Post by Popple on Oct 31, 2012 14:08:18 GMT
I entered this purely because it is in our club leagues and I needed the points. I ran Tissington HM a couple of weeks earlier and PB'd at 2:00:30 so decided to go real easy on this one!
I agreed to pace my sister-in-law round as it was her first HM and she was quite undertrained. We decided not to aim for a specific time but to just get her round as she had only done two 10 milers beforehand, and one of those was very stop start!
The day came and I was really relaxed as there was no expectations. The weather was perfect, nice and cold with no rain or wind! I met up with SIL and she was understandably quite nervous but also excited. We picked up our numbers, attached our chip, had a loo stop etc etc and then got to the start. We headed straight to the back where most of the Halloween fancy dress folk were.
We soon set off and set into a nice steady pace, we let people pass without getting carried away and within 2 miles we were already overtaking them. A surprising number of people were walking before 3 miles – a little worrying!
The route is undulating - it is very rolling, from the beginning right to the end!! Within the first mile there is the biggest incline buts not a killer like some folk would lead you to believe!
The miles passed rather easily and rather pleasantly, we chatted to other runners – one particular lady was pushing a double buggy round, she told me it was the first time she had properly run with it!! The grandparents were meant to be babysitting but couldn’t so rather than drop out she brought them along – nutcase!! She had brought a big tub of sweets along to keep the kids quiet but they were both fast asleep so we ran with her for about a mile eating all her kids sweets – bonus!
Around mile 8 we were going through Clumber Forest and there were some brilliantly amusing signs that had been put up, these lasted for about half a mile and brought a few laughs…
“Donate 5 pints of blood for an extra t shirt” – I would totally have done that the t-shirts were fab!
“Ladies don’t swallow the water from the sponges of your hair will fall out”
“Approx 90% of women here should be in the kitchen now cooking Sunday dinner”.
At around mile 10 we got an elderly gent running with us (70+), he asked if he could say something to us without being slapped – I of course told him he was likely to get slapped but could tell us anyway – he said that we both had lovely bottoms and was sad to be overtaking us
I didn’t slap him I just wiggled a bit more when we overtook him later on!
Between miles 10-12 the course was boring, it was a looooong straight bit that seemed to last forever and it just looked the same all along. I was pleased to get out and into some urban areas where I could nosy at peoples houses (although this once led to me seeing a naked woman – but that’s another story).
My SIL started to wane towards the end. When most people see the 600m to go sign they get a spur, my SIL saw this as a chance to stop – not a chance in hell was that going to happen!! I literally pushed her from behind until we got to the 200m to go sign. I let go of her but she asked to hold my hand because she couldn’t finish it if not so hand in hand I pulled her to the finish with a bit of a downhill sprint. We were celebrated over the finish by the crowds which was lovely!
Our time was 2:35… A brilliant achievement for my SIL who was buzzing all day after and a pat on the back for me knowing I had paced her well enough to get her round without having to stop once!!
The support from the marshals was fab and the race was brilliantly organised – it is one I will definitely be doing again, I would like a shot at it at race pace to see how testing those hills really are.
The T-Shirt was ace it was Halloween themed with a pumpkin shape on the back and a 13.1 logo on the front, both of which were in union jack colours to celebrate our wonderful year of sport!
I agreed to pace my sister-in-law round as it was her first HM and she was quite undertrained. We decided not to aim for a specific time but to just get her round as she had only done two 10 milers beforehand, and one of those was very stop start!
The day came and I was really relaxed as there was no expectations. The weather was perfect, nice and cold with no rain or wind! I met up with SIL and she was understandably quite nervous but also excited. We picked up our numbers, attached our chip, had a loo stop etc etc and then got to the start. We headed straight to the back where most of the Halloween fancy dress folk were.
We soon set off and set into a nice steady pace, we let people pass without getting carried away and within 2 miles we were already overtaking them. A surprising number of people were walking before 3 miles – a little worrying!
The route is undulating - it is very rolling, from the beginning right to the end!! Within the first mile there is the biggest incline buts not a killer like some folk would lead you to believe!
The miles passed rather easily and rather pleasantly, we chatted to other runners – one particular lady was pushing a double buggy round, she told me it was the first time she had properly run with it!! The grandparents were meant to be babysitting but couldn’t so rather than drop out she brought them along – nutcase!! She had brought a big tub of sweets along to keep the kids quiet but they were both fast asleep so we ran with her for about a mile eating all her kids sweets – bonus!
Around mile 8 we were going through Clumber Forest and there were some brilliantly amusing signs that had been put up, these lasted for about half a mile and brought a few laughs…
“Donate 5 pints of blood for an extra t shirt” – I would totally have done that the t-shirts were fab!
“Ladies don’t swallow the water from the sponges of your hair will fall out”
“Approx 90% of women here should be in the kitchen now cooking Sunday dinner”.
At around mile 10 we got an elderly gent running with us (70+), he asked if he could say something to us without being slapped – I of course told him he was likely to get slapped but could tell us anyway – he said that we both had lovely bottoms and was sad to be overtaking us
I didn’t slap him I just wiggled a bit more when we overtook him later on!Between miles 10-12 the course was boring, it was a looooong straight bit that seemed to last forever and it just looked the same all along. I was pleased to get out and into some urban areas where I could nosy at peoples houses (although this once led to me seeing a naked woman – but that’s another story).
My SIL started to wane towards the end. When most people see the 600m to go sign they get a spur, my SIL saw this as a chance to stop – not a chance in hell was that going to happen!! I literally pushed her from behind until we got to the 200m to go sign. I let go of her but she asked to hold my hand because she couldn’t finish it if not so hand in hand I pulled her to the finish with a bit of a downhill sprint. We were celebrated over the finish by the crowds which was lovely!
Our time was 2:35… A brilliant achievement for my SIL who was buzzing all day after and a pat on the back for me knowing I had paced her well enough to get her round without having to stop once!!
The support from the marshals was fab and the race was brilliantly organised – it is one I will definitely be doing again, I would like a shot at it at race pace to see how testing those hills really are.
The T-Shirt was ace it was Halloween themed with a pumpkin shape on the back and a 13.1 logo on the front, both of which were in union jack colours to celebrate our wonderful year of sport!
