Saffron Walden 10K - 27.09.15

Today I ran in a 10K cross country race in Saffron Walden on what was a lovely morning for running. The event was well organised by  Saffron Striders and was attended by 217 other participants. 

The race route went over rolling farmland and it was challenging but this was largely because I haven’t run 10k for a few weeks. 

In the end I managed a respectable time of 56min 13 sec which was not too shabby for a cross country 10K. 

The event is well worth a try next year and only 1 hour away.

Pete

Parkrun tourism

I have been a bit of a tourist as a parkrunner and have now taken part in Parkruns at 28 different locations.

Over the summer I revisited Tring Parkrun (29min PB ). If you think that is slow go and run it! The first K is uphill. A lovely run in the Chilterns but not one I could do every week.

Daventry was a nice flat loop around a lake and which is run on hard dirt paths (27min 35s). As Sian got lost in the car I waited about 2min after they had started before I decided to go for it anyway....

 

Delamere Parkrun near Liverpool was again a lovely run on hard dirt paths through woodland. One or two rises but a fun run (28min 52).

 

Another local run down near Watford is Aldenham Parkrun. This was another run where you had a chance of getting a PB. Two laps around the lake on good hard concrete/dirt paths. Close to where I used to work (BPL) and I used to walk around the park in my lunchtimes. Parking is a bit pricy (£4 for the day) unless you know where to park on a side road or in the car boot sale.  Well worth a visit especially if you are happy to stay in the park and visit the mini zoo and have an ice cream!

Pete Jones

Delta Parkrun, Johannesburg - 19th September 2015.

Whilst on holiday in SA with daughter Chloe I took advantage to get in a Parkrun. Delta Parkrun was the most convenient and I duly turned up at 7.45 for an 8am start.

This Parkrun regularly has over 800 participants so was relatively quite with only 701 finishers.

The weather was not as bad as I feared with it being cloudy and only 15 degrees C albeit with 82% humidity. Being over 1500m above sea level you do notice the thinner air whenever you exert yourself and I was panting most of the way around the course and had to walk on two uphill parts.

It was the first Parkrun that I have come across that has a drinks station halfway around.

Parkrun in SA is slightly different to the UK in that here the majority run or jog the course whereas at this Parkrun the majority walk the course. At Delta more than 50% took a time in excess of 40 minutes and my average time of 25 minutes would have placed me 60th out of 701.

However I was on holiday and it was very humid etc etc so whilst achieving a slightly disappointing time of 28:24 I was placed 138th.

Les

Vitruvian Triathlon - 29.08.15

In a moment of complete madness late last year I decided to enter this event. When you say what is involved quickly each element doesn't sound too bad. It consists of a 1.9 km swim, followed by an 85 km bike ride and then a 21 km run.

My swimming isn't great at the best of times but in open water as part of a wave of 150 or so swimmers isn't my favourite place to be. I started off too fast and needed to slow down to plod pace and then swam my own swim out of the mad washing machine that was going on ahead, especially round the bouys. I finished this element in 1.00.04 and was very glad to have the swim behind me.

Next up was a very lumpy bike ride of 85 km. This included the legendary Rutland Ripple a series of 3 nasty hills that come in quick succession at about 6 miles and then on lap 2 at about 32 miles. Sadly these aren't the only hills in a route which doesn't seem to have a lot of flat and there is a hill about 6 miles from the end of each lap that also gives the legs a good workout. The ride took me 3.11.32 which equates to an average speed of 15.9 mph.

The final element was the 21 km run ( a half marathon in old money) and sadly when I got off the bike my legs felt shot and running was a real effort. The sun had also come out to play and things were getting pretty warm.

I managed to run the first 5 km despite cramp in my right thigh. After the first out lap my leg decided it didn't like running uphill so I had to walk those. My legs generally struggled to get going thereafter so mixed running and walking to make sure I got the the finish. I managed to run the length of the dam in each direction on both laps but walked the feed stations as I needed the energy drinks and the water to pour over my head to try and keep cool.

I ended the 21 km run in a rime of 2.10.20 which was disappointing but at least I made it to the finish and heard the magic words "Chris Wright you are a Vitruvian". 

Overall a very tough race and but happy to have completed the challenge.

I managed to finish in 629th place of 704 finishers.

Chris

JLL Property 5K - 27.08.15

This is a large annual run in Regent's Park and is organised by JLL to raise money for charity. It is open to all those working in the property world in and around London and this year it attracted a full entry with over 700 runners actually starting the race. This included yours truly, 3 colleagues and a client.

Due to another event a few days later I decided to take part but to take the race a bit easier. Typically for me though I still ran faster than I had planned.

In the end I finished in 263rd place of 736 runners in a time of 23.43.

Chris

A very different bike ride - 17.08.15

Today was a good day for a bike ride with a difference. We visited a small village on the banks of the Loire just outside the city of Saumur and went to visit a world famous wine producer, Bouvet-Labuday. They produce a selection of sparkling wines that we were looking forward to trying after our tour of the limestone caves behind the premises in which the wines are stored.

They offer something rather different from normal tours as the one we took part in was carried out on vintage bikes. As our tour was booked for later in the afternoon our tour was Lois, Ellen and me with a young French lady guide who spoke excellent English (which was a good thing for us). The tour included cycling round 5 kilometres of caves which houses barrels and barrels of wine and vast expanses of bottles. The majority of the tour was lit only by the head torches supplied along with the bikes.

We all had a great time as the wine production process was explained and we got to cycle round caves where a local artist had carried out some amazing and very detailed carvings.

After the tour we got the chance to try out some of the company's products and made a few purchases of the one we liked.

Here are few pictures to give you a flavour, the wines we are keeping for ourselves.

Prudential Ride London Surrey 100 - 2nd August 2015

Very early on Sunday morning I lined up with around 25,000 other cyclists in London's Olympic Park for the start of the Prudential Ride London 100. This is a huge event and this year I was fortunate enough to get an entry via the ballot.

The start was very well organised and took place on closed roads which was a great experience although id seemed very odd to be ignoring traffic lights, going the wrong way down dual carriageways and cutting corners and junctions like the pros do in their races.

The first 50 or so miles were amazing as they took the riders through the streets of London and past some iconic landmarks such as the Tower of London, Trafalgar Square and Harrods.

From Central London the route went out through south west London and through Richmond Park and then out to the Surrey hills. The first proper climb was Newlands Corner but that was not too much of an issue and soon over. The same cannot be said for the next hill on the route, the infamous Leith Hill. This is a much more serious climb as evidenced by the large number of people walking up the hill, especially in the latter stages. Thankfully I managed to make it to the top without stopping.

After Leith Hill there was a very fast downhill section before reaching the famous Box Hill. Whilst this is a long hill with several hairpin bends the road surface is so smooth it seems to make the climb easier. The steady even gradient also helps with this. It still necessitated a short breather at the top along with a top up of the water bottles.

From there it was a fast run back into central London via Kingston and Wimbledon with Wimbledon Hill at 90 miles an welcome part of the home run.  The last part of the home stretch included Chelsea Hospital, the Tate Britain and Parliament Square before a run up Whitehall, around Trafalgar Square and into The Mall for the finish outside Buckingham Palace.

I had to stop to help an injured cyclist following a nasty crash at around 95 miles before leaving him the care of the marshalls and to await an ambulance. Thankfully whilst his bike was in many pieces he appeared largely intact, apart from his shoulder which was in a bad way.

My finish time was 5 hours 51 minutes with the stops but a moving time of 5 hours 33 minutes and an average speed of 18 mph. Better than I had hoped for given the distance and hills involved.

Les would have been pleased with the medal which was very heavy and nicely crafted.

All in all a great event but not one to be taken lightly as my legs are reminding me today.

Chris