Can I believe that my Long Slow Run (LSR) of twelve miles – well a little short of twelve miles today – will be classed as a short run in a couple of months?
Right now, it is incomprehensible. As I put my legs on the sofa in front of me and wonder why my laptop feels so heavy on my thighs, I just can’t fathom the energy I’ll need when I get into marathon training properly. I know I haven’t technically started that yet. Technically, in my head, I’m trying to get a bit of speed with a few weeks of 5K training.
I’m now in week four of six for that, and my unscientific method in the first three weeks has been to just make sure I have two types of speed efforts a week. One session is short and fast (fast for me anyway), the other is a bit longer at threshold pace, which basically means not talking, and concentrating really hard on trying to stay relaxed whilst pushing – the brain is working almost as hard as the body here.
I have managed it so far, and last Friday, I did my threshold effort in the form of a 5K race in Christleton. This is a wonderfully picturesque village in Cheshire where local running clubs have marked out a flat and fast route through the centre of the village including going past the Ring O’ Bells pub twice – we went to it a third time when Pensby Runners post-race drinks were required. 2026 marked its 37th year and it’s a favourite for our club and other runners. 494 finished the race, and the first 300 of these finished in under twenty minutes.
My time was on the final page of finishers, at position 475, and I was seventh out of seven women in the 50-54 category. So, I can at least spin this a little and say that I was in the top ten…kind of. My time, however, was not bad for me. The kilometres got progressively slower, but the difference between them didn’t dive, so it showed that my gamble at the beginning wasn’t too far off what I could do. My chip time was 27:25, exactly 30 seconds shy of my all time personal best.
Will I reach that PB in three more weeks? I don’t think so. The evening in Christleton was fairly perfect in terms of weather, being still and not too warm. My normally uber-sensitive legs did not notice any inclines in the loop and a half, and I was running amongst a group who kept me striving – within my reach but only if I pushed. I won’t be able to do the Seaside Run in three weeks’ time as the normal race director Nigel, is away, and Ruth and I are stepping in, and stepping up from our usual positions as volunteers.
I will run Parkrun but that is not as flat as this was. Birkenhead Parkrun was the location for my 26:55 of three years ago, but that had been a special ‘flow state’ that I couldn’t replicate if I tried. I was pleased though, that this time my hard grind wasn’t massively off that time. I will see what I’m capable of in three weeks, and if I can do a similar time then I will know that it is a genuine level of my current ability.
I did put that hard grind in on Friday, so I’m not surprised that it felt very sluggish this morning for my long run. My legs were tired before I even started. I hadn’t run at all yesterday, but I did spend the entire day in the Clwydian hills being at a checkpoint post for the Excalibur races. My time, from leaving the house at seven in the morning to getting home again was almost twelve hours, and that was not the longest shift. Nigel and Chris who direct the race, were still waiting for the final few marathon runners to reach the finish line when Ruth and I set off back (she’d kindly given me a lift).
It was another ideal day for running and everybody I spoke to seemed to really enjoy it. There was the 10K (69 finishers), Half Marathon (109 finishers) and Marathon (67 finishers) options. I was on a post where the half-marathoners and marathoners go out and come back from different directions, occasionally complicated when you’re trying tick off all the outs and ins of every runner. A few did look a bit worse for wear when they came back through but most seemed to be loving being up in the hills, and getting incredible views on a fairly clear and sunny day.
It is terrific that so many interesting races get put on within travelling distance from where we live. The geography of the locality means that there is the possibility for fast and flat, gnarly and mountainous, and so much in between. That is one reason why there seem to be a lot of running clubs in this region. The races, however, can’t happen without the time and energy of race directors and volunteers.
Even our local Parkrun which often exceeds 800 runners and walkers needs a regular army of organisers and volunteers to make it happen, as I found out when I organised a Parkrun takeover in March for Pensby Runners. There are over thirty non-technical positions (not including race directors, time-keepers and finish token management) that are filled by the regular Parkrun team week-in and week-out, and for our one week, I struggled to get all the slots taken.
I love the fact that we have such a variety of local races on our doorstep. Yes, I’d rather be running in them, but I am also starting to appreciate that giving a bit of time now and then to be on the other side will allow them to keep being held, and to be open for a wider group of people to run them. The Excalibur Races would not have required the volunteers to be out that long if it only allowed fast runners to run. But what would happen to the rest of us if that is always the case?
So I, as a non-fast runner, will get to run a marathon in a few months time, at my pace, which I’m hoping, with a lot more training will be a little bit faster than the thirteen plus-minute miles I managed today. I’ll get to run it, probably still with the back of the pack and I’ll really appreciate all the volunteers at all the positions, organising the logistics, dishing out the water and gels, cheering people on, giving the medals and so many other roles that go into putting these races on.
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