Tale of the Unexpected Medal

I don’t usually race in the evening, I don’t have a ‘thing’ about it it’s just that I often work into the evening so evening races don’t usually fit in. So I wasn’t originally planning to do the Sale Sizzler last Thursday night. But as things turned out I had some free time and I decided to make the most of it.

Having never done a Sale Sizzler (5k race in Wythenshawe Park) before I didn’t really know what to expect and as the conditions were expected to be wet I took four different pairs of racing shoes. That might sound a bit over the top but each pair has it’s own properties and this was a proper race after all, I usually run parkruns in ordinary trainers. Not only was this race 4, last one, in the series but it also hosted the North of England Championships.

I’m fortunate to have gained many medals from Championships from the South of England and also Scotland, but I’ve never been in a position to win one from the North, however, due to my ongoing achilles issues, I had no pre-conceptions of gaining my first Northern medal at this race. In fact I didn’t even think I’d feature amongst the old people taking part, all my sights were set on an improvement on my season’s best and trying to dip under 17 minutes. Modest targets, I know, but with almost as much time spent not running as running, this year, and still not able to do absolute speed work, there’s no point in being too ambitious, patience is a better virtue.

A few weeks ago my achilles was so painful I would definitely not have entered this race, but a Southern friend recommended I try the McDavid ankle support. I wasn’t sure at first my achilles was improving and the feedback on the support said that it wasn’t necessarily going to assist my particular injury to recover. But after going through a week of increasing pain I decided it was worth a try and promptly ordered one from Amazon. Amazon promised to deliver within a week but the support turned up within two days, very impressive, though, unfortunately, 30 minutes after I’d already run on that day.

The next day I tried it for the first time, no instructions came with the support and though it seemed obvious I could have benefited from some assistance. What happened was I strapped myself up too tight which gave me some trouble. Once I realised, more by error than judgement, that the support needed to be looser, improvement was rapid. I’m now at the point where my achilles is not painful all the time, sure it’s not perfect and it does throb on occasions, but I’m able to work quite hard, though not as hard as I’d like, with it. With the improvement coming I decided to give the race a go and entered online.

I arrived at Wythenshawe Park quite early, it’s something that has served me well in the past, and went for a recce of the course. Unfortunately I lost the course, I’d quickly glanced at the hand drawn map stuck on the wall but my memory failed somewhere along the way, still seeing as I was just making up the numbers it really didn’t seem to matter that much. I’d jogged around without my ankle support and the achilles seemed to be holding up well. I had intended to race wearing it, but I decided not to, on the basis that if I strapped it up too tight it would require me to stop and fix it, the less you have to do or think about in a race the better, so I left it in the car, along with the three pairs of racers I’d decided not to use. 

The race started on the track, I can’t recall starting a road race on a track since I ran a 10k in Battersea Park in 1990, so it was a little strange and, due to the drizzle during the day, very slippery. I slithered around that 1^st 500m and was glad to get onto the trails, now I could start making my way through the field. I didn’t get very far before I caught up with Dave Alexander from West Cheshire. I know Dave quite well and we are of a similar standard normally so I knew I was going fast enough. Somehow I missed the 1k marker but at 2k, covered in 6:50, I knew my pace was about right. It had been a while since I’d run at 17 minute pace so I was finding it tough, but using my rhythm I hung onto Dave, who appeared stronger than when I last raced him.

I also missed the 3k marker and know I slowed in that 2-4k, so when I reached 4k I figured I needed to push to get back onto target. Clearly Dave had the same idea as we both seemed to increase pace at the same time. On the way to the finish we passed a few guys and I was determined to keep my pace up, not wanting to relinquish any of my gained places. Dave was running so strong I knew I’d have to push really hard to beat him and, today, I just didn’t feel I had any more.

I finished in 44^th position, 4^th M45 (but a long way behind 3^rd) in 17:02, a season’s best but nothing to get too excited about. Dave had maintained his gap, finishing 2 seconds ahead. What I hadn’t realised was that I was in danger of being caught by a fast finishing colleague, in the guise of Dave Hudson, who was just two places behind me. This proved crucial as Salford ended up with North of England bronze, Joe Bailey, Rob Hughes and myself making up the team. Of course I was so far down the field I had no idea that was the case until I got home. But that was a great ending to my day, my first medal in a Northern Championship, that’ll be treasured with all the others. At my age I don’t expect to get amongst the medals in ordinary competition anymore so it’s quite special to me. But it’s also served to give me a kick up the backside, to make me realise I can still feature in the Salford team, especially if I can continue to improve. Realistically I’m not expecting to hit my best form until next spring, but if I remind myself of the 17:37 I ran on 23 August 2012, following my torn hamstring, and what a good winter I subsequently had, it’s not inconceivable that I may be back sooner than that. 

One of the things I enjoyed about the night was being in the company of my Salford colleagues, and meeting up with the many athletes I have become friends with over the years. Delamere parkrun is good but, as I’m shy, I don’t really chat much before I get to know people, to me racing isn’t just about racing, it’s about the social side too. Another good thing was that there were two athletes in the field who are advised by me, both set good pbs.

I’ve been watching the World Championships with interest, some fantastic performances. Obviously Mo is the talk of the town here in the UK and I’ve really enjoyed watching him dominate his races, but I was also pleased to see Chris O’Hare, from my old club Edinburgh AC, do well to make the 1500m final. Unfortunately Chris seemed to run out of steam in the final, but a useful experience which should give him good prospects for next year’s Commonwealth Games.

Just to finish off, I mentioned the McDavid ankle support I’ve been using. If you’re having Achilles problems yourself you might want to consider this option.
 

Written by Roger Alsop

www.rogeralsop.co.uk

Running Book Reviews

This week I’m turning my blog over to a couple of book reviews. I always intended on writing a review about Gabrielle’s book but delayed that when Athletics Weekly did one. Last week I was sent a pre-release copy of ‘You Know You Are A Runner’ with a request to review the book so I thought it would be a good idea to write both reviews at the same time. Both books are vastly different, ‘You Know You Are A Runner’ is a light hearted joke/cartoon type book with well drawn illustrations to emphasise those traits that only a runner, or someone who knows a runner well, would understand, whereas ‘British Marathon Running Legends of the 1980s’ is a much more serious book, based around a series of interviews with former marathon greats.

Book One – You Know You Are a Runner – Richard McChesney

This is what I would call a comic style book, consisting of 40 cartoons, each one drawn to illustrate a particular amusing trait that distinguishes runners from normal people, and yes I recognised myself in some of the illustrations. This is the first in a series of books to be published, in the ‘You Know You Are A’ series, written by Richard McChesney, himself a runner, who used to compete for the Surrey based club, Stragglers, but is now based in New Zealand where he is the event director for the Lower Hutt Parkrun. Reading through the book made me chuckle, sometimes aloud, as each cartoon revealed something that I and many of my fellow runners will recognise about our own peculiarities, or those of other runners we know. The cartoons themselves are well drawn by Brighty (Steve Bright) and Brock (Robert Brocksmith) who are both UK based professional cartoonists.

The book is available exclusively on the Amazon network in both Kindle format and as a paperback (below is a link for each), and is, in my opinion, priced very reasonably. Further information can be found at 

I enjoyed reading it and I was amused as I paged through it. This is just the sort of book I would buy as a stocking filler for a friend who was either a runner or married to a runner.

Book Two - British Marathon Running Legends of the 1980s – Gabrielle Collison

Before I review this book I have to declare an interest, Gabrielle is a friend from the days we both competed for Belgrave. That aside, my review of this book is written with the same honest approach as that of the previous book.

Gabrielle was a very successful runner at Belgrave Harriers, achieving a National Championship medal in the 3000m. During her MSc, in Sports Science, she wrote her dissertation on British Marathon runners, years later she was encouraged to convert this into a book, which is ‘British Marathon Running Legends of the 1980s’.

Some of my friends managed to get hold of a copy before me and their comments were very enthusiastic. They found it hard to put the book down as their interest was peaked. So I was really looking forward to getting stuck into the book. However, the nature of my work meant I didn’t have a lot of time to get into the book, at first. The book is a series of interview questions carried out with various runners who were well known and respected within the sport, back in the 80’s. It asks them about how they got involved with running and, in particular, the marathon, how they trained for marathons and various other ancillary questions. The interviewees have been very honest and go into some depth at times, offering up pages of interesting information. The book also has a statistics section comparing achievements of marathon runners in the 80s with those of today. I found I would start to read a chapter, each athlete forms a chapter, but having to put the book down again before I finished that chapter. This was frustrating me so I put the book aside until I went on holiday. Then it came into it’s own, lying in the sunshine relaxed I was able to give the book my full attention and found the time just passed me by, like my friends before me I found it difficult to stop reading the book. To me some chapters were more interesting/revealing than others but this may have been down to how much I knew of the individual before I read his/her chapter, but all in all I found it a fascinating read.

I really enjoyed reading this book, and in fact I have gone back to re-read an occasional chapter, which is easy when you have it on a kindle. However, I know of all of the runners, they were at the level I aspired to be when I was just beginning, somebody just into running may not enjoy the book to the extent that I did, however, if they’re really into their running, the relevance of who the person is will be less important than finding out how they achieved the times they did. 
To get the book from Amazon go to:

British Marathon Running Legends of the 1980s

To find out more about Gabrielle, or the various books she has written, visit www.gabriellecollison.com

The book I am currently reading is a book about Bradley Wiggins, it was a Xmas present from Carole. It’s not a big book but it makes for an interesting read. I’m expecting a Chris Froome book this Xmas, I know how Carole’s mind works.

Written by Roger Alsop

www.rogeralsop.co.uk