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RE: Here cometh April
Strike a bleedin’ light.
Last night was Herd running night and it promised to be quite exciting as it was the first evening run since I joined last autumn that was off-road and not dark.
Being the first Tuesday of the month it was a pub run and the pub in question was the Laughing Fish in Isfield for a jaunt along the river to the Anchor and back. Two pubs… one run… fantastic.
For a run out of town, quite a few people turned up and at 7pm sharp our leader corralled us together and suggested that we all run as one group. I liked the sound of that.
We set off… and as usual, with no sense of pacing myself I launched in at full speed with the front pack chatting away to one of the lovely runners. After about 200 yards I realised that my ability to chat was rapidly in decline. After 400 yards, so was my breathing. At the half mile point we stopped, as the crazies I was now accidently running with had lost sight of the rest of ‘em. Before I could mutter “I’ll wait for the others” our great leader announced that as they were some distance back, we’ll carry on as a ‘fast group’.
I could have waited for the slower group… I really could have waited… I wish I had waited… but caught up in the camaraderie and words of encouragement I went with them. There is a reason why the Tuesday night runners have a ‘fast group’. That’s because they’re fast. There is a reason why I don’t run with them. That’s because they’re fast.
Two miles in and I was still with the pack but bloody ‘ell, I was buggered. By mile three I was definitely at the back and losing distance. The lovely runners didn’t leave me though, they took it in turns to run with me, chatting away to keep me company and to make sure I didn’t stop. One runner, who will remain nameless (Dom), said he didn’t mind as he was tapering for a 50 mile run on Saturday and needed to take it easy… HE THOUGHT THIS WAS EASY!
By mile four and a half we had reached the original half mile point. The pack were heading off to do another couple of miles, but I’d had enough and headed back to the pub, along with Hugh who had also had enough – albeit was still running quicker than me.
One other point, and quite an important one, is that we didn’t stop at the Anchor for a pint. I would have welcomed a sit down and a pint at that point. And perhaps a taxi back to the Laughing Fish.
My average pace (moving… not that there was much stopping) was 8:29 min/mi with two miles under 8 mins. For you proper runners out there, I guess this is just a walk in the park… for me… ouch.
It was great fun though… now I’m sitting on a train 24 hours later.
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