Author: Jane Spink

I targeted this race just before Christmas …. I fancied having a crack at a 10km PB and so I devised a 6 week training programme with a mix of running, cycling and Pilates. All runs to be done easy (in order to avoid injury), all effort sessions are to be done on the bike (to avoid injury) and a daily Pilates session (to avoid injury). There was definitely an over riding theme to this plan.

Plan is written out and 2 weeks in, things are going great. My Functional Threshold Power on the bike has increased and I’m happily ticking off the sessions and really enjoying doing them too. Then I had a horrible cold. I’ve heard that a lot of people have had it this winter. Normally I would still run with a cold but not this one. I didn’t do any exercise for a week. I was so grumpy.

When I felt well enough to run I couldn’t find the piece of paper with my plan on it. Where has it gone? I couldn’t download another version of it as I had made it up and the scrappy bit of paper I had written it on was my only record. Annoyed with myself , I resigned to thinking that my grand scheme to target a PB had been quashed and I decided to abandon the idea. But, a week before the race I ran a PB at parkrun ….. I’ve only ever had 5 parkrun PBs over the last 11 years and so they are a fairly rare occurrence . This made me think that maybe all is not lost after all , and that, perhaps I should still give it a go.

All going well again until Friday night…… Rob asks, ‘Jane, do you want this salmon for tea? It’s two days out of date, but it looks ok; I’m having it’ I eat the salmon. By the next morning I’m regretting it ….. and so is Rob. I manage to get myself round at parkrun and eat my regular cheese scone in the cafe afterwards but it feels like there’s a dance party going on inside my stomach. This continues for the next 24 hours .

Race Day and now my main concern is how long the queues for the loos are …… I count them, 5 in total and 200 plus people . Oh s*?t. Got to the front of the queue. No toilet roll. Fortunately my golden rule on any run of any distance is to carry toilet roll. It’s my best piece of running advice that I never give out to other people , instead I say stuff like, ‘helium balloons’ , ‘run tall’ , ‘drive your arms’. Nope, ignore all of that. The best advice is ‘always carry toilet roll’.

The run itself is 2 laps of the Town Moor which is quite exposed but wasn’t too windy that day. The footpaths are mainly good but there’s a couple of sections with huge potholes and a run along the side of a road where you constantly dodge tree stumps. I had targeted bang on 7 min miles. This would bring me to the finish in 43.30 which would be a 90 second PB and it also made the mental maths easy to add up as I clocked up the miles.

I set off fast , far too fast, but strangely felt comfortable. Went through the first 5km in 20.38, a 5km PB …. What am I doing? I knew I had to be disciplined and not get too carried away, otherwise the last few miles would be torture. I felt ok though. Then the dance party returned, after about 4 and a half miles. Not now, please not now. Without too much detail, enough has been said already …. I finish. I don’t know how , but I finish, and I’m delighted with my time of 42.02.

I head straight back to the loo. On reflection, I decide that it’s time to write a training plan, keep it somewhere safe and refrain from eating Rob’s out of date dinners. I’m so after sub 42 next time.

I am increasingly aware that my daughter will now beat me over any distance less than 5km (and after her 2 min parkrun PB at the weekend I’ll extend it to now include 5km). For now I’m safe in 10km and above, mainly because she’s too young to enter those distances. So when the Middlesbrough Mile gave Ellie an opportunity to have bragging rights over me (again) I was very surprised she passed it up in favour of attending the regular sprints session coached by Frances Barlow and David Walker. It just goes to show how much she values and enjoys these sessions. High praise indeed to our junior coaches.

I decided I would go anyway. The mile was delivered by Stride Out Events and the people organising it, Scott Hydon and Kieran Walker have been an integral part of our club for many years. Scott’s enthusiasm and expertise for athletics have benefited so many of our juniors in the past and continues to do so. We are very lucky to have him as part of our club.

So, plans were made to take a car full and I picked up Thomas and Becky Rowe and Rory Letts on the way and the conversation soon turned to the topic of cake. How much can you eat before a run / after a run and somewhere in between.

Pre registration was essential for this race as each race was graded and so all who entered were put into a race with others of a similar ability. I was hoping to get sub 7 so entered 7 minutes and soon found myself up against Rosie, Lisa and Callum who are far faster than me. I revisited my goal to include the target not to be last!

The route utilised the cycle track at Prissick, a 1km loop which is mainly flat and fast with sweeping bends rather than tight corners as cycle racing demands. It is an ideal route for a PB if you are in form.

The first race set off at 7pm with a lead and tail bike although it was impossible to get lost. The finish times in that race ranged between 6.34 and 10.21 with the majority nearing the 10.21 finishing time. It does seem that someone was definitely quicker than they had anticipated!

There was a great turn out of 13 harriers and the club was represented in race 2 by Paula, Andy Corfield and Graham Darby.

I was in race 3 and we were quickly heading off down the slight decline in the track and I was just thinking don’t get carried away in the first part. Having said that, both Lisa and Rosie definitely got carried away and shot off in front and by the end of the first bend Lisa was out of sight. Of course she maintained her pace (why wouldn’t she?) and finished as strong as ever in 6.21 only to be beaten by Callum who won our race in 6. Rosie put in a great performance of 6.30 and having not set off too fast I managed to finish in 6.48. I was very pleased with sub 7. I quite fancy having a crack at 6.45 next time!

As I headed off to watch Rosie make me a cup of tea (I was still out of breath) race 4 was underway. I liked the relaxed but organised atmosphere. Make your own tea and coffee, help yourself to biscuits and check your results (which are available immediately after the race) although published and linked to power of 10 the next day.

There were lots of great performances by Harriers. https://www.runbritainrankings.com/results/results.aspx?meetingid=329242&event=1M&venue=Middlesbrough&date=6-Nov-19

The next event (always held first Wednesday in the month, 4th December) in the series is a 5km. It’s fast, flat and PB potential. Get yourselves along.  Pre entry is essential so that you are allocated into the right event. The plan is for two races, the first for those who predict a finish time of sub 21 minutes and the second race for over 21 minutes. All abilities are welcome and encouraged to come along; don’t be put off by the sound of the second race (it sounds fast to me), I predict that finishing times will range to include 35 minutes plus….. I also predict that Ellie will beat me.

Enter here:
https://strideoutathletics.fullonsport.com/loginorguest

By Jane Spink

By Jane Spink.

Ferlerr the rerd round the cernerr to yer right. The words from the marshal at the first turn. We are definitely in Hull. Having been born and bred in the not so posh side of the city I am relieved not to have adopted the local accent. It’s my home town marathon and having done the event twice before, this year I was offered a free place by the race director Lucas who was keen to acknowledge the contribution my mum made to the running community in Hull. A community that has seen huge growth in the past 10 years since she founded the Hull parkrun. Mum was event director at Hull parkrun until the day she died which was 3 weeks after being diagnosed with cancer.

Organising a marathon is a huge undertaking and Hull haven’t always got it quite right. However, Lucas really does welcome feedback and more importantly he acts on it which means that the Hull marathon gets better and better each year. This year numbers could be collected the day before from Malet Lambert Secondary school. The school that I went to. I didn’t recognise the bloke who handed me my number but he recognised me and announced that he used to teach me. At this point I wondered whether or not it was wise to enter into conversation with him but he reassured me by saying he also used to teach my brother – I was safe in comparison!

Rob and I walked from race registration back to my Dad’s house half a mile away. Pete and Grace called in to make plans for the following day and talk about race strategy; both Rob and Pete agreed that neither of them was going to run with me. One of them considering me to be too slow the other too fast.

Early start on race day and Pete and Grace arrived back at dad’s house for 7.30am. Grace possibly faced the toughest challenge of us all for the day – managing Grandad! That’s a whole new run report on its own, as well Beth knows from her experiences at Manchester Marathon. Meanwhile Rob, Pete and myself headed to the finish to get the bus to the start. The start this year was brilliant. On the Humber Bridge, which at one time was the world’s longest single suspension bridge. The big advantage starting on the bridge is that it gets the climb out of the way nice and early on. There is only one climb in the Hull marathon and in previous years the bridge and hence the climb have been at mile 18. Legs are tired by then so all runners thought that Lucas had made a brilliant decision this year. On a clear day in the sunshine (which it was!) the views are amazing. I was actually running with Pete at this point and we both commented on the beauty of the East Riding of Yorkshire.

Very quickly it became apparent that Pete really didn’t want to run with me and he held back. I stuck to my plan of between 9 and 9.20 min miles and saw him at a few parts of the course that had a slight out and back. I spotted Rob at 12 miles whilst I was approaching 10. He looked comfortable and despite me shouting over to him he ignored me (nothing new there). I met my friend Farhat at mile 13, he was struggling at that point in the heat but with a bit of a friendly push he soon sprinted off. He promptly stopped 0.1 mile later as he was part of a relay team and handed over his wristband/ baton to his teammate. It was 23 degrees and I was feeling the heat too.

Even with the positive changes that the Hull marathon have made with a new route, transport and baggage buses and amazing support by marshals along the way one thing that does need addressing is water. Or a lack of it. The 3 water stations from half way onwards had run out by the time I got there. Dad and the kids were enjoying brunch outside a cafe at mile 15 and so I pinched Ellie’s water bottle. Pleased to have acquired it I drank it a bit too quickly and it wasn’t long before I saw it again. Pub stop number 1. I felt sick so stopped to walk, Pete caught me and ran on. I nipped into the closest bar and asked to use their loo…… I didn’t wait for them to reply. A 16 min mile and dodgy stomach have been experienced before in a marathon and it’s not pleasant. I decided to continue at a much slower pace. The next water stop was empty again and so pub stop number two. This time to take on board liquid. I waited patiently at the bar whilst the bartender served others first and then asked if I would like arse in yer werter? I enjoyed my glass of water (without arse). Word had got around to organisers about a lack of water and a Sainsbury’s van had pulled up to replenish stocks. I grabbed some from the van to carry round with me.

Rob had finished just as I approached mile 21, he had exceeded his expectations and finished in 3.37.31 . His second marathon and a 15 min PB. He promptly declared his retirement from marathon running.

Yer mum would be proud of yer. The rallying call from a marshal at mile 22. I didn’t quite manage to hold it together prob compounded by being on home turf and running towards my dad’s house where I grew up. I cunningly disguised the tears by opting to run through the showers that residents had set up with their hosepipes. Not sure how many runners had taken them up on the soaking they were offering as they took great delight as headed straight for them. I could hear them chuckling to themselves as I carried on.  At this time Pete was approaching the finish line, the baggage bus was parked on the route 100m before the end. Energy efficient Pete decided to collect his hoody before he had finished the race. He recorded a PB too with a great run of 4.15.

On entering East Park the finish line was a very welcome sight. Only I had another two miles to go, the first of which followed the Hull parkrun route. As a kid I spent a lot of time in East Park, just as my kids now spend a lot of time in Hardwick Park. I often think how lucky we are to have such beautiful parks on our doorstep and I genuinely never tire of running laps of both as part of my marathon training. In honesty I like laps as you know that you are never far from a toilet should you need one!

Undertaking a marathon is a commitment, this was my 17th. I entered my first marathon when I was 17. London. It was easier to get in in those days. My mum loved marathon running and she would set off with her friends for her annual trip to London to take part. It really was easier to get in then! By the time race day came I had reached the minimum age of 18 and mum, dad and I all completed London that year. It was lovely to see her friends (and mine) out on the route in Hull. Audrey popped up at 21miles and Joan was at the finish, both of them continue to parkrun although have retired from marathons.

Nearing the finish (finally) we were taken on a tour of East Park’s finest features, the animal enclosure with wallabies, the splash boat, the Khyber Pass, and finally the last half mile.

Going around the final turn I spotted another local hero of the Hull running scene; Dave. He was in his familiar volunteer role of photographer. I was pleased to see him. Via the power of the internet Dave has recently shared with me videos and photos he had taken of mum and me running together, more than 30 years ago. I’ve been watching them quite a lot recently. I glanced across to my left as I crossed the finish line to acknowledge the memorial bench to my mum in the park and after collecting the medal and t shirt we all went for a photo on her bench. I miss her more than I ever thought I could.

May your hands always be busy

May your feet always be swift

May you have a strong foundation

When the winds of changes shift

May your heart always be joyful

May your song always be sung

And may you stay Forever Young