Hello, it's me again.

I've been 'lucky' enough to have secured a place in the London Marathon on 17th April 2011 through the ballot.  Bugger - I was hoping for a lie-in.

So this is the score.  I get up at stupid o'clock on a Sunday morning in order to catch the first slow train to Paddington.  I then find my way to Charing Cross using whatever tubes are working, then catch another slow, crowded train to Blackheath, which is even less charming than it sounds. 

I then run for four or five hours in not inconsiderable pain and discomfort while you're all tucking into Sunday brunch.  Twenty-six miles and three hundred and eighty-bloody-five yards.  Then I have to limp home. 

In return for this, you give money to the Duchess of Kent House Trust.  You can't argue with the logic or natural justice of this arrangement.  If you donate through JustGiving, while they take a small cut, the charity benefits overall.  I've asked the Trust, and they do prefer this method.

"Why the Duchess of Kent?", I hear you ask, "Isn't she already fairly well off, and does her house really need funding?".  Well, the Duchess of Kent House is a hospice in Reading where often terminally ill people are cared for.  The NHS funds the essentials, but extra beds and extra services are paid for by charitable donations.  My mother was very well treated there in her last few weeks and I'd like to think that everyone in need could benefit similarly.  

The black and white half of the photo is, I believe, the start of the very first Reading half marathon.  Pictured are Martin (Mr Stripey), Rob (Mr Cool) and your humble correspondent (Mr Handsome).

I'll try and keep this updated in the manner of what I believe is called a 'blog'.  In the meantime, you can read about my last effort at http://www.justgiving.com/keithwootten

 

18 April 2011

Well, it's all over now.  The first third was pretty quick for me, despite the difficulty in making good progress through the crowds of runners.  The second third was ok but the weather was turning a little too hot for comfort.  The last third was characterised by calf cramps and fatigue, so I didn't make my target of 4:15 and had to settle for 4:33.  Still, that's not my slowest, and while it doesn't put me in the 'good for age' category by a long stretch, I reckon I make the 'not bad considering' group.  Today I feel fine, with only my quads being a bit tender.

The journey was uneventful albeit very crowded, particularly back home from Paddington in the afternoon.  The crowds were marvellous all the way round and the cold beer afterwards was wonderful.

Many thanks to all my sponsors for your generous support.  I'll be back.

 

13 April 2011

Up Lunnon today with SWMBO to register and pick up my running number - 5529 - from the Virgin Money exhibition at Excel in docklands, then back to Tate Modern for the Miro exhibition which was much more interesting.  However, Virgin gave me a free can of London Pride, so that goes some way to restoring the balance. 

 

6 April 2011

I ran home from work this evening - it's something over 14 miles, so just over a half marathon and by far my longest solo run.  The first three miles from Tadley to Aldermaston Wharf were on a busy road with no footpath, so weren't very nice, but then I reached the canal towpath which takes me almost all the way home.  Very pleasant to start with, but then came the vast lakes at Theale which are former gravel workings.  The gnats, the gnats.  Black clouds of gnats.  Quite horrible and hard to breathe properly.  Then at last the Cunning Man at Burghfield which signals the home stretch round the back of Southcote and on past Coley, through Katesgrove and the Oracle.

I wouldn't repeat that - it looks good on the map but did I mention the gnats?

 

20 March 2011

The Reading Half Marathon which I try to do every year.  This is a very large event with 12,500 finishers this year.  It was a pleasantly dry, cool day with little wind which helped boost the spectator numbers.  The course has two uphills, the bigger at about two miles in - which is too soon to matter much -  and the second hill at about nine miles is quite small.  Somewhere around ten miles I met up with an ex-colleague, Frank Cooper (aka 'Cooperman' or 'Mr Marmalade') who is far too busy in retirement to take up any job offers.

This was a good half for me, a bit quicker than Wokingham and quite comfortable afterwards.  As always, it was a well organised race, but even at my level there were pinch points and stretches where passing was difficult - it seems to be about as big as it can be now.  There were two other local halves on the same day, Fleet and Marlow, which probably benefited from the overspill from Reading.

There's nothing official now till the big one.  Thanks to Eddie Izzard, people now say, "What, just the one?" when you tell them you're running a marathon.

 

6 March 2011

Goring 10k today.  A bit chilly at first, but soon warming up.  At the (slightly shambolic) start I was greeted by a young Indian man who said that he had a photograph of me.  No, not one of my many fans, but he has a memento picture of him crossing the finishing line at the Woodcote 10k in January with me just behind him.  I remember passing him as we approached the line and then him sprinting past me in the last few seconds.  We passed each other again today, but this time I had him at the end.  I asked if he was running the Reading half, but his reply was lost in wheezing.

A good race, nice rural course, well marshalled with no real problems.

 

13 February 2011

Wokingham Half-Marathon - cold and wet again with a fairly strong wind, but not frosty.  I cycled the few miles to Cantley Park - which was pretty muddy - and waited till the last few minutes before disrobing and getting bin-linered up.  I met my former TKD instructor at the start lineup, then had to move further back to my rightful place with the slower runners.  The race was surprisingly easy really, with no real problems and only the last mile being a bit of a struggle.  This was probably because this race has no serious hills and only a few gentle slopes.  However, this was the best half for some time, and the hot cup of tea at the finish was very welcome.

 

9 January 2011

Woodcote 10k on a slippery, frosty morning.  The start was delayed a bit, but my trusty bin-liner prevented hypothermia.  This race runs from Woodcote to Goring and back on a very pleasant rural route.  Unfortunately, Goring is on the Thames which, as convention has it, is at the bottom of the Thames valley.  Woodcote is fairly high up the valley.  The first 5km was thus largely down hill, inevitably contrasting with the second 5km, which also included patches of ice.  Nice.

 

7 November

Marlow half-marathon.  Hilly.  Very hilly.  A cold start from a school in Marlow and then straight into the first hill, which was long but not too steep.  After that, lots of rural lanes and woods with some very steep stretches.  I have to confess to walking up one of them - I wasn't the only one, and it was nearly as quick as running anyway.  The sun came out, but with little warmth.  It was a well-marshalled event, but usually at the finish you get a snack bar of some sort, an energy drink and a medal.  Nope, just a poxy T-shirt, and not even the right size.

 

17 October

Tadley 10 mile today on a cold and frosty morning, but the sun was out and it soon warmed up.  This is an undulating and very pleasant rural course through country lanes and places I'd never heard of.  No big problems, slow and steady.  The 'memento' was different - you usually get a medal - but this time it was a clear glass cuboid encapsulating a couple of three dimensional translucent runners made from what looks like very fine bubbles.  I've just looked it up on the interweb thingy, and it's called 'sub-surface laser engraving' - I think a laser is focussed to heat the glass and create thousands of small fractures.

 

3 October

I just did a very muddy 'O2O' 10k in Reading.  This race was recently revived and runs from 'Oracle' (the software company) to 'The Oracle' (the shopping centre) and back.  Great confusion as furriners from as far afield as Newbury ask for directions.  The start is given as 'Wokingham Waterside' which is nowhere near Wokingham, and as any fule kno, 'The Oracle' is dayn tayn.  In any event, the route was changed owing to the Abbey Ruins being in a state of disrepair, and we only came to within sweating distance of The Oracle.  Well organised and marshalled though, and a good turnout despite the rain.

 

(Standard stuff follows)

 

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