. Even if the last mile was an absolute stinker, it was mine to lose.

Going back through the city was good and bad. Despite the incessant rain, there were a handful of people cheering in the main shopping area, despite me losing GPS signal on this part of the course. There was an underpass where OWLS Scott and Bilal were supporting. The rain was so appalling, I could barely see who they were even though I was less than two metres from them! The underpass also required a change of gear, two tight-ish turns with increasingly heavy legs wasn’t ideal but by now I was determined just to get to the line and get the job done. New Walk, the gradual uphill slog to the park seemed to go on indefinitely and it was along here that I realised I was being chased down, not that position mattered at all. I had no idea what place I was in at this stage. I didn’t look back once but I could tell by the reduction in time gaps between shouts of encouragement that the gap was closing between me and whoever it was behind. At the end of New Walk, Rob Ashby caught and went past me. My watch suggested I still had another two minutes of running left to get through and I let him past without a fight. I was tired and he looked fresh, or as fresh as a person can when they have run through ridiculously heavy rain for the last hour and a bit. I looked up and realised we were back at Victoria Park. There was less than 100 metres to go. I figured I could catch him over that distance. My watch losing signal in the city centre gave me a false idea of distance covered to that point. My sprinting efforts in these situations almost feel like some kind of elephantine charge rather than having the athletic prowess of an Olympian. I narrowed the gap and thought, “I don’t want him coming back at me so I’ll overtake him just before the line, blindside him”. I accomplished it and took the place, or at least I though so! On the results, he was a place ahead of me as he ran 4 seconds quicker so he must have started a little bit behind at the beginning. And fair play to him too. It didn’t matter, I’d obliterated my time. 77:27, two seconds shy of a full two minutes off my old best and I was thrilled to bits. I was sixth over the finish line (7th on the results) and my wava rating was in excess of 80%, unprecedented for me plus I was the first vet to finish in the entire race. That meant more prize money and trophies to take home as well as a free place for next year’s race and some Prosecco I don’t drink! Ironically, half an hour later, the weather improved, the sun came out and watching the rest of the runners come home became a little more palatable. I was still cold. I’d walked back to my car to change into dry clothes but I needed some proper warmth which I found in my bath tub when I reached home.

I knew I’d had a fabulous race but I wanted time to reflect on just how good it was. Sometimes the emotion of the moment can cloud your judgement but weeks afterwards, I feel confident in saying it’s the best I’ve ever run, not just in terms of time, it’s the context, like at the John Fraser 10. Top ten finish, first vet, PB, massive wava score (when it’s far harder to get over the longer distances), all on the most horrid of days weather wise. I honestly cannot remember running in wetter conditions. It was my first PB for two and a half years too which gave me hope that I might still be able to find a couple more before age finally catches up with me and I start slowing down.

Finding form at the end of the summer

I quite like the Launde 6 race, probably because I have fared well there on both of the occasions I have ran it. Really, there’s a lot not to like about it. It’s set in the back of beyond, a long way from home. It’s VERY rural in its location, driving down hilly single track roads to get there, parking and convening on fields covered in sheep excrement and capped off with a ridiculously hilly course where hopes of recording a PB are extremely slim. The race has a rare added bonus prize of “King of the Mountain” where the first person to reach the summit of the big climb at the start of race wins a trophy or similar. I thought about having a go at it, but similarly to 2019 when the race last appeared, I refrained for fear of it scuppering my entire race. As it materialised, some lad went for it and to his credit pulled it off. He dropped through the field like a stone after getting to the top. I was pleased for him for having the courage to attempt it, and succeed, and also grateful for showing me what would likely have happened to me had I gone for it too. I’m sure I could have won it but feel even more certain that it would have adversely affected my entire race had I done so.

Before the start while warming up, I did another recce of the finish and at the top of the big hill you descend with half a mile to the line, a stray sheep had escaped its enclosure, so myself along with five other runners, all from different clubs, teamed up together to round up the beast and escort it safely back with its flock. This was quite a challenge as someone needed to hold the gate open for the animal to get in without allowing the others to get out at the same time. Sheep are not the brightest sparks.

There seemed to be a plethora of veterans at Launde but I got stuck in and felt it wasn’t as tough as the previous year, possibly on account of the heat, maybe experience too, who knows. The hills weren’t as bad as I’d remembered, it was more that there was no respite. You were either running uphill or down, no flat sections. I ran a lot of the race alongside Lee O’Connor from OWLS. Lee is a regular in these events but almost always ahead of me so I felt I had stepped up a notch in this race. I was faster on the downhills than he was but slower up. Knowing the finish, I gave him a head start at the top of the descent which I was confident of clawing back. I gave a big effort to do so but as I drew level, he moved up a gear and that was me gone. I didn’t think I could have pushed him anymore. He appeared to have a little bit left in the tank and I knew mine was empty. He beat me by four seconds meaning I missed out on a top ten spot by one place. My time was 35:19. I was very happy with this on the course and even more pleased that I helped our trio of Matt and Danny to second place in the men’s team event, earning us each a little bit of silverware to add to our collections.

Ding donging with Lee O’Connor who ultimately had the last word

Running past Launde Abbey

Topping out the final climb at Launde ahead of Simon Mayes

Digging deep on the Launde 6 run in

With two races to go, the Desford 5 and the inaugural Rotherby 8, I was looking well placed for a top three age group finish. My Prestwold 10K score would most likely need to go, taking your best four scores from five races so I would have another target once I’d knocked off my half marathon standard time in training which I had around one week left to achieve. I planned to run it on the 28th of August, so in the (hopefully unlikely) event I failed to make the required time, I still had the chance to go again three days later. As it turned out, I managed 83:17, a minute and a second inside what was needed. I knew from two thirds distance I would do it, so I had the luxury of being able to ease off the gas a bit as the distance wore on. That made it a hat-trick of consecutive top level standards at the club. My first attempt, back in 2014, was a silver standard, which is now the sixth tier in all although I think more levels were added at some point. Either way, the point is, I have managed to improve year on year and now the aim is to stay at that top level for as long as possible. Getting older does help as the targets become slightly more generous every five years!

August finished on a sour note. Once again I attempted to take a somewhat convoluted Strava segment off my mate Bob. Last time I tried, I took a wrong turn and therefore failed and became ill almost immediately afterwards (not because of the run, pure coincidence although the physical exertion was not beneficial to me battling off whatever had infected me). This time, a similar thing happened. I navigated correctly so achieved my goal but wished at the end that I had aborted early on. I felt awful and spent the next 11 days unable to run, sometimes struggling to even get out of bed. It wasn’t Covid, there was a migraine in there somewhere too but it knocked the wind out of me which was a shame as I would miss the Desford 5 race as a result. Feeling better than average on the day, we went along on the spur of the moment to spectate. Everyone seems slower when you’re watching them and there seemed to be a lot of absentees at the top of the field. Fully fit, I had no doubt I’d have been top ten which was a crushing blow added to the fact that my Prestwold points would be counted automatically, when it was a relatively disappointing score in the grand scheme of things. Still, it’s nothing I could affect so I went back home (and back to bed as it happened, my morning was considerably better than my afternoon) and concentrated on getting well.

The Nuneaton 10K was next on the agenda. I had beef with the event from a few years back but was keen to get back on the horse as it were as not only was the race local, I genuinely feel it has the hallmarks of a PB event. The course is fast, flat and traffic free. Support plentiful especially doing three loops and only one really tricky corner to negotiate. An athletics track finish is also always exciting I find. Having not run for nigh on two weeks, I didn’t know what to expect but two miles in I was really feeling it when I shouldn’t have been. I soldiered on in 16th place in a disappointing 37:15. It was all I had on the day. It was great to see Neil Russell back though. He’d barely been running since the birth of his little boy and he finished just a few seconds behind me, knackered through lack of training rather than illness. A week later I ran my first parkrun since the start of the pandemic and won comfortably at Kingsbury in front of my loudly cheering son and my parents which was a real thrill for me.

Sandwiched between two Harriers who soon left me for dead. Luke Melling (112) used to run for Badgers.

The latter stages of the Nuneaton 10K, just wanting it to be over!

Nearly done at the Nuneaton 10K. I wasn’t ready to race well but I’d already paid in!

Chatting with Sam, Mark and Bill ahead of my first parkrun in years and first on the new Kingsbury course

Back in front at Kingsbury parkrun

The Rotherby race soon came around and I was feeling much more normal by now. Looking at the scores on the doors, both me and Glyn noticed in the week leading up to the race that Ludovic Renou, the Leicester Coritanian who was absent at Desford, was not down as an entrant at Rotherby. He is a far faster runner than either me or Glyn and would have won the V45 category hands down had he attended enough races. But he didn’t, which meant that top spot would likely go to a Badger, either myself or Glyn. I held a narrow lead going into the race and needed to finish something like eight places maximum behind Glyn to take the title. I figured that making sure I finished in front of him would be the best option. Glyn was in the form of his life but I was also running well and expected not to get beaten.

The race itself was a new one, although some parts of the course had been used before in the old Gaddesby 7 race from a few years prior. The finish was awful but the same for everyone, a short, tight loop in front of a farmhouse on gravel to make the distance up, just when you didn’t want it. Apart from a decent hill climb half way round, the course was good, very quiet roads and conditions were also pleasant. I was sitting in 10th for much of the race, hanging on as best I could to OWLS runner Simon Allen. Fully fit, he always beats me so to end up racing with him was a feather in my cap I felt. Maybe he was having an off-day, but I told myself otherwise! Looking at the personnel ahead of me, I realised I could be the leading veteran athlete on the day. There was a guy from Hinckley RC that I did not recognise in 7th or 8th but working on the assumption he was younger than 40, I was in with a chance of picking up some prize-money as the first over 40 to finish. I didn’t look back in that race and while Simon pulled ahead of me in the final half mile to beat me by seven seconds, I had done enough to win my category in the league overall and also in the race itself. Glyn was 27th and was a comfortable 2nd in the end so it was a Badgers 1-2 which I was particularly pleased about.

And they’re off … the start of the Rotherby 8

I didn’t think I’d get caught and I was right!

About half a mile to go at the Rotherby 8

Badgers post race team photo at Rotherby

Receiving my award post race at Rotherby

So despite the unwanted intervention of a global pandemic, I had managed to finish top in my age category in the LRRL in successive seasons (completed ones anyway, although I was leading in 2020 before the season got canned). Now I had to determine a new goal to work towards in order to keep myself fit and motivated for the next chapter of my running life.

Getting the most out of the summer – part one

Feeling buoyed by my efforts at Endure 24, I was ready to achieve more goals as soon as I felt able. I took three days off immediately after the event and went headfirst into a seven mile time trial around Sibson which went pretty well, running 43:10, 18 seconds inside the required standard. It was windy but I felt good enough and was able to take my foot off full gas for the last three miles to achieve the time. Unlike a race where it is pretty much 100% all out, these time trials could be run at 90-95% and still be successful. Whether I beat the target by one second or ten minutes was irrelevant so it seemed sensible to do the minimum needed to preserve energy for when it was most needed. I had a stag weekend in Cardiff which was good fun and we entered the month of August, important because it was the final month of the club season in which to achieve standard times as well as marking the return of the LRRL races which I was now looking forward to, hoping to be competitive again. We also had a week away booked in Wales which was another thing to be excited about.

The Joy Cann 5 in Huncote is a popular race, usually selling out within minutes. This year it didn’t sell out at all but the standard was none the worse for it. I nearly always enjoy the race, it’s a nice event, set in the evening unusually for LRRL races. It’s a nice time to be racing I find although the post race socialising is curtailed significantly. I’d had some good races here in the past and went in feeling confident while without expectations other than to score points for my team. My goal was to run as fast as I could and see what happens. I had my new Nike Vaporfly shoes to race in. I’d worn them in practice twice as a tester and I was interested to see how they might propel me. I drove myself over alone, no special support today as the race would be well past his bedtime and I remember getting hooked on the track “California” by the Wedding Present, which I was listening to on their ‘Locked Down and Stripped Back’ album. I had it on repeat for the entire duration of the 40 minute journey and it put me in a great mood for the action that was to follow.

I was right at the front for this race and was fully expecting to see my team mate Matt Scarsbrook at the business end of the race. He finished 3rd in 26:18, amazing. The first mile is a bit of a cavalry charge, runners jostling for position allied to a gentle downhill gradient makes for a quick beginning, there is a climb in the second mile to make up the altitude loss of the start but because you are fresh and flying, it doesn’t sap you and you get up it pretty quickly. the last three miles are flat to the finish, crossing the M69 motorway (via footbridge for those wondering!) I set off with Glyn and thought he was sat on my shoulder as he was in great form. Matt Adcock was back racing again after some time away. He was the league champion a few years back, even in his 40’s. He’s a bit younger than me and can still shift a bit. I went past him on the corner going into Narborough and thought it would be a real feather in my cap if I could finish in front of him, even though he was nowhere near his once imperious best. With two miles to go, I had pulled away from the group I was in and had Poplar’s Sam Martin for company. He was traveling really nicely and we helped one another out with decent time gaps both in front and behind us. Rather than risk a sprint finish, I had no idea how capable he was, I tried to draw the sting out of him with half a mile to go by slightly upping the pace. I felt good at this point and didn’t feel I might blow up. Luckily, I broke him and established a gap as the crowds appeared, a tell tale sign that the finish line was soon coming. I ran hard to the line to get the best time I could and managed 28:13, only 13 seconds off my PB which I took as a major achievement given where I was at not that long ago. Frustratingly, I was just two seconds off a County Platinum time which had I known what I was chasing beforehand, I might well have captured. Never mind, it wasn’t a race goal so I can have no complaints! Psychologically, I try to treat the distance as an extended parkrun (5K) rather than a short 10K. That way, I think it forces you to run faster and have a better mindset, getting the best out of yourself. Position wise it was 16th, no great shakes but there was a lot of quality in the top end of the race. I felt incredible and floated home basking in the glow of a race run better than I had ever imagined.

We headed off to Wales that weekend for a week away in a friend’s caravan by the coast. I was able to get out every day for around 7 miles or so and the weather was fairly mixed, decent for running mostly. Our planned night of camping on Shell Island was thwarted by a storm on the Wednesday evening. Neither of us wanted Rory’s first proper camping experience to be a grim one, which it undoubtedly would have been given the weather at the time. It was nice to explore some new territory and I even managed a wet 5K time trial in 18 minutes to tick off another standard time. On returning, I took the 8 mile distance off the list with a metronomically paced run out to Atterton and back (49:43), the difference between fastest and slowest miles just ten seconds which pleased me. Three days later, I managed the ten mile time in 62:49 which left me the last week of the month to run a sub 84 half marathon once recovered from the third LRRL race of the season, the Launde 6 race on the 22nd. It had only been run once previously, in 2019 when I finished 5th in a slightly depleted field. It was a tough old course so having knowledge of what to expect would hopefully stand me in good stead. My performance at Huncote gave me a belief that I could contend one of the V45 prizes in the league series, although I would have to run well in each of the remaining events. More of that in the next exciting installment of this fabulous blog!

Welsh coast

Aber Dysynni

Beach fun

Joy Cann 5 – battle towards the end