Warning long post 😅
I had been selected earlier this year to run for my area club (Vets AC) for the 4 x 200 relay team in the annual England Masters inter area club challenge. The event was taking place at Lee Valley athletics centre in north London. This year the Welsh team were also invited to attend.
I was also reserve runner for both the 60 and 200. Unusually for me I just could not sleep the night before this race, even though I normally sleep just fine. As it happened, I didn’t need to get up too early as I had to pull out of reserve spot for the individual races due to not wanting to risk my ankle which has stopped me from running for almost 3 weeks now.
I woke up to the sound of the people making their way to the start of the Brighton Half marathon which runs past my front door both out and back. I always make a point of cheering them on, handing out gels and jelly babies and serving tea to any marshalls that are there. It felt strange as this was the first year that I really felt “out of it” as far as distance running was concerned. Not that I’ll never go back to it, I know I will one day, but it’s just not my thing right now.
I managed to get my car out at 12.30, after the roads were reopened, and headed up to north London to the Lee Valley indoor track which had been freshly relaid with a lovely new surface this January. It was a two hour drive but it was very relaxed and I arrived in plenty of time to settle in, meet the team, have a bite to eat, get changed and have a good warmup.
The bad news was that our fastest runner had pulled out of the team last minute with a tummy bug leaving us scrambling to find a replacement. In the end a middle distance runner stepped up to save the day for us and help earn valuable team points.
The organisation is very slick at these events. We are all gathered in what’s called the “call room” to register our intention to race. Once in, that’s it, you must hang around waiting to be called out.
When our turn came we were led by a marshall to the start area where another very stern official made us stand in a line in our allotted lanes. Then the second runners were moved back into their area away from the track, and had the instructions given to them about where to break on their leg for the inside lane.
The anchor leg runners, me included, were made to stand “over there” well away from the side of the track again in a line. I got sternly told off for wandering off a few metres. Blimey, bloody bossy boots! I apologised profusely and said I was very sorry sir and that I’d never do it again. Much to the sniggering and mirth of the other runners. Reminded me a lot of the great Monty Python sketch, Biggus Dickus actually. 😂
I wasn’t nervous at all by now, as you can probably guess. We weren’t going for the record anymore, and were hoping to just win it instead.
Anyway, Pat, our human bullet, was first leg and he blasted away out of the blocks and made good ground, but ran out of steam at 150 metres, meaning he got caught by two other runners. Pat, is an outstanding 60 metre runner and is currently fastest in the country. His training regime revolves entirely around the short sprints (60 and 100) so this was to be expected. I picked his brains about his gym work while we were hanging around in the call room and was astonished at the weights he deadlifts and squats. 130kg! I need to up my game!
I should also have mentioned that there were 5 teams racing in our event.
Pat handed cleanly over to Adrian, who was second reserve for the 200 individual, which I had pulled out of, so he had already run earlier. He ran a great lap and was in first place by about 3 or 4 metres as he handed over to Andrew, our late stand in. It was a smooth handover and Andrew got away well but was overwhelmed on the back straight by a really fast runner from the southern counties team, putting about 5 metres between them as he approached me.
As the first runner approached the busy changeover area their anchor man occupied lane 1, forcing me out to lane 2. Andrew saw where I was and moved out from the inside lane. I decided that I would stand to the very back of the change over box to get the baton a little earlier, as Andrew was tying up badly I could see. As he approached I turned forward started my run and reached out for the baton which was safely placed into my hand and off I went.
If you’ve never seen an indoor track, they are only 200 metres long, meaning the bends are on a slope, and very tight. Much like an indoor cycling track. It’s a very unusual experience, as you are fighting gravity dragging you down, and inertia sending you up, as you run the bend. It’s quite disturbing. The only lane that isn’t on the slope, is the inside one. The one I wasn’t running in because I forgot, for some bizarre reason, to slot in there. This meant my lap was around 5 metres longer than everyone else and on the slope. 🙄 🤦♂️
Despite this lapse in senses, I was really happy with the first bend and once I hit the back straight, I was catching up rapidly with the first place runner. He was no more than 3 metres ahead as we approached the final bend. It was half way round that back bend that it all fell apart for me. My lack of training, especially for the 200, and my dodgy ankle preventing me from doing any track work recently, came home to roost. My legs just didn’t want to play anymore, and I stumbled towards lane 1 a couple of times and had to adjust so that I wouldn’t get disqualified. Of course we wouldn’t have been disqualified as lane 1 is where I should have been anyway! The good thing is that I didn’t lose ground on the chap in first place and was only 3 metres behind him as we reached the end of the bend. The bad thing is that I couldn’t reel him in now, it was just too late, as I left the bend into the home straight crossing the line in second place for our team.
I was happy and relieved to have finished, but worried that we’d get the dreaded red card, until the team manager explained to me that we might well have won it if I’d run in lane 1. Relief and disappointment swept over me but no one was particularly bothered as we had run a decent time anyway, and coming second under the circumstances, was a great result. Phew!
Well done if you got to the end!😀
EVENTS! EVENTS! TELL US ABOUT YOUR DECEMBER (2021) RACES 🥳🏅❄️