Virtual Vitality 10000 at Stratford-Upon-Avon

[Sandie1961]

After a rather damp day yesterday, this morning dawned bright and sunny. I was awake at 6.00 thanks to the clocks changing so had a leisurely mug of tea while waiting to meet up with the Midlands Gang of 6 for our Stratford VV10000. Shake-and-run set off first as she was expecting the slowest time, then the rest of us set off together. The guys soon disappeared into the distance and, after 1.5k I told TailChaser to leave me as I felt I was holding her back. After an unusual toxic 10, I got into my stride and finished with a 1.04.52. Congratulations to Shake-and-run on a PB and to Tailchaser on a sub 60. My day will come! Coffee and muffins/brownies in the Pantry afterwards. It was fantastic to run an almost real race again and to meet up with a few RBs and huge thanks to Tailchaser for arranging the route. See you all again soon I hope 🤞

[David_G]

Congratulations Sandie1961 and the Midlands gang!👏👏 Sounds like a lovely run for all you, and fab food afterwards😋

[Katnap Graduate10]

TailChaser was the only one who missed a turn! 🤣 Great running Sandie! 👍😁👍

🎃🙀 Spooky Katnap 🙀🎃

[TailChaser Graduate10 in reply to Katnap]

Oi! I was saving that nugget until later!

[Sandie1961 Graduate10 in reply to TailChaser]

😂😂 Pipped at the post

[Juliet202 Graduate10]

Congratulations - and so fast ! Great to have a gang to run with. I ran ‘alone’ today but was great to know lots of people in this community also doing it - and I ran past a group of 3 women with vitality bibs twice as we lapped the park in opposite directions - so that was fun !

[UpTheStanley Graduate10]

Well done Stratford - Southsea was wet occasionally and breezy always but I think all six of us beat our expected times. 51'45" for me was highly unexpected .... think I'll take November off now .

Apart from Wimborne who ran 20 mins faster than her self-declared handicap time (!!), our staggered starts meant we all finished within a couple of minutes of one another.

And a healthy breakfast was had by all - I'm sure a separate thread will provide photographic evidence shortly

Sometime we will all do this one together in London!

[damienair Administrator in reply to UpTheStanley]

Congratulations UTS on your 51'45" Time, super running.

Damien

[Wimborne in reply to UpTheStanley]

I keep telling you UTS I set my expectations low.... maybe a tad too low this morning 😂

[Sandie1961 Graduate10 in reply to Wimborne]

Wow 😮 Well done you 🥳👏🏻🙌

[Sandie1961 Graduate10 in reply to UpTheStanley]

Great time UTS! Did you have the famous Southsea wind behind you?

[UpTheStanley Graduate10 in reply to Sandie1961]

Half the time, strangely 😄

[Sandie1961 Graduate10 in reply to UpTheStanley]

😂😂😂 what a surprise!

[Dexy5 Graduate10]

So good to see the Midlands splinter group altogether, albeit socially distanced. When I saw that you were going to have good weather This morning I knew you’d have a great run. It was great to know that we were all running at the same time, but I think you may have got your breakfast a little bit earlier.

Well done everyone and here’s to the real thing in May next year.

[Sandie1961 Graduate10 in reply to Dexy5]

It really was a lovely day, although we were all slightly surprised by a head wind in the last 1k. So fantastic to be together again and seeing the RBs waiting to cheer me in on the finish line, rather than having buggered off to the cafe, was brilliant 😆

[damienair Administrator]

Oh wow, super running. Congratulations on your time of 1.04.52 , fantastic effort. Very well done to all of you.

Damien

[Sandie1961 Graduate10 in reply to damienair]

Thanks Damien. It was a special occasion 😊

[Buddy34 Graduate10]

Well done Sandie. It sounds like a great run and a good day had by all of you. Hope you enjoyed the coffee and muffins afterwards 👏👏👏

[Sandie1961 Graduate10 in reply to Buddy34]

Thanks Buddy. Oh yes, chocolate brownies for most, but lemon and poppy seed muffin for me. Yummy 😋

[Wimborne]

Ah sounds great fun Sandie and the midlands gang. Really impressive times there. It’s great to see you all running together. Our little gang down South did great too ... UTS was a rocket as always 😀 and it was great despite the fact it was windy and raining at times. Look forward to a big meet up one day.

[Sandie1961 Graduate10 in reply to Wimborne]

The southern gang did brilliantly. Sounds like we had better weather! A big meet up would be fab, but, until then, gangs of 6 are compensation x

[Oldgirlruns Graduate10]

Well done the Stratford and Midlands Branch! It looks as though you had a great morning for it - so did we here on the South Coast. If you don’t mind wind and rain! But, hey, it was typical OGR weather! And with Coddfish as a very welcome pacemaker for just under 7km I managed a PB of 1:38:04 so I’m happy with that! Looking forward to another meet-up soon!

[Sandie1961 Graduate10 in reply to Oldgirlruns]

Yay 😁 Well done on your PB OGR. Great run - but, of course, perfect weather for you 😂

[Oldgirlruns Graduate10 in reply to Sandie1961]

😂

[Coddfish Graduate10]

Well done all

[Sandie1961 Graduate10 in reply to Coddfish]

Thanks Coddfish x

[Hidden]

Well done Sandie and everyone else too. Some great times and special memories to look back on too! 👏👏👏👏😃

[Sandie1961 Graduate10 in reply to Hidden]

They are indeed GTFC. Until we can all get together again, we’ll take it where we can 😃

[SaskAlliecat Graduate10]

Yay! It is so great to see some of you guys able to get together and run in small groups for these virtual events. How special is that! Congrats to Shake-and-run for her PB and speedy TailChaser on her sub-60! Someday I hope to achieve that goal! I can dream.

[TailChaser Graduate10 in reply to SaskAlliecat]

Thanks Sask, but you have huge great boulders and difficult terrain to follow, ours was easy peasy tarmac!

[SaskAlliecat Graduate10 in reply to TailChaser]

Even on easy peasy tarmac, I am way off that pace. But someday. I'm getting a new running watch and am going to change things up a bit to see if I can get faster. I seem to be getting slower instead of faster lately so time to shake things up 😆

[TailChaser Graduate10 in reply to SaskAlliecat]

You will Sask, I'm just trying to make the most of it whilst I still can!!! 😁

[Hidden]

That’s just brilliant Sandie, congratulations to you all, so lovely to see some at least are able to run with real RB’s ...one day........🥳 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻🤸‍♀️🤗

[TailChaser Graduate10]

I know you will Sandie! I wouldn't have left you if you hadn't known where you were going but then if you hadn't walked it yesterday you might have had the legs for it a bit more today... but, as you say, it actually felt something like a race, and that's still a very good time 👏👏👏

[EThomas Graduate10]

Well done. What a great result.

[BaddieThePirate Graduate10]

Fabulous, a meet up and a superb PB for TailChaser . Lovely to see you all out there doing it. Thanks for posting Sandie1961.

[TailChaser Graduate10 in reply to BaddieThePirate]

PB for Shake-and-run not me Baddie. No way I could do that today, though I tried! It was a great morning!

[Sandie1961 Graduate10 in reply to TailChaser]

You were so close though x

[TailChaser Graduate10 in reply to Sandie1961]

I blame the wind 😁xx

[BaddieThePirate Graduate10 in reply to TailChaser]

I mis-read. Well done Shake-and-run 🏅👏

[Sonia52 Graduate10]

Congratulations and a great time!! Well done! 👏👏👏🏃‍♀️🏆

[Beachcomber66 Graduate10]

Special occasion Sandie !! All about the meet up and a little bit about the race. I think I will be asleep soon!! Run followed by heavy lunch🙂

[Sandie1961 Graduate10 in reply to Beachcomber66]

Ah no BC! It was all about the brownies/muffins 😂 You are safe again from my sub 60. One day! Mr Sandie and I had a roast lunch with Shake-and-Run and Mr Shakes, but sadly I had volunteered to drive the 100 miles home. G&T now poured and an early night on the cards I think

[linda9389 Graduate10]

Coffee and muffins/brownies plus sunshine plus running buddies? Who needs a PB!!! 😀

[Sandie1961 Graduate10 in reply to linda9389]

Thank you for reminding me about what is most important. You are absolutely right, of course 😊

[Bluebirdrunner Graduate10]

Lovely report and photos Sandie. You all did brilliantly and your time is very much to be respected too! 🔥

Well done to you and the gang!

🏃‍♀️🏃‍♀️🏃‍♂️🏃‍♂️🏃‍♀️🏃‍♂️👌👏👏🍁🍃🍂xxx

[Sandraj39 Graduate10]

Lovely meet up for you all Sandie! Well done on your run and a very respectable time too!💪🏅

[Sandie1961 Graduate10 in reply to Sandraj39]

Thanks Sandra. I think this is going to sustain us through the trials and tribulations for a little while!