Author: smoggypaul

On  4^th April  Michael and Cynthia Dee, plus myself took part in the Friston Forest Five Miler, which is a laid back , relaxed race,  and welcomes walkers and dog runners. There is also an Adder 10 Mile which is 2 laps of the 5.

There is no vehicular access, so no water station on the course, but a bottle of water is provided to take with you, with replacement bottles at the end of lap 1 for the 10 milers.

A very nice undulating run on the tracks and trails of Friston Forest, muddy in parts, with pink and blue arrows on the ground to show you the way. Only about 40 entrants took part over both races, but will be going back next year for this one.

Jenny Cobby

I wasn’t sure about running this after my longest ever run on Saturday. (Just for the record I don’t need increase my distance every time I run on a Saturday now pleeeese – I’m happy at 13 miles or less guys). Everything conspired against me ‘wussing out’. My hip & knee pain from Saturday had magically disappeared, I wasn’t needed to help out a friend as I had half promised and we arrived early so parking wasn’t an issue. I couldn’t even escape out of the stadium Danielle had spotted me as soon as I got a toe on the grass.

It was a beautiful morning, well actually it was a bit too warm for my leggings & multiple layers. One of these days I’ll get it right. The nicest thing about running with the Joggers is the chit chat beforehand, less time to worry about getting round.

All too soon it was time to run. I’m getting better at not hareing off & the size of the field & the bit of a bottle neck at the start worked in my favour. I was horrified at the 1km marker to realise the distance was probably going to be indicated all the way round. I’d much rather run in blind ignorance & be surprised by the finish line. Hey ho it wasn’t to be, BUT I had several of the iconic green jerseys in front of me which gave me something to aim for.

It is a lovely run and I was glad I’d asked what sort of shoes I should wear as there is probably more hard surface than field running. I had no time to appreciate yet another area of Sussex that is new to me. I’m so glad when you run close to people who are having a conversation, if you are nosy like me you can forget the effort of putting one foot in front of the other until they leave you in their wake. My least favourite part of the run was the uphill section between mile 3-4. I’m sure that most people didn’t even think about it being a “hill” but in true Lesley style I walked for a few paces close to the top, then gave myself a pep talk.

The marshals were friendly and there was a little girl of about 8 who was doing her best to encourage us all. I needed it at that stage as I’d just been overtaken by a chap who looked to be all of 80. Now it’s all over I thoroughly enjoyed the run and would recommend it other novices. My lesson from today was if it is fine take water. I was parched by the end. Equally I need to remember that I’ve never been a sprinter & getting onto the track and legging it is never going to work for me. I was taking another walking break on the final bend of the track when I was roundly scolded by a photographer who told me that I hadn’t finished my race. Oh well one last push if you insist and then there were the Joggers shouting you home.

Six months ago I wouldn’t have dreamed I would be running regularly and enjoying it. Thank you Joggers.

Les

RESULTS

Surely there are few people who don’t remember The Wombles? Even Fabian knows them, and he’s Swiss……but just in case click here for, er, a quick reminder!

Having seen some pics from 2014 I was determined to get ‘that’ medal, and if I could, a picture with a rather larger Womble than my memory suggest. Oh and run a Half Marathon to get them! A flurry of interest on the Joggers Facebook group led to Gayle joining me – technically she’s an ‘ex’ Jogger having retired from running, but realises (of course) that this was all a HUGE mistake and intends rejoining in time for the next Start Running course in April – so its OK to talk about her here then! Lorna found the entries filled up so quickly that she missed out – and on a lovely sunny (but chilly) morning Gayle and I popped up to Sarf Larnden to find out that there were HUNDREDS of people at the start – it was a big race actually! Well organised, with PA, Baggage storage and mobile toilets (you may know them as something else but apparently that is trademarked – don’t even think about it, just call them mobile toilets from now on!), but much bigger than we’d anticipated. And EVERYONE we spoke to ‘wanted the Womble medal’! Its popular.

For me this was 3 weeks after the Stinger and I thought I’d romp it with my marathon legs. How stupid. They felt a bit stiff and quite leaden at times, maybe that Marathon took a little more out of me than I realised? Now despite having lived ‘Sarf of the Rivva’ for quite a few years, the nearest I got to the Common was drinking in the pubs (The Crooked Billet if I remember correctly?) many, many moons ago when I was a slip of a lad. So I was surprised to find that it was actually a bit hilly in places – the first mile and a half had some quite steep bits. Then it flattened out to mildly undulating for 3 miles ish, then a mile and a half downhill to go back through the start and do it all again! Trail throughout though at times you’re running next to main roads – the organisers had warned of ‘mud’ to spoil those pristine trainers (what!) so I wore Trail shoes – forgetting these are all Urbanites! There was NO mud, just beaten earth, dippy and root-y but NOT MUDDY! Grrrr – I could have worn road shoes which would have been better!

Come mile 10 I felt a pain in my left calf – surely not cramp???? Indeed it was, and it got worse so that by Mile 11 I realised it wasn’t going to go away. I thought of stopping and stretching and walking for a bit, but decided I might never start again, so tried to carry on. By Mile 12 I was in true pain and limping, but gritted my teeth and just felt slower and slower despite going downhill to the Finish. Which cheekily swerved around the back of the Finish line through the woods before looping around and onto the playing fields to the finish – which I was well happy to see. All in all I was happy with 2:05 as I really couldn’t do more than trot for the last 3 miles – one day I’ll see those sub-2’s again, but not today!

But the best bit for a sad old git like me (apart from the medal) was a Womble cheering people on near the finish – so I walked up to find him and grabbed a photo! Yes, I KNOW there was probably a middle aged bloke called Nigel inside the costume – but to me, IT WAS A WOMBLE _ THEY DO EXIST!

So – would I recommend this ‘out of area’ race? Yes, provided you get a womble medal as bling. That makes a difference, and you need to check that they’re giving them out – RunThrough were todays organisers and they run several such events on Wimbledon Common each year – but so do other organisers so if womble-catching is your aim, check first or you may end up with a tennis medal or something!

The downsides, and why I won’t do this again, are that its a very urban race, check those roads man! Its a 2 lap event, and I hate 2 laps. And you do come across a LOT of ‘Larnden’ type runners (and people in general) – living in Henfield has spoilt me – I expect friendliness, talking, waving, being friendly etc. Forget that – its heads down, eyes down, don’t look! There was another Charity event, a sponsored walk, going on at the same time today and we crossed each others paths continuously. I waved and shouted encouragement (I’m running, they’re walking!) and NOT ONE waved or acknowledged me. Our beloved Sussex Downs are no match for Wimbledon – Wombles apart.

And credit to Gayle – with little training she gritted her teeth and got around in 3:05, and wants to Start Running all over again – come back soon!