Anticipation

It's a big week in the running world next week with my British 10k (got the hat AND the t-shirt) on Sunday and the JPM Chase 5.6k on Thursday. Despite doing very little training since Hyde Park I'm looking forward to both as a result of a very, very good 40 minute treadmill session yesterday.

Or at least I was looking forward to both until ............

THE BLOODY WEATHER FORECAST

Apparently it's going to be another very hot weekend. Aaaarrggghhh. Does anyone know any rain dances?

My tactics for Sunday are as follows:

Start slow
Start in either the 50-60 min pack or the 60-70 min pack so I don't spend the first kilometre weaving in and out of people
Not worry about the time
Finish it

Ideally, of course, I don't want to walk any of it but if it is as hot as last time and it's a choice between walking or lying on the ground struggling for breath I'll take the former. My priorities have changed so much that I'm even thinking of leaving the new flash stop watch at home. Maybe.

With a sort of reversed, warped logic I'm planning big changes from next weekend onwards including changing my eating habits, going on a strict training plan geared towards the 8.2 miles in October (it's actually geared towards 10 miles but I'll adapt slightly), running with boys from work every Monday (hate running with other people although as I've never tried it ....), doing a class in the work gym with the rather dodgy title of 'Body Pump' which is basically a lot of weights work (I read somewhere that this will help your overall strength, especially at the end of races. Makes sense really).

That's it really, quietly confident about next week and thanks for the £1,078.72 from the BUPA Capital run. I've taken the link off for now.

Plodding on

No excuses for carrying a bulky water bottle on races now.

The main news to report, and you know this already, is that my near final total (still a couple of stragglers to come, possibly) is £1,008.38. Not bad for an hour’s work. Many thanks once again to all (and indeed sundry) for stumping up their hard-earned cash.

Further proof of my participation can be found by going to http://www1.sportcam.net/site3/public/browse.php?event=673&competitor=cf0f3e96-4b3d-4d54-9428-9b3da3a6c7c3&mode=full. Not sure I’ll order any prints at their exorbitant prices but they make interesting viewing.

Speaking of cash, as we were a minute ago, this whole sponsorship thing is very tricky. Who do you ask? Can you hassle them? Why do some people ‘pledge’ by email rather than going directly to the website? I appreciate that sites such as justgiving.com have made the whole process much easier but I’m very glad that, following my ONE sponsorship run a year rule, I don’t have to go through the begging process again for another 6 months at least.

Nothing much has happened since the run about 10 days ago. The only exercise I’ve taken has been a fairly hot and immensely enjoyable game of indoor 5-a-side last Thursday. I was due to do a run on Saturday night but, having spent a day with the girls, returned home exhausted and fell asleep on the sofa just after Brian McBride (one of only three Fulham players representing the mighty whites at this years World Cup) got elbowed by an over eager Italian defender.

Hoping to get at least 30 minutes on the treadmill at work this afternoon as last night I increased my ‘organised runs to do by the end of 2006’ by 50%. I’ve now got 3 little beauties of varying scariness lined up. They are as follows:

http://www.thebritish10klondon.co.uk/

This is the British 10k run on Sunday 2nd July at 9.35am (please don’t let it be hot). The website will give you all the details you need. Currently doing it alone (although possibly with a neighbour) and my reason for doing it is very, very simple. I want to do a 10k without walking. I honestly don’t care if I do it in 1 hour or 1 hour 30 as long as I run (or plod) all the way round. It is however in under 2 weeks so I need to get back into training pretty damn soon hence treadmill this afternoon.

http://www.jpmorganchasecc.com/events.php?city_id=10

This is the JPMorganChase Corporate Challenge on Thursday 6th July at 6.45 pm which describes itself as a 5.6km run-walk in Battersea Park. I’m doing this with Garry, Anthony and Tim from work and for some reason we’ve all set ourselves target times. From memory their target times are something like 22, 23 and 24 minutes! Mine is 33 minutes which won’t be easy at all. Should be interesting.

http://www.humanrace.co.uk/festival/index.html

This final one is a bit scary. It’s an 8.2 mile race along Kingston on the morning of Sunday 8th October. In an example of running before you can plod I booked into this ages ago as I thought it would be a decent step up from the BUPA Capital 10k also giving me 4 months extra training. I’m now dreading it but have persuaded Mark H (in my mobile I have numbers for Mark A, Mark H, Mark N, Mark R, Mark S, Mark C and I thought John was a common name) and Alma to join me whilst Andrea and Neal will be doing the 16 mile version on the same morning. Nutters.

Sweaty doesn't even begin to describe it!

Me and Sir Richard of Bacon

Hooray

Hotter than a witch's mother ...

... is a slightly bizarre expression that an old boss of mine used to use. That was how hot it was on Saturday morning in Hyde Park - 31 degrees apparently - and that is why I didn't do as well as I would have liked. Simple really.

The facts of the matter are as follows:
I finished it in 1:19 dead (proof: http://www.raceahead.net/SearchResults.aspx and type in 2648), nowhere near the hour I was aiming for. Geoff did it in 1:15:45 and was very supportive in some of my more pedestrian moments and Niccy did it in 1:31:44 which is I think almost exactly what she said she was going to do it in.

So, what have I learnt:
Positives first:
Ran from about 0-4.75km and 7.75km to 10km
Putting my name on my t shirt was a good idea and there were 5 or 6 encouraging shouts as a direct result.
I'm still alive (i.e not lying down by the side of the track like 3 or 4 others, one with eyes rolling)
I got to see Jimmy Nail, Richard Bacon and Floella Benjamin (!)
I have raised over £850 for Help A London Child and expect that total to rise by about £100 when I've finished collecting (http://www.capital10k.co.uk/RunnerPage.aspx?BCID=1025425 is the place to go)
No aches and pains from legs, back, knees etc. either during or after the race
Definitely room for improvement as this was my first run.

Negatives:
Walk/run combo from 4.75km-7.75km. Fair to say that in total I probably ran 8 out of 10km
Silly to carry one of those .75l Volvic 'sports cap' bottles round with me. Next purchase should be one of those water bottles that are designed to be carried whilst running/plodding.
Possibly went off too quickly although difficult to say as I was weaving in and out of VERY slow runners.
When 2 out of 3 people ahead of you are walking it's much more difficult to fight the desire to join them than when you are running on your own.
Did absolutely no training in anything approaching hot weather which showed.

My rough plan to do a half marathon next year and a full one the year after are being put on hold so for the moment I've got a 5.6km run with 3 guys from work at the beginning of July, the 8.2 mile run (help) in October and nothing else planned but I am constantly looking at more 10ks which is where I will stay for the time being.

On the day, Niccy, Geoff and I started together briefly and then Geoff and I went ahead quite quickly. After a few minutes I 'found my pace' (approximately the 6 minute kilometre that I was aiming for) and then lost Geoff. Weaving in and out of some of the slower runners (there were some, believe me) I felt quite good for the first couple of kilometres despite the heat. I did miss the mp3 player though and carrying the water bottle was a pain. Hit a minor wall at about 3.5km I think and was still fighting it at 4.75km when I reached a hill. A bloody hill - can you believe it? That said, if I was to go back and look at the course now it would probably be a minor slope but at the time it felt like Everest. OK maybe not Everest but certainly something fairly nasty!

Before the race Becky, Niccy and my parents had expressed concerns regarding the heat (have I mentioned how hot it was?) and that no risks should be taken with regards to health. This was in my mind along with the sight of most other people walking (I'll blame them shall I?). The other thing about walking, and apologies for my obsession with this, is that it's very, very difficult to start running again after walking so the next 3km both with and without Geoff who by now had caught me up were a walk/plod combo. Thanks to Geoff for his words of encouragement at this time which 'sort of' worked. Geoff went off at about 7.5km and I decided to run solidly from at least 8 til the end. These last 2 and a bit kilometres were fine overall. The highlight of this last stretch were the encouraging shouts of 'Come on John' from at least 5 different sources. The lowlight was seeing the finish in the distance up a slight hill, running for a couple of minutes and realising that the finish looked no closer.

Reaching the finish was a mixture of emotions. Relief at finishing, anger at not being quicker and allowing myself to walk, happiness at seeing Becky, Rosie and Jessica waiting for me just afterwards.

Being a bloke I'm no expert on childbirth (although been present twice so possibly more of an expert than some) but unless it's a truly awful experience I'm led to believe that women quickly forget the sheer pain involved fairly soon afterwards. I'm beginning to think that it's the same with running.

A weeks rest and then onto training for the 5.6km (http://www.jpmorganchasecc.com/events.php?city_id=10) and so far persuaded Rupert T and Alma to join me in Kingston in October as well as Andrea and Neal doing the 16.2 mile course at the same time.

Any more takers?

PS - Halfway through a very interesting book at the moment. Recommended. The Looniness of the Long Distance Runner - very funny