Category: Race Report

VLM Part 1

Eight intrepid club members rocked up for the start of the Virgin Money London Marathon in 2015. These are the tales of four of them, the rest come in the second instalment!

Tom May

The road to the 2015 London Marathon was a challenging journey to say the least. The first big hiccup came whist competing in the International Running Challenge in Lanzarote. In the last of 4 races (the half marathon) I went over on my ankle badly with 2km to go. I managed to finish but the swelling and angry red colour meant it wasn’t a minor sprain. A trip to the Physio revealed I’d partially torn 2 ankle ligaments! After the best part of 6 weeks off I gingerly started running again in Jan and built up to 5 miles. Setback number 2 then occurred whist on a ski trip I fell on an ice patch and my ski didn’t release which caused a nasty calf muscle tear! That put pay to anymore skiing on the holiday and another month of enforced rest with no running as it slowly healed. read more

Seeking Marathon Justice

By Andy Inchley

Last October Amy and I “ran” the Chester marathon and both had something of a disaster. Despite putting in some strong training, it simply didn’t happen on the day and we both came home fairly miserable. I was adamant that I was as fit as I’ve ever been and just couldn’t explain it, so was immediately thinking about entering another one in the spring. When Chris (AKA Rodders), one of my Tuesday MK training buddies had a very similar experience in Abingdon I suggested that Manchester might be an option, and so after a month of debate we both signed up. read more

Paris Marathon

by Kate Johnson

This time I was nervous, really nervous. I had run 2 marathons already but this time the pressure was on. I had been running faster and longer than ever before and I felt like a ‘real runner’ for the first time. I had completed the MK 20 in 3 hours 31mins taking 28 mins off my previous time. I had a real chance of being able to run a sub 5 hour marathon as long as I could keep running the whole way. The main challenge was that everyone else knew I had been running well and were expecting results. I had never run a race abroad before so I had no idea how the flight, hotel, food and water would affect me. The week before hand I really felt the pressure and struggled to eat and sleep and by the time Friday came around my nerves were completed shredded. read more

Sandy 10

by Fiona & Jordan

The Spring Sandy 10 is all about Decisions:

· Shorts or leggings?

· Cap or sunglasses?

· Long sleeves or a vest?

· Gloves or no gloves?

It’s all about the weather, or is it?

Well not quite, it’s also about the course:

To blast up the hill at the start and hope you recover or save a bit and run the risk of losing it?

To let it all out on mile 9 and lose your will to live on the home straight?
If you’re Jordan – to give it your all and catch the ‘X’ that took your third place in the last mile or settle for a club record, (cheeky git. Ed.) or if you’re me to push it in the 4th mile to make sure you beat the lead runner to that loop or settle for the embarrassment of that happening – again! read more

Has Spring Sprung?

There were daffodils aplenty on the traditional Boxing day route for the final club championship race of the year on Easter Monday and a reasonable turn-out of sixteen lithe individuals were on the start line wondering what Dave had predicted their time would be for the 5.7(ish) miles.

This event has been run on this route since before the bypass was constructed, which may answer the question as to why we go that way. Although the start and finish lines have been moved around a little it is basically the same course as it’s always been so times are roughly comparable year to year. read more

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