I knew it was going to sound a bit dodgy when I wrote it, thought I might have got away with it though

For the record...the fact that I didn't get much sleep, and I put my back out had nothing to do with Rich (sadly)

But honestly... I do have all my own teeth, and they are firmly planted in my gums but as I was brushing my back went and I was frozen momentarily in a 'teeth brushing pose'.

It's still a bit sore today

It aint no fun getting old

I know how you feel Trinity............ Well done at the weekend.

No idea what you both are talking about - I guess I may in good time from now !

Don't they say you are only as old as the person you feel?!

In that case I'm ancient!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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One small step for man.....

Crikey Trin that was some going, great news. It sounds like you both deserved to win

It's nice you can enjoy your other races, but I bet you will still go for it in them.

__________________
A loser is not the one who runs last in the race. It's the one who sits and watches and who has never tried to run.
Bird in Boots Oh what have I done FLM09

Thanks Twinks... I suspect that you are right, sometimes my legs have their own little race agenda

Oops . . just realised it's the next race in the series this weekend and I've not checked in after the last one yet

Not that there's much to add after Trin's excellent report. I too found much of the off road section very difficult, it really made my inflexible hips ache and was quite a struggle . . and as for that final hill . . well . .

There's a guy whose also in the Somerset Series that I'm trying to stay ahead of, and during this race he passed me 4 times and then, to my relief, slowed down each time. And each time I managed to get back ahead of him. I knew I was slow on the off road bits and was trying to save something for that last hill. Much to my own surprise I found I was able to run hard up it, and even picked up some speed,

The hill went on for longer than I expected but I pushed and pushed and I kept ahead of him . . and once we got to the top of the hill and turned right I dashed to the finish and beat him by one place!

So even though I'm getting frustrated by my lack of speed I was happy with my performance at Ash, coz it showed that if I can stay focussed I can run relatively well and I can dig in when necessary. All I really need to do is start training!

And it was great to finish, get my breath back, and hear how well Trin had done

Looking forward to Sunday's half marathon now . .

and about time too Rich... more time here and less on F***book please

...and I wasn't swearing just then...I just didn't want to mention an inferior website by name

...just knowing of it's existence is shameful Trin!!

considers unsubscribing from 'shameful' site...but remembers the fishes, and can't bear the thought of leaving them behind

I guess we can forgive ...........just this once mind!

Well... have I got news for you

Rich and I have discovered that when we allow ourselves chips on a Friday night I always have a good race on the Sunday, and this was certainly no exception...so we are considering setting a precedent


Despite the lack of half marathon training, due to injury worries, I wasn't too concerned about the Burnham-on-Sea half on Sunday. My point score for the series so far should have secured me winning the LV35 age catagory prize, so I didn't really need this race to count.

If it was going to count though, I would need to finish higher than 11th lady, and given that it was quite a well supported race I thought my chances of achieving that would be slim.

It started out as a lovely day, perfect conditions for me to run in. This race was also one of the races during the year that became a club outing by the club I belong to, the Hogweed Trotters, and we had in excess of 40 club members there, which was great, and well reported on by the race commentator.

Given that I haven't run this distance since April, I wasn't sure how I would cope with 13.1 miles so I had put together a loose pre-race plan. I decided that I would run easy for 4.5 miles, if I felt ok then I would pick it up for the next 4.5 miles, and then if all was going well I would run as strong as I could for the final 4.1 miles.

So, after all the preparations, the gun went and we were off. The pace was a bit brisk to start with but I felt ok. When we got to mile 1 I discovered I'd been running at 6.07 min/mile :eek: so I quickly eased off hoping that it hadn't caused too much damage to later on in the race. I went through 3 in 20.30, which was still a bit fast but I felt really comfortable so I tucked in behind another lady and stayed there.

Then we passed a marshal who was counting the ladies and put me at 9th lady...something I really didn't need to know at that point in the race because it got me thinking about my series score and the points I could knock off.

We went through a drink station and one lady (a fellow club member) stopped to drink and the lady I was running with dropped back, so I was now 7th lady at 4 miles. The lady I was running with soon came back though and I ran just behind her for a while, until she seemed to be struggling at about 8 miles and I gradually slipped past her.

I was very happy to settle at 7th lady, but my legs sometimes have an agenda all of their own in races, especially when I checked my time and discovered that I could get pretty close to my PB. My head went off on a whole new range of calculations then, and reinforced it by telling me that it would take all the pressure off my performance in the Cheddar half in November.

So I pushed on, and soon I was just behind another lady. I was just about to overtake her when some road traffic came up from behind so I quickly had to abort and just tuck in behind. At my next opportunity I went for it, taking me to 6th lady.

I went through 10 miles in 1.11.20, my PB for 10 miles is 1.16.17...need I say more? Except I was really hoping that this pace wasn't going to bite me back and cause me to stop at 12 or whatever, letting everyone else have the last laugh as they passed me.

I got to 12 and did start to feel low on energy accompanied by a slight head spin, but I tried to drink as much of my energy drink as I could and just kept focusing on what I was doing.

Then a club member who was also struggling came to my aid and said he'd get me in for a PB, and wouldn't let me walk. All I had to do was stay with him, which I did my best to do.

Just before 13 miles my leg injury shouted at me. We were turning into the field for one lap of the field to the finish. I could see the finish line, but my leg injury hit me so fast and hard that it was difficult to keep running. I told myself that I couldn't walk at this stage, so close, with everyone watching, so I limp/ran and crossed the finish line in 1.35.51, which was a PB by 1.31 min 6th lady overall, 4th LV35 and 1st lady Hogweed.

Plus a whole 5 points off my Series score, taking it to 38

So much for the race plan! I really don't know how I managed to pull such a result out the bag, but all I can put it down to is maybe the quality of my training compensated somehow for the lack of quantity (and of course, the chips).

Today I ache, but I also feel pretty good

Well done Trin! Great race report

I said you wouldn't take it easy LOL - Great result though

__________________
A loser is not the one who runs last in the race. It's the one who sits and watches and who has never tried to run.
Bird in Boots Oh what have I done FLM09