Filed under: Bracknell Forest Runners Forest Five, running | Tags: bracknell forest runners, dirt, dirt is good, forest 5, harry potter, juneathon, muggles, running
Two choices for day 10 of #Juneathon: British Military Fitness or the annual Forest 5 race, organised by Bracknell Forest Runners. Three colleagues decided they were up for for the run, and I enjoyed it when I did it last year, so off we went.
Again, it was a well organised, well marshalled and well marked race all around the lovely Bracknell Forest, home of GoApe and – currently – the cast and crew of the next Harry Potter film. At least 300 Muggles turned out for the run, though rather disappointingly we didn’t bump into any wizards, goblins or giants on the way around.
There was no way I was keeping up with Emma, and the boys were worried about getting their spanking new shoes dirty, so I decided to run my own race, plugged into my iPod. Last year, I surprised myself by completing the race in 45:19 and I wondered if I would be able to beat that time. The first couple of miles felt ok – I missed the first mile marker, but went through the second at 17 and a half minutes.
Then I got a stitch. A properly big one that caused me to gasp for air, and run along hunched over like an old person. I turned up the music to drown out the sound of my own heavy breathing and dug deep. As a consequence, mile three was very painful. Not sure what caused it – I’d drunk plenty of water throughout the day but not immediately before; and I had a small snack at 5ish, but didn’t run until 7.30.
The discomfort eased a bit for mile four- and I was still averaging around about nine-minute miles – and then managed to knock off a minute on the last mile to complete the race in 44 minutes on the nose.
Splits:
- Mile 1 – n/a
- Mile 2 – 17:30 (avg. 8:45 over two miles)
- Mile 3 – 26:34 (9:04)
- Mile 4 – 35:47 (9:13)
- Mile 5 – 44:00 (8:13)
So I was pretty pleased with that result, combined with some of my 5k Challenge times on the treadmill recently. It goes against my own conviction that I’m only capable of a ten-minute mile, regardless of the distance . I even vaguely wondered, while washing the mud off in the bath, if I could have knocked up to another minute off the total time if I hadn’t had the stitch, as that really wasn’t very nice.
Jolly well done to Emma (who came in about a minute and a half ahead of me) and particularly the two (non-running) chaps who finished inside 50 minutes, and got their spanking new running shoes nice and dirty.
Filed under: Bracknell Forest Runners Forest Five | Tags: Bracknell Forest, GoApe, The Lookout
In the excitement over the Reading Half Marathon, I omitted to blog about a day trip to GoApe, the day before. We went to the site in Bracknell Forest, one of my favourite local running haunts. It’s what they call a “high wire forest adventure” that involves being attached via bits of wire to rope ladders, treetop walkways, bridges, tunnels and zip lines.
It’s brilliant. Honestly, everyone should go.
Look, here’s Phil – he’s loving it, even though he’s a tiny bit scared of heights:
Our group of eight adults were briefed by a hyperactive teenager called Phoebe, alongside a group of very confident 12-year-olds. She was great, actually; very thorough, even though the kids kept giving her back-chat. After the safety briefing, we had a little practice on level 1, and were soon left to our own devices for levels 2, 3, 4 and 5.
My favourite was the zip slide. This is me on it:
Unfortunately, my landings tended to be less than graceful:
We spent about three hours up in the trees, though this was partly due to getting stuck behind a child who got the fear halfway through one of the levels. After coaxing her down, we continued to the end – where we had sandwiches and cake.
All in all, a rather marvellous day out.
Filed under: Bracknell Forest Runners Forest Five, running | Tags: bracknell forest runners, forest five, running
Nearly time for bed, so here are the highlights:
Location: The Look Out Discovery Centre, Bracknell – superb facility with masses of woodland, trails ideal for running and mountain biking, adventure play area, science and nature centre and the extremely exciting looking Go Ape. Note to self: must go back there soon to swing from trees making monkey noises.
Event organisation: very slick, happy to accept entries on the day from runners of all abilities. Straightforward start, friendly marshalls, lovely finish with a bit of support to cheer us in. Goody bag sponsored by a former client, Hummingbird, containing Bracknell Forest Runners pen, Mars bar and flyers for other runs including the unusual invitation to dress up as a Gorilla and run through the streets of London. Strangely tempting.
Course: beautiful undulating trails through the forest. A few inclines and descents to keep it interesting but nothing too long and draggy. Accurate mile markers.
Performance: surprisingly good…for me. My chest felt tight for the first mile, as if I was running in mid-winter, but loosened up after a bit. Felt comfortable all the way, and was pretty steady until the last mile when I managed to lift the pace slightly. Split times:
Mile 1 – 9:17
Mile 2 – 18:30 (9:13)
Mile 3 – 27:47 (9:17)
Mile 4 – 36:58 (9:11)
Mile 5 – 45:19 (8:21)
Now scoffing chocolate after eating a bowl of pasta in the bath. I’m multi-tasking…
