Worksop Half Marathon

[AnnieW55]

Was expecting a cool dry day but it was cold and wet at home. Fortunately Worksop proved to have the weather I was hoping for - cool and sunny (apart from one early lane which seemed to be a sun trap). I ran this 2 years ago and even though I had looked at the maps I didn't pick up on that the start had moved from the town to the college 😊 Which meant a long walk from our chosen car park.

The area was busy - 3,000 entries but not sure how many started. The fancy dress was amazing. I made sure the Grim Reaper was ahead of me at the start - and luckily he stayed well ahead! Hats off to the guy dressed as Scooby Doo as he ran with a collecting bucket which must have got pretty heavy and finished in a good time.m(He must have got fed up of hearing "sorry, no Scoobie Snacks".

The start missed out quite a bit of the hill,I had run last time😀 but there was still plenty of it left! It was a very undulating course and seemed to have a lot of up. There was quite a good level of support in Clumber Park which was appreciated and lots of small children high (well we had to bend down a lot) fiving. There is one part when we ran down a lane where the organisers had lots of notices for birthdays, sayings etc. Like if the circus act gets Violent, go for the juggler. I wish I could remember more of them but I can't, just remember they made me smile, I didn't have my phone so no pics either. The drink stations (3) were well manned but had the dreaded cups. Jelly babies were also handed out at 2 of them.

My refuelling didn't go to plan I didn't drink enough from my bottles and I had two mini packs of raisins but it wasn't too bad.

About 17.5k I saw there was something odd on my Garmin and later I found I'd managed to pause it for a few hundred metres! So my final reading shows me short 😫. The finish line came just in time as I was getting really tired at that point.

My Asics predicted time of 2:16 @ 6.24 and My chip time was 2:14:14 @ 6.22😮. ( My previous best was 2:34 two years ago.)

Nice long sleeved tee and badge for the effort. It has a good pic on the back but I don't know how to do a montage.

[C3PO Marathon]

Congratulations! That's quite a PB - you must be pleased.

[AnnieW55 in reply to C3PO]

Thank you. Yes I am. I'm surprised how much my pace has picked up just following the Asics plan.

[poppypug Marathon]

Brilliant ! Many Congratulations Annie, lovely bling too !

Well done, that time is fantastic ! xxx

[AnnieW55]

Thanks poppy. As it's all down to " on the day" I was going to be happy with just going under 2:30. First guy back was 1:13 !!!

[aliboo70 Half Marathon]

Well done Annie thats a great to knock off 20 mins from your time! Congratulations

[AnnieW55 in reply to aliboo70]

Thank you. Already want to go faster next year 😂

[Tomas Marathon]

Congratulations Annie, that's a great result - better than predicted and a solid (very solid!) PB. Super well done!

[AnnieW55 in reply to Tomas]

Thank you Tomas. Asics plan do work! First one I've completed after many false starts😊

[misswobble Marathon]

Well done 😃 I thought about you as the weather was really good 👍

I think a lot switched from chesterfield to do the Worksop when the chesterfield one got postponed due to off the field issues. Fortunately it went ahead with fresh organisers But many had already made the switch

Clumber is pleasant to run through but it think it would be good to get a better look-see at Welbeck

Great time 😃👍🏃‍♀️

[AnnieW55 in reply to misswobble]

Thank you. I did the first re-start Chessie half in 2014 in 2:35 and this one in 2:34 in 2015 so I've managed to get faster as I've got older 😂. Finally, thanks to c25k, I seem to have not only learned how to run but also to train! Old dog, new tricks - yes you can 😀

[roseabi Ultramarathon]

Well done, you beat MyAsics! Sounds like a fun race. Glad you managed to avoid the Grim Reaper, although personally I think Scooby Doo is scarier

Re. photo collages, you can get a photo collage app for your phone, or use Google Photos to do it (phone or desktop) if you have a Google account.

photos.google.com/

[AnnieW55 in reply to roseabi]

By the end I wasn't too sure the GR wasn't on my shoulder! But was already thinking of having a go at beating it by last evening.

The picture info is great. Thanks again.

[ju-ju- Marathon]

wow well done and what a fab time too... you must be dead chuffed with such a big PB?

[AnnieW55 in reply to ju-ju-]

Thanks ju-ju. Following the My Asics plan certainly paid off this time.

[Anniemurph Half Marathon]

That's a brilliant time, well done!

[AnnieW55 in reply to Anniemurph]

Thanks Annie.

[jojo57 Half Marathon]

Brilliant job Annie!

[Decker Ultramarathon]

Congratulations Annie! What a great accomplishment! I have just begun a MyAsics HM training plan for the first time, so it is heartening to see someone reach the finish line with it! You were so close to the prediction too! 😀👍🏼

[AnnieW55 in reply to Decker]

Thanks Decker. As I've said, it's the first time I've actually stuck to the plan to the end. It did have me running reeeaaally slowly at the start but I gave myself a long time to do it as I was just using it for focus over the summer and entered the run late. The prediction time changed to a faster time as I went through the programme. It does seem to work!

Good Luck with your training.

[Decker Ultramarathon in reply to AnnieW55]

Thanks Annie, yes the first week was really slow for me too,but it is speeding up now. I’m going too fast for most of the runs but trying to slow down Good to know it works!

[AnnieW55 in reply to Decker]

That's what I did 😀. I think I only did 3 runs overall that weren't quicker than the plan. It started me off at 2:35 and later changed it to 2:16. It also asked if I wanted to change to a faster time later on - but I decided to err on the side of caution and stick with the 2:16 training.

The HM was a kind of 5yr runniversary event so wanted to make sure I made the start line this year as illness prevented running last year. Also, so far (and fingers crossed, touching wood etc) I've not had a single running related injury so didn't and don't want that record to get broken!

[Decker Ultramarathon in reply to AnnieW55]

Firstly congratulations on doing this for 5 years! What a great way to mark that milestone. And to do it with no injuries is something special too. I've not had any yet and I'm trying to be careful, not pushing too hard.

I'm only committing to the training part for now as I only began this running this year and I know it takes time to train properly for something like an HM. I've not signed up for anything yet. At the moment its just something to keep me occupied through the winter. Plus I don't stress myself as much this way My plan now is showing a 2:16 as well based on what I've plugged in across 11 weeks.

One last question - in the past months, have you cross trained a lot or just stuck to running? I don't do a lot of cross-training now.

Thanks for taking the time to chat on this too. Sorry - did not mean to hijack your post!

[AnnieW55 in reply to Decker]

No problem Decker. I'm usually more of a "liker" or encourager than poster so this is novel for me 😀 (I'm a bit of a happy lone runner).

I mainly ran, 3 times a week. Haphazardly did weight and core training. My after run stretching was a bit ad hoc too, mainly after the longer runs. A bit of foam rollering thrown in too. One thing at a time😄 For the next round I will be more disciplined on the upper and core training on non run days - well that's my plan!

I did what you are doing, used the HM as something to focus running on and just seeing how it went. Then near the end there were places left for the event so I thought I might as well😀. I think I'll try That way again.

[Decker Ultramarathon in reply to AnnieW55]

Thanks Annie, that is very similar to the approach I've been taking, so that gives me a bit more confidence. I appreciate your time.

[skysue16 Half Marathon]

Congratulations, fantastic time! Love the tee and medal. 😀

[AnnieW55]

Thank you. I went for a run in the tee tonight - thought the witch on the back might scare off any "nasties" in the dark 😄

[misswobble Marathon]

Good tee shirts aren’t they 🙂. Mine is The bat out of hell one. My son says it should read, “old bat out of hell” 🙄😃

[AnnieW55]

Yeah. 2015 was a really good quality short sleeved almost fluorescent orange. This year a bight lemon yellow long sleeved one which is a bit thinner material. Great picture of a running witch on the back. Looking forward to next year!