Mid life crisis by Deano5078

After my last post I can confirm that my enforced taper continued and was remarkable easy to achieve! J  Work remained manic for the rest of the week. It meant that my preparation for today’s Paddock Wood Half was less than ideal.

You may already have read Bonny Scots report on the race in which case you’ll know that I had the pleasure of her company and that of three other lovely ladies from her running club (Dacorum and Tring AC in case you’re interested.). So with such pleasant company it was off in the sunshine round the M25 to get to Paddock Wood. 

We made it in good time and arrived at the race start with it gradually getting warmer. BS and I took our places at the 2 hour plus marker whilst the others, Claire, Nicky and Wendy moved forward to the 1.40 marker.  Nerves were making their presence felt as usual and I was conscious of the rubbish I’d had in preparation for this race.

Soon the hooter sounded and it was off at a fairly steady pace. The number of runners (2,000) meant it was fairly easy to find your natural pace compared with big races like the GNR. Although aiming for a conservative 10.30 initial pace, we ended up around the 10 min mile pace. The first few miles didn’t exactly flash by but were comfortable enough with only one climb of any significance. It was getting warmer but a breeze kept it at a sensible temperature.

BS’s hip was hurting from almost the start but otherwise all seemed ok as we ticked off the miles. The route took us past some lovely oast houses and a mix of hop fields and orchards.  Around the 7 mile mark it started to feel much warmer as the breeze seemingly disappeared and the going got harder. The initial pace dropped to around the 10.40 to 10.50 mark but we managed to keep it going without it getting too ugly. Although my lungs etc were feeling ok, the legs were getting heavier and heavier.

The water and sponge stations were most welcome but it was hard trying to drink out of a cup whilst on the move. A couple of energy gels helped but I can’t say they’re the most pleasant of substances to consume.

One last ridge to climb and soon we were leaving the fields behind and passing the Paddock Wood sign and entering the town.  A steady pace over the last mile saw us into the finishing funnel on the industrial straight and the finish line. Yet again BS somehow managed to cross the line in front of me. That’s 3 wins to her in three races!! I’ve got to stop her winning streak somehow. The time was 2.16.44 so an 11 min improvement on the GNR time. A pb so I was really pleased given only having 6 or 7 weeks to prepare and the pressure of the last couple of weeks.

I was also really pleased for BS as she has had an even worse preparation with her ankle injuries and also for being gutsy enough to put up with the pain from her hip throughout the race.

We met up with the others who had all run really good times, collected our race t-shirts and bags and meandered back to the car. Speaking of bag collection the whole race was well organised and resourced with plenty of marshalls, water etc. It did take about five minutes or so to collect our bags but why did  one woman throw a hizzy fit because she was kept waiting for her bag.  The volunteers on the baggage collection, a girl guide troop, were working as fast as they can. So what if it took a couple of minutes longer than it people would like. People all too easily forget that without such people volunteering their services we wouldn’t have any races to run. Imagine races without marshalls, start and finish staff, water station helpers, medical staff and so on. Hopefully the impatient lady paid for her bad karma with getting stuck in traffic on the way home.

Remarkably the journey home round the M25 was trouble free and after dropping off my passengers and having a quick cuppa with BS, it was home and a nice long soak. Also learned that my youngest got awarded the young player of the year at the hockey club.

So all in all a very good day.

Hope everybody else had a good one too.

 Rob