Over the Odda, 2015

Last April, as I was gearing up for my first crack at the Leeds half marathon, I was made aware of Over the Odda, "An inspiring off road run with amazing views and challenging terrain."  At the time I was convinced that a challenging 10k the week after 13.1 miles was a bad idea so I decided not to enter, even though I was tempted by the course.  I had already finished the Harewood 10k and had loved running in the country side so much that the thought of another off road race on my doorstep was really appealing.

I made the right decision though.  I was sore for weeks after the 2014 Leeds half and my legs would not have thanked me for another race day so soon afterwards.  This year though, because I wasn't going to run the Leeds half I decided to give Over the Odda a crack.  I even managed to talk seven of my running buddies from South Leeds Lakers in to signing up too for our first Group race day*.

Of course it turned out that I had entered the Leeds half, but if I set my mind to something it happens.  So one week on I was stood in the freezing cold windswept grounds of Hawksworth School wondering what was in store.  It was so cold that I even join in with the group warm up!

We were in good spirits as we were lead from the school to the field where the race would start.  The stiles we had to clamber over to get to the start line really should have been warning of what was to come, but I was too interested in getting going to think about what lay ahead.

With words of thanks to the local farmers, who let the race veer from the public footpaths, we were under way.  As normal I set off without any due care for the rest of the race.  My initial pace was too hot but weaving through people, navigating tractor troughs and knee high grass meant I didn't leave much brain space for race-day niceties.  I didn't need to worry about my pace for long though as we came to the first "Steep Hill" warning sign.

Steep didn't come close.  It was effing vertical.  I've not been so worried about going down hill since the time I went mountain biking in the Afan Forrest in a flowery frock.  I was in uncharted territory.  How on earth are you meant to run fast and safely down hills?  Soft knees, arms flailing like wind socks, I made it to the bottom in one piece where I joined a queue of people walking up an equally steep climb.  At this point in the race I was itching to pass people but there was just no room so walking it was.

Due to the hills my second mile split was 4 minutes slower than the first, but today was never going to be about times.  We passed the start, crossed the main road, and then hit another climb that even with room to pass, most people walked up.  A welcome water station met us at the top and then it was back down to business, and by down I mean straight down.  The sharpest decent on the course, through flowering gorse.  I was starting to get the hang of this off road stuff.

Running over stiles is hard, momentum is lost in an instant and in a group you can take what feels like an age to get over one.  Running over cattle grids however is something else all together.  The fear of slipping and getting my foot stuck at speed meant I took the grids at the same pace as climbing the stiles.

The thrill of running around trees while trying to keep to the course marked with red and white tape hanging from the branches was short lived, but once I was out of the wooded section I had a treat in store.  Coming the other was were two of the Lakers, Steve and Gavin.  I was expecting a wave of encouragement, or a misjudged high five.  Instead I got "I'm going to f***ing kill you!" from Gavin, I'm not sure he was feeling the love at that point.

The final mile was yet another up hill section, one which I will readily admit to walking up sections of.  I don't know if it was the start of the race or a hangover from last weekend but I didn't have much left in the tank.  My trail shoes were starting to feel full of feet but before long I was back at the school to cross the finish line in 55:47.  This was never going to be a fast race, I knew that before the start, but I'm still happy with my time.

It's fair to say that loved Over the Odda and I may well start looking more into off road/trail races in future.  It would be a different kettle of fish if it had been wet but you can't book the weather when you enter a race.  I have a strong suspicion that I will be back in Hawksworth next year, I also have a funny feeling that there will be more than 8 Lakers along side me on the start line!

*not including the Harewood 10k, East Leeds 10k, or Leeds Half Marathon.

Leeds Half Marathon 2015

Having declared that I wasn't running any half marathons this year, it's a little bit odd to find myself writing a review of one.  In fact, only two months ago I would have told you to get stuffed if you had suggested that I should enter a 13.1 mile race.  My aim was clear, 2015s training would be 100% focused on the York Marathon and I'd run a handfull of 10ks as part of that preparation.  All of that changed 8 weeks back when I got an email from Run for All asking me to confirm my details for the Leeds half.

I assumed it was a mistake as I had signed up for their Ultimate Season ticket to make sure I got a Marathon place*.  I clicked on the link and sure enough I had entered, on the 12th May 2014, one day after last year's race.  In the box marked "Why have you entered" I had written "I'm still buzzing from yesterday's race, bring on 2015."  I had been a fool.

Last year I had trained for 26 long weeks and had managed to beat my predicted 2 hour finish time coming in in 1:57:49.  I decided not to chase my PB but to try to achieve 2 hours again.  I upped my distance running, added hills, and added some speed work over short distances.  The 8 weeks went by very quickly and my last long run, last weekend, was upon me before I knew where I was.  I hadn't allowed myself much tapering time, 2 more weeks would have been great.

Then yesterday morning I joined up with around 9000 people to take on the streets of Leeds.  My pre-race nerves vanished as soon as we got to the holding pens on Millennium Square.  Up until then I was raring to get going, to leave the house on time, to get a parking space, but once I was amongst other runners I knew what was ahead of me and relaxed.

It helped that I met some of the South Leeds Lakers and Farsley Flyers for a chat before the race.  This time last year I was alone, didn't know the route, and didn't really think that I had it in me.  This time I was with a new bunch of friends, could visualise every corner and hill on the route and knew that with a decent pace I'd make it around in 2 hours.

A lot of the conversation was around the organisation of the race numbers.  You get used to this kind of thing at big events but something wasn't quite right.  Normally you get grouped by your anticipated finish time but that didn't seem to be the case, with people I knew would be faster than me starting in groups long after I was due to set off.  I didn't let it worry me though as come the start of the race you can only worry about yourself anyway.

The Red pen watched from the icy shadow of Leeds Library as first the wheelchair race, then the elite runners, followed by those wearing Blue numbers set off.  The wait to get underway was tense but we were moving soon enough.  I knew all too well that I would set off too fast but tried to keep well within myself.  The number of people around me, plus having to run up the Headrow should have slowed me down but I was already a minute under my pace by the time I got through the first mile.  The second mile saw another second fall from my target time, it was only the slog up Stonegate that brought an end to my meteoric start.

But although I had slowed down I was still managing to keep chipping away at the clock.  By the time I had scaled the Ring Road to Lawnswood I had three minutes in the bag.  Three minutes to slow down and still make 1 hour and 50 minutes, beating last year's time.  But I knew that the race was down hill from here.  I had taken a lot out of my legs, pushing too hard from the start but if I could just find a little bit more, 2 more minutes over 5 miles had to be achievable.

At 8k I was passed by Daryl who shouted encouragement as he sped past me into the distance.  A little later on John sauntered alongside me and had a bit of a chat before setting off to see if he could hunt down the 105 pace runner who almost ran me off the road on Butchers Hill.  By this time I was beginning to curse the tarmac under my feet.  My taped up knees were still ok but there was very little left in my legs and I was now on Kirkstall Road, the most boring stretch of road I have ever run on.

There is nothing inspiring on Kirkstall Road, nothing to keep you going, nothing to push against, very little to look at.  It's just you and the road.  My head was dipping as I tried to up my cadence, a final push past Yorkshire TV.  The last "hill", the slip road into town was soon upon me as was the stupidest running injury.  Further up the road I could see a fallen runner recieving first aid and on the other side of the road an ambulance had pulled up to help.  I decided to run around the ambulance so that the paramedics could get to the prone runner and as I passed, the door opened and I ran into it, spinning me through 360 degrees but not quite knocking me off my feet.

No sooner had I shaken off the embarrassment than I started to see familiar faces in the crowd. Jenny and Anna, Thomas, Phil, and Rich, all cheering me towards the final 400m.  My eyes were on stalks scanning the sea of faces for Zoe and Rhys who I found on the home straight.  I checked my watch one last time and realised that I had paused it when I hit the ambulance door.

Luckily it was still running and told me that I had a minute left.  A minute to get across the line in under 1 hour and 45 minutes.  The rest of the crowd may as well have not been there, I was on my own in a bubble of silence.  I saw the finish clock but it made no sense, it was counting from the start of the elite race after all.  I crossed the line, stopped my watch and stumbled towards the water stations and the Nicola Adams' Olympic postboxes, my prearranged meeting point.

I leant on the barriers to cheer home more of the Lakers and Flyers and took stock of what I had achieved.  My phone went off with a text from Run for All confirming that I had finished in 1:44:47.  Faster than last year, a new PB, and under 1:45.  Everything I wanted and more.

There may well be a half marathon in my plans for next year but it won't be Leeds.  I have still got to run along Kirkstall Road twice more this year (Leeds 10k and the Abbey Dash) and then I'm giving it a rest for a year, unless I accidently enter a race and forget about it again.

*The Leeds half isn't included in the season ticket for some reason.

9 more sleeps.

Back in March I had a panic, a moment of self reflection, and an epiphany.  I had been spending all of my running time with others and although it wasn't doing me any harm at all I wasn't reaping any benefits.  I was starting to think that I needed to do more running for me and then I got the email from Run for All reminding me that I had entered the Leeds half marathon.

In the last 6 weeks I have run hard, run long, and run for me, to try to get myself race fit* and I think I might now be ready for the Leeds half on the 10th of May.  As well as running I've also spent a very good portion of the last few weeks reflecting on how fit and fast I was this time last year, to try and compare where I am now.  I didn't have a running blog back then but I did post the following on Facebook:

9th May 2014: Operation 1/2 Marathon: It's here folks. This evening I went out for a run around Beeston for the last time before I hit the streets of Leeds on Sunday.
I'll be honest, my emotions are all over the place. I'm giddy with excitement because if I've learnt anything from the three 10k's that I've run in the last year, being part of a crowd of people, running in a pack, is a real buzz. But I'm also terrified that I haven't done enough training in the last SIX months and that I'll either fail to get around in 2 hours, or worse, fail to get around at all.
So there we go. 26 weeks of training. From just getting around the Abbey Dash in November to here. I can't claim to have enjoyed every step of the way but there has to be something about running that I enjoy as I'm planning to go the whole hog next year and enter my first marathon.
Thank you for all of the likes and supportive comments, they really have meant a lot to me.  One last thing. If you're in Leeds on Sunday morning, feel free to come out and cheer on the runners. Don't save your breath for me, the cheers of encouragement are one of the greatest things about running and it really makes all the difference when you feel like you can't go any further. See you at the finish line.

So this time last year I was this uncertain.  The same worries.  Would I go the distance?  Could I hit my target time?  I did both, making it round and smashing my target time by 8 minutes finishing in 1:51:48.  I also learned a few things along the way.  The Leeds half marathon is shrouded in folklore about how hilly it is.  I think these rumours come from folk who only run on billiard tables or treadmills.  If anybody has done any hill training they will hardly notice the climb up Stonegate, and Lawnswood ringroad will be over before you have started running up it.

Of course it goes without saying that if you have only been training on the flat you will find the hills hard, but as the saying goes "Train hard, race easy".  I think I'm actually fitter now than I was this time last year.  I'm starting to believe that I'm also a better runner.  I still have a couple of runs between now and the race but I'm starting to get excited and I can almost dare to think that I can beat last years time and set a new PB.  This is what Christmas must feel like to a 5 year old.  Only 9 more sleeps!

*"race fit" is different person to person, I'm not trying to win after all.