Author: smoggypaul

4 laps of an urban landscape in a 20 mile road run on a wonderful Spring day under blue skies and glorious sunshine – some peoples idea of running hell, but for anyone running a Spring marathon, its classed as a fantastic training event. See Simon’s comments below

Results:

Ilidia Campbell       – 2:49:18

Ralph Bernascone  – 2:56:43

Lotte Moller Vasby – 2:59:59

Jackie Parsons       – 3:03:51

Simon Funnell        – 3:20:54

So on Sunday I thought I’d give the Worthing 20 a try as a good training run for my 1st ever marathon in 4 weeks’ time.

I arrived at the signing-on tent around 8.20am signed on got my race number and thought I’d have a look around to spot any other Joggers but didn’t spot anyone so headed down to the start line and was starting to feel quite nervous at this point.

Bang goes the gun and we’re off! By the 3rd mile marker llidia comes past me and before I knew it she had disappeared into the distance! By 4.5miles Lotte comes past me, as did Jacky and Ralph, so by 5miles 4 Joggers had come past!

In the first lap I felt very comfortable and was running at a nice pace so just kept going. By the 7 mile marker the race leader had come past me and within a blink he was gone again can see why he finished it in 1hr 48mins.

By the time I had reached mile10 I’d covered it in 1hr 30 and was feeling really good, and said to myself “2 down, 2 to go”, by this point I’d seen the same spectators twice and they were a great help cheering us on.

The 2nd and 3rd lap I don’t really remember much of it, I was just listening to my music and plodding along but I’d definitely seen every bit of Goring at that point! Then I was starting the last lap, and by mile 16 I could feel the pain starting to kick in and had not realised that I’d eased off the gas but was still comfortable at the pace…………then the dreaded wall hit me at 18.5 miles, physically I was feeling fine but my god I felt very sick at this point, there was nothing else for it I had to walk for a few minutes, I had a drink and ate some sugary sweets and started to feel better, so started to jog then before I knew it I could see the finish, so just went for that last 100 yards and finished in 3hrs 20.

I was glad I did it to know what it’s gonna entail for the Brighton marathon, but I think I’m ready now. I just know I need to take on more fuel to get me past that wall. On the other hand today is a different level, ankles hurt, knees hurt, quads hurt, but I guess the pain comes with the rewards!

Simon Funnell

 

I felt quite sick too at the last lap, stomach went into a knot. I blame the gel blocks, haven’t tried them before. Never again

Lotte Moller Vasby

 

There must be something about the first weekend in March – so many high quality races around – the Bath Half Marathon, the Berkhampstead Half, The Silverstone Half, the Reading Half …… all major events, but closer to home we had the legendary Steyning Stinger, the Tunbridge Wells Half and of course the Sussex Grand Prix scoring, Eastbourne Half Marathon.

Personally, I’m proud to say that I’m a Steyning Stinger virgin no more……I only signed up to do this in January, sitting in The Bell when Danielle was running through her 2014 ‘beauty parade’ of races she wanted to do – seeing her wavering at the Stinger I found myself saying “don’t worry, if YOU do it, I will”……….and I thought no more. Danielle (I won’t make you feel bad about this, I really won’t!) was forced to drop out due to work, but I had the bit between my teeth and was strangely looking forward to it! Of course, what I SHOULD have done was actually do some preparation, but I hadn’t factored in an enforced absence from running of a month due to work and illness….no worry, I thought, I’ll ‘knock out’ the Brighton Half and that will be more than enough training. Maybe that would have been a ‘stupid but not unreasonable’ plan were it not for the incredible MUD! I have to say that I found this really tough (and I only did the Half…..slowly!) but LOVED it (easy to say when you’re safely back at home with a cup of tea of course).

The mud was truly epic – people were being advised to check their shoes at Race Control and make sure they weren’t dragged off in the muddy patches – did I say ‘patches’?, I reckon the first 6 miles were 70% solid mud. Always the gallows humour at the start – observing my black outfit the comment was “you’re not colourful enough, the helicopter will never find you dressed like that”……..and the mud started immediately – not in a mile or two, it was right there once you crossed the line!

As I plodded onwards I did contemplate the different types of mud……most Saturdays we encounter patches of thick, dark brown, clay-based mud that slides you left and right and sucks at your shoes. But to that we can add the chalk-type mud, light grey in colour and almost a liquid, but very slippery and usually quite deep!

This mudfest lasted until the other side of the A24 when the long first climb (or ‘sting’) began – and a nasty steep one at that! By which time my legs had already had the energy dragged from them and I was suffering those ‘mini cramps’ in the thighs and calves. “Pain is inevitable, suffering is optional” sounds great when you’re being macho in a pub with a beer in your hand – when you’re in pain its actually quite hard to tell yourself that you can choose not to suffer!

But the miles just passed – the good thing about going uphill is that there is inevitably some downhill too – which is nice! And the weather was fine, a bit breezy but that added to it – no rain, hail or sub-zero temperatures to contend with.

Those who’ve done this for years deserve the praise, I saw Ilidia and Jackie P along with ex-Jogger Terry Bourne afterwards – they (Ilidia and Jackie) had run from Henfield as part of their marathon training plan and then done the Half Marathon (hard core nutters you may well say!) and they looked, well, chipper!……I think the weather today was great compared to the reports of recent years, people who did that really had to endure a lot! But I must say, fantastic value compared to other ‘road orientated’ races….£22 for a brilliantly marshalled and organised course, plenty of drinks stations, all with chocolate and biscuits available, terrific medal (yes I know, it’s a new thing….but!), free breakfast (I expected a bun but it’s sausage, bacon, scrambled egg, beans, mushrooms, loads of fresh bread rolls and unlimited tea or coffee)…….it beats others into a cocked hat! Oh, and ALL the race photographs from Sussex Sport Photography are free! I don’t know how they do it! And as you can see from my (1 of 58!) example, a lovely custom watermark too.

I LOVE this medal, (as we all know -medals matter!) but the shoes have not been allowed into the house yet, and I’ve never had so much mud at the bottom of my bath……….I’m sure there’s a beauty benefit to all this???? Can we retail it somehow? I’m definitely ‘in’ for next year, but with a bit of training first next time, not just rocking up and doing it!!!!!!

Of course I have only this one experience to measure anything against, whereas many Joggers have run this for years, at Half and Full Marathon distances – I hope some of you add Comments to this, but I think Hugh sums it up well:

I have run the Steyning Stinger 10 times and its predecessor the Chanctonbury Marathon 13 times and I have never seen mud like it on the course. The weather was ok, if a bit windy, but there were at least 5 miles of the course where I found it impossible to run, including the start and finish! My quads were still sore after the recent speed work, so I took nearly an hour longer than usual. Despite this, the temptation to opt for the half was not too difficult to resist, although it has to be one of the hardest marathons in terms of terrain that I’ve ever done.

Hugh Martin

Results for The Stinger:

Half Marathon
2:41:33 Ilidia Campbell
2:41:34 Jackie Parsons
2:55:03 Paul Crowe

Marathon
5:37:58 Hugh Martin
5:25:27 Ralph Bernascone
5:41:44 Mark Skilton

There is a fantastic blog covering the experience of running the 2014 course that really describes it all accurately – you can read it here.

And thanks to my judicious pilfering of the free images for this event, here’s a rogues gallery of Joggers completing the course 

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Tunbridge Wells Half Marathon

Dave English writes:

Duncan Blackburn & I ran it, neither of us too race fit at the moment. (Attached is my photo from the start).

Neither of us managed a view of the 1:50 pace man after about half way, before the long climb through Fordcombe.

I would have been happy with anything inside two hours &
was pleased to manage 1:53:57 and he 1:55:30 . Not at all bad weather, dry throughout.

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Eastbourne Half Marathon

I’m hoping that I can get a few words on the Eastbourne Half too – Natasha has commented so far:

Windy windy incl one mountain to climb / walk. Great time considering also virtually no training.

Natasha Heasman

Results:

Natasha Heasman: 2:12:24

Mick Dee: 2:54:32

Will anyone beat Mick in his attempt to run more Grand Prix than anyone?

The idea of having a ‘proper’ coaching session has been around for some time, and indeed we did try this a year ago but as the focus was more on stretching than running, the general feeling was that it wasn’t really what people wanted and we should try again. After some casting around for ideas, the obvious answer was to look close to home at other running clubs for inspiration, and Steyning AC run several coaching sessions weekly. After a chat with Mark, Lisa Beaney agreed to come over and run a ‘trial’ session to see if it was what we were looking for. Lisa is a qualified ‘Run Group Leader’ after undertaking Run England’s ‘Leadership in Running Fitness Course’ (You can see more about Lisa here).

So last Wednesday at the weekly Club night, Lisa ran a full coaching session for the 15 or so people who were our ‘guinea pigs’. This group covered a wide range of ages and abilities, from Hugh and Terry of the 100+ Marathons Group, to three people who’d come along that night as prospective members! A pretty broad group! So what did we do? Well firstly after a short briefing inside, we went out and did some initial warm up exercises, then we gently jogged to a nearby cul de sac that Lisa had already spotted, and we did speed work. Familiar to many but equally new to others, we sprinted to a succession of lamp posts, increasingly further away, walking back one stage, and jogging the rest of the way back to do it again. Once we had sprinted to the furthest post, we gradually reduced the distance until we were back where we had started. Sound easy? Well it certainly tested everyone – the great thing is that this works for all types of runners as essentially you’re only ‘sprinting’ to what you can do. Lisa also introduced us to the concept of anaerobic running (think Usain Bolt – then immediately forget I said that!) and the way our bodies react.

After that outside session we returned to HLC where Lisa led us through a comprehensive set of stretches – just see the faces to know we were being put through our paces. And that was that – all told an hour or thereabouts.

The reaction to all this was unanimously positive,  (though any Comments would be welcomed – just add them to this post) on the back of which we agreed with Lisa to run a monthly session, on the LAST Wednesday of each month. Lisa will endeavour make each session different, and of course is open to individual questions and advice. Further down the line she could also run sessions on nutrition, so the possibilities are broad.

That makes the next Session Wednesday 26th March. See you there!

Hi there my name is Alex and I have been a member of the Joggers for nearly four years (sounds like AA)…………time flies! After years of various health problems and subsequent operations I decided to give the joggers a go. I joined the beginners’ course in Spring 2011 when Mark and Gayle were overseeing us newbies. The first few sessions were pretty excruciating due to my poor fitness level. However, after breaking the pain barrier I realised I quite enjoyed shuffling around the beautiful Henfield countryside. Mark was very kind and still offered to babysit us around the well-trodden trials he knew, even after the course had ended. I was, and still am very slow so I really appreciated all his help and patience ……….we must have driven him mad. However I met another like-minded (in other words similar pace) newbie called Katie on the beginner course and we tried to make the shuffling (more talking) a regular thing. We did a few fun runs and a 10k until Katie decided for me as well as for herself to enter the Hampton Court Half Marathon 23rd Feb 2014, this decision was made at the end of October……………yikes!. Anyway with Christmas and the biblical weather we didn’t manage a lot of runs before. We did do a couple of ten mile road runs where I mainly wept and had sense of humour failures! Fast forward Sunday 23rd February ………….I was at this stage still in denial, we left here at six o’clock in the morning after waking at five (not pretty). The race started at Esher College and there were lots of people there (I think 2,500 had entered) and it was bloomin’ freezing even though the weather forecast had said it was going to be mild. We met King Henry VIII

and pretended to blend in feeling like a bit of a fraud……………..off we set………..doubtless to say………..at the back. And that was it I for one ‘plodded’ or should say ‘had an even pace’ and trundled past Hampton Court was buffeted (there were strong winds) up the river. The attraction of this race was that it was flat of course although I wasn’t feeling the ‘love’ as my feet both hurt, knees and general knackeredness set in. By the ten mile marker I was indeed quite ‘cross’ and those last three miles each one clearly marked were a

complete killer. But we did ‘run’ (loose term) all the way, Katie crossed the finish 2.41 and I came in at 2.42 …………. we have the engraved medals and are walking like John Wayne to prove it. So for all you people who never think you could do a half marathon …………………if we can, you can.

Well its impossible to describe to anyone not in this country the difference to the weather that took place on Sunday! From being blown away standing on Truleigh Hill yesterday, followed by sheltering in the car in Budgens car park refusing to get out until the rain/hail had stopped pounding down, Sunday dawned with still air, and cloudless blue skies. Mind, it was COLD and I had to scrape the car to get out and pick up Hugh. The organisers took a big hit 2 years ago when they got the distance wrong, and have been criticised by runners in the past for over-optimistic organising, but after last year being voted ‘Most Improved Race by Runners World, they really hit impressive form this year! The seafront looked great, paths had been cleared through the sea of pebbles down at the Hove end, and everything ran like clockwork (note: self not included! :)).

Hugh and I swapped identical frustrations at why we both still get nervous before races – he is obviously vastly more experienced than me yet still had a sleepless night – like I did! We’re old enough to know better, but clearly don’t! Deciding what to wear was a real issue – we could see it was very sunny, but 1c as we entered Brighton, and all the streets to the front were in shade – yet we knew we’d be warm once we started. What a dilemma! Hugh opted for 2 layers, so he could (and did) remove one when he got too hot. I resorted to my usual ‘black bin liner’ couture, discarded at the Start area where the sun warmed us up.

The race itself? Sunny, and once you got going really quite warm – lots of people out cheering everyone on which certainly kept me trotting (not good to drop to a jog/walk when the crowds are at their thickest!) – it really was a LOVELY morning!

We didn’t see any other Joggers (correction, Hugh saw Lotte passing him And I’m sure I saw Joyce passing me in the last painful mile!) but well done everyone. Results for everyone I can find are below – I checked people entered under Henfield Joggers (does anyone know who Steve Robinson is by the way? He isn’t an actual Member!), and I knew a couple of other people who I looked for, but if you’re not included drop me a line and I’ll correct. Ilidia didn’t actually generate an official time, I imagine as the result of being a Pacemaker, but as she was the 2:30 pacemaker I am totally confident that she would have finished exactly on schedule!

After a month off running for various reasons my legs felt shattered – that was as painful a run as I’ve ever had. BUT its worth it for that lovely medal with the terrific Brighton-esque pink ribbon!

For some incredible aerial views go here: http://youtu.be/TJoA9suUmUc

Steve Robinson	01:43:08
Lotte Vasby	01:46:56
Hugh Martin	01:53:33
Simon Funnell	02:02:02
Joyce Blundell	02:06:13
Paul Crowe	02:10:56
Deborah Slade	02:13:46
Kay Dempster	02:13:46
Ilidia Campbell	02:30:00
Millie Webb	02:31:40

 

So I’m on holiday in Abu Dhabi, getting some serious winter sun and warmth with Mrs C and recovering by the pool after a tiring business trip to Manila, catching up on some needed zzzzzzzz time after an exhausting journey to rendezvous with Alison at Dubai airport

Quick summary of previous day – in local timezone, worked til 2am Saturday morning, went out for a farewell drink straight from the office, drank a bucket-load of beer – yes they sell bottles of beer in buckets! – arrived back at hotel at 5am courtesy of Victor – younger brother of Michael Schumacher allegedly though he was surprisingly uninformed of his current comatose status! – after essential pee-stop en-route (“you want Filipino-style?” I shuddered at the prospect of what that might entail but turned out to be just stopping on the highway and letting fly at the side of the road – phew! European style is ok!) – quick Facetime with Mrs C to arrange last minute rendezvous details, shower, then straight to car looking enviously at un-slept in bed! Airport – 9 hour flight (I confess I did nod off and had 40 winks), then a 7 hour wait at Dubai airport for the memsahibs arrival, lounging on a squishy sofa at Costa Coffee, buying just enough that they didn’t throw me out – then an hours drive to the hotel to arrive about midnight Saturday local time – zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz – thats what I mean by tiring!

So there I am, relaxing, and looking up ‘things to do’ and I see that there is a 10k race around the nearly new Abu Dhabi Formula 1 circuit at Yas Island – actually ‘over the road’ from our hotel. Whats a boy to do? While not an F1 fan, its an ‘event’, so of course I sign up, pay my £16 registration fee online, and wait til Friday night to come around. Now of course I thought that a few days of sun and snooze would bring me to perfect running condition – how wrong that was to prove! A bout of stomach upset brought on by foolishly eating a few prawns from a buffet that had obviously been ‘warming’ for longer than they should, led on to severe constipation and further pain – this needed a trip to the pharmacy and the strongest stuff they had – “8 to 12 hours” they said – it took 15 for phase 1 to be complete at about 3am on Friday morning, race day! A further dose led to phase 2 being completed

about 2 hours before the race, which was at 6.30pm so as to avoid the heat of the day (25 – 29c since you ask!). Couldn’t eat a thing due to nausea so I resorted to a solitary Mars Bar to give me some energy (funny how you can always eat chocolate even when feeling ill!). I also woke with a seriously sore throat which also required medication – great build up! Still, a race is a race, and we Joggers don’t give up just ‘cos we don’t feel 100%. So off I set to “just pop over the road, jog the race and pop back in time for dinner”. Hmmmmm. The joining details were a bit lacking in where to actually present myself, but as I could see the track from the hotel I assumed this would be evident once you set off. So away I jogged, using this as my warm

up. After a mile I was starting to get a bit worried, no obvious way in and no obvious signs or stream of people to join. hmmmmmm. Then there it was, an entrance, and two guards waving traffic in. They were bemused to see me on foot – I now realise that NOONE walks out there – asking them where to go I got “First right, second left, over the roundabout and keep going”…..How long? After all I was IN the circuit now! Smiling they said “20 minutes…..” Oh shit, off I trotted again. Being passed by Porsches and other rather high class driving machines I wondered how out of my depth I may be. A feeling heightened when as I finally approached signs of people gathering, I also saw a gang of tall, lithe African runners warming up. oh shit, had I joined a professional race by accident? I felt like Alf Tupper (you youngsters can google him!). However once I got to the main stand I recognised the normal pre-race stuff, normal looking runner-y people like me, and I collected my number. Very organised with pins provided in the envelope! But all with a twist, was that a local with a hawk on his arm?

Yes indeed, it was! Now worried about dehydration I managed to down half a litre of water, only to feel my bladder filling too quickly and have to go and lose much of it. But finally I’m at the start, still fretting about energy, hydration, humidity (100% and still 22c – not used to running in that sort of heat for a while even though its classified as ‘cold’ for the locals!). But I look around and I’m inside a major F1 racetrack, Grandstands (empty!) towering around, and I smile. This was an inaugural event and it felt it too. “Ladies and gentlemen please respect the Marshalls – you will recognise them as they are wearing yellow bibs, with the word MARSHALL written on them…..” to general tittering amongst the very cosmopolitan field! Unlike the local Fun Runs, Grand Prixs, etc etc this had cameras on overhead gantrys zooming around. We had to wait til the United Arab Emirates National Anthem had been played (noone sang – IF there were words!) and some Arabic speech made, then finally – we were off.

Its a weird experience running around an empty race track. Much narrower and twistier than I ever thought, and at 5.5k all around much shorter too. So it was two-ish laps of the track. Not quite the fresh air of West Sussex either – while warm, high tech diesel generators were humming to drive the floodlights, meaning the undeniable whiff of fumes hung across the track. Hang on, we’re going downhill……….I knew what that meant – expecting a totally flat track I hadn’t factored in any climbing – quite a short, steep bit too! Hey ho, at least it ain’t Truleigh. But sure enough my lack of food intake meant that I lacked some energy – but that didn’t matter – I passed lots of

people walking after just 1k so I knew I wasn’t going to be last – just keep going! I kept mentally checking my stomach – was that laxative going to have disastrous consequences as I ‘powered’ down the straight with the high Grandstands on either side? Or would it manifest itself as I rounded the Marina with just a few HUGE ‘motor-yachts’ moored where on race day Bernie Ecclestone would sail in? Thankfully, I made it in one piece – cheeky twisty

uphill to the finish, and done! No promised medal, the bastards! I got a lovely UAE flag to wave, a teeshirt with Sheik Zayeds face plastered all over it, and a similarly tasteful cap……crikey even the 7 Stiles has a medal now!!

I set off on the long, solitary journey back to the hotel (yes, I really WAS the only person walking!) but was spared as a Belgian runner from Bruges stopped and gave me a lift – what a nice man! Mrs C was happy to see me as it had all taken much longer than my promised ‘just popping out back in an hour’ promise and was eating the bedclothes when I got back to the room!

Time – after all my woes just finishing was enough I felt, but was happy enough with an unspectacular 55:33. With about 1300

entrants it was a sizeable race, but one third of that number simply didn’t turn up to start – that shocked me! Great experience and if I’m out there again I’ll happily do more.

Tootle pip!