Subject:                                     V S Update - handicap, pie/peas, new group, mobrun, Paris, London, Sue Ryder, CROP, 5k a day

 

Sent: 26 April 2012 16:37
Subject: V S Update - handicap, pie/peas, new group, mobrun, Paris, London, Sue Ryder, CROP, 5k a day

 

Pies, Peas, Handicaps and Training

 

Tuesday 1 May

·         Club Handicap night followed by “pie and peas” served at 8:30pm (see below for menu and ordering)

·         For the Club Handicap (5 miles) arrive 6:45pm for 7pm prompt start

·         Junior 1 mile race arrive 6:15pm for 6:25pm start (adults may run 1 mile if they want, whether or not their children are running)

·         Both starts are by Reservoir at bottom of hill from Alwoodley Lane Click http://www.streetmap.co.uk/streetmap.dll?G2M?X=429750&Y=441300&A=Y&Z=3 for map

·         Menu - choose meat pie (£2.50) or veg bake (£2.50), mushy peas or baked beans, and whether you want apple pie (£1.50), email your order to [email protected] by 10pm Sunday

 

Tuesday 8 May

·         Kathy’s group meet 6pm at Leos – usual session adults and juniors.  If you have friends running Leeds Run For All 10k for the first or second time, send them along.

·         Holly & Kathy’s new group for adult improvers meet 7pm at Leos from Leos, run to Eccup reservoir for short speed session and back.  Open to new members. If you have friends who have run 5k, 10k or even half marathons and want to improve,  send them along.  Must be capable of 35mins for 5k or 75mins for 10k minimum.  email [email protected] for more information.

·         “Club” session – track at Leeds Met, meet 7pm at the Indoor Sports Centre

 

Hyde Park parkrun mobrun

 

As mentioned in the last V S Update, on Saturday 5 May the parkrun on Woodhouse Moor will be a “mob run” for clubs.  We’ve had a team meeting and decided to aim for being the club with the most runners.  What do you need to do

·         Make sure you register on the parkrun website www.parkrun.com and put your club as Valley Striders

·         If you’re registered already but have joined from another club, please amend your details

·         Turn up at Woodhouse Moor (not Roundhay nor any other parkrun) at 8:50am next Saturday

·         Wear your club vest (we will have a supply to lend people that have only just joined)

·         Run!

 

PS could anyone who has a spare vest (either not running or, like me, has one that has shrunk in the wash!?) bring it along next Tuesday or to the race on Saturday.

 

And Emma MacKenzie-Hogg from Leeds parkrun has just emailed “I just wanted to send a reminder for all of your club members who are intending to run.  Runner's parkrun registration details must be up to date to reflect their current club (1st claim). We can then work out the results accurately as we will be using the results from parkrun to work out the number of runners for each club and the average time per club. Also remember to wear your club vest!  Looking forward to seeing you all on the 5th May at 9am”

 

Race Reports

 

Paris Marathon – 15 April 2012 – Race report (from John Wallace)

 

The two John’s (W & B) ventured to Paris and we’re both pretty pleased we did.  Fuelled by a very fine pasta meal on the Saturday (well done John on booking the restaurant) and a good night’s kip (well done John on choice of hotel) we walked the short distance to the race start on Sunday morning where we lined up in the 3.15 pen.  The weather was a rather cool 10 degrees, overcast with a light wind and the plastic bin liners were well appreciated – a far cry from the weather last year, when Simon and Dave had to put up with 30 degrees of sun!

 

I lined up at the start with trepidation – last year at Rotterdam I’d felt confident 3.15 was doable but the appalling start organization put paid to that – I was fearful that the start at Paris would be equally chaotic.  No worries there, this was the best organized start I’ve come across. The sub 3 runners were set off but the 3.00hr group weren’t walked to the line until the last few sub 3’s were crossing the start line, and only when the last of the 3.00’s were crossing the start line were the 3.15’s led to it and released, and so on. Result – a nice ordered start without overcrowding, no mingling with a load of slower runners that had pushed their way up the groups, and the chance to get into a steady pace without weaving straight away – in other words, nigh on perfect.

 

Each pen had 4 pacemakers and I decided to follow the one furthest forward on the basis that if I lost him I’d be able to pick up one of those following. Last year I’d lost sight of the pacers within about 100 yards – no problems on that score this year either, the big flag tied to Dimitri’s back (all the pacers were named in the race programme – nice touch) being easy to see even from distance.

 

We sped off down the Champs Elysee to the Place de la Concorde, going past the Louvre and on out to the Place de Bastille. Our grand tour of Paris was on!  And it was a grand tour, along a flat course, apart from a series of 4 underpasses to run down and back up between 25-30km, with views of Notre Dame and  the Eiffel Tower and other sights before the finish in view of the Arc de Triomphe. I have to confess I didn’t see as much of the sights as I’d expected, keeping focused on the pace maker in front of me and pleasingly noticing how, despite my usual walking/lunging breaks after each drinks station I was gradually closing on him.  At half way we were well inside 3.15 pace although a fair bit of this had been lost by 30km, partly due to those underpasses, and I began to feel the first effects of the pace.  Fortunately as we approached the Eiffel Tower I was boosted by a loud shout of ‘allez, allez, allez’ from girlfriend, Emma, and the realization that my 3.15 target was on properly took hold.

 

Having been monitoring my pace every 5km, with 7km to go I changed tack and just started asking myself whether I could run the remaining 7km in the 34½ mins that would get me inside target. Definite yes was the answer and every km thereafter I noticed that my pace was improving. My only moment of serious concern was with just under 6km to go; I started getting cramp in my left hamstring - I swore at it a lot and ran it off – it was the only bit of cramp I got all day.

 

The last few km were hard but I still felt quite good. With less than 1km to go I overtook Dimitri who was busy exhorting the somewhat reduced crowd around him to go past and push on to the finish – it would have been rude not to.  As I ran over the line I still couldn’t quite believe that I’d broken 3.15 (3.13.56 to be precise, a pb by nearly 8 minutes).

 

John B came in a few minutes later in 3.17 (a pb by 14 minutes).  Turned out Tracey Morris had passed me somewhere before half way before slowing down and crossing the line 15 seconds in front of me, albeit a time of 3.07 (not a pb – letting the side down really!!).

 

I know it helps when you run a good time but I really enjoyed this marathon; the course was good, the weather conditions ideal, the start perfect and, much to the contrary of all I’d been told about Parisians, the support very enthusiastic. The post run beer was exceedingly expensive but you can’t have everything. I would recommend this marathon to anyone.

 

London Marathon

 

We had 18 finishers at the London marathon which is the most for 9 years.  We were very well represented in the top 1000 and sub 3 hours.  A little lower down there were 3 of Kathy’s group, sandwiching Tracey Morris.

 

Tracey had not had the ideal preparation for the race.  She had run Paris the week before and then, with Mike and Rebecca Tomlinson and others from Run For All, had cycled from Paris to Zeebrugge, caught the ferry to Hull, cycled to Leeds, then cycled (by not the most direct route) to London, to get there in time for the expo.  She ran the London Marathon with Rebecca.

 

Watching the ladies race on TV, in particular the battle for the first female Brit to cross the line, took me back 8 years.  This year it was a battle between Louise Damen, Freya Murray and Claire Hallissey.  Claire took the lead (of the group) with a few miles to go and continued to the finish with metronomic style and face pure concentration.  But just 20 metres from the finish her face almost burst with a huge smile as she realised she had qualified for the 3rd GB place at the London Olympic marathon, where she will take the start line with Paula Radcliffe and Mara Yamauchi.  Here’s a pic from the Sun (other daily newspapers are available) http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/sport/olympics/4274792/Claire-Hallissey-saves-her-vest-for-last-with-Olympic-spot.html

 

As I said, it took me back to London 2004 when an unknown athlete (unknown outside Yorkshire anyway) gradually, over the last 7 miles, overtook all the other British women to be first Brit and qualify for the 3rd GB place for the Athens Olympic marathon (alongside Paula Radcliffe and Liz Yelling). The difference was that she had no idea that she was the first until told a few minutes later!   See www.valleystriders.org.uk/tracey.htm for this and the start of her story in which she ran in the Olympic Games, the Commonwealth Games, the European Championships and the World Championships in a period of 3 years.

 

Striders Results                        GP points

     226  Simon Midwood       2:41:55      100

     274  Gwil Thomas         2:43:03       99

     461  Paul Kaiser         2:48:31       98

     779  Clive Bandy         2:55:14       96

    1132  Dusan Svoboda       2:59:16       95

    1365  Kevin McMullan      3:01:59       94

    2152  Gary Mann           3:11:02       93

    2257  Alan Hutchinson     3:12:08       92

    2563  Dan Murray          3:14:28       91

    3489  Greg Skerrett       3:22:49       89

    4421  Joe Hanney          3:29:09       88

    5313  Sharon Tansley      3:34:26       87

    5554  Richard Adcock      3:35:58       86

   15933  Alan Walsh          4:23:32       85

   17737  Alexa Hannant       4:26:43       84

   18576  Tracey Morris       4:29:43       82

   26082  Asheila Narang      5:00:34       81

   29725  Victoria Pace       5:22:45       80

also

    1005  Jerry Watson        2:58:02       95

 

We had two DNF’s, Eric Green who had muscle pains in his side but is OK now and running this weekend, and Liz Wood …

 

(two-thirds of a) race report! – from Liz Wood

Anything can happen in the build-up to a marathon, and it probably will.  Training had gone well.  The sessions, races & long runs with the Striders through all weathers were in the bag.  Even my calf niggle had settled down after making its customary appearance 5 weeks before race day.  Then, with a week to go, I caught The Cold. 

Should I have deferred? With hindsight, probably yes.  However, for some reason I still thought I'd wake up on marathon morning feeling right as rain, and I wanted to give it a go.  I decided to set off at race pace, take it mile by mile, and drop out if I was struggling to maintain it.  I got as far as mile 16.  It felt like harder work than it should have.  Rather than drag myself to the end and get a time I wouldn't be happy with, I chose to maximise my chances of recovering well for the Leeds Half & summer races.  It goes against all your instincts to step off a race course, especially as I could see Canary Wharf ahead and I was dying to get stuck into the juicy part of the race.  Marathon weekend brings out the best in people, and I had lots of lovely chats with people on the tube who helped me plan my route back to the finish.  I met two other 'drop outs' and we made our way back together, already planning our comeback races by the time we reached the Mall. 

It was still a great weekend, even if it wasn't quite the one I had in mind.  Fantastic to meet the other Striders at the end, congratulations on some very classy and inspiring racing.  Thank you to all of you who sent messages of support & words of wisdom, they were much appreciated.  I'm looking forward to training with you all over the summer.  Bring on Eindhoven!

Sue Ryder Challenge Events – from Georgina Abbott

 

NB Georgie is a new VS member who trains with Kathy’s group.  Look out for some familiar faces towards the end of the first video!

 

Hi Everyone,
 
I thought you might like to watch these fun videos about the exciting Sue Ryder Running and Challenge Events in 2012.
 
You can view the videos at the links below - Enjoy!
 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UV-HEf9sAGM&feature=plcp&context=C43f228dVDvjVQa1PpcFNRg0gjD9rYgubsM0VQj1u7AMPJwGZ4H70%3D
 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DWcTmXhBxwY&feature=plcp&context=C4c38fbbVDvjVQa1PpcFNRg0gjD9rYggt0tskxiaoAALalBaVOzAI%3D
 
Please feel free to pass the links on to your friends and contacts to help us spread the word about all the active events we are doing this year.
 

Support CROP by running Run For All 10k – from Jenny Dixon

 

Hi Bob,

 

You can blame Steve Dixon (my other half) for this – he suggested I write to local running clubs, so I am starting close to home… 

 

I do volunteer work for CROP, and I am contacting the club on their behalf – CROP is a national charity working with parents to end child sexual exploitation and is based on Leeds (do have a look at our website below).  We have a number of places available for the Jane Tomlinson 10K. 

 

We can offer these free to club runners, if they can commit to get £100 of sponsorship to help us in our work and are prepared to wear an attractive green T-shirt to do the race! We had a great team last year, and hope to have just as much fun this year. 

 

Please could you circulate this offer around your members, and ask them to get in contact with me at the email address below if they are interested.  They can also reply to [email protected].

 

Very many thanks,

Jenny Dixon

Fundraiser

CROP

34 York Road, Leeds, LS9 8TA

W: www.cropuk.org.uk  E: [email protected]

Company limited by guarantee 4249272  Registered Charity 1092560


5k or 10k every day in May?

 

Dear Club,


I imagine you must be inundated with emails, thank you for your time in advance!

Why am I emailing you? A competitive challenge for the club. 

What is it? A challenge to run 5k or 10k every day in May.

I work for an amazing lady called Sally Pinnegar, who owns fitnaturally; she has launched a new running event which takes place over the whole of May and involves running every single day! Entrants have two distance options, 5k every day or 10k every day. The total distances run are 96.2 miles and 192.5 miles respectively, that’s approximately three and a half or seven and a half marathons in a month.

It has been set to be an achievable challenge, the distances are not difficult in themselves, the challenge is to run them every single day of the month. That takes mental toughness.

Runners can do the distance at whatever time of day and wherever they choose, this makes it a global event, people all over the world can take part but still work as a fund raising team for the event’s chosen charities.  There is a team JustGiving page for sponsorship from family and friends.  This isn’t a race, although runners can log their times on the website, along with a link to data from GarminConnect, RunKeeper or similar run logging software. The rules also say the distance can be walked and the 10k can be split over two sessions a day if required.

The event starts on Tuesday May 1 at 12:01am and finishes on Thursday May 31 at 11:59pm

Wouldn't it be fun to see if some of your members would like to take the challenge?!  This year we are testing the market so to speak, but next year we plan to make this global and with big sponsors behind us we could have this as a club event, and have different clubs around the country hosting a particular day. Great exposure for you, some wins for your members such as goody bags and free advice.

Take a look at the site, are you inspired?  Are there a couple of people in the club who you think might enjoy a healthy challenge!?

http://10keverydayinmay.com/event-details/5k-every-day

We are using Twitter as one of our sources of marketing this event and many people are signing up and talking about the challenge.

The really special bit about it for me is that athletes run for a charity and are encouraged to raise money for the chosen charities depending on whether they decide to take the 5k or 10k challenge, it's about raising some money for others and fitnaturally is making no money from it.

I would love to hear your thoughts as to whether the club or an individual might want to get involved and would be delighted if you could cascade this down via your mailing list, or load it onto your website or facebook page?

Warm regards,

Juliet Jacobs

Virtual Assistant to Sally Pinnegar, Owner of fitnaturally.co.uk
virtuallyjules.com

07903 121746