Running with Gru @Lancaster Race Series Trimpell 20.
Pre race day...
I had signed up for this run several months ago because I had done it before and I knew a lot of people I knew well would be there. For some reason I considered this a good idea as I was after all starting to up my training for a year of big events again and this course was well known and highly regarded as a pre Manchester or London Marathon 20 mile test run and for most their last long run.
But hang on, my marathon isn't until the end of May and over 10 weeks away! adding to that I had done a 20 mile long run 2 weeks back in order to keep a running friend Vicky company during her first of two 20 mile long runs pre Manchester marathon in April. Also to be able to do that I had to step up my training to a 16 miler and an 18 miler in subsequent weeks just to be fit enough to do that without letting her down.
I was basically 2 months early in my own marathon training to be able to treat this as a marathon test or indeed a race, so I reminded myself why I had signed up. It was to run socially with great running friends and fellow members of my charity running group 'Run or Cake' and to have a grand day out with friends, albeit a painful one.
Race morning...
Well the day was here, and I had been offered a couple of lifts from fellow running friends, and I took up fellow 'Caker' and 'Natters' runner Roberts offer as he was nearest.
I got picked up at 8.30am which was a reasonable time and I'd had a fairly decent sleep, and had eaten a small breakfast and had a coffee so was good to go.
We got there fairly quick, or it seemed that way anyway, about an hour after we set of I think. We got parked up in a car park I had managed to pin point via the web the night before by researching suitable car parks and relevant parking charges. It appeared it was going to cost roughly £8 for a longish stay in the lovely City of Lancaster.
It became apparent on the drive up and indeed upon arrival that the weather was going to be better than expected. It was forecast 6-7C and thick cloud, so a chilly start was expected. But it was blue skies and sunny when we got there, so first job was stripping off multiple layers so I could remove my base/compression layer and then just go with a tech Run or Cake t-shirt and Run or Cake vest, along with shorts,a pair of thin gloves and my trusty running cap I was indeed good to go again.
Run HQ, and a castle that was not all it seemed...
We walked up to Lancaster Castle and I was indeed looking forward to seeing this historic castle I had only seen in passing from a distance and had often wondered of it's hidden splendour. I was not expecting what greeted me when I got to the front of the castle.
This is what I had seen in all the literature and indeed what I saw on the approach...
But this is what I got when I got to the front entrance.....
Oh **** was my first thought! did I even sign up for the right event? have I signed up for some sadistic reality TV game show/run event? ...No, it was purely an ex prison and obviously castle originally.
The grounds inside and courtyard where actually quite stunning even though a lot of it was being renovated and was covered in plastic sheeting etc.
Number pick up was our first port of call, and we duly followed the signs for 'Race registration' which appeared to be a maze of a route through various passages and small courtyards until we ended up in a very suspicious looking room!
Yep, you guessed it, we were in fact in a block of cells! I know a lot of people think us runners need locking up for going out and doing crazy mileage on a Sunday morning, but this took the biscuit, and a brewless biscuit at that.
Pre run meet up with friends...
Next was the best bit of the day, catching up with friends from various running clubs and online running forums etc, and people you may of spoken to daily on these same said forums and Facebook pages, but yet not seen for months.
I could see lots of people dotted around from LRC Liverpool Running Club in their customary blue/white striped running vests etc, but first port of call was fellow 'Cakers' who were now getting known for wearing their own customary running tops for 'Run or Cake' and first to be seen were Sal and Darren so we made a beeline for them.
Shortly after we had found Chemane, Barry and Marina, Sharon, Catherine, Vicky, Kelly and also Sarah and her boyfriend Marc. (See pictures below)
We also found Eamonn B, Rachel R, Keith R, Bhavna M and Rachel S who are also 'Cakers' but they are not in the above pics. Also other running friends I spotted were Lisa L, Paul G, Davie T and I'm sure many others who at this moment I can't recall.
We hung around in the courtyard until about 15 minutes to go til race start and then made our way towards the starting area which was a 5 minute walk away.
Race start...
The race start area was down a fairly steep hill from the castle, and it wouldn't be the last time we saw that little ******. Then onto a walk/cycle path and adjacent areas of grassland that we would all assemble on whilst the race organiser and director gave us all an informed lesson on the intricacies of two rather important yellow lines sprayed on the floor in front of us all somewhere, which was actually the start line.
Off we went down a narrow cycle path where Robert promptly dropped something out of the bottom of his shorts! thankfully it was only a energy bar he had tucked into his waistband and had completely forgotten about. He decided not to cause a 700 person pile up by stopping to pick it up mid run.
Down towards and on to the Millenium bridge and a sharp left off it instead of actually crossing it, and down the quayside we went for a fair while down some fairly tight and narrow bits. It took a while to find your pace as you tried not to bump or run into others on the narrow bits and as always at the start mile people are running completely different speeds.
It was an out and back so after the first mile we had started on our way back towards the bridge again. I had set my pacer function on my watch for 8min 30sec miles as that was near my previous time on the older version of this course, I did this mainly as a guideline to see how I was doing compared to the previous attempt. I clocked near on 9mins 40secs for the first mile due to all the narrow spots and being stuck behind slower runners and also chatting to people I know on the way along.
On this return journey to the bridge the route opened up of runners so you could run in space, and I spotted Barry ahead so sped up to catch him up. The second mile clocked 7 min 40 secs which was a minute faster than target, but it meant the minute lost in the first mile was now regained and a comfy pace around 8min 30secs was now becoming possible as we again got to the Millenium bridge.
After crossing the bridge I then ran with Barry and a guy called Bill who it turned out was from Formby which is quite near my hometown of Southport. As we chatted about running as you do when your running, he asked if we were on the Running Discussion Group on Facebook. "Yes" replied Barry "and Les is too", pointing at me. "Are you Hoka Les?" he asked, I laughed and said "I guess so" I know I'm always recommending and wearing Hoka's lol.
The three of us ran the section out past Salt Ayre and back again and back towards the bridge again, we had hit the 10k mark by now and I was on 48 mins which was my 10k training pace, so I knew I needed to slow things down a bit. I said I'm stopping for a gel and a drink at the next stop, which turned out to be the bridge and I let them run ahead while I had a little breather walking across the bridge while taking in a gel and water, but not before another couple of photo ops, one from supporters Marina and Sal, and another from the other side of the bridge as I set off down the side of the river on my own.
Mid race...
After crossing the bridge I was now running along the side of the river and down the Lune Valley I think it was. This section is a long out and back section on walk/cycle path and often quite draining on the mind and legs. I was fortunate to catch up with Darren S at this point and ran with him for 3-4 miles as we chatted and had a catch up. We also kept passing a runner from Wigan Phoenix running club called Hayley. We all became aware that we were passing each other regularly so found it easier to run alongside each other instead while we all chatted about what marathons we were training for etc.
As we came past the 10 mile point we started to see a few runners walking back in the opposite direction all on their own, it appears they had each got an injury of sorts and had to make the painful decision to call it quits and return to the start/finish instead of running even further out on the course which at this point was heading in the opposite direction of the finish, it was practically the point of no return.
A little further on we hit another photo op, and one thing I like about this course and it's organisation is the abundance of photographers and good photo spots.
We did our best to time our approach to the next photographer at this particular point but he was a fair distance away so we are not really all smiling at the same time in the pics as we didn't want to be running 50 yards with a big cheesy grin on our faces.
Shortly after the next water stop Darren told me to run ahead if I wanted. I decided to do so and vaguely have an attempt to shorten the gap between me and Barry who was along way in front of me at this time. I wasn't even sure I could run much faster as it was only the 11 mile point and there was still another 2-3 miles to the last turn round point where we would be able to see how far people were ahead.
It was actually getting quite tiring by now and it was hard to see the runners on the return leg as for quite a while they run down a path alongside the road while we are running down the walk/cycle path. I did at one point see Barry going in the opposite direction but wasn't quite sure how far behind I was. I decided as I was getting tired that I wouldn't push it and decided to just get through the next 7 miles especially as I know had just hit the turn around point at 13+ miles.
I actually started to feel hungry at this point, this panicked me because when I feel hungry it normally means I've gone through a lot of my energy reserves and often light headedness and weakness ensues and sometimes I go really hot and dizzy.
This made me take my next gel at the next waterstop a little earlier than I would of done normally as I could still vaguely feel the last one in my stomach. This did help though and a little 2 minute stop at the waterstop to consume the gel and a half cup of water and have a stretch helped. In my previous visit here in 2014 I had completely crashed at 11 miles as I'd left my pre run fuel and gels in the boot of the car...oops!
I was aware though that I was several miles further on at this point due to the course change, and I was feeling better than 2014. I plodded on, as did those around me who appeared to consistently stay slightly ahead or behind me. the only time someone went past was when I stopped at water stops for water and actually stopping moving or walked for a bit, I would then subsequently speed up and overtake them again before settling in at a slow pace.
Final miles...
The final miles as always were fairly painful on the legs and as per usual I was getting all kinds of nasty little pains and twinges from my hamstring and the odd other niggle in other leg muscles as they started to complain about the distance involved. It was nothing new though, and the more you do these long runs the more you learn about your body and what it can and can't do, and more importantly, you learn that mentally as well as physically you CAN and WILL get through this because you have done it before and therefore know you are capable of it, and that makes you accountable to yourself, and as you are often you own toughest critic you have to succeed.As they say pain is temporary (or at least short lived) but quitting lasts forever! (You will remember your quitting or failure for years to come). Obviously if you are seriously injured you will have to quit, but you soon realise that was the right and justifiable choice to ensure you run again, that decision is always easy to live with.
I plodded on and looked at my watch with roughly 3 miles to go, and for the first time tried to work out if I could beat my time from 2014 which was a PB for the distance 2hr 51min it was. I was fairly certain this was not achievable as I was not in a position to speed up and I reckoned i was currently running 9 minute or so miles. This would put me nearer a 3hr finish at worst especially knowing I had a *** of a hill back up to the castle at the end and I figured I was going to have to walk up that.
The final mile finally arrived and I decided now that I did have a little left in the tank despite not taking my planned final gel at 2hrs 30min so was hoping the energy was still there. I pushed on and started to take back a few places of people who had gone past me but not really progressed much further ahead than that. I got past 3 or 4 before the final hill and with a bit of encouragement from the very loud lady with the cowbell (that would be Sharon B) and with a caped superhero called 'Powerman' stood at the bottom of the hill with his sign saying "Touch here for POWER!" I promptly received a power enriched high five and started to grind up the hill....
Hell this was not this long when we came down it surely.....I managed to grind up the hill and past 2 more people but the one person that had got past me in the later stages was also grinding up the hill and the same speed, so determined to beat them I carried on and jeopardized every last ounce of energy left in my legs as we hit the flat and then slight downhill at the top, my legs were now jelly like and I wasn't at the finish yet. I chased and we hit the cobble path up into the gates of the castle itself and I could now see not one but now 2 of the people that had gone past me, I may of been able to sprint the finish I wasn't sure, but I didn't want to be that one a**hole that sprints past women on the finish line just so he can beat them ( unless I know them and am actually racing them for a friendly pint, you know who you are :) ) I settled on just maintaining my speed and just crossing the line at the same time as one of them.
 |
| 2hr 52min finish, only 1 min slower than PB. |
Race over.....
Now it was time for rest, recovery, sit down and consume the entire contents of the goody bag whilst watching friends come in one by one out by the front of the castle. It was a great day out for the #cakersontour as we are starting to call ourselves ready for a year of running together at events around the North West and beyond. We had some great performances from our group, including Chemane who stormed her run, and also Sarah who is getting faster and faster at every event, and likewise Barry who is slowly destroying all my PB's one by one.
I am extremely proud of all the efforts of the members of my charity group which currently stands at 90 members and am thankful of their fundraising efforts as they have currently raised just short of £2400 over the last 57 weeks by paying 50p forfeits every time they miss a pledged run, and by making donations when they achieve a new PB as a way of celebrating. It's amazing how it all mounts up, and I know all 5 of our nominated charities appreciate our efforts, long may it continue and long may the cakers rule, and I think we can safely say the #cakersontour has officially commenced with the Trimpell20!
http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/team/runorcake
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