This weekend we had Sarah G taking part in the Thames Meander Half Marathon. This race starts in Kingston and heads along the Thames to Kew Gardens and back (a route Glenna would know very well). On a wet and windy day Sarah ran a cracking time of 2:18 and broke her PB by 3 minutes! Further up the Thames the following day we had "Team Kings" (Alice, Kathy, Graeme and Andy) taking part in the Rivermead 10km. This is a two lap race starting at the Rivermead Leisure Centre and heading along teh Thames path in Reading. It is billed as a "potential PB course", and so it turned out for our runners!
Andy was first home in 4th position with a cracking time in his first ever race over the 10km distance, and he was closely followed by Alice, who took second female and gained a shiny new trophy in the process! Graeme went under 50 minutes with 49:12 and 20th place and Kathy put in a superb performance for a 5 minute PB and her first time under the 1 hour mark. Fantastic running by everyone and surely a race more people will be signing up for!
Here are the results:
Alice Dewsnap - 47:04 - PB
Graeme Read - 49:12
Kathy Read - 59:15 - PB
A writeup of the Rivermead 10km by Andy Mant will be in next week's blog!
A reminder that the AGM is coming up on the 21st November. Please see the notes at the bottom of this blog!
parkrun summary – 2nd Nov
Despite the awful weather and the rugby being on we still had 17 Fit Clubbers at 5 different parkrun venues. We had 12 at Winchester, Shelley and Ben at Leamington, Mike H at the Basingstoke, James at Southampton and Sarah H at Newcastle!
There was a new course PB for coach James at Blandford parkrun today running 22:59. And Shelley matched her course PB at Leamington!
Congratulations to everyone who ran and volunteered.
Here is a link to the consolidated club report: http://www.parkrun.com/results/consolidatedclub/?clubNum=26888&eventdate=2019-11-02
The Royal Parks Half by Sarah Lewis
I was running the Royal Parks Half with a friend who was doing it for charity so for me this was all about supporting her and getting her through.
As we neared Hyde Park we joined the thousands of people making their way through the park, with over 16000 competitors. There had been a lot of rain in the preceding week so Hyde Park had resembled Glastonbury as people hopped around avoiding puddles with Tesco bags wrapped round their feet! After a bit of a panic over the length of the toilet queue, (I doubted we would make it to the front of the queue before people even started finishing!) we were eventually ready to find our way to our start. This resulted in immense confusion over how to make it in to our starting pen, it was so busy and there was very little guidance as to where to go or how to get around the fencing! After a long wait in the pen inching slowly forward we were off.
As we wound our way out of Hyde Park it was very busy but seeing the large number of runners in front and behind on London’s closed roads was pretty cool! As we past Buckingham Palace (no royal support unfortunately!) we saw the race leaders already looping back at a cracking pace. We soon reached big Ben and the first water stop opposite Downing Street where there were some weird biodegradable water pods which you had to bite open. The issue I had was as I bit a hole all the water went flying out! Onwards down the strand to turn around by the Royal Courts of Justice and back towards the Mall. Being central London on a Sunday morning there were lots of people around and a fair few supporters, including the Extinction Rebellion protestors.
Soon we were running around St James’ park and then back in to Hyde Park for the second half of the run. As we re entered Hyde Park there was a gauntlet of Charity cheering stands and the noise was deafening, it was a really great boost for my flagging friend. As we weaved our way through the park there were handfuls of supporters and some steel drums providing to keep us entertained!
Thankfully for me the remainder of the route had cups of water which were easier to cope with. There were no gels or energy drinks and as my friend’s energy levels dropped I sought out friendly supporters with sweets to keep her going, diving off course anytime I saw a bag of jelly babies. Some of the paths were quite narrow which made it quite congested which wasn’t a massive issue for us plodding along happily (ish).
The remainder of the route looped through Hyde Park and there were large stretches with no supporters, just groups of confused tourists! It was quite confusing working out which bits of the route we had already run and when where we would be going next, so it was a surprise whenever I saw my husband pop up armed with his camera cheering away.
As we approached mile 10 my knee began to niggle and I was in quite a bit of pain, partially I think from running at a different pace and stride length to normal. Our pace dropped significantly as we walked a bit more but finally we were looping past the Albert Hall and the finish line was in sight! We managed a good sprint finish and stumbled over the finish line to receive our medals and tshirts.
Overall a good race, it’s always fun to run through closed London streets, the start was quite confusing and it took us 20 minutes to get over the start line. Some of the paths in the Park were very narrow so despite being lovely and flat I think those searching for a PB may struggle. There was only water, mostly in cups, so you need your own nutrition.
The Amsterdam Marathon by Sarah Lewis
So the blame for me running this race lies firmly with fellow fit clubber Lynne! Whilst out for a cycle in the summer she mentioned she might go and run the Amsterdam Half as she has a friend out there. I relayed this to my husband and suggested as we had never been to Amsterdam this could be a fun thing to do, His response… “well I’m not going all that way to run a half….”. After recruiting a group of friends to join us including one who had a marathon “on her bucket list” who had persuaded me to do the full marathon we were all set.
Unfortunately I had not trained. No real excuses, life got in the way and I didn’t have the motivation. I was relying on the fact that Amsterdam was flat and I had done my half ironman in August so had some endurance training in the bag at least… I’d had a pretty rubbish cold all week and had picked up a niggle the week before at the Royal Parks so I did not have good expectations!
After attending the expo on the Saturday, carb loading with Carbonara and declining cocktails and sensibly having an early night we were ready to go. After a good breakfast and a successful metro trip we arrived at the 1928 Olympic Stadium in plenty of time (or so we thought!). After finding a short toilet queue (I learnt from the previous weekend!) and taping my knee up we made our way to the Stadium Entrance, where we were in a huge mass of people which didn’t seem to move even as it got closer and closer to the start time. Eventually we saw the elite runners start and the pacers with our target times disappeared in to the distance. We were quite confused but eventually we started moving again. It transpired that to get the 18000 runners to the start line (on the track in the stadium) everyone had to funnel through a double door walk 10m down a corridor and then through a single door in to the stadium which couldn’t fit all the runners in – hence we had been left stood outside for over half an hour!
This meant that we were starting behind the 5 hour pacers and the majority of the runners. This wasn’t ideal as we all wanted to run faster than that with one of my friends aiming for sub 4 hours. Eventually we started and the boys left me to plod around on my own but after only 800m I came to a grinding halt as the road was so congested. I cracked on and tried my best to get in to a rhythm of a pace for somewhere around 4 hours 15 min. The advantage of starting behind people running slower is you can pick off people to overtake so psychologically it worked well for me. We meandered through the outskirts of the city centre and there were bands or DJs about every km which was nice. We ran through the Vondelpark and the famous Rijks Museum There really weren’t many supporters, but to be fair those who made the effort were in good voice! As we got to 10km I thought gosh I’m running a marathon, I feel quite good. At 15km we left central Amsterdam and followed a river out and back for 11.5km. This was essentially along a canal tow path and there were only a handful of supporters which was hard. There were lots of twists and you could see the runners on the other side of the river and I kept thinking I was nearly at the turn around point – but it kept going. Again there were music points interspersed and some people on hover boards in the river to keep us entertained. Eventually I reached the turning point and headed back towards the half marathon point. At this stage I would have happily stopped, every step I went from that point was the longest I had run in over 2 years and the fatigue began to kick in.
In the distance I spotted the back of Chris Evan’s head and that was my target, I had to catch up with Chris because a) I am an avid listener to his Virgin Radio and b) I (wrongly) thought I he was a 5 hour runner and really I should be able to run faster than him! It took me 5km to catch up with him and say hi which gave me a little boost. Shortly after I stopped to walk a few paces and he shouted “come on Winchester” so I had to keep going. I tried to keep up with him as we neared the end of the river section but he drifted away. It was entertaining watching people’s reaction to seeing him and that again gave me something else to focus on.
As we approached 20 miles I was really flagging, my pace had dropped and I was hitting the wall…. My friend (the one who’s bucket list we were supposed to be ticking off but had injured herself doing DIY and bailed on me!!) appeared with sweets and support. Massive morale boost. I trudged on. I stopped. Walked. Literally had a word with myself “you have to keep running, you cannot walk, think of all those people who can’t run, you have to keep going.” Run. Walk. Almost cry. Plod on. I was now being passed by people I had confidently overtaken at the beginning of the race as well as the 4 hour 45 and 4hr 30 pacers I had passed. This routine continued on until I reached 35km when I ended up running with a couple of Welsh guys, we chatted about marathons, how annoying his mate was and the rugby (Wales had just won their quarter final). The kept me going at a decent pace and provided great support and company until just before the end when one of the guys had a walk and the other had gone ahead of me. By this stage the half marathon elite were coming through but I was so tired and confused as to why there were some seriously fast people weaving through the plodders I didn’t realise!
As I reached the iconic “I Amsterdam” letters and the stadium my morale soared and I managed a sprint finish to beat someone I had overtaken early on who I’d had in my sights. As I began to hobble I was greeted by my husband in a huge hug as he had only finished a couple of minutes before me and I think was in even more pain than me!
In summary – Amsterdam was a mixed bag…. The start was really badly organised, I guess you would have to get in to the stadium and hour before to actually leave in your wave. The tented bag drop just outside the stadium was large and efficient and there were lots of toilets and urinals outside and inside the stadium. A good number of pacers for key timings. Feed stations alternated between drinks - water and isotonic, and food and drink – cut up peeled bananas, cut up energy bars, gels and drinks. They were frequent, for which I was very grateful! Tshirt was collected at the expo and was a bit rubbish, (mainly advertised TATA consultancy) a lovely range of marathon clothing for purchase had mostly sold out before we got there. Medal was good and received at the finish with an isotonic drink and a banana. There wasn’t a goody bag. Overall the course was flat (as expected) with just a few inclines to cross rovers/canals and it was mostly road and then gravel on the river section. The bands on the way round were great but there weren’t that many supporters. I am amster-done!
P.S do not run marathons without training – results in a lot of pain and you talking to yourself like an idiot.
General Announcements
WFC Running Club Calendar
Dates for your diary:
Thursday 7th Nov - South Winchester Park and Ride - 19:00
Thursday 7th Nov - C25K - Abbey Gardens - 19:15
Monday 11th Nov - Track session, Bar End 19:30
Thursday 14th Nov - C25K final run, both groups combined - 19:15
Saturday 16th Nov - Winchester parkrun - C25K graduation run and celebration
Thursday 21st Nov - Winchester Fit Club RC AGM - 19:00
Thursday 28th Nov - Dean Lane Park - 19:00
Saturday 30th Nov - Shelley's 1 year streak parkrun and team breakfast - 09:00
WFC parkrun Club
Winchester Fit Club Runners is set-up as a club with parkrun. If you go into your profile (there is a link to it on the parkrun results email and newsletter email) you can select your club. Change yours to Winchester Fit Club Runners and you will appear in the consolidated club report that we get each week.
WFC Runners WhatsApp Group
There is a WFC Runners WhatsApp chat group where we generally just wang on about running, races and cake. If you are not already part of this then please get in contact with Coach James or Coach Mike who will add you.
WFC Runners Strava Club
If you are a Strava user there is a Winchester Fit Club Runners club page. This can be accessed here: https://www.strava.com/clubs/WFC-Runners. Request to join and we will approve!
Booking onto sessions
Booking onto our training sessions enables the coaches to plan the session accordingly. You can book on in the following location: https://winchesterfitclub.simplybook.it/v2/
Race Calendar
The race calendar is now stored here: https://wfcrunners.blogspot.com/2019/01/race-calendar-2019-and-beyond.html
Race Kit
The full range of kit available to purchase and instructions on how to order can be found in the following link: https://wfcrunners.blogspot.com/2019/01/kit-details-and-prices.html
Winchester Fit Club RC AGM
As we are now an affiliated club we have an obligation to England Athletics as part of our club constitution to hold an annual AGM. There is a strictly prescribed protocol to follow for this, so apologies if this all seems quite formal!
The AGM date is the 21st November at 7pm. Venue currently TBC. Anyone is able to attend, but only affiliated members may vote.
It is the opening of the Christmas Markets that night so we have decided to not hold the usual running club session and just hold the AGM.
If you wish to submit any agenda items for discussion at the AGM please submit them to Anne (alr_property@btinternet.com) by the 7th November. The finalised agenda will then be distributed by the 14th.
The AGM will have no AOB section so please submit any discussion points in advance!
Election of officers
All positions are open for re-election, and all members of the committee wish to stand again. The current committee is as follows:
Chairman – Michael Day
Treasurer – Laura Day
Secretary – Anne Arnold
Deputy Secretary – Karen Parker
Membership Secretary – James White
Head Coach – James White
Welfare and DBS officer – Sharon Smith
Membership representative – Rachel Mills
Membership representative – Simon Holman
However, if you wish to stand for any of the positions you are more than welcome to. Please submit the position you wish to be nominated for along with a proposer and a seconder by the 7th November. If more than one person applies for a position it will come down to a vote.
London Marathon Club Place
At the AGM we will be drawing the London Marathon club place recipient. There are 18 members in the draw and the first out of the hat will be representing the club in London next April.
Annual Award
Also at the AGM we would like to introduce an annual club award, the Tina Jury Belly button award. This award will be presented at the AGM to a member nominated by their fellow runners. Nominations can be for anything…It could be for an excellent performance/effort, it could be for being a supportive club mate, it could be for consistency across the year, it can be for anything!
Can we please have nominations in writing to Anne A by the 7th November. The committee will then review the submissions and agree the winner. If a committee member should be nominated they will not be party to the decision.
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