I love this race. It's a tough one, hilly, but it's such a great atmosphere. It's nice to do a road race where you can start on the actual start line. Once the gun goes, you know exactly who you are racing and where you are in the race and it makes for some really good racing. That's my perception from the sharp end, but I guess from my past experiences it's nice to do a friendly race where you are not self conscious and don't have to worry about all the sweaty men rushing past you.
Have you ever seen such a relaxed start as this? Proper racing!:
Before the start, I'd had a good look at the start list and realised we had a strong team with Chris and Gina. I was eagerly telling Chris that we had a chance to win the team prize. This was till I spotted Shona at the start. With Kath that makes 2 Winchester elite ladies. Guess I spoke a little too soon. Oops!
Not surprisingly Kath and Shona left the rest of us standing at the start. That's 6mins/mile worth of standing - they can certainly shift, those two. I slotted in behind team-mate Gina and Jane from Havant. I would dearly have loved to have tried to keep pace with them, but I was aware of the need to tread carefully in the first mile: with a steady uphill opening half mile, followed by a steep downhill, it's very easy to overdo it before the mile's out. I kept in touch with the two of them though but realised that perhaps I wasn't going to catch them.
I had a bit of a tussle with a Norwich woman at the first mile mark, running shoulder to shoulder, but she had the measure of me and pulled away as the road once more turned uphill.
The course is a tricky one. It never really levels out. It seems to be always either uphill or downhill, with some tricky little steeper bits, and a strength sapping long uphill in the 4th mile. Not a course for PBs then, except if, like me, it's the only 5-mile you've been doing in the last 3 years!
We were so lucky with the weather. It remained dry for the entire race. We even had some sun for a mile or so.
Hills are not exactly a speciality of mine, being tall and relatively heavy, but I wasn't doing too badly. I kept Gina in my sight all the way, and watched as the Norwich runner caught her. Someone shouted that I was well ahead in 6th place with just over a mile to go. I wasn't going to glance back, but I could judge from the marshals' applause that there was someone behind me and it sounded like she was getting closer. I should be able to hold her off for the remaining mile though.
Well no actually.
As we crested the last hill before the final down-up into the finish, Chris, my team mate, came past me. That girl loves those hills! I made an effort to stay with her but it wasn't to be. It was bitter-sweet, as I would have loved to beat her, but what a finish we had in prospect with Gina, Chris and myself in close order, finishing 5th, 6th and 7th. Victory power!
At the finish Chris revealed just how much effort she'd put into getting past me. Well done Chris! My turn next time ;-)
The excitement grew though as word went round that we'd beaten Winchester! Surely not! Victory AC isn't the sort of team that beats Winchester. With Kath 1st and Shona 2nd, it all came down to where the 3rd place Winchester runner finished.
Shona 2nd, and Kath 1st:
Alas, it seems Victory AC isn't the sort of team that beats Winchester. Their 3rd runner Hannah finished 14th, meaning they beat us by just 1 point! Next time maybe?
We did really well though with Gina picking up a prize for 5th, Chris getting 1st W35 prize, I got 1st W45, Marilyn 1st W55, and we got bottles of wine for 2nd team.
Special mention for Emma, whom I waited for at the end. I ran with her down the last slope before ordering her to give it all on the final uphill 200m, telling her to catch the woman in front. She did! She caught up a big gap and finished a place or 2 higher. Well done Emma. Well paced!
The prizes. No, I'm not wearing anything underneath:
Marilyn W55:
2nd team prize:
The squad, most of us anyway:
Finally, this is my favourite photo, despite it being another team (the host club in fact). A gaggle of dead Pompey Joggers:
Thanks to Pauline, the race director, for the photos.
Finally a report from me wouldn't be complete without splits and HR data. Here they are. There might be a little fatigue evident in the low HR figures, but it's always difficult to maintain a high HR on a hilly course. I think I generally paced well, but maybe I did slow a little in the last mile - Chris will probably claim I did anyway.
Splits and ave HRs:
6:18 146bpm
6:41 154bpm
6:48 153bpm
7:30 153bpm
6:50 151bpm
34:09 (unofficial) 152bpm ave
A PB of course!
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