Any Runners On Here??

[Richard A Thackeray]

Did the guy fawkes 10 at ripley this morning.
Managed to restrain myself last night (2 pints and in bed before midnight. Saying that 2 pints is a lot for me!!!) also helped that the race started at 10:30 I'm not a morning runner.

Managed a 1:23 although that could have been faster if the first 1k hadn't been so congested.
Mad rain storm in the last 100 metres was a bit bizzare.
Very well marshalled and at £12 affiliated I think it will be a regular for my winter calendar.

Damned fine time for that race, not done it, but quite a lot from my Club have, so I know the route
(closest I've to that distance - in training - was 11miles @ 1.22:34)
Was there a celebratory ice-cream at the eponymously named ice-cream shop in Ripley?

 

[Tommy2]

I usually run a flat 10 in about 1:15-1:18 which i'm hoping to bring down with a bit of focussed training leading up to the leeds half marathon next year.

No ice cream unfortunatley as I didn't take any cash, I was a bit gutted when I walked past it to registration, it is lovely stuff but I'm only 4 miles away via the cycle way).

 

[Richard A Thackeray]

Got a place at the 'Auld Lang Syne'
Only club-member to enter, one did tell me she forgot to post her entry. I believe her, as she's run it a few times before
Alistair & Jonny Brownlee are on the list (Bingley Harriers), as is Annabel Mason, who is (was?) the European Mountain Running Champion (& 4th in the Worlds), and won't be far off the eventual winner!!!!
She was about 5 minutes behind Jonny last year!!!

There's one person from work entered; '251' Patrick O'Connor, who is a Consultant Anaesthetist, so I've just got to beat him, if no-one else

Don't mind it being as wet as last year, just not the same wind, to drive it into us all, as we're waiting to start

No ice cream unfortunatley as I didn't take any cash, I was a bit gutted when I walked past it to registration, it is lovely stuff but I'm only 4 miles away via the cycle way).

I like their Turkish Delight!!!!

 

[Richard A Thackeray]

ParkRunning tomorrow @ Pontefract
http://www.parkrun.org.uk/pontefract/course/

Gail, one of my club-mates, wants me to 'pace her round' for a (circa) 22 minute run, as her PB is '22:01', & I did almost that a couple of weeks ago, whilst not feeling great.
She says she'll hang onto me for as long as possible, but the question is;
Do I let a competative streak take me away, if I feel good, or do I stay with her???


Then, she's asking if I'm free to go & try the (majority of the) route of the inaugural Wakefield Marathon, that's happening next June
(going to be a two lap multi-terrain race) on Sunday afternoon
http://www.wakefieldmarathon.co.uk/

 

[Tommy2]

Pace her for 22, if she hangs in all the way great, if she drops of 22 at any point then put the power down and go for it.

 

[smutchin]

Do I let a competative streak take me away, if I feel good, or do I stay with her???

Depends how formal an arrangement it is. Tbh, I would think it rude if someone agreed to pace me to a certain time then ran faster!

Or is it more like the situation at my local parkrun, where there's a group of us regulars who don't have a formal arrangement but use each other as unofficial pacers? There are Mike and Adam, for example, who are usually a bit faster than me, so I use them as targets to aim at. And just behind me there are Mark and Hugh, who use me in a similar way. None of us are ever likely to win the race outright, but it's developed into a mini-competition where we try to beat each other. Mark has actually got a fair bit faster over the past six months or so and has gone from being regularly 30 seconds behind me to even occasionally beating me now. Grrr!

I expect this kind of mini-competition within the field is fairly typical at parkruns.

If you felt very benevolent one week, you could be an "official" pacer and don the 22 minute orange bib. I did this last week - 25 minutes, which is well within my comfort zone. There was a chap who stuck with me religiously round the whole course until he started tailing off towards the end... I might have slowed down to encourage him but I felt it was better to stick to the prescribed pace. And it was the right decision, because seeing me ahead of him spurred him to put in a great sprint finish and he crossed the line just ahead of me, in 25.02. (I was actually aiming to finish a bit inside 25mins but I forgot to account for the fact that my Garmin makes the course slightly overdistance, so I should have set the Virtual Pacer at 1sec/km faster than I did.)

 

[smutchin]

I should add that I consider this one of the best things about parkrun - these unofficial competitions are a good way to work on improving your time, and because of the friendly, inclusive, encouraging nature of parkrun, I'm actually really pleased for Mark that I've been able to help him in this way, in much the same way that others - whether they realise it or not - have helped me to get faster.

I don't think you could get better "training" without joining a proper club.

 

[Richard A Thackeray]

Pace her for 22, if she hangs in all the way great, if she drops of 22 at any point then put the power down and go for it.

And 'Smutchin'


Granted, agreeing to pace someone, then going off is a bit wrong, I really meant I'd look after her (even though she's run there 30-odd times!!), & she accepts that I may get away from her on the 'drag'

G did say that she'd just hang on as long as possible, the last mile is quite a steady climb, from the railway bridge back up to fishing pond level, but she may fall back

'They' say that Pontefract's a flat course, it maybe in horse racing terminology, but not on foot it isn't!!!!

 

[smutchin]

I really meant I'd look after her (even though she's run there 30-odd times!!), & she accepts that I may get away from her on the 'drag'

Yeah, that's what I suspected - very similar to my informal "competition" with my regular "rivals". Tbh, I wouldn't worry about her, just concentrate on my own run - give her vocal encouragement, by all means, but she's using you as a benchmark rather than expecting you to do her any favours, so if she keeps up, that's great for her and you get the personal satisfaction of having helped someone else set a PB.

If not... well, parkrun is every week, so there will be plenty more opportunities.

My gran lived in Pontefract, about a mile or so from the racetrack, so I know the park very well. I've never run there but I can vouch for it not being flat!

 

[Richard A Thackeray]

Well, we didn't get her sought after '22', but with her time, I got her under the secondary target of 24:00
And, the best part of a minute off her average time (24:36, taken over 40 runs)

I had to keep slowing down, dropping back, but I'd agreed to do it, so took her to the finish & let her beat me (that's the nice kind of guy I am)

219 runners
Gail = 59th @ 23:38
Me = 60th @ 23:39

Looking at the names, now I'm starting to get fit again (& some speed!), I reckon a '21:15' is fairly do-able before too long (not next Saturday, as it's 'Harriers v Cyclists' in the afternoon)

Plus;One of of members made it his 100th ParkRun. All at Pontefract
And, he's in his 80s!!!!!
https://www.facebook.com/update_sec...58032596172.1073741842.262313390453974&type=1

 

[Richard A Thackeray]

A few of us, with Ken (in yellow top)
Gail on extreme right of shot, in 'hoodie'

 

[Tommy2]

Yeah you 'let' her beat you lol

Let us know the outcome of the harriers v cyclist, they did it the other week with the main cycling and running clubs in harrogate, I didn't get to see it but I believe the runners won.

Got my name and time for the Guy Fawkes 10 in the sports section of the local paper this week, I was well chuffed!!!!

 

[Richard A Thackeray]

Yeah you 'let' her beat you lol

Yes, I did!!

Let us know the outcome of the harriers v cyclist, they did it the other week with the main cycling and running clubs in harrogate, I didn't get to see it but I believe the runners won

At this one, the runners generally win, unless Rob Jebb decides to ride it!!!
There are sections where it is physically impossible to ride, due to the terrain

 

[Flying_Monkey]

I have my first proper competitive half of the year this coming Saturday, and then a series of mountain trail runs in December, January and February, so I decided to combine a bit of both on Sunday while we were away staying at relatives: I did a 15km loop including a just over 1km long, nearly 750m high, climb up old stone steps to a mountain temple, and then 3.5km down the road on the other side (yes, you read that right, it was about about 1 in 1.25 to 1 in 1.5 going up, and about 1 in 4 to 1 in 5 going down!). I wore my old shoes. Everything felt good.

 

[Richard A Thackeray]

Did a 21:32 (self timed) at this mornings ParkRun (number 128), so 30 seconds off last competative one - 124

Then again, there were 3 from work that I had to beat;
James, one of our ENPs
Sandra, Theatre Recovery Nurse (& a sub 3-hour Marathoner)
A guy from Medical Physics (don't know his name)
Plus, David, one of our 'Couriers' ( a ParaMedic)

My gran lived in Pontefract, about a mile or so from the racetrack, so I know the park very well. I've never run there but I can vouch for it not being flat!

Did feel the drag this morning, from the bottom corner up, from railway bridge, to the lake.Then again, no breakfast & a very disturbed night didn't help much