Slog of a week this week.
Set myself a target of 40 miles and as of Saturday I’ve done about 25. Got a 17
miler planned in the morning to reach my target and I don’t feel too bad :) .
Today has been all about
the North of England Road Relay Championships, held locally in Sefton Park.
I came, I took part, I learnt a lot. It’s not often you find yourself running
in the same race as the likes of Johnny Mellor and Michael Rimmer, both no
strangers to a GB vest. The cream of Northern Running descended on Liverpool to battle amongst the trees.
I knew this was going to be tough after hearing that
top Liverpool PT and all round good guy Lee Siemaszko (@leesiemaszko on Twitter) said that he wasn’t in Liverpool
Harriers ‘A’ team. This is a guy who can run a HM in about 1:15. Crikey. Still,
as a part of the Striders ‘B’ Team aka the Captain’s Select aka TeamPasty, I put on
my vest and headed to the park.
I was down to do leg 7, a long
leg of 2 laps coming in about 4.9 miles. Being there from the start was a
strange experience, usually you rock up, race and go home. There were still a
couple of hours till I was needed. We watched the first leg set off in suitably
speedy style. “Shit, that’s fast” I thought to myself. This then continued. For
those with body issues, I don’t recommend hanging round a decent level running
event. There was ‘nary an ounce of body fat in sight *sigh*.
People also saw my pre-race
ritual of increasing nerves, muttering, pacing and general grumpiness. With
Rowing it was easier; I could go and fiddle with my riggers and footplate and
be left alone. Luckily, Steve arrived with his oasis of calm ( and my Garmin
which I’d left at home). All too soon it was my turn and I headed to the start.
The first lap of the race went
quite well, had a little bit of a stitch (due to a hot cross bun I’d eaten –
bad Mitch, but I hadn’t had any lunch). But it was nothing too terrible. I
turned this particular corner and went to see who was behind “Stop looking
around!” this random old-school coach bellowed at me. Eeek!
Soon enough the speedy athletes
starting passing me with ease. Now I know how the Europeans feel in the distance events at
the Olympics. They just look so effortless and seem to cover about 5m with
every step. But I tried not to concentrate on them too much, I had my own race
to run.
The cheer I got as I went past the
Striders was Awesome, in the proper sense of the word. I hadn’t expected it to
be so loud! Put a smile on my face (on the first lap at least. The second lap,
not so much…I did try guys, honest)
The second lap was a lot harder
than the first, but I zipped up my man-suit and got to the finish. Final time
was 31:19, 49th out of 51 for that leg. At first I was really
disappointed by that, but really it’s not too bad.
This wasn’t a ‘fun run’, it was a
serious competition with the best runners in the North. I realised that I may have been
running for a couple of years, but I’m VERY MUCH still a novice when it comes to running/racing
and I have a lot to learn. It was my first experience of racing at that level and
it was exciting. I didn’t stop on the course and was suitably knackered at the end.
Also, I’ve got a target of sub 30mins for next year.
So a good day all round really, and another proud day as a Strider.
No comments:
Post a Comment