Marwell 10k 12th May 2013

It’s not often you get to run next to wild animals, well it is if you run in Southampton regularly, but Sunday they were really wild at the Marwell Zoo 10k.

The day didn’t start too fantastic as I pulled my car over to throw up on my way to the race, good start, pretty sure my pb has gone out the window, with most of my breakfast alongside. I parked up and waited for the cramps to pass before joining the queue to collect my number. I had already emailed the guy running the race to advice of a name change but this had not been done, so today I will be running as Mr Macarthur, apparently I should be beating his pb today but we will see.

I love the zoo, I like to walk backwards passed the monkeys to confuse them about evolution, today I will be running by them, I don’t even care if one escapes, as long as I can run faster than the guy behind me I should be fine.

Looking around as I always do I am happy that there are a lot of people in fancy dress, seriously if I get beaten by a banana or a meerkat today I will not be happy !!

I meet up with my friend Stephen Keenor, a good sub 40 min 10k runner, I am going to stay on his coat tails to hope for a pb today, I know the course is hilly but that’s what I train for, and seriously how hilly can it be .. stupid question .. one of the marshals advises me it starts on a hill, and it’s pretty much all uphill until 6k, one of the hills lasts for 1.5k, I wish I hadn’t asked.

Heading for the start we inch our way forward towards the front, we don’t want to look too keen but we don’t want to weave in and out of everyone either. Chico the 5 foot meerkat counts us down and we are off. It’s a bit surreal running passed the Zebras and the big cats, and for a moment I am striding through the Hampshire Serengeti. Round a corner and up the hill, round another corner and up another hill, and then its hill after hill. By mile 2 I feel awful, my first mile was 6.19 and the second was about 7 minutes, that’s when the 1.5k hill loomed ahead, the usual rule of thumb in any kind if distance run is ‘if you can’t see the top of the hill, walk’, however this isn’t a distance run so I persuade my legs to keep on going (and persuade my stomach not  to invite Chaka Khan round to play). The hill goes on forever, my watch bleeps that mile at 7.59, this again means no pb for me today, but I can still make it respectable, I am pretty sure I haven’t been overtaken by the banana yet so all is not lost. I set my eyes on a target lady in the distance and stride out to catch her.

At mile 4 I suddenly snap out of it, all it took was a moment of inspiration, I suddenly have clarity, an epiphany eureka moment, snapping me out of a spiralling downward free-fall of self-pity, ITS ALL DOWNHILL FROM HERE !!!! I start to reign in runners ahead of me, passing more and more people as I get my minute miles back into the 6’s again, striding long I hit a good rhythm as the km markers come and go. Rounding a bend back into the zoo a marshal tells me its only 400 to go, I come up to the shoulder or Mr Blue Shirt, all he has to say is ‘come on mate’ and we are in a sprint, I am hell for leather in the lead, the crowd are cheering, the lions are roaring, the trumpeting elephants are heralding my triumphant finish, the .. hold up .. the buggers just run past me .. .. with one final effort I pump my arms hard and catch him up, dipping over the finish line exactly at the same time. My wobbly legs carry me forward as my mouth tries to breathe in the world’s oxygen in one big gasp, a handshake with Mr Light Blue Shirt confirms it was close, I really don’t want to lose 2 sprint finishes in a row. I find Steve who has finished in my pb time of 41.35 (which earns him 31^st place) he wouldn’t like to call it either, to be fair I am just glad I haven’t decorated the pavement.

Throughout the day I keep checking the page for results, nothing is coming up, then all of a sudden it is there.. a time of 42.45, not bad considering the hills and a technicoloured yawn, but best of all .. JOINT 49^th place, well it says 50^th but exactly the same time as Mr Light Blue Shirt, now it’s based on alphabetical order and I was running under someone else’s name, Andy comes pretty high in the alphabet so I am calling it 49^th place out of 960 odd people.

This is a great race, scenic and completely different to anything else, all countryside, hills, next year is a definite entry, I reckon a few of the Vixens should come along too :o)

Hampshire Saucony 10k

Well with no marathons planned for this month I thought I would enter some 10k’s instead. The Hampshire 10k sponsored by Saucony is local to me and most important IT IS FLAT !!!! Not many of my races are flat, or even on tarmac, so this is a welcome change, plus I get to run and still be home in time for lunch.

So Gary Cook and I are pondering our times in the VW on the way to the Moutbatten Centre, I am thinking it’s a great day, the legs feel good (mine I mean, I didn’t feel Gary’s), I am race fit, there could be a PB in this one, briefly forgetting the fact that I spent most of Friday night and all of Saturday night being a wee bit tipsy and eating my own body wait in Quiche and Chinese.

Turning up at the track we are greeted with an array of sports events, there is a meet here on the same day which means only one thing .. competitive runners. We grab our numbers and stand out in the sun trying to spot people who we know we should be able to beat. After a nervous wait we reckon we can spot a few that we should be able to pick off, it always makes me feel better knowing that there is a good chance I won’t come last. I have made the mistake of picking out the older runners before, you know the ones that look like friendly Grandfolk but actually turn out to be made of pure muscle and sinew and invariably overtake you at mile 19 and disappear into the distance, only leaving behind a faint smell of Murray Mints and Golden Virginia.

The course is a good one too, incorporating two laps of the track then out for a lap next to the shoreline back for a half lap of the track again then off for a final lap around the lido, finishing back at the track in the final straight.

So we line up, bloody hell there are some good runners here, watches have been checked, GPS confirmed, I’m just waiting for the gun when a faint whiff of deep heat and Murray Mint distracts me, BANG, whatever wind was in me has escaped quickly, which jet propels me off to my first lap. I need to stick to 6 minute 30 second miles if I am going to hit my PB, first mile 6.32, second 6.42, I speed up as I now need to run faster and make up some time. I can see my fartlek victim about 100 yards in front to help me hit my time, as I reach his shoulder my watch bleeps and tells me I’m not going to hit my PB of 41.35, another poor mile at about 6.49 means the best I can hope for is a sub 42.30, however I have made up my mind I am going to beat this guy in the blue shirt who has stuck on my coat tails since I passed him. Running back onto the track the support is great, more events are still going off and families have lined the track in  the sunshine, the bounce of the rubber makes me stride longer and its off again onto the final lap. I pick off a few people that have gone off to fast and generally feel pretty good, then at mile 5 my stitch (which I have been nursing since mile 2) decides it wants to take over my ribs in a Mount Vesuvius of hurt. Blue shirt guy and white shirt guy whizz pass me here, I try to stay with them and I am pretty sure I whimpered out loud like an Chihuahua shot by a plastic sucker arrow. Around the last bend and onto the bouncy track, I summon up the last remaining bit of energy to muster a sprint finish, it feels like I have run into a stadium and everyone is watching the final event, 100 yards to go and I go past white shirt guy, there’s a shout of ‘come on Andy’ (cheers Craig) at 50 and I am on the shoulder of blue shirt guy, sprint sprint sprint sprint, …and …………. bugger he beat me, by one second.

So finishing in 42.12 wasn’t too bad and 40^th out of 132 runners, it was nice to run a short race for a change, Gary nearly run a PB and was only 17 seconds off.

Next one on Sunday, Marwell 10k, it’s a bit hilly, but as long as I can keep off the Quiche and Chinese I reckon I am in with a shout.