Monday 16 November 2015

Brooks 10k, Brighton

Hello blogs lovers.

Well, I got as far as writing the first line on Sunday evening, before my eyes suddenly become heavy, too heavy to keep open!  So now, I have to try and remember every little detail of yesterdays run while I write it up today, but let me tell you, what an absolutely fabulous day!

The worst part of the day, getting up at 05:30 in the morning!  I am not a morning person, you can ask many a people that, at times I have been known to wear odd running shoes for a race!  But we had to get up that early as my wonderful club had organised two coaches to take one hundred or so of us to Brighton.  We were going to be running the Brooks Brighton 10k.

The second worst part of the day, well that is easy!  It's the weather!  Gale force winds and rain was what the forecasters said, and they were spot on!  It was forecast to be a tough run, due only to the wind!  Not only that but the route is an 'out and back, which meant that we had the wind in our faces for half the run! Of course that did mean we had the wind pushing us all the back again!

Look at them waves!


The best bit of the run, that is definitely easy.  Running with my buddies from group 1!  Janet was doing her first 'official complete with medal' 10k. J.J., Wendimoo and Tamsin was also there from group 1. SingstarJo, JaneT, Sue, DiscoRich and some of his Thursday crew, Nicola, Sacha, Ralf!  They were all there!  It's fantastic.

Janet, Tamsin, and Wendimoo

J.J. and me!


The trip down to Brighton was subdued, everybody was probably still waking up properly!  But there was hushed chatter and even laughter.  The time on the coach seemed to fly by.  We had permission to park on the sea front, just about 300 m or so from the start/finish line!  How cool is that!  We had to be there early though, before 08:00 am, so they could close the roads, hence the early start from Petts Wood!  We actually got there about 07:30 a.m. so we had time to chill, use the loos, several times, and eat!  Bananas, jam sandwiches and mine was a chocolate spread sandwich!  Something I hadn't had since I was a kid!  It could have been worse, I could have picked up the Marmite instead!! Yuck.

The race itself.  Well, did I mention that the weather was a tad inclement yesterday.  The rain started when we actually got to Brighton, just a drizzle, but enough to mist up my glasses.  Everybody expected the rain and plastic tops was the order of the day.  Black bin liners, some with, what looked like huge shoulder pads (very 80's) and other plastic tops that were 'gifts' from races or from charities, were noisily put on.  The rustling of the bags would have been enough to wake any lazy runner that was trying to catch up on a few ZZZZ's.  I had my one from Cancer Research which I didn't use on my last charity run!
Helen rocking those
big Shoulders


DiscoRich in his Hoodie
We lined up at the start with the wind tugging and blowing through our bin bags, we looked like a huge pile of walking 'charity donations! The the mass 'undressing began, bin bags were flying 20 feet in the air from the runners in the very front, as if it was a signal that the race had started. I used that as my cue to remove mine.  I carefully put mine between some railings, I didn't really want it be be flying about!  There were other bags strewn on the floor and if you were totally focused on getting going, you could easily trip over them!  The cleaning crew have my deepest thanks and admiration!

The crowd surged forward, the chap with the mic was saying tons of stuff but I couldn't really grasp what he was saying with the wind noise, the noise of running jackets and some bin bag wearers leaving it to the last minute being tugged and pulled by the wind. What with the people yelling and cheering it made a terriffic start to the race.

Walking to the start


It was a full four minutes before we crossed over that chip timing mat!  A constant 'beeeep' still going as runner after runner ran over the mat.  Then the mass started to spread out to the sides and out in front as everyone really began their race.  I was feeling a tad chilly, I decided that I would go with the short sleeve top, I hoped that it wouldn't have taken too long to warm up.  J.J. WendiMoo and Janet had their running jackets on, I was thinking that maybe it was the more sensible option! I could always have tied it around my waist.

It wasn't too long before I warmed up though, and the girls started to de-robe too.  There we were, with our colours of our club showing.  The group 1 ladies running the Brooks 10k.  It felt good to be in a brilliant club.  There was one chap in a Demelza House running vest, he recognised quality! "Oh no, I've just been over taken by the Petts Wood Posse! Go Orpington" he said. "Petts Wood!" I shouted back at him. I think he was actually from Opington!

We had ran about a mile or so when down the left hand side of the road a cyclist came down telling us to stay left.  I couldn't quite understand why.  Then another cyclist came down followed by a car.  Surely they wouldn't let traffic down there, not with the traffic flowing on our right as well!  But it was soon clear why they were there, the leaders were already heading back!  I found it incredible!  Fast! Wow!
The Petts Wood Posse!

I kept my eyes open for our first PWR runner.  I didn't have long to wait, he came in about 25th position, but I could be wrong, this was me trying to count, battle the wind and stay running!  We still had about 5 miles to go, battling against the wind.  It literately was taking my breath away, I was really struggling!  There was a lady that I noticed, she had this steady pace going.  It wasn't fast, it was just steady, she didn't slow up, she didn't speed up, she didn't walk, as far as I could see.  But she was always just there, either in front of us or just behind.  She was one that I had to keep an eye on!

We all kept each other going, WendiMoo was at times singing, geeing everyone on.  We were cheering all those that was running in the opposite direction giving our runners a particularly louder cheer.  Just a little further though we had stopped sharing the road as we continued on the road while the others were behind the buildings next to the sea.



I had began looking for the turn around point, it couldn't be much further on.  I couldn't believe it when we saw the 3km board with the turn around just a little further on.  For some reason I just couldn't get it into my head that we only had done 3k and we already had to turn around to head back.  I was trying to figure it all  out! In my mind, the 'Turn Around Point' meant that we was half way, being as this is an 'out and back'. Yet we only done 3k? So 3k back to the start, makes 6k, where is the other 4k?  It was all too much for my sleep deprived, number blind brain of mine. Maths is not my strong point, but add running into the mix,  a wind that could lift an elephant on chain like a kite and sprinkle some rain on top, then maths had no chance of coming out correct.

I decided to just run and not think about maths, and battle the wind until the turn around point. "Don't forget aeroplane arms girls" called out Wendimoo, as we all  shouted "Wheeeeeeeeee" as we 'flew' around the corner.  As soon as we started to run back towards the start the race was a totally different feel!  For one thing it seemed with every stride we took we moved forward two strides!  The wind seemed to pick us up and move us forward!  Oh yes, how brilliant was that!

Action running
away from start!
Just left of our group
is 'Steady pace' Lady!

Action running to start
(the first time)


We were now running along the sea front, there were people actually on the beach, playing with the surf!  In duffel coats!  I am sure that the wind had picked up the sea spray as well, it was really very wet now.  But the run along the front, was just brilliant.  I am sure we were running faster along here, with just the relief from the onslaught of gale force winds!  I may be exaggerating a bit about the wind, but it's still pretty tough trying to run in 15 mph winds with gusts of 25 mph! Have I mentioned that it was a very windy day?

Of course I took photos on our run, none of us were out to 'race' it, we just love joining in and doing our best, and who knows, we could be thinking that next year we will do even better!  The lady with the steady shuffle was in front of us, and we continued our chase after her.  The 5k marker board was there.  Brilliant opportunity for some pictures and of course the obligatory selfie!
Me at the 5k
The girls at 5k

Even though the wind was helping us get back to the Marine Parade I was pretty exhausted, But still in great spirits.  We ran some, we walked some, we cheered and thanked the marshals along the way.  we smiled at anyone with a camera!  It was such a fantastic atmosphere.  You got to love this club., you got to love this race.  I can't be that there were quite a few people cheering us on through the course!  Thanks so much Brighton!

Just after here there was the water station.  I wasn't sure whether to grab a bottle or not, I mean I was well hydrated on the outside!  I grabbed a bottle anyway and took a few glugs of water.  I realised that I was actually thirsty.  I still left half a bottle though, and fought against my natural desire to keep my litter with me, I threw the bottle into the kerb along with the hundreds of other bottles.  Again, clearning crew, huge 'big up's' to you, you do a great thing cleaning up after us messy wasteful lot of complete fruit loops running in gale force winds!

We soon had the 'big wheel' in our sights.  That really helped to spur us on even more.  The crowds became more denser and the noise level rose above the sound of the wind.  We could see the finish and we ran like the wind, pun intended,  towards it. It got closer and closer, we could see the crowds on a left starting to thin out to just groups of two to three people but the crowds up ahead on the right had their backs towards us!  We ran passed the cacophony of noise, as they cheered loudly all those crossing the finish line!  We ran passed it!  We actually ran passed the finish line! Our race hadn't finished, we still had at least another 3km to do!

The route continued up the Parade, people on our right were now running in the opposite direction to us, their race soon to be finished.  We cheered all the runners that had nearly finished, the loudest cheer going to our very own PWR's.  I couldn't see the turn around point and I wondered how far it was, and if we had to run up the hill!  I don't think I could have made that!

I then noticed that we were going to be running passed our coaches.  Some of the faster runners will be there already, of  course they will, or in fact they may have already gone to find a suitable re-hydration station.  Of course there were quite a few there, giving us a cheer, DiscoRich even ran with us until we got to the coaches.  What a brilliant cheer we got from them.  And we will get that again when we come passed the for the second time. You see,  this route was an out and back and then out and back again going the opposite way!

I was so pleased to see the turn around point, just a couple of cones with some tape.  Nothing fancy, but there was the photographer!  We all tried to make sure we were running and smiling.  I had had a stitch for the last 2 km or so, so I tried not to show my grimacing face.  By the way, how do people deal with a stitch? It was right under my ribs on the right side.  I had held on to it, Janet suggested that I raised my right arm and lean over to the left to try and stretch it out.  It did help a bit, but it was still there!

The steady pace lady was way in front of us still, and she was not stopping!  We all had walking bits up this bit as again we were battling against the wind again.  It was strange, as when we were running with the wind in our backs we really couldn't tell that it was windy.  We had become 'accustomed' it to, even though it was still strong and helping us move forward.  But when we turned around again, oh boy!  The wind was a strong as ever!  It hadn't died down at all, and now we still had to at least another, what......1k, 2k......my maths teacher would totally give me lines to do!

After smiling at the photographer we were then on our way to the finish.  We were not heading away from it, we were not going to be running passed it, the next time it's in our sight we shall be crossing it, registering our finish with our timing chips!  I think we were the last of the PWR's to be crossing the line, so we had so much support and cheers from our fellow club members.  WendiMoo got into the zone, she could smell the finish line and started to pull away, Me and J.J. started to pick up the pace a bit, Janet was behind us.  But then we saw SingstarJo, she started to run along with Janet, urging her to keep on going.

J.J. and I just started to pull away a little bit more, the Big Wheel was there, just after the finish line! The crowds started to cheer and clap and urge us on.  It felt so good, it just makes you feel like a proper athlete!  Closer and closer to the line, J.J. and I were shoulder to shoulder, the crowd were literally pulling and pushingwith their cheering to go even faster, I picked up the pace just a tad more, I could hear myself making 'grunting' noises, the stitch threatened to stop me in my tracks, I just had to ignore it and push on to the finish. Beep, Beep, Beep, Beep!  The mat that registers our finish firmly struck with my foot, finally we crossed the mat!  What a fantastic brilliant run, what a brilliant place to be running in, such a pity about the weather, did I mention that it was a tad windy, but all the better for getting a PB for next time!

So what do you do with 100 PWR's at the seaside? Do we all pile in the coaches and head on home? No, we don't.  Our very own PhysioMike had arranged for us to have an area in a fish and chip shop to be kept just for us!  The Palm Court I believe it was called, a very posh fish and chip restaurant on the Pier!

Most of the group had already been celebrating in the pub that was on the pier so we all virtually was sitting and ordering food at the same time.  We had got on a table for 5 of us, me WendiMoo, J.J. Janet an Tamsin!  One look at the menu and we decided on the 'Celebration Fish and Chips'  It was served with mush peas, tartare sauce and.....a glass of champagne!  And why not, after all, it was a double celebration, it was our WendiMoo's birthday just a couple of days before!  We brought the house down with our rendition of 'Happy Birthday to you!'

One last thing, I mush thank PhysioMike, Hels, Karen for the organisation of getting 100 of us to Brighton and the with the area 'cordoned' off for our lunch at the posh restaurent, and Coach 1 'manager' Nicola.

Also to Brooks 10k team, by the way, thanks, I kind of borrowed one of your photos!  It's the one of all four of us running on route!

Cheers





So, gun time was 01:24:32 and chip time was 01:20;06, not too bad for a windy rainy day by the seaside!

Geeky stats.










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