tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28939176230019421872024-03-05T02:14:10.304-08:00Road To Sub 20The greatest running bet of all time. Three amateur runners stake their reputations on being the first to complete a parkrun in under 20 minutes. Who will succeed? Answer: Tommy, then Adrian, then Mark.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12429986152797474599noreply@blogger.comBlogger23125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2893917623001942187.post-13202119565401770082019-01-03T06:02:00.001-08:002019-01-03T06:02:04.959-08:00Retrospective 2018 wager updateThe 2018 wager was who could knock the most off their all-time parkrun PB. Adrian was the only one who managed to beat their all-time PB in 2018 so scooped the whole pot.<br />
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The next wager is still in the development phase. More info to come.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12429986152797474599noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2893917623001942187.post-71355600156080340642018-09-30T02:14:00.000-07:002018-09-30T02:16:32.325-07:00Parkrun Standard Scratch Score (SSS) Maprunbritainrankings.com occasionally publish the standard scratch scores of parkruns (most recently <a href="https://www.runbritain.com/news/course-rankings-stimulates-much-discussion-amongst-the-parkrun-community" target="_blank"><b>here</b></a>). I want to find the <strike>easiest</strike> fastest parkrun near me so that I can dominate my friends.<br />
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Therefore, here is a map of all the parkrun SSS's mapped:<br />
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<a href="https://www.mapcustomizer.com/map/Parkrun%20Standard%20Scratch%20Score%20(SSS)" target="_blank"><b>Parkrun SSS Map</b></a></div>
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The locations of all parkruns will not be exact because the plotted point is just the name of the parkrun, not the exact parkrun location (e.g. 'Stratford-upon-Avon', not 'Recreation Ground, Swans Nest Lane, Stratford upon Avon').<br />
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The numbers indicate the ranking on runbritainrankings.com's SSS list.<br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12429986152797474599noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2893917623001942187.post-30638022169386593812016-07-25T13:59:00.001-07:002016-07-25T13:59:07.855-07:003x1 Mile Relay<p dir="ltr">The #roadtosub20 team put in another EPIC relay performance today at Battersea park.</p> <p dir="ltr">The time was in the region of 16:45, but official times will be released tomorrow. A sleepless night of anticipation awaits us all.</p> Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12429986152797474599noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2893917623001942187.post-50285968727553404402016-06-25T04:48:00.001-07:002016-06-25T04:50:55.982-07:00100 Parkruns for AdrianWell done to Adrian on achieving 100 parkruns! Excellent dedication.<br />
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<a href="http://www.parkrun.org.uk/hillyfields/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=203">Hilly Fields Results</a><br />
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12429986152797474599noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2893917623001942187.post-48457843269355220182016-03-19T03:31:00.000-07:002016-03-20T02:33:27.027-07:00Goodbye Devil Shoes<div class="mobile-photo">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhN1ncXKR9t7-l9f77aqJR2KSlySN6pOVFMIq1BrLJDGFdnRCniHa0oYSYEtI7xSVRPS8TIayA1nLGY5yhP-QAZ94l9cpb04M_WM2rYK6RJukcSf4R1ncGv0RGNySD8Zfmx97HpkBqX-kpr/s1600/IMG_20160314_175850-722012.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_6263709535964621970" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhN1ncXKR9t7-l9f77aqJR2KSlySN6pOVFMIq1BrLJDGFdnRCniHa0oYSYEtI7xSVRPS8TIayA1nLGY5yhP-QAZ94l9cpb04M_WM2rYK6RJukcSf4R1ncGv0RGNySD8Zfmx97HpkBqX-kpr/s320/IMG_20160314_175850-722012.jpg" /></a></div>
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The friendly new trainers</h3>
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I did my first park run in my new trainers today and I'm pleased to report that the skin on my feet is all intact. </div>
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Stupid cursed trainers are on the way to charity.</div>
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Good riddance!!</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12429986152797474599noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2893917623001942187.post-31394088232573034302015-06-29T16:06:00.001-07:002015-06-29T16:07:32.129-07:00parkrun tourism and why I want to win one*** I'd like to start this blog post by preempting the pedants amongst the readers. I am aware that parkrun is a run and not a race. If I accidentally call it a race, I do so meaning a race against oneself or a race against friends. It is, after all, these friendships and the rivalries forged from them that drive many of us to self improvement. That is the spirt of #RoadToSub20 ***<br />
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The apartment and ferry were booked, we were to drive down towards Bordeaux to a small town called Saint-Quentin-de-Baron where we would have our first holiday as a family, the wife, the child and I. Naturally I'd packed my trainers and some suitably luminous T-shirts with the plan to slip out early on the occasional morning to log some scenic miles. "Will you do parkrun in France?" she asked. The thought hadn't even occurred to me to check if France was a participating country. As it turns out, it is.<br />
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<a href="http://www.parkrun.fr/lesdougnes/">Les Dougnes</a> is the first parkrun in France and as luck would have it only an hours drive from where we were staying. It was settled, I would get my weekly parkrun fix. With a little further investigation, as one does, it became apparent that Les Dougnes parkrun had been started just two weeks prior to our family break, another happy coincidence, at this rate people will start to think that I planned our holiday around this 5k run (For the record, and if anyone will believe me, I didn't).<br />
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A quick glance at the previous results showed that there were 12 participants on the inaugural run and just a single runner on the second outing. Initially it was the thought of being part of a fledgling event in a country that had not had the pleasure of the parkrun spirit that got me excited. But when I saw the times I got a pang of intrigue. The first place finisher on the first week did so in a time of 20'42", that same athlete was then the sole runner on the second week with a time of 35'57". My progress recently has seen me post times edging towards 20 minutes and so my mind turned to going for the win. There were several factors to consider, what would the terrain be like? Was this mystery athlete on form on his first outing or just coasting? Would he even be there? Upon reflection these were all out of my control so I decided to prep well and see what happened on the day.<br />
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This desire to win got me thinking, I've always been fairly competitive but why did I want to get the first place finishers token so much? It wasn't the thrill of going toe to toe with another runner, we all love a good burn up on the finishing straight but there were too many unknown factors for that to be the answer. I boiled it down to this - I'm into the stats of my running (I'm sure readers of this blog know this already), and coming first would be an absolute. I often check my performances on <a href="http://www.thepowerof10.info/">Power of 10</a> and <a href="http://www.runbritainrankings.com/">Run Britain</a> to see where I came, top 50% of the field, top 20% top 10%, and have revelled in improving over the unnamed masses over the last year. But regardless of the competition, to come first would be a tick in a box of achievements. Please don't think of me as naive, I'm aware that there will always be faster runners out there, lots of them, but for my own game of collecting stats, winning was something I wanted to do.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNHwPrLMksLrAPCgn-MZ_4waqrVLwiPxoqXVNs0sQbAtS6IjjSuJowewloatfMzvCPk_4-62HTkTrD8vPfDkIAQHOjVM4bbvMvvzA2WlJ5WuUdrijXY-MJh_JvRNk-JVb_4gc_qBRrieU/s1600/IMG_3581.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="265" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNHwPrLMksLrAPCgn-MZ_4waqrVLwiPxoqXVNs0sQbAtS6IjjSuJowewloatfMzvCPk_4-62HTkTrD8vPfDkIAQHOjVM4bbvMvvzA2WlJ5WuUdrijXY-MJh_JvRNk-JVb_4gc_qBRrieU/s400/IMG_3581.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A quartet of runners.</td></tr>
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There was yet another happy coincidence, fellow Hilly Field parkrunner and Kent ACer <a href="https://twitter.com/DPDevlin">David Devlin</a> and his wife were in France and due to Les Dournes too. How about that for a stroke of luck.<br />
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Les Dougnes is easy to find, it's right next to the massive electrical sub-station just as it says on their web page. What I'd failed to read on the webpage was that park runs across the channel start at 8:30am! I thought I'd left plenty of time so rocked up at a leisurely 8:30ish only to see Dave gesticulating for me to hurry up. "Come on, they were gonna start but I saw you pull up in the car park so I got them to wait for you'. Realising the error in my ways I got myself ready and dashed over to the starting point where I meet <a href="https://twitter.com/parkrun_anita">Anita</a> who was run directing and her partner Alex (The mystery athlete). A quick introduction, a well rehearsed run briefing and we were off.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcMnuMVDzt0mTtm5pXLc7nJaQpZdn9JVGH369L25uYQtMdpz7zf4DkHWAZwfj4Vnm2vZTT_kvHkmGurCXh6YDPPgx3dPVKDpXi5N0xFmn4JbfEPjgc3gnXb2_G1Hsn-aQ3ofw0D6DzpXE/s1600/IMG_3589.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="273" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcMnuMVDzt0mTtm5pXLc7nJaQpZdn9JVGH369L25uYQtMdpz7zf4DkHWAZwfj4Vnm2vZTT_kvHkmGurCXh6YDPPgx3dPVKDpXi5N0xFmn4JbfEPjgc3gnXb2_G1Hsn-aQ3ofw0D6DzpXE/s400/IMG_3589.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">On our way - The group is made up of 75% Hilly Fields parkrunners</td></tr>
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The course is a 3 lapper, with mildly undulating terrain consisting of 90% sun drenched gravel track and 10% woodland trail. Even ay 8:30 it was HOT! Anita and Alex were excellent hosts, they'd even brought tea and coffee with them so that after the run we could head to the shaded woodland area there there were picnic benches. Anita told us that she's not promoted this run in any way yet wanting to iron out any kinks before too many people get wind of it. Also seems like a good idea to me to start it out in the sticks where it can grow organically rather than Bordeaux where it would very much be under the spotlight. I have every confidence that this run will grow as Anita intends it too and if the welcome we received is anything to go by then I'm sure is will easily become one of the friendliest parkruns out there.<br />
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And to the results... I did indeed win my first parkrun. Don't believe me? Here's a pic of the first place finishers token.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj35TBjLXCb0Il8JEeBNJUBau079M_dOKHRCEtUSo5Tf6w-4DxYcYhJW0ReGbfVUE2vCUMVQRm-AGzW94BGZbZS_Myd4-unACPsOUCbJ5UC5t74owjt37fylquqPou0VU_2A34UvhxJK2Y/s1600/IMG_1228.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj35TBjLXCb0Il8JEeBNJUBau079M_dOKHRCEtUSo5Tf6w-4DxYcYhJW0ReGbfVUE2vCUMVQRm-AGzW94BGZbZS_Myd4-unACPsOUCbJ5UC5t74owjt37fylquqPou0VU_2A34UvhxJK2Y/s320/IMG_1228.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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Still don't believe me? Check out the <a href="http://www.parkrun.fr/lesdougnes/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=3">Results page.</a></div>
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Alex may not have been aware of the race he was in that day but he really helped me enjoy the experience by pushing me all the way. I'm also pleased to report that Alex's course record remains intact, did I mention it was very hot? Maybe next time eh?</div>
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Fantastic day, great people, milestone achieved. All in all a memorable holiday experience.</div>
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Please don't forget you can sponsor me to run the Berlin Marathon in September at my <a href="https://www.justgiving.com/AdrianRunsBerlin">Just Giving Page.</a></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00954008370154075891noreply@blogger.com20tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2893917623001942187.post-51430285672974151212015-04-21T11:15:00.002-07:002015-04-21T11:15:55.510-07:002nd attempt at Sub 20<div style="text-align: justify;">
While Adrian was <a href="http://www.roadtosub20.com/2015/04/1st-attempt-at-sub-20.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">trying (and failing) at a sub 20 attempt</span></a>, I found myself running in the extremely difficult, but picturesque <a href="http://www.parkrun.org.uk/ashton-court/course/" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Ashton Court parkrun</span></a>. 2.5km uphill, turn around, 2.5km downhill. One of the good points of a simplistic course like that, is that it makes for interesting split times: a glance of the stopwatch at halfway revealed I’d taken 13.20 to get to the top of the hill. My finishing time? 23.16. </div>
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So with that knowledge, it should be immediately clear to the reader that I had abandoned much hope of winning this bet long ago. Bar some long term injury, or horrific mid-race attack involving a dangerous escapee from London Zoo, both my competitors were too far ahead for me to ever mount a competitive challenge. I could point to my <a href="http://www.roadtosub20.com/2014/10/the-importance-of-infection-control.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">prolonged absence from exercise</span></a> as an excuse, and there is some truth in that (in the parkrun directly before my operation I was only 20 seconds behind Adrian), but that only tells a small part of the story. In truth, Adrian’s dedication had been his biggest asset; probably putting in more effort than Tommy and I put together. He deserved to win the pot for that alone. </div>
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In addition, he’d conducted himself with good grace (with the exception of his <a href="http://www.roadtosub20.com/2015/01/pounding-pavement.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">shenanigans at Peckham</span></a>). I’ll admit to being disappointed when I saw he had missed the mark by just 10 seconds. </div>
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So it was with some excitement that I joined him on the start line of Fulham Palace parkun. Adrian was planning another assault on the sub 20 barrier, and had extended this invite to Tommy and I.
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Both of us had accepted, but Tommy admitted to “being nervous that Adrian was going to win the pot all week.” So sure was he that he’d brought along a mini bottle of Prosecco as a surprise to celebrate Adrian’s achievement. </div>
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There was a reason he chose that particular venue. That corner of west London is particularly flat, and rumour had it that the course is fast. </div>
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The rumours are true.</div>
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I kept on Adrian's heels for as long as I could (roughly 1km) but eventually I had to surrender ground and run my own race.</div>
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So the second attempt at a sub 20 time was well underway, and Adrian had settled into his pace. Infact that is incorrect: Adrian had settled into a pace he couldn't maintain. I crossed the line to see him lying breathless in the morning sun. "I detonated" he exclaimed, pointing to his time of 20.10. </div>
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So that was that...Except it wasn't.</div>
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Next to Adrian was an even more breathless Tommy. It turns out that the threat of Adrian winning was enough to spur him on to an outstanding performance, surprising everyone with a stellar time of 19.40.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhL-6VweUzOZT174zVvevziponYvU6dCxekm_Q-rdCHGBdi9_2tyjIKIh3IR7H2fuf3VsgtopnC0SBF6yzf1b82TrNxhtUxrI1w0TeDeQryGYkgQK163up_AlWmvyh8bq-pEOBVfLxgBFE/s1600/sub+20.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhL-6VweUzOZT174zVvevziponYvU6dCxekm_Q-rdCHGBdi9_2tyjIKIh3IR7H2fuf3VsgtopnC0SBF6yzf1b82TrNxhtUxrI1w0TeDeQryGYkgQK163up_AlWmvyh8bq-pEOBVfLxgBFE/s1600/sub+20.JPG" height="226" width="320" /></a></div>
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Tommy hadn't so much broken the 20 minute barrier, but had flamboyantly smashed it into pieces, and rebuilt it in his own form.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Tommy celebrating in front of some bags...obviously</td></tr>
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So after exactly 40 weeks the pot is won, in a most surprising fashion. Or maybe it's not surprising...Tommy was the <a href="http://www.roadtosub20.com/2014/08/the-story-so-far.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">fastest when we started the bet</span></a>. Perhaps, after all this we've learnt nothing?</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1L8ehuPkU_t4kIcItWIwQUdqRY_tynNVzuMZMeWGmg9KscHB8CnQrWa0eNFeEkG1pLib26Qrf0zMmSzvZVkV9ssz2OsoydKgc4nqOvfbEc4OnrIEJIXme2VNBcZqiJ7YobeR1mVlbI8A/s1600/Tom+celebrating.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1L8ehuPkU_t4kIcItWIwQUdqRY_tynNVzuMZMeWGmg9KscHB8CnQrWa0eNFeEkG1pLib26Qrf0zMmSzvZVkV9ssz2OsoydKgc4nqOvfbEc4OnrIEJIXme2VNBcZqiJ7YobeR1mVlbI8A/s1600/Tom+celebrating.JPG" height="320" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">'Champagne' celebration</td></tr>
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I'm being flippant of course. I can only speak personally, but the past 40 weeks have changed the way I think about my health, from how much exercise I do, to what I eat. I thought I was in reasonable shape before; it turns out I was wrong</div>
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Now, the question moves on to 'What next?' All three of us have decided it's easier (and more inspiring), to think of a new challenge rather than cancel the direct debit.</div>
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This Friday, we take to the pub to discuss how we can structure our new challenge. All ideas welcome.</div>
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The sun doesn't set on <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23roadtosub20&src=typd" style="color: blue;" target="_blank">#RoadtoSub20</a>, like all amateur athletes, we just move on to the next target.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEge7vnz-PZIHZh65OhTcQddQLh2K2Wv1OuL1fRpf5J9FPFsuvvtJZmov8AFUh_WYb4wZCL0HY1wp5XTwgckYPxpq7cHlfmLBdumT-fmZcUTwAXYiECB60ypdZDhsdEFvI2p44pgUtz3UAI/s1600/FP+finish.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEge7vnz-PZIHZh65OhTcQddQLh2K2Wv1OuL1fRpf5J9FPFsuvvtJZmov8AFUh_WYb4wZCL0HY1wp5XTwgckYPxpq7cHlfmLBdumT-fmZcUTwAXYiECB60ypdZDhsdEFvI2p44pgUtz3UAI/s1600/FP+finish.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The #RoadtoSub20 athletes, with a couple of partners. All except Adrian ran a PB</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10993321049210349376noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2893917623001942187.post-73471314570343048812015-04-17T13:15:00.001-07:002015-04-17T13:15:22.361-07:001st attempt at Sub 20When this <a href="http://www.roadtosub20.com/2014/08/how-it-all-began.html">bet</a> was made back in July 2014 a part of me thought that one, if not all of us would probably knock this milestone off within a few months. How hard could it be to shave 2-3 minutes off our 5k time? It seems my optimism was misplaced as we find ourselves in April with still no real assault on our goal. This was all about to change.<br />
<br />
On the eve of parkrun day I declared to <a href="https://twitter.com/BrockleyPoker/status/584041241442185217">Twitter</a> that I would be making my first attempt to run a 19 minute something seconds 5k. The plan was to run at Burgess parkrun on Saturday 4th April, a course recommended to me by Neil, one of my Kent AC running buddies (Who incidentally writes a great blog on running history <a href="http://go-feet.blogspot.co.uk/">here</a>). Burgess parkrun is flat, very flat indeed, so it really lends itself to quick times.<br />
<br />
To avoid public humiliation I had to go quick given that it was out there on social media. I was sure that a shoot and a miss would be forgiven but if I detonated and missed by a long way, any ridicule would be deserved. So what do you do when you're PB hunting? You follow the routine. This consists of the following steps:<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>Avoid all alcohol</li>
<li>Keep hydrated</li>
<li>Sleep well (If the child will allow it)</li>
<li>Get up at 7:00am</li>
<li>Eat cereal & drink tea</li>
<li>Stretch well</li>
<li>Don't be late</li>
</ul>
<div>
I stuck to the routine and toed the start line raring to go. I was conscious not to get stuck at any pinch points so set off fast. I carried this speed through the first mile and was surprised to see that I'd covered it 6'01". The pace I was aiming for was 6'26" minute miles so I knew I'd done too much, too soon. This became very apparent on the next mile where I barely managed to keep it under 7 minutes. As I came to the finish straight, about 400m on this particular course, I tried to up the pace again but I had nothing left. It was all I could do to stumble across the line, no sprint finish in sight.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFnCqyF8380JnziWPafMmxaFlJR3VZ2k8I4srUVkl11E3i8AZw6_39diLbequDpQqGnyiN72wn3gIzxyaMtaC7UsJBCaJsj0hKc-96coD_ovEny7UDIaYbwgH8DNIyjb-1bqqRmN0_z-I/s1600/FullSizeRender.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFnCqyF8380JnziWPafMmxaFlJR3VZ2k8I4srUVkl11E3i8AZw6_39diLbequDpQqGnyiN72wn3gIzxyaMtaC7UsJBCaJsj0hKc-96coD_ovEny7UDIaYbwgH8DNIyjb-1bqqRmN0_z-I/s1600/FullSizeRender.jpg" height="320" width="320" /></a></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
The time stared back at me. I'd missed my mark by 10 seconds. I'd assumed I'd feel disappointed should I fail my first attempt at Sub 20, but I didn't. Instead I felt pleased that I'd been so close and that there were still improvements to make.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Next on the hit list is Fulham Palace parkrun, another fast flat course. The three of us are heading there tomorrow for a showdown. The routine will be implemented. Will the bet be over or will we have to wait?</div>
<br />
<br />
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00954008370154075891noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2893917623001942187.post-68128382227117675532015-03-15T14:46:00.001-07:002015-03-15T14:46:22.575-07:00The Berlin Marathon<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">I wasn’t going to enter a marathon this
year.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I didn’t, and still don’t, know if
my legs have got it in them to run 26.2 miles.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>However, I found myself signing up to the 2015 Berlin Marathon in September.
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’ve always thought I would someday run
a marathon, even before I became a runner.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It’s always been one of those things on my ‘must do’ list, but the more
I got into running the more unachievable the distance seemed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I mean, to sustain a decent pace for such a
long duration would take a monumental amount of training.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So why sign up now?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And why on earth Berlin?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Readers of this blog (we must be nearing
double figures now) may be wondering what all this talk of marathoning has to
do with the #RoadToSub20, in short it has everything to do with it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>On that fateful night when the parameters of
the bet were set, Mark, Tommy and I were keen parkrunners.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I can only speak for myself but I rarely
considered any races that could be classed as long distance.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The bet has inspired all three of us to try
to explore increasingly radical strategies to improve our running. We’ve
implemented interval training and upped the length of our long runs in a bid to
reduce our times.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So without parkrun and
without our friendly wager, I’d most likely not have made my foray into long
distance running at all.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Training has been going well, I feel the
strongest I’ve ever felt. Combine that with my desire to one day run a marathon
and I found myself hitting the submit entry button.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I always thought it would be the London
Marathon but Berlin was there with the right timing for me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Who wants to train through the winter
anyway?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The good lady wife ‘er indoors
asked ‘Did you sign up to Berlin because Dennis Kimetto just got the world
record there and you think that you’ll get a better time on a fast course?’
Well no, not really, maybe a tiny bit yes, but mostly because the timing is
right and Berlin is a fantastic city and I quite fancy an adventure.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">I’ll be running for the British Heart
Foundation. This was an easy choice for me because I had open-heart surgery as
a baby so I feel a huge affinity towards the charity and would like to in a
very small way show my appreciation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
reality is that without the surgery I wouldn’t have been able to walk down the
street without being out of breath let alone run parkruns each week or enter a
marathon.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If you would like to sponsor
me please visit my <a href="https://www.justgiving.com/AdrianRunsBerlin">Just Giving donation page</a>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I would be so grateful if anyone who reads this chooses to donate on my
behalf.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">So there it is; by reading this blog you’ll
be updated on the road to sub 20 bet and my marathon training. An enticing
prospect I’m sure!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00954008370154075891noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2893917623001942187.post-74325465576875933582015-03-12T09:49:00.001-07:002015-03-12T09:49:25.077-07:00Another lesson learntBar six years living on the west coast of Scotland, all of my growing up was done in West Sussex. Despite speaking with an accent that can only be described as 'hybrid' I would class myself as south coast through and through. And I'm proud of it. I love the county of my birth (it is truly beautiful and I would recommend it to anyone), however these days I feel that after 15+ years of living there I've seen most of what it has to offer. There are plenty of other areas within the UK that command my attention now.<br />
<br />
In fact there are only two real reasons that I continue to visit Sussex:<br />
<ol>
<li>The fact that a number of friends and family live there</li>
<li>Harvey's Best Bitter</li>
</ol>
<div>
At about twenty past nine last Saturday morning I was cursing the latter, as I lumbered round <a href="http://www.parkrun.org.uk/bognorregis/course/" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Bognor Regis parkrun</span></a>. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
The night before whilst making a trip back home, I had been delighted to see it on tap in the local, planning to have just two or three with a mind to getting an early night and giving my all at the run. But like a hoppy, yeasty Siren it lured me onto the proverbial rocks.<br />
<br />
To continue the Homeric references, in this case (as with so many other times in my life), poor preparation was my Achilles heel. Was it just my imagination or were people giving my a wide berth as they overtook me?</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
By Road to Sub 20 standards my time was little more than pedestrian, and certainly not likely to worry my competitors. But perhaps I should consider it as a lesson learnt and move on.<br />
<br />
Adrian also slowed down, not through alcohol, but instead because of his most recent investment: a running buggy enabling his daughter to join him while he runs.<br />
<br />
Tommy didn't run, mainly I suspect, as I was not around to give him a lift to the parkrun. It strikes me that I may be shooting myself in the foot with my generosity here.<br />
<br />
All in all, a slow week for the Road to Sub 20 gang, or perhaps putting a positive spin on it: a week of consolidation, before mounting a big push?</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10993321049210349376noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2893917623001942187.post-40486526395986580252015-02-23T12:55:00.001-08:002015-02-23T12:55:34.017-08:00Sticky wickets and swinging conditions<div style="text-align: justify;">
On Saturday 14th February, Adrian crossed the line at <a href="http://www.parkrun.org.uk/hillyfields/" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Hilly Fields parkrun</span></a> some distance ahead of Tommy and I. What's more, he had achieved a significant milestone, and one that was worth celebrating.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbv2LUcmP3Z35Ack7VKZ-CVm5CixIqjGlp3NyxYiVR8qAY2pCrm8EU4z8E_GKTH9o2-_K0bCe26xcDGqs2FE3VyEvTiMV0WbXmX1zWE4V59ULsyWTASUtx-RzYM_MjBjXc4jHGCMCebGY/s1600/photo-2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbv2LUcmP3Z35Ack7VKZ-CVm5CixIqjGlp3NyxYiVR8qAY2pCrm8EU4z8E_GKTH9o2-_K0bCe26xcDGqs2FE3VyEvTiMV0WbXmX1zWE4V59ULsyWTASUtx-RzYM_MjBjXc4jHGCMCebGY/s1600/photo-2.JPG" height="320" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Adrian celebrating, in the only appropriate way</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
All will become clear, but first, let me take you back a couple of steps.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Anyone who has spent any extended period of time in my company will know that I am a fan of cricket. However, like most other sports that I try my hand at, I can, at best, be described as an enthusiastic amateur. In spite of this, I've kept at it for more than 20 years with highs (a handful of game changing bowling spells) and lows (<a href="http://www.krcsc.co.uk/pickle-wins-by-a-whisker/" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">being beaten by a kitten in the captaincy election for my club</span></a>). In fact, my life through my twenties could be described as the quest for three sporting achievements:</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<ol>
<li>Completing a round of golf in less than 100 shots (achieved - last year after an imperious 94)</li>
<li>Running a 5k in less than 20 minutes (not achieved - as this blog will testify)</li>
<li>Scoring 50 runs in a cricket match (not achieved - despite a few close efforts)</li>
</ol>
<div>
As far as I am concerned, I cannot depart this Earth until all three of these have been ticked off.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
In a sense, Adrian mixed a couple of these achievements into one on Valentine's day, by completing his 50th parkrun. He had been holding off on running parkruns, until he could do it his spiritual running home (the aforementioned Hilly Fields - which, incidentally, is both hilly and muddy).</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
To use cricketing terminology, he made his half century, raised his bat, acknowledged applause from the crowd, re-marked his guard, and set about patiently building a big score.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Fittingly, he beat Tommy and I, with all three of us struggling with the underfoot conditions. But even he could only manage 23.08. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
A long way to go until the sub 20 promised land, but Adrian's domination continues.</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10993321049210349376noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2893917623001942187.post-34349398761538680932015-02-13T14:44:00.002-08:002015-02-13T14:44:25.345-08:00Road to Sub 25For the past couple of weeks I have been the only one of the Road to Sub 20 trio that has been participating in parkruns. Adrian has declined to take part, for reasons too complex to go into here, and Tommy has been laid up after sustaining a knee injury from his <a href="http://www.roadtosub20.com/2015/01/pounding-pavement.html"><span style="color: blue;">fall at Peckham.</span></a><br />
<br />
To be honest, there's nothing particularly exciting about this...I've run a couple of decent PBs and it's allowed me to get closer to the competition. But that is about all to report.<br />
<br />
So last Saturday, attention moved to a less well publicised challenge. Regular readers of this blog may have read between the lines and deciphered that Tommy, Adrian and I all have partners. These are patient souls who put up with the three of us discussing tactics, statistics and any other nerdy items that take our fancy. <br />
<br />
The WAGs (or, in truth FWAGs, ever since one of them became a fiance), also take part in parkruns to a greater or lesser extent, and over the <a href="http://www.roadtosub20.com/2015/01/new-year-prosecco-and-parkrun.html"><span style="color: blue;">New Year holiday</span></a> discussed a little side challenge, dubbed with the working title of Road to Sub 25. It won't surprise the reader to learn that the task is to run a parkrun in less than 25 minutes.<br />
<br />
Despite the boys trying to encourage an element of competition to it, Road to Sub 25 is strictly a friendly affair...or so it seems to the the casual observer. You see, I live with one of these ladies, and I have first hand experience of how competitive she is. I also have my suspicions about the other two being just as keen to win.<br />
<br />
And so, there was some excitement as I lined up alongside the FWAGs, at my local park run in <a href="http://www.parkrun.org.uk/brockwell/course/"><span style="color: blue;">Brockwell Park</span></a> with Tommy and Adrian on the sidelines cheering us on.<br />
<br />
As we usually see, competition drives strong performance, and in this instance it brought the best out of the ladies, with a combined total of 4 minutes and 29 seconds taken of their PBs.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYregGokSG34r9oCNvO8TjULVgiZfSiqyJCqVTX5bpwb1NUkO_cRwekm52Uz2Py2jkqbBjVVloAJL2D1jMDy3EauhbONEvPV1_xMOzoGeghkQGQB0KH4vWRFC7JY5egTgnEIf20hRYmA8/s1600/photo.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYregGokSG34r9oCNvO8TjULVgiZfSiqyJCqVTX5bpwb1NUkO_cRwekm52Uz2Py2jkqbBjVVloAJL2D1jMDy3EauhbONEvPV1_xMOzoGeghkQGQB0KH4vWRFC7JY5egTgnEIf20hRYmA8/s1600/photo.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The FWAGs post race</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
I'm pleased to say that my partner was the first of the three to cross the cross the line, in a time of 25.55, so at least one of us is performing well in our competition.<br />
<br />
The questions is, will the Sub 25 challenge be achieved before the Road to Sub 20? The answer: probably.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10993321049210349376noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2893917623001942187.post-82409859457646582902015-01-26T14:11:00.001-08:002015-01-26T14:11:21.797-08:00Pounding the pavement<div style="text-align: justify;">
When folk from outside London think of Peckham, images of Nelson Mandela House spring to mind. In fact, like most of the capital's suburbs, the area has been somewhat gentrified and is home to <a href="http://www.parkrun.org.uk/peckhamrye/course/" style="color: blue;">Peckham Rye Parkrun</a>, a flat, winding run through an Arboretum and over the River Peck.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
It was at this location on a cold Saturday in January that we three competitors met up for the first time since our <a href="http://www.roadtosub20.com/2015/01/new-year-prosecco-and-parkrun.html"><span style="color: blue;">New Year's antics</span></a>. All three of us were doing well, with Adrian and I setting PBs regularly, and Tommy having equalled his best time of 21 minutes dead just the week before.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
So tension was high; it was unlikely that the pot would be won today, but someone could set down a strong marker. We lined up at the start with 114 other runners, like greyhounds waiting for the traps to open.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
The starter released us and we stormed off. The pace was quick, and we would not be able to sustain it, but the adrenaline was pumping. 40 metres after the start, and Adrian was two paces ahead of Tommy, who was two paces ahead of me. We were in the leading pack with 5 or 6 other runners all jostling for position. This was shaping up to be an exciting race.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
And then: disaster.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
In front of me, I saw a tangle of legs. Tommy had got caught up with another runner, he stumbled...and then recovered...and then stumbled again. Seconds felt like minutes, as Tommy desperately tried to keep his footing, but to no avail. His knee was the first thing to hit the ground. His knuckles followed, as his hand went down to prevent his face hitting the tarmac. A quick roll, and he was on his back, facing the oncoming runners.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
I stopped to help him up (along with other runners). Notable by his absence was Adrian. He had sped off, taking full advantage of the chaos. He was later quoted as saying: "I knew something was going on behind me, but I thought: 'There are plenty of other people who can deal with it', so I kept on running."</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgT6I4WcU6_nhKEwiDx8ehXugB72ShGpYrKKs93swwbKQakrqXWS1wU65G9Ot1WB65qm9SOrVpco1UZL9_lNFFMUSU97Uq7bmeRhvaF2_av5qbB_uAGKcxbiDIzyjjfgVvTIo71uclrx44/s1600/image-2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgT6I4WcU6_nhKEwiDx8ehXugB72ShGpYrKKs93swwbKQakrqXWS1wU65G9Ot1WB65qm9SOrVpco1UZL9_lNFFMUSU97Uq7bmeRhvaF2_av5qbB_uAGKcxbiDIzyjjfgVvTIo71uclrx44/s1600/image-2.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Tommy's war wound no. 1</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Unsurprisingly, Adrian went on to record the fastest time of the three of us. In fact it was the fastest time that any of us have ever recorded, the first time any of the three of us have run under 21 minutes. It was a hollow victory though, as he will forever be remembered for abandoning his friend. Strictly speaking, he didn't break any of the rules of the competition (you can check the rules <a href="http://www.roadtosub20.com/2014/08/how-it-all-began.html"><span style="color: blue;">here</span></a>), but what price integrity, honour and companionship?</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwk66Ks95YjYQumbNWD93rXTNBWiQwk2nJ72BDRX5ZKUSf46hPhz5mxnlC0Zoq50YqB45fconw6dA21gYVoKUd19BvanCyTvSfiFAYHwqVk9a7bWcXCuUcbpDMkiw8lqphbpzJ3bisO1U/s1600/image-3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwk66Ks95YjYQumbNWD93rXTNBWiQwk2nJ72BDRX5ZKUSf46hPhz5mxnlC0Zoq50YqB45fconw6dA21gYVoKUd19BvanCyTvSfiFAYHwqVk9a7bWcXCuUcbpDMkiw8lqphbpzJ3bisO1U/s1600/image-3.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Tommy's war wound no. 2</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
Tommy recovered to run 21.46, and I finished a minute behind (blaming it on a mix of my good samaritan work with Tommy, and the five pints of beer the night before).<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAVrVsrKSuFyznnTGeigxQQD50wA0tX4PBc5TMuZSnq1i8CUEeAP30I0XRQm3JAqv59x990FSQ3VXdPBM-xbURk_erop_DFwItyrmZ6ebLJJ1jNGTUlzwEQ2m1-6bZKtsPQn1n48EkUF4/s1600/image-4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAVrVsrKSuFyznnTGeigxQQD50wA0tX4PBc5TMuZSnq1i8CUEeAP30I0XRQm3JAqv59x990FSQ3VXdPBM-xbURk_erop_DFwItyrmZ6ebLJJ1jNGTUlzwEQ2m1-6bZKtsPQn1n48EkUF4/s1600/image-4.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Road to Sub 20 competitors; with my future wife (who also ran a PB)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
So, in conclusion, pantomime villain Adrian is in pole position, but who knows what Tommy would have recorded had he remained on his feet. As for me: must try harder.<br /><br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10993321049210349376noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2893917623001942187.post-85433763005996987422015-01-24T07:40:00.000-08:002015-01-24T23:31:37.706-08:00New Year: Prosecco and Parkrun<div style="text-align: justify;">
So after Christmas, came New Year's (as is traditional) and I suppose we should let you know how things progressed...and only three weeks late!</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
As it happens, Adrian, Tommy and I all spent the week surrounding NYE together. You may have images of some intensive training camp at high altitude; in actual fact the opposite was true: a week in the Cotswolds consuming wine and cheese. Of course, we were not there alone. The group totalled a dozen people, and it didn't take long for the three of us to bore everyone who would listen about the latest time we'd posted and (in my case at least), the series of unfortunate circumstances that meant I wasn't as fast as I should be.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-YCDZfNCo1N4/VMO5P5i0_xI/AAAAAAAAAA8/fG_fT4WZabw/s1600/image.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-YCDZfNCo1N4/VMO5P5i0_xI/AAAAAAAAAA8/fG_fT4WZabw/s1600/image.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The gang out for a wintery run in the 'Wolds</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
And of course, the competitive element continued with two opportunities for Parkruns while we were there.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
The first of these was on New Year's Day itself. Despite the <strike>epic board game sessions</strike> late night revelry of the evening before, Adrian and I headed out into the rain to try out <a href="http://www.parkrun.org.uk/chippenham/course/"><span style="color: blue;">Chippenham Parkrun</span></a>, a nice, but extremely muddy run alongside the bank of the river Avon. Spurred on by his <a href="http://www.roadtosub20.com/2014/12/christmas-day-parkrun.html"><span style="color: blue;">heroics over Christmas</span></a>, Adrian stormed home in 22.25. Despite registering my second sub 23 minute time a few days before (at the beautiful <a href="http://www.parkrun.org.uk/whitleybay/course/"><span style="color: blue;">Whitley Bay Parkrun</span></a>), I could only finish 80 seconds behind. Given the conditions though, we were both pleased with our performance. In case you were wondering, Tommy spent the morning in bed.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
The following Saturday, all three of us made it to <a href="http://www.parkrun.org.uk/cheltenham/course/"><span style="color: blue;">Cheltenham Parkrun</span></a>, where the New Year's resolutions were clearly underway as an enormous crowd turned up to pound the pavement. In truth, the course was not designed for quite a turnout, and the narrow pathways got clogged. Adrian took full advantage, and got ahead of the crowd early, to cross the finish line in 21.49. Tommy and I finished well behind, and left bemoaning our poor tactics in not getting to the front early.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
So the winner of New Year and Christmas: Adrian Dracup.</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10993321049210349376noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2893917623001942187.post-76297117838056095572014-12-26T16:31:00.000-08:002014-12-26T16:45:48.486-08:00Christmas Day parkrun<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Our plans for this years Christmas break, as I'm sure is the case with many other folks, were to see both of our families. This would involve driving the length of the country to get from one family home to the other. My parents got the short straw this year and Christmas No.1 was scheduled in for Sunday 21st December down on the South coast. Along with the standard Christmas Day traditions, my family indulged me by joining me for a run along the sea front. I think this was a product of me being a total running bore over the past year and they finally submitted. I was joined on a 2.4mile run by my Wife, Dad and Brother (<a href="http://www.twitter.com/The_Dogfish">@The_Dogfish</a>) which was a bit of a career highlight for me. My Mum and Daughter were in support, walking along the front and collected Dad on the return leg to shorten his efforts. I'm so proud of them, especially my Dad and Brother who were very much out of their comfort zone but intend to start doing a bit of running, starting off by taking it easy under my instruction.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It was on the 345mile, 8hr journey from the South Coast to Newcastle where I read <a href="http://www.roadtosub20.com/2014/12/the-one-where-mark-stops-writing-in.html?spref=tw">Mark's latest #RoadToSub20 blog post</a> and a realisation crept over me of just how far behind the prize I was. As stated in Mark's post, the most recent direct competition between the three of us was on the 1st November at Brockwell Park where my time of 22'07" fell 1'07" short of Tommy's offering. The numbers paint a desperate picture but this is no paint by numbers situation. That day at the finish line, Tommy looked spent. I probably did too but felt like I'd not had a great run. You know the runs, where you give it your all but due to some unaccounted for variable the figures fall short of the perceived effort. In essence I felt sure that my training was coming along better than the times suggested.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It was decided in that moment the <a href="http://www.parkrun.org.uk/newcastle/results/latestresults/">Christmas Day Newcastle parkrun</a> would be my proving ground where I would give it my all and try to realise a time that reflected where I felt I was with training. On 28th December 2013 I'd got a time of 23'40" at Newcastle so my initial plan this time around was to aim for 22mins. On the day I was happy to see how many people were out in fancy dress, I would have liked the parkrun website to have included a 'fastest Santa' icon on their results pages. Maybe next year. Also a huge thank you to all the volunteers who gave their time on Christmas morning to help us lot run around a park.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Jennie and I preparing to run. The Father-in-law looking firmly in charge of my Daughter.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I very much enjoyed Newcastle parkrun, it's a very open course on the Town Moor, with a downhill finish and is a single lap, pretty rare in my limited experience. And the results are in.... 21'03" taking more than a minute off my previous all time best parkrun time! I don't quite know how to explain this other than it was just one of those days where everything came good. I think run times have a tendency to do this, even if you have a regular training pattern I believe that the body has good days and bad days, so when the moons aline you get a great performance followed by a lot of trying to replicate it. This was a fantastic way to start Christmas Day and I'm still on a high from such a surprise improvement.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">1 minute 3 seconds to shave off the time, the #RoadToSub20 continues.</span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Follow my progress on social media</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.runbritainrankings.com/runners/profile.aspx?athleteid=693724" target="_blank">runbritain</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Nike+ ---> Search Ade808</span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00954008370154075891noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2893917623001942187.post-18372805584858679422014-12-24T03:42:00.000-08:002014-12-24T03:42:17.744-08:00The one where Mark stops writing in the third personThe first time that Tommy, Adrian and I competed together after the wager was made, it was a disappointment. It was my first Parkrun back following my <a href="http://www.roadtosub20.com/2014/10/the-importance-of-infection-control.html"><span style="color: blue;">time out</span></a> from exercise mentioned in a previous post, and I declared that I would be deliberately taking it slow, so as not to do myself any further injuries. This was partially true, but a bigger contributing factor was me not wanting to show how much pace I'd lost.<br />
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With that disclaimer, it meant that it was a straight race between Adrian and Tommy to determine who was the favourite for the #Roadtosub20 crown. In truth though, there was no race. Tommy easily claimed victory in a time of 21.43 with Adrian a minute and fifteen seconds behind. A realistic benchmark, or just a bad day at the office for Adrian? The second race would surely be closer...<br />
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It was...but only just. Two weeks later and Brockwell Park was the venue for the second 'three man shootout'. I turned up with a dreadful cold, and naively assumed that I could still run a PB...I couldn't and I spent the rest of the day in bed, regretting my decision. Adrian was out for revenge, but could only manage to finish 65 seconds behind Tommy who stormed home in exactly 21 minutes.<br />
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This has put Tommy as favourite for the title, but leaves him with an interesting dilemma: the nature of the bet means that the longer it runs, the bigger the prize (rules <a href="http://www.roadtosub20.com/2014/08/how-it-all-began.html"><span style="color: blue;">here</span></a>). So it is in Tommy's interest to delay his attempt to the very last moment he can. In theory, the perfect tactic is to identify that a competitor will break the 20 minute mark, and then slip in a week before and do it. Of course, this is a risky strategy, but the ball is in his court.<br />
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I mentioned in a previous post that this bet might be all over by Christmas. Given I'm typing this on the 24/12, then that won't happen. However, it is looking like spring/summer of 2015 is a realistic target for all three men to break the 20 minute barrier.<br />
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Merry Christmas to all the runners out there. And to Tommy: have another mince pie...you can afford to.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10993321049210349376noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2893917623001942187.post-64694043713839626972014-11-07T04:22:00.001-08:002014-11-07T04:22:58.889-08:00Trip report: Bupa Great South Run 2014<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It has been commented upon that the cobwebs on this blog have well and truly set in. Well here I am, having a virtual clear out by reporting on my experience of the 25th <a href="http://www.greatrun.org/Events/Event.aspx?id=12" target="_blank">Great South Run</a> in Portsmouth.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I had a very firm goal in mind. My training runs would often return a pace of around 8:30 minutes per mile. The 10 miler on the 26th October would be furthest than I've run in a good few years but it will also be a lot flatter than my training runs around Hilly Fields so I figured I could maintain the 8:30m/m for a goal time of 1h 25m.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Given that we were staying down on the south coast we thought a little parkrun tourism would be in order. <a href="http://www.parkrun.org.uk/bognorregis/course/" target="_blank">Bognor Regis</a> was the chosen course and we were 4 strong, raring to get a new parkrun destination under our belts. The course could be described as hectic, it's a 4 lapper (well 3 and a little one) but it has to be said that the marshalling was excellent and at no point did I question which way to go. I did see one girl head into the finishers funnel on lap 3 only be be told by her dad to keep going, that must have been heart breaking for her. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Me and my friend Jo smiling prior to setting off.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">All the literature sent through in the post suggested that we should aim for an 8:30 arrival (same as my target pace) to avoid the traffic associated with 25,000 runners descending on the city. We thought that they were erring on the side of caution and so we aimed for 9:00. After getting stuck in the traffic associated with 25,000 runners, we finally made it to the start line with about 20 min to spare. Not the most stressful journey I've had but we certainly cut it a little close for comfort.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I took my place in the orange wave with a fair amount of nervous energy. I'd received some encouraging messages from some of the Hilly Fields parkrun crew which helped but I'd not run more that 8 miles in training and was anxious about how the last 2 miles would pan out. <a href="https://twitter.com/jopavey" target="_blank">Jo Pavey</a> fired the starting gun and we were off.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I have to admit that I was caught up in the moment as everyone raced away at a blistering pace. I was running 8:00m/m and going backward, I couldn't bring myself to slow down any more. Anyway, I was feeling good, let's just hope that I don't pay for this further on I thought. It took until mile 2 before I started making progress through the crowd, and it felt good to be overtaking people again. I maintained the 8:00m/m pace and decided to do so for as long as possible. Why break the habit of a lifetime, start fast and hope to hold on. I pushed on enjoying the scenery, the ambience and the supporters lining the route. Kids at the side held out their hands for sweaty high fives as runners passed by. I obliged by high fiving a couple of kids in a row only to hear one of the parents say 'better wash your hands later', good advice I'm sure but they could have waited until I was out of ear shot.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Miles 5 - 7 were awesome! Lucozade had set up a distribution station just after the half way mark and as I swigged from the bottle I couldn't help but to exclaim 'Sweet Nectar', it truly was the most welcomed drink / sugar hit. Then I passed my support team consisting of my daughter, wife, dad and Mark Isham of #RoadToSub20 fame (still in recovery) and was spurred on by their cheer. I was flying, the endorphins were rushing, I was gonna win this whole race!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Then my legs started to tire; it started gradually but it was definitely noticeable. By mile 8 as we turned onto the sea front I was sure that I'd stared too fast and I was getting my comeuppance. What would a real runner do I pondered? Press on and ignore the pain, only 16ish minutes to keep going if I stay at this speed. The distance markers came slowly, 1 mile to go, 800m, 400m, through a chicane and the 200m marker and finish were in sight. I had no sprint finish in me, I was spent but elated to cross the finish line in 2655th position with a time of <a href="http://www.greatrun.org/Results/Default.aspx" target="_blank">1hr 20mins 20secs</a>.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I found my support team and we waited to cheer on Jo who started in the green wave. In doing so I heard a shout from the sea of runners 'Adrian - BrockleyPoker' from <a href="https://twitter.com/veronicanorc" target="_blank">Roni</a>, a fellow Hilly Fields parkrunner who also beasted her target time. Congrats to her.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What a fantastic day. The event had the slick organisation you would expect from such an established brand and I had achieved my primary objective. Being into the numbers and stats, as I am, I couldn't help but feel a pang of disappointment not to go sub 1hr 20mins which would have equated to a sub 8:00 pace. I was, however, buoyed by my 5k splits:</span></div>
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<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">0 - 5k = 25:17</span></li>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I'd achieved a negative split which, given that I thought I started out too fast, is very encouraging. I very much hope I can sign up to the 2015 race and maybe I can aim for sub 1hr 15 if I keep improving. There, it's on the internet now so I guess I have to do it!</span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Follow my progress on social media</span></b></div>
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<a href="https://twitter.com/BrockleyPoker" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Twitter</span></a></div>
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<a href="http://www.parkrun.org.uk/results/athleteresultshistory/?athleteNumber=629470" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">parkrun</span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Nike+ ---> Search Ade808</span></div>
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00954008370154075891noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2893917623001942187.post-58688625680348351482014-10-16T10:11:00.001-07:002014-10-16T10:11:12.960-07:00The Importance of Infection Control<div style="text-align: justify;">
Mark was feeling glum. He had watched the last of the summer weather fade into autumnal gloom. He’d sat by, unable to maintain the progress that his competitors were making, with Adrian breaking his PB, and Tommy revealing his innovative training plan (more on both those subjects in separate posts). His brand new running shoes had sat in his hallway gathering dust, as for three weeks he had barely left his sofa. </div>
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It was not for lack of willing – far from it. Instead, it was inability. A minor, but nevertheless disruptive operation had prevented him (on doctor’s orders) from doing any exercise. And for the period afterwards the thing he missed the most was not his colleagues, nor a Friday night beer; it was running. There were mixed opinions on the speed of Mark’s recovery. The doctors were pleased that everything was coming along as well as can be expected, however Mark’s belief was that his recovery was painfully slow. The thought that his <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/RoadToSub20?src=hash"><span style="color: blue;">#RoadtoSub20</span></a> counterparts were getting further and further away from him (and that he was powerless to prevent it), was difficult to take. </div>
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In many sports it is often the performance of others that determines our own success (in football for example, a striker could be marked out of the game by a defender that is better than him or her). Stating the obvious, running is such an individual endeavour that one can only be accountable for one’s own performance. And any ground lost to opponents is challenging to make up. </div>
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During his period of invalidity he’d dabbled with Parkrun volunteering, both <a href="https://twitter.com/MIsham1985/status/518045571643637760"><span style="color: blue;">marshalling</span></a> and barcode scanning (resulting in him <a href="https://twitter.com/MIsham1985/status/521626988826873856"><span style="color: blue;">unknowingly scanning the barcode</span></a> of a British record holder). This salved his conscience, but did little to satiate his desire for athletic improvement. But things were looking up: the healing process seemed to be nearing its conclusion. The volunteer roster at his local Parkrun for this Saturday was full, meaning that there was no space for him. Perhaps this is a sign that it is time for his return? </div>
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This left him with the kind of dilemma that proper athletes all over the world experience: Is it better to come back early (but run the risk of setting an injury off again), or delay the return until it is absolutely clear that no damage will be done? Doctor’s instruction was that no exercise should be done for 4-6 weeks…but what do doctors know? </div>
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It is striking that this is even a factor in Mark’s mind. A year ago, given the option to put his feet up for a month, he would have done just that (although in truth it would have been difficult to tell that he was doing anything different from his normal life). Indeed it is a testament to how infectious the running bug really is. And seemingly no amount of post surgery antibiotics could clear it up. </div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10993321049210349376noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2893917623001942187.post-51730639765624987112014-09-16T10:57:00.001-07:002014-09-16T10:57:54.617-07:00What is Tommy doing?<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In a <span style="color: blue;"><a href="http://www.roadtosub20.com/2014/08/know-when-to-holdem-know-when-to-fold-em.html">previous post</a> </span>to this blog, Adrian identified the strategic similarities of this bet, and a game of poker. In it, he outlined how he suspected that Mark might have shown his hand too early, and he felt (in the spirit of fairness), he should do the same. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In fact, he recently revealed his <a href="https://twitter.com/BrockleyPoker/status/510153262700711936"><span style="color: blue;">5K track time</span></a> (which is the fastest surface one can run on). It indicated there is still some work to do. But he has been setting PBs left right and centre at Parkruns. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Mark his continued his startling improvement, although Adrian got revenge from the Swindon experience, beating him by 20 seconds at the <a href="http://www.parkrun.org.uk/hillyfields/"><span style="color: blue;">Hilly Fields</span></a> Parkrun (the name indicates the difficulty of the course), setting another PB in the process.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But the third competitor is noticeable by his silence: just what exactly is Tommy's plan? Since this blog has started, he has run precisely zero Parkruns.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This could be for one of two reasons</span></div>
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<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">He is training in secret, and keeping his powder dry</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">He can't be bothered</span></li>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Early indications show that he has adopted option 2.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Either way, it gives the same conclusion. If he realises that a sub 20 time is within his reach, the it may be in his interest to hold back, until the others get close, thereby increasing the size of the prize. Of course this is true for Adrian and Mark as well. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Time will tell whether this tactic pays off for Tommy. It probably won't.</span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10993321049210349376noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2893917623001942187.post-62191475947776297902014-09-12T12:24:00.000-07:002014-09-12T12:29:36.023-07:00A valuable lesson from Eastern Europe...<div style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; font-size: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: justify;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">As I write this I am sitting in a generic hotel room, in the beautiful (but currently very wet) city of Budapest. Perhaps it is the generous local hospitality (<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P%C3%A1linka"><span style="color: blue;">Palinka</span></a>), or the fact that when one is travelling on business one spends more time thinking about home, but I felt moved to add another post to this blog. No doubt for our committed fans, the near fortnight of silence has been deafening, and difficult to take. For that, I apologise.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">It has been an interesting two weeks. My preparations for the Great North Run reached their climax when I returned to the site of my inaugural Parkrun, and defeated my 8 year-old nemesis (<a href="http://www.roadtosub20.com/2014/08/the-story-so-far.html"><span style="color: blue;">The Story so Far</span></a></span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">), by a clear three minutes. I reflected on my improvement with some pride, knowing that my #RoadToSub20 competitors had both opted for a lie in on this particular Saturday morning.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">In truth though, my real focus was a long way north, as I was frantically wondering if I was going to be able to make from Newcastle to South Shields without the help of St John’s Ambulance staff. I remind you dear reader, I had only started running at the beginning of this year, and had never run anywhere close to 13 miles before. I was (by my own admission) horrendously under-prepared.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">But time waits for no man, and the day came. In spite of <a href="https://twitter.com/MIsham1985/status/506914120960983040"><span style="color: blue;">issues with equipment</span></a></span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">, I took my place on the start line with 50,000 others. It was a warm day. Sunburn became an issue before the gun had even fired, and organisers were suggesting it may not be a race for personal bests.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">What happened next was something of a blur. Great North Runners are made to feel akin to rockstars, with the wonderful people of the northeast lining the streets, handing out water, sweets, oranges, and, in one case, beer. What I do know is that I <a href="https://twitter.com/JoJoWaller9/status/508645613316345856"><span style="color: blue;">made it round</span></a></span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">, in just a shade over 2 hours (32 seconds over to be exact), and a mere 12,333 places behind Mo Farah (he got a better start then me, and I was always struggling to catch up).</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Two days later, and I’m on a plane to Budapest, legs still <a href="https://twitter.com/MIsham1985/status/509246007453155328"><span style="color: blue;">aching</span></a>, but still feeling the pride from my achievement. On arrival, I meet a whole load of locals, and it turns out that running is big business in these parts. Nearly all of them listed it as a hobby. I got talking to one about my antics on the previous weekend. In near perfect English she said:</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">“Aha, I am running a half marathon in a couple of weeks’ time, with two other friends. We are each doing 7km of it”</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">I wondered if that really counted as running a half marathon, but nevertheless I remained polite and engaged her in conversation further. It turned out she was also new to running. Others in the group joined in, and we shared our stories of why we did it (ranging from “I felt I had to do something active since I sit at a desk all day” to “I just need to spend some time away from my wife and children occasionally!”). Of course, all of us were different standards, and had different targets.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">I reflected on this, and a startling moment of clarity hit me: In running (as in any sporting endeavour) we don’t compete with others, we compete with ourselves. If we continue to see an improvement we are happy, if we don’t we get angry, unhappy or despondent, possibly to the point of giving up. But if we keep going further, faster, or both we have succeeded, regardless if we are last in the race.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Adrian, Tommy and I are lucky, in that the three of us are broadly similar in our athletic ability, but in truth, there are so many variables that decide this, and most of them we have no control over. We simply seek to control what we can.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">So, really what amateur athletes need to identify, is how they can get the best out of themselves. For the three of us, it is a friendly wager, but for others it might be that they can one day make it all the way round a half marathon with their friends, or that as they get fitter they spend more time out of the house and away from screaming children.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Perhaps the age old adage associated with sport is the best one here: “Always remember why you started it in the first place.” So I wish my 8 year-old competitor well, and I hope that, no matter how good she gets, she always remembers why she does it.</span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10993321049210349376noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2893917623001942187.post-44845883214721739572014-08-31T14:55:00.002-07:002014-09-02T05:21:15.559-07:00Know when to hold'em, know when to fold 'emIf you have found your way to this blog through Twitter then there is every possibility that you've astutely deducted from my Twitter handle <a href="https://twitter.com/BrockleyPoker">BrockleyPoker</a>, that I’m partial to a game of poker every now and again. Poker is a beautiful game that requires strategy and guile. You manoeuvre your way around your opponents deceiving, trapping and if you’re good enough, outplaying them to win cold hard cash.<br /><br />Why am I telling you about poker on a running blog you ask? Good question. I’ve played poker with <a href="http://www.parkrun.org.uk/results/athleteresultshistory/?athleteNumber=784314">Mark Isham</a> before and he’s a sound player, he plays his strong hands well and gets rid of the rags, a winning strategy in the long term. However, when it comes the #RoadToSub20 bet that the 3 of us have entered into, Mark’s strategy has let him down. In short, he’s shown his hand too early. Let me elaborate…<br /><br />Let’s be clear about this, there is more to running quickly than running quickly. To shave the required minutes and seconds from our 5k times will take a well thought out training routine. But almost more importantly, like in poker, we must manoeuvre our way around our competitors, using psychological warfare to convince them that they have the upper hand so they think that they don’t need to train.<br /><br />On Saturday 23rd August, Mark and I were attending a wedding, and as has become a bit of a tradition we used this as an excuse to do a bit of parkrun tourism. <a href="http://www.parkrun.org.uk/swindon/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=219">Swindon</a> was the location and Mark set off at a good pace. Historically I’ve been significantly quicker than Mark, pretty much only because I got into running a little before him, but my times were always a minute or two faster. Having caught up with him half way round the first lap I managed a breathy ‘You started fast’ to which I got a reply ‘Just trying to get round some of the traffic’, a reasonable response. As the run progressed we both settled into a rhythm and although the pace felt quick, I didn’t feel beyond my aerobic limit. Coming towards the latter part of the last lap I was thinking that Mark would be sure to tire soon, after all, how could he keep up with me when I kick home for the finish? Up the slight incline towards the end we go and finally Mark fades (Inevitable, I thought smugly), I push on towards my victory slightly disturbed by what a valiant effort Mark had made. Then ~400m to the finish line when I’ve cranked it up to maximum I hear heavy breathing and a long stride catching fast. I was astounded that Mark had so much left in the tank to kick so hard for the finish line. I had no response and had to settle for the runner up position. In the end Mark ended 5 positions and 9 seconds ahead of me.<br /><br />On the car journey back to the hotel Mark reveled that for his training for the Great North Run he’d been doing interval training and long runs. Ultimately he’d adopted a properly structured training regime! The cards are well and truly on the table, Tommy and I now have a clear view of what we’re up against.<br /><br />There is a small twist in the tale. I too had dabbled with interval training. I’d attended a training session with Kent AC at Ladywell Arena and plan to go weekly. I had intended to keep this information from my competitors as part of my devious strategy but Mark’s overly enthusiastic run got me thinking. Is this bet, like poker, about deceiving your competitors for financial gain or is it about spurring on your friends to a shared goal? Clearly it’s about the money. But on reflection, I am aware that others don’t have as much gamble as I do so I decided to ruin my strategy and come clean to the fact that I am taking this bet seriously and plan on putting in the work.<br /><br /><a href="https://www.blogger.com/"></a>The #RoadToSub20 continues.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00954008370154075891noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2893917623001942187.post-23630356005511816792014-08-29T10:13:00.000-07:002014-09-02T05:19:47.572-07:00The story so far...<br />Since the wager was made, a number of things have happened. This should bring you almost completely up to date. First, some background.<br /><br /><br />It’s fair to say that Mark has always been late to pick up on fads, fashions and hobbies. He often walks a line dangerously close to being deliberately contrary. And that was the case with running. Adrian and Tommy had been taking part in Parkruns for a number of weeks before they finally persuaded habitual nee-sayer Mark to join them. And it was a long way over 20 minutes. In fact, Tommy and Adrian had been finished for some time when they eventually saw Mark giving every last fibre of his being in the finishing straight to narrowly beat an 8 year-old girl. <br /><br /><br />But that sparked interest in Mark. And a desire to improve. Talking to the others it became clear they had a similar experience. The thrill of beating one’s PB after training hard (and the disappointment of getting slower following a week of over-indulgence), is a drug that is difficult to quit, and all three men had become addicted. <br /><br /><br />Adrian, Tommy and Mark were all around the age of 30, all in reasonable (but not excellent) shape and all agreed that they wished they had got into running much earlier in their lives.<br /><br /><br />And perhaps that is the point of this blog: if it can convince others to take up the hobby earlier then it is a success. Or perhaps we are just three blokes with too much time on their hands, and no creative outlet.<br /><br /><br />It was (by coincidence) exactly 6 months after Mark’s inaugural Parkrun that the bet was made. By that stage it had become something of an addiction (in many cases a Friday night on the town was declined in order to get a good night’s sleep for the next morning).<br /><br /><br />At the time, Tommy was the quickest and fittest. He opted to cycle to work, whilst the other two spent too much time in their cars. But, he is crippled by that most destructive of injuries for runners: laziness. Many a time he has opted to remain encased within his duvet while the other two have got up and ran.<br /><br /><br />Adrian was second quickest. Last time competed against Tommy he finished only 5 seconds behind. However, he has recently had a child. This is great news for Adrian, but even better news for the other two, as the sleepless nights and constant fretting has slowed him down.<br /><br /><br />Mark was, by some measure, the slowest. But, he is by far the most stubborn, belligerent and competitive of the three men, and is training for a half marathon. This has sped him up markedly, to the point where he beat Adrian for the first time last week. More on that from Adrian later.<br /><br /><br />Looking at the athlete profiles, the winner should be a foregone conclusion, but make no mistake, this will be close. We don’t have any idea who will win, or even when the time will be registered: it could be all done by Christmas, or we could still be talking about this in 2016.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The #RoadToSub20 continues.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10993321049210349376noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2893917623001942187.post-50643567976921898752014-08-26T05:44:00.002-07:002014-09-02T05:20:48.669-07:00How it all began...<br />And so it came to pass that on the 11th July 2014, at the Wheatsheaf Pub in Tooting, a wager was made. Three slightly drunk men, egged on by their sober friend, decided to monetise their running challenge.<br /><br /><br />The men’s names: Adrian Dracup (asbestos killer extraordinaire), Mark Isham (serial cricketer) and Tommy Ferguson (hot nerd). All three had been running for some time. All three had been doing Saturday morning 5ks. And all three had general thoughts that at some stage it would be nice to run one in less than 20 minutes.<br /><br /><br />It was the occasion of Mark’s girlfriend’s birthday. People had flocked from all points across South London to pass on their good wishes, give middle-class gifts and eat burgers out of brioche buns. But it soon became clear that something was troubling Adrian:<br /><br /><br />“There must be a way we can gamble against our running” he exclaimed.<br /><br /><br />An anxious crowd was questioning: “But how?”<br /><br /><br />Over the next hour debate sparked among the group. What potential was there? Would the spirit of competition destroy the friendship they had forged? Does that even matter if there’s the potential to win cold, hard cash?<br /><br /><br />Finally a consensus came. Each competitor would put a pound a week into an account held by Adrian. This would continue until one of the athletes finally completes a 5k run in under 20 minutes. The rules governing this are few, but important:<br /><ul>
<li>The time must be completed at an official Parkrun event. This ensures that the times are independently awarded. </li>
<li>The location of the event is unimportant. Part of the skill is knowing which event is the fastest. </li>
<li>The athlete does not need to declare beforehand that they are attempting it on a given day. </li>
<li>The first person to run the distance in less than 20 minutes wins the whole pot, as well as adulation from their competitors. </li>
<li>If multiple athletes run under 20 minutes on the same day, the quickest wins the pot, regardless of respective difficulty of the run </li>
</ul>
<br /><br />So, £3 per week, into a central pot, winner takes it all. The #RoadToSub20 begins.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10993321049210349376noreply@blogger.com0