The treatment for my chest infection starting Monday took a few days to start taking effect. I did one lap on the track on the cool down with Dave Emanuel and that was enough to set my chest off!
The runners did well, I set them on a pyramid session and finished them off with 10 minutes of "Indian File", all the guys are showing good improvement over the winter.
I was at the doctors Monday morning and thankfully my chest was declared clear of gunk but still put on a course of anti-biotic's and told not to race on Wednesday at the Vera Hirst 5K.
London is my "A" race and with it being just a few weeks away a 5K is not important enough to risk the race of the year.
So Wednesday night I arrived at the race with Lisa one of my runners who cares not for racing but still wanted to be there.
There were a flood of Royton Road Runners already there and were warming up as we arrived and I decided to record the start and finish of the race, the video can be seen on YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tDEyRaSzzYs
Andy O'Sullivan is a great race organiser and being an ex-copper has a great persuasive talent for getting you to volunteer. Those who know me best know that I volunteer for any running event if possible as it is just as much fun facilitating a race as running them!
It started with "Mark can you pick up those cones" and then "Could you assist Marylin on numbers please"
Now then... every week I volunteer at parkrun, Race Director, Timer, Numbers and registration and marshaling. Traditional road racing race management differs form parkrun thus...
- Runners register before the race and pin their number to the shirt
- The race is mass start and the timer set the race off (Using a stopwatch and a backup)
- Runners come through the funnel and the timer records the time to a position (Assistant shouts the time)
- The numbers person writes the runners number against the position (Assistant shouts the number out)
- After the race it takes ages to marry all the runner data in order to publish the results.
At parkrun:
- Runners register once... for life there is no number to pin and runners have a personal barcode
- The event have a mass start and the timer is started. (A backup iPhone, android app can be used)
- Runners come through funnel, the 'single' timer simply presses a button as they pass.
- The 'single' numbers person hands a barcoded finishing token.
- The runner takes their 'personal' barcode and finishing token to registration were they are scanned.
- After the event the timer and finishing scans are married up in minutes and published to the web via 3G.
- Usually before runners get home they get an email advising of their position (Which they already know) and the time.
So back to the race! The chance to take part in a road race funnel was awesome and felt at home at the "frenzy" of a race finish. 3 of my runners were racing for the first time and hopefully the practice runs made the evening a bit more enjoyable and they all did very well.
On Thursday the ladies were back at the club for a training run and I tried to take it easy on them but still put a quality session. So we headed off to Tandle Hills country park which to be fair.. .is hilly but they did well and ran up some and walked others. So a 3.5 mile run went well and it was my first run for a week and felt good to get some fresh air in my lungs, also stretch my legs instantly made the stress of inactivity fade away.
This weekend was the start of three of the biggest events for me in 2011 and they all happen in succession.
My sister Fay finally married David and has been the culmination of lots of planning, hard work and they are a great couple. For some reason I thought the Church service was in the morning and have been trying to secure a race director for Oldham parkrun to take my place... But I looked at the invite again and realised the service was to start at 12:30pm!
So as Jason was Race Director this week I took the opportunity to do a tempo run and this week won the event for the second time. This time it was John Cook keeping me honest and it was only on the last lap that I managed to create a gap, Oldham parkrun is a hilly course and the last lap is a bit longer, utilising the woodland walk. This is a scenic section of the park but is even more hilly which at the event of a race as we all know really hurts.
So a dash home and quick processing of the results meant I could grab a shower, get dressed and be at the Church in time!
The service was great, the afternoon speeches grand and the evening superb. The hotel is superb and back when planning my Virgin London Marathon training plan I at first was concerned that this week should be an 18 miler on the taper down to race say. That was until I mapped out the run home an found that the distance was far enough to fit the run in with some to spare!
Much as I would have loved to lounge in the luxurious spa facilities and fabulous pool which opens up to the outside with a large open window that makes steam drift over the edge... I was getting set for a run home.
The route seemed straight forward on paper but in practice I did not appreciate the undulation, figuring that as Bolton is a higher elevation than Oldham surely it would be mostly downhill.
In actual fact as you run from town to town it goes up and down, presumably because the lay of the land historically makes use of valleys. In any way it is just a fact that the North and East of Manchester are just plain hilly and any long run round these parts are going to have the odd hill in them any way.
I took some photo's on route, the first as I entered the outskirts of Rochdale, it was a great sight and triggered the feeling 'I am nearly home'. I ran on and turned off the direct road home to make use of the canal towpath, the plan was to do a couple of miles at marathon pace, two things put pay to that:
- The path is shut on large sections for ground works
- My legs were very tired from all those hills!
As I did my cool down and walked and jogged to the top of Tandle Hill I took a photo of the view from whence I came.
What I saw was a huge black cloud closing in on me, I picked up the pace and took shelter in the trees till finally I reached the memorial tree for my foster father who passed away a few years ago.
As I stood there reflecting on my memories of him I could not decide if the cold rain was his idea of a joke... or a welcome cooling effect!
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/76911353
As I sit here with tired legs dreading doing the ironing I look ahead to the next two big weekends in this trilogy of big events my UK Athletics Level 2 coach assessment and that small race the VLM!
Have a great running week
Mark K
Oldham parkrun had a good turnout despite a number of our regular runners on holiday... or warm weather training as I call it! In the mornings my calf is at its angriest so strapped it up and got their early with Stephen and enjoyed a kick about with the football. Jason Chapman from Sweatshop was back this week and had the timer role whilst Stephen did both marshalling points (Involved a bit of running for him!).
