Fun Run… Then & Now

I never did update this diary thing with was happened with the local pub fun run in 2012. How rubbish of me. Here’s what went on.

2012
I tweaked my knee with 12 days to go to the big day and so didn’t run again before the event. I hoped the rest would fix it, but it continued to ache right up until race day. I suppose that I didn’t help it by continuing to ride my bike in the meantime. I’d tearfully resigned myself to not doing the fun run at all. We played a gig the night before the run and I had a few drinks as well. What did it matter, if I wasn’t going to run the next day? Anyway, Sunday 6th May 2012 dawned and the weather was good. I was awoken by a text message from GB Troy (who was definitely running it) saying, “the weather is good. Your knee will be fine. Get out of bed, you’re running!”. So I did. Funnily enough, once I got up my knee didn’t ache at all. I did a bit of stretching and went for a walk to warm up and it felt fine. So I ran! Blimey. Despite the interrupted preparation, I ended up running the course in 36:30, beating 2011’s time by 8 seconds no less. Ginger Rick and his missus came over to run as well. He beat me easily but at least she didn’t. Afterwards, as is the custom, GB Troy and me celebrated with an all-dayer in the pub, conceding defeat at about 10 pm.

2013
I started my training about a fortnight later than usual, due to an attack of can’t be arsed-itis. I calculated that I could cram 7 training runs into the 3 and a bit weeks that remained, with 2 or 3 days of rest in between. My training went really well this year and I stayed injury free: Buying new trainers certainly helped as I noticed the extra cushioning straight away, particularly around the heel. For my final training run I pushed on and did 4.2 miles. Throughout these runs my mile pace was around the customary 8 mins 30 time, so I was expecting to finish the fun run in around 36 and a half minutes. Mentally, having had a shorter preparation schedule, I’d decided that I would be happy just to get around the course and wasn’t bothered about the time. Having a few drinks afterwards was what I was most looking forward to.

About a fortnight before this year’s run, GB Troy announced that he wasn’t going to take part as he wasn’t fit and hadn’t got enough time to get fit for it. He blamed the ice and snow of the long winter that had prevented him from getting out training. On top of that, Ginger Rick couldn’t do it either as his brother had inconsiderately booked a christening for the same day. So it was just me from the gang doing it. GB Troy came down to watch at least.

The weather was warm and clear. There was a brisk headwind on the way back, but it could have been worse. I finished in 36:09, shaving 20 seconds off last year’s time. I was agonisingly close to my PB set in 1999 – only 15 seconds off! Bah. I reckon that without the gusty headwind on the way back I would have beaten it. The disappointing thing is that I’ll have to wait a full 12 months to have another go at beating it. My mile pace was 8:19. I was 48th from about 160 runners.

Afterwards I spent the day and evening in the pub, celebrating heroically into the small hours, consuming:

10 pints of beer
2 bottles of Kopparberg cider
2 burgers with onions from the outdoor stand
1 chicken & mushroom pie with chips
1 cup of coffee

Now that’s athletic.