Lostock 6 miles. Proper racing (Spring hasn't Sprung)

Bugger me with a fishfork, that was cold !

Having been Sidney Smug yesterday, prancing around like Sir Rodney Effing (with 2 F's) and turning up at Fletcher Moss parkrun with my shorts and t-shirt, proclaiming 'ooh Matron, it's Spring, look at me , the horrible weather has gone', it was only fitting that Poseidon, wouldn't take too kindly to that and piddle over my racing chips.

I entered this race realising that I had ran it many years ago, it stood out as it was an unusual distance, 6 miles not 10k, but I could not, for the life of me, remember the course or anything about the race.  (It was only when I was writing this paragraph and I looked on my Power of 10 did I realise that the reason I could not remember the course was because I hadn't actually done it before, goodness knows what race 'stood out' then, as sure as beans, it wasn't this one)

A couple of days before the race, the excellent organisers sent out an email (and put the same on facebook) with everything you need to know about the race, including, really importantly, a 'what3words' link to the race car parks.  I'm a bit of a luddite and haven't used that before, but with one quick question on facebook they gave me the postcode too.  Just the first example of what a fantastically organised race this is.  (I did use the what3words app and it took me right to the carpark which was opposite the race registration.) 

I got to the registration about 40 minutes or so before the start and picked up my number and timing chip ( a tie on your shoe jobby).  As I was so early I was able to use to toilet without any queue but there were also urinals around the back which will have helped with any delays later (they did build up, so a few more next year may help, though I understand all this adds to the expenses).  

Most race marshals are, by the very fact that they are volunteers are good people, but one of them today went out of their way to help me.  Won't go into what she did, but one of the ladies at registration who was giving out the hats at the end...thank you.

Today's weather as alluded to at the start was not the best.  It was a bit blowy and every so slightly moist, to the extent that when the, very nice Mayor of Bolton gave his speech at the start saying 'just think, you could be at home doing the ironing'  I, and perhaps a few others, thought 'that sounds a good idea : )

Warm up lady gave a very enthusiastic performance trying to help everyone stay warm.  She did a great job, especially when her music stopped playing through the loudspeakers, though as you can see below, I was a wuss and hid under the tent.

Thankfully after a short stint of British tutting, we made our way to the start and bang on 10am we were off.

My plan before the race was to try to slip under 45 minutes but after running hard at parkrun yesterday and the weather today, I wasn't sure if that was on, but as it always my tactic in things like this I'd worry about that if I and when I blew.

Now I need to be honest, if your idea of racing is fluffy bunnies, stunning scenery and 'go go Gadget' pom pom waving supporters, this may not be your kettle of fish, but if you want to do a proper road race, with some naughty hills, lovely downhills and opportunities to race people who have the audacity to try to get past you, then this will be very much up your street.  

It is the perfect race for someone who does parkrun, has done the Couch to 5k, but may feel that a 10k is a bit too far or may be a bit intimidated by a big City Centre 10k.  Those races are crazily expensive, thousands of people take part and it may feel a bit overwhelming.  This race (and a lot of the local ones) are so friendly, have a great local feel about them, they are run for and by runners, they've been doing it for a long time and they know what runners want.  (plus it is slightly less than 10k)

It's not pretty but it is road racing at it's finest.  Roads aren't closed, sometimes you may get stuck behind other runners, and have to jump off the pavement to get past them (only to see them drop you 50 metres later) when the weather is bad like today, you're exposed to the elements, but despite all of that, I loved it.

Just after the start you turn left and almost immediately are on the the first the first hill which takes you over a bridge.  At this point, the rain was coming down hard and you were still cold from the weather.  There's a 30 metre climb in the first mile which has a double benefit of warming you up and stringing out the field a bit.  (also has a descent of 21 metres)

By the time you see the first mile marker, you start to get into a rhythm, there is still 10 metres of climb in the second mile and 12 metres downhill so you are always either going up or down.  Despite the unpleasant weather, the marshals were very happy (far more than they should have been) and pointed you around the extremely well signposted course.

By the time I got to mile 5 (27 metre climb) I knew I needed around a 7 minute mile to get under 45.  Good thing is the last mile has a nice down hill so gave me a chance to see if I could sneak under.  I did manage to put in a 7.07 last mile but crossed the line in 45.32.  Not great but not bad 

Men's course record stood at 29.04 by Harry Wakefield.  Unsurprisingly, given the conditions that was never going to be challenged but the top three men were : - 

Daniel Bird -Swinton Running Club - 33.06

Ryan Snee -Horwich RMI Running Club -33.25

Chris Benjamin - Leigh Harriers - 34.01

Meanwhile on the Female side

Course Record remains at Sophie Wood - Sale Harriers 33.17

and top three were

Dee Allen (16th overall) - Leigh Harriers - 36.46

Carolyn Capsey (32nd) - Swinton Running Club - 39.05

Heather Tomlinson (34th) - Bolton United Harriers - 39.14

I've ran so many races over the years that my t-shirts end up in the drawer (friend of mine made a load of them into a blanket) so it was good to see, something different in this one.  A race memento baseball cap.  I've not the the head (or more truthfully the ears) for baseball caps, but for non-Dumbo heads, they work well.

At the end of the race, I got nice and warm with some a lovely sausage and egg butty and a cup of coffee from the glorious local business, The Pendle Grill.  Exactly what was needed

Thank you for a great race and another training race down for Wilmslow Half end the end of March.

Spring has Sprung (hopefully) at Fletcher Moss

 Hello Spring, its' been a long time.

Ever since I got some running tights and an Under Armor long sleeve top for Christmas, I've done all my winter training, and races wearing them (have been washed a few times).  When I looked at the weather forecast for today, I realised it was time to get my little legs and armies out and get back into some normal running gear.

I've got Lostock 6 tomorrow and want to get under 45 minutes, and for the past two weeks I've ran under 22 minutes (Alexandra and Birchall Playing Fields) so the aim was to get as close to that here too.  I've ran this course 4 times but not since May 2022 where I got 22.47 and have completely forgotten the lay out/.  I thought it was more or less flat so with the training I've been doing, I had a course PB in mind if nothing else.  

I arrived about 30 minutes before the start and parked on the lane leading up to the start.  Weather forecast was right, it was lovely, sunny morning, so much warmer than last Saturday.  Perfect running conditions.  I said hello to the RD, Ben, and asked him if it was as flat as I remembered, 'there are a few bumps' he told me and reminded me of the course lay out (essentially like a weirdly shaped lollypop, straight to start with with two laps, before running back down to a home straight.)  Despite this polite warning, I thought I'd just go for it anyway and run as fast as I could as see if I could hold on.

I ran my 50th different parkrun last week but Fletcher Moss has to have decent shout for one of the prettiest starts to a parkrun.  You can see from the picture what a beautiful park this is and once again. can feel so privileged to be able to do this free event in beautiful places every Saturday morning.

I started relatively near the front and was joined by 401 other people to run, jog or walk in this gorgeous location.  It's hard to explain the elevation here, there are only 27 metres of ascent and it's probably best explained a bit like a BMX track sharp up and downs, with some sharp turns.  Not the easiest to pace but a really interesting course, with plenty of spaces to try to overtake whoever is next you.   My favourite part was the last mile or so which seemed to downhill and was my fastest lap.  

We are so blessed in this part of the country, there are so many different types of course within a couple of miles.  Alexander, flat and fast, Sale, best described as 'varied terrain' and not a PB, beautiful Bramhall etc.  What is more, despite there being just over 400 runners, the course did not seem overcrowded, even though it is two laps, the 'stick' of the lollypop stick is long enough to give time for the field to spread out.  You can tell that the core team when they were planning this put a lot of work into it.

First male finisher today was Duncan Birtwistle from Rugby and Northampton AC with 18.10 (PB of 17.13, overall of 16.21 at Alexandra).  First female being local runner Amy Weyers, from Chorlton Runner who was 9th overall with 20.30 (PB of 19.14 and overall of 18.17, also at Alexandra)  Well done both, you guys run a different sport to me.

We also had 23 people running parkrun for the first time !  Welcome everyone to the day that was formally called Saturday, now.....parkrun Day (also lower case, always one word)

Fletcher Moss is different to all of them, its relatively fast without being overcrowded due to being pancake flat, but it also has some small sharp hills which are just enough to kick you out of your pacing.  It's a lovely park, stunning start and finish and Didsbury village on it's doorstep.

I say this every week, but again, I'd be more than happy if this was my home run

Birchall, Half Cowell, Coffee and Freezing Running

Noticed a couple of weeks ago that I had a new Nendy.  Penistone had been my 'next to do' for so long, having one over in Staffs certainly made me take a second look.  I was planning on doing it a couple of weeks ago, but being the saddo that I am, I noticed on the 5k app that I was missing an '8' so waited to have a pop.

Another bonus was that running this meant that I had completed my Half Cowell today (50th different parkruns) which I had been looking to do for quite a while as I am, at heart, a very lazy tourist, 45 minutes being around my limit to tour.

I ran Alexandra parkrun last week under 22 minutes and wanted to do the same this week.  I've made the mistake before of pre judging 3 lappers as being a bit repetitive and maybe not something that would pull me in, but wanted to have a look as the video I had seen of the course looked quite flat with one slight small up bit.

It was cold when I left home this morning and when I arrived at parkrun, it was a lot colder.  Clouds had come down, it was drizzling and a proper February morning.

I parked up just by the changing rooms (toilets are open) and made my way past 'The Nags Shed' (brilliant name Rodney) coffee van and to the start.  The wonderful volunteers had invited runners to bring donations for local victims of domestic violence.  A wonderful initiative and something that epitomises  the essence of power of parkrun, when I passed it,  the table was already full of donations.

184 athletes braved the weather this morning and I was working out whether to warm up by jumping up and down with my coat or be a soldier, take it off and do a lap or two around the 400 metre all weather track.  I finally decided to put my big boy pants on and take a bit of a trot around.  By the time I got back we began to make our way over to the start for the briefing.  

Now I have done around 530 parkruns but none has been conducted so well as by today's  Run Director, Rdward he was only 12 years old but he was funny, had a great connection with the crowd, had all the info  and held our attention,  which was really hard to do considering how cold it was and we all wanted to go.   You've got a future in TV my friend !

I had the advantage of knowing the course as I had watched someone's Youtube capture of it   Birchall Playing Fields parkrun #2, so I knew that you had about 400 metres on the track to get yourself in a decent spot as the 3 laps of the paths after that looked like it could be tricky to pass.....Let's see

Starting where I did, near the front, was a good idea, there wasn't that many people there but nonetheless it gave you a great opportunity to try to position yourself with runners of a similar pace as you.  That way when you get to the narrow paths you have less people to get past.

This is a deceptively fast course, the cinder type track is easily runnable and the paths and are either flat or have gentle gradients.  There's one hairpin turn and a short section on the grass, but on days like this, when it's not muddy, it's very runnable which means that there is no problem is passing people, same pace or slower than you.  I lapped some folk and all it took was a quick detour onto the grass and then back onto the path again.  

When you complete your third lap you finish as you started with another lap of the track.  This was my favourite part of the course as you can put on a sprint and try to drop (or not be dropped by) the people next to you.  

I somehow managed to finish in 19th place in 21.56.  Now bearing in mind I ran a very flat Alexandra Park last  week in 21.49, shows  how fast the course is.

Taking into account, the team are in the very early stages of their event and are learning on the job, it ran like clockwork.  The first timers briefing was very personable, I've already mentioned Edward as RD and all the marshals were stereotypically helpful and enthusiastic.  Wherever I've been in parkrun land these brilliant people always make my favourite running event what it is.  Thank you.

Now coffee is an integral part of any parkrunning tourism experience.  Luckily my coffee addiction was satisfied by the great coffee in their own van in the car park.  The Nags Shed, a local company, already has seemingly developed a great partnership and as I was driving away I could already see a queue forming.  

I drove home in the post parkrun high.  I really do love my Saturday morning fix and  Birchall is
a very welcome addition to the field.  

Looking forward to a return in the summer to break my PB.