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04 December 2006 10km in 62 minutes and 26 seconds
You might remember that I mentioned something about running last month. I’d just received my number for the Percy Pud 10km. That race was yesterday. (You can view the route on MapMyRun.com.)
Being a newcomer to running, I was worried that everyone taking part would be hardcore athletes who would leave me for dust. You can imagine my relief when I saw two men dressed in a pantomime camel costume. “Great,” I thought, “at least some people aren’t taking this too seriously.” So, imagine my horror when I saw the camel running in the opposite direction to me, having already completed the outward part of the race before I’d even completed 4km!
From the race report:
Even though I was beaten by a pantomime camel, I’m still mega-impressed with my time. According to the provisional results, I came 969th out of 1130 runners and finished it in 62 minutes and 26 seconds!
Despite rumours of 70 mph winds and heavy rain (I’m not sure who started those...) the weather turned out to be pretty good and the five of us who took part from work all did really well. However, since I didn’t win, I didn’t get chance to make a speech, so here it is now:
Special thanks goes to my running partner, Rachel, who helped me through it by offering me words of encouragement when I was running too slow and shouting at me when I was running too fast. And thanks to Dr Chris Hill, who helped ease the cramp that was crippling both my legs as I lay flat out on the pavement on the way back to the car.
And finally, thanks to my body for letting my legs ache just a little bit today. Surely that’s better that having the theme from Steptoe & Son go around your head – innit?
Being a newcomer to running, I was worried that everyone taking part would be hardcore athletes who would leave me for dust. You can imagine my relief when I saw two men dressed in a pantomime camel costume. “Great,” I thought, “at least some people aren’t taking this too seriously.” So, imagine my horror when I saw the camel running in the opposite direction to me, having already completed the outward part of the race before I’d even completed 4km!
From the race report:
Well done them. Obviously running 10km just wasn’t challenging enough! Also running past me in the opposite direction was some famous guy that I recognised as being one of the psychologists off Big Brother. Turns out it was probably Geoffrey Beattie, as his name appears in the results as finishing 299th in 45:43.Amongst the finishers were two local athletes Stuart Maycock and Shaun Marsden who ran in a two man camel outfit and beat most of the field finishing in 40 minutes 18 seconds – a new world record for a 10km race by 2 people dressed in a 2 man panto outfit!
Even though I was beaten by a pantomime camel, I’m still mega-impressed with my time. According to the provisional results, I came 969th out of 1130 runners and finished it in 62 minutes and 26 seconds!
Despite rumours of 70 mph winds and heavy rain (I’m not sure who started those...) the weather turned out to be pretty good and the five of us who took part from work all did really well. However, since I didn’t win, I didn’t get chance to make a speech, so here it is now:
Special thanks goes to my running partner, Rachel, who helped me through it by offering me words of encouragement when I was running too slow and shouting at me when I was running too fast. And thanks to Dr Chris Hill, who helped ease the cramp that was crippling both my legs as I lay flat out on the pavement on the way back to the car.
And finally, thanks to my body for letting my legs ache just a little bit today. Surely that’s better that having the theme from Steptoe & Son go around your head – innit?
Update: 5 December 2006 (10:17)
Some photos of the event are available via TAimages.com. If anyone knows of any more, please let me know!
06 November 2006 Running 2.0
Out of all the different sports and types of physical exercise imaginable, there’s always been one that I’ve never really understood. Running. Run away from someone threatening to beat you up? Yes, that’s allowed. Run to the kebab shop 20 seconds before closing time? Yes, that’s allowed too – unless there’s a taxi rank nearby. Run for fun? No way!
I think my opinion on running was heavily influenced by my attempt at trying to run the 1500m race at my school sports day in 1995. I stepped in on the last minute because the lad who was supposed to be running it had chickened out and I was team captain (for some unknown reason). I remember getting lapped by all the other runners twice and hallucinating when I crossed the finish line with an acidic taste in my mouth. That firmly confirmed my suspicions that there was nothing fun about going for a run. And that’s why I was pretty damn shocked when I found myself saying that I wanted to do the Sheffield Half Marathon next year!
Here’s the problem. When I said that I wanted to run the half marathon, it was back in August when I’d been out drinking since about 18:00 and happened to mention it whilst in a taxi on the way home at around 02:00. As part of the new training schedule, I’d also arranged to go for a run that Sunday. My brain might not have been fully functional, but I remembered to set an alarm to remind me about what I’d said – and I actually went for a run for the first time in over 11 years!
So why am I posting about all this now? Because the reality of what I’m doing suddenly hit me when I got home from work to find an envelope containing my first ever running number – you know, the sort that people wear on their chest when you see them running on the telly! It’s for the Percy Pud 10km race (organised by Steel City Striders) that some of us applied for a few weeks ago. Since it’s “South Yorkshire's most popular 10km” we were advised to get our applications in as soon as possible, which I did. Bearing in mind that 3 months ago I’d never run further than 1500m, I’m now feeling somewhat nervous about running 10km with a huge number 6 on my front! (I thought they reserved the single digit numbers for the serious runners! Is everybody’s going to expect me to come 6 out of around 1000 runners now?)
If you’re interested, you can see the two routes I’ve been following on my MapMyRun Profile. (Thanks Chris!) I’m now running around 4.7km with a couple of stops. With just under 4 weeks to go, I think I may need to start pushing myself a bit more – especially if I’m going to come sixth.
Perhaps I should be running to the kebab shop on the other side of town instead of the one that’s just around the corner...?
I think my opinion on running was heavily influenced by my attempt at trying to run the 1500m race at my school sports day in 1995. I stepped in on the last minute because the lad who was supposed to be running it had chickened out and I was team captain (for some unknown reason). I remember getting lapped by all the other runners twice and hallucinating when I crossed the finish line with an acidic taste in my mouth. That firmly confirmed my suspicions that there was nothing fun about going for a run. And that’s why I was pretty damn shocked when I found myself saying that I wanted to do the Sheffield Half Marathon next year!
Here’s the problem. When I said that I wanted to run the half marathon, it was back in August when I’d been out drinking since about 18:00 and happened to mention it whilst in a taxi on the way home at around 02:00. As part of the new training schedule, I’d also arranged to go for a run that Sunday. My brain might not have been fully functional, but I remembered to set an alarm to remind me about what I’d said – and I actually went for a run for the first time in over 11 years!
So why am I posting about all this now? Because the reality of what I’m doing suddenly hit me when I got home from work to find an envelope containing my first ever running number – you know, the sort that people wear on their chest when you see them running on the telly! It’s for the Percy Pud 10km race (organised by Steel City Striders) that some of us applied for a few weeks ago. Since it’s “South Yorkshire's most popular 10km” we were advised to get our applications in as soon as possible, which I did. Bearing in mind that 3 months ago I’d never run further than 1500m, I’m now feeling somewhat nervous about running 10km with a huge number 6 on my front! (I thought they reserved the single digit numbers for the serious runners! Is everybody’s going to expect me to come 6 out of around 1000 runners now?)
If you’re interested, you can see the two routes I’ve been following on my MapMyRun Profile. (Thanks Chris!) I’m now running around 4.7km with a couple of stops. With just under 4 weeks to go, I think I may need to start pushing myself a bit more – especially if I’m going to come sixth.
Perhaps I should be running to the kebab shop on the other side of town instead of the one that’s just around the corner...?