A Busy Weekend

The Blog

My training weekend in Tallinn went well I think, hopefully the Blog will be back as normal on Sunday pending my return from 4 marathons this week, Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday round a certain Lake in Milton Keynes.  Who said runners were mad? 


Marathon Mike

A bluesy weekend -  in more ways than one (The Mississippi Blues Marathon)

First marathon of the year on Sat Jan 9^th in Jackson, capital city of the State of Mississippi and home of the delta blues. The whole weekend is themed around the music as Mississippi was home at some time to many of the big names, WC Handy, Robert Johnson, Muddy Waters, John Lee Hooker, Howlin’ Wolf, Leadbelly etc, and of course BB King who died last year and to whom the event this year was dedicated. There were live bands at the expo, bands around the course, live music outside in the Art Garden at the after-race party (temp was 20 degrees),with free beer, pizza, red beans and rice, and an organised Blues Crawl in the evening around the local bars with free transport laid on, a blues-lover’s heaven.

            However, having flown 2 hours to Memphis then driven 200 miles to Jackson, arrived in town to find warnings from the race director of possible race delays due to heavy rain, a downgrade to a half-marathon if the rain eased off in time, or cancellation if the predicted thunder storms set in. Well, it rained heavily through the night and at the start at 7:00am, although I did manage to stay dry before the start in my wet-weather designer clothes, and fortunately no electric storm. The rain eased after 2 or 3 miles, gradually the sky cleared and the sun came out around mile 10 (for me). The route was one loop within the city, passing all the local landmarks and through the better suburban neighbourhoods, pleasant enough, but this was one hilly course right from the off. Best guess was only about a total of 2 miles of flat roads, the rest was up and down with some quite long hills. Around 18 miles the sun decided to go back to Florida and was replaced by some big black clouds. Then at around 20 the lightning started and very soon after, torrential rain, visibility went down to about 30 or 40 yards. The streets became rivers in a few minutes, water 6 inches deep in places in no time, thunder crashing all round, everyone soldiered on like drowned rats and we were expecting the organisers to abandon the race. At about 25 miles the clouds cleared, the sun returned and life was good again. Another big heavy finishers’ medal (they get bigger), featuring Mr King, and a harmonica in the goody bag to boot, I’m busy looking for music lessons. It was a great experience and definitely guaranteed to slow down the descent of stairways the following day, but not a race to get a PB or BQ.

Western Gazette

This in from Bryn Phillips:

After the Marathon Medal Judging that Malcolm and myself along with the Western Gazette carried out, it was decided that i would take on the duties of sending our contact at the paper our exploits and achievements to be printed in the paper in a regular column. So as well as Guy needing race results, i will be trawling the club page for race write ups to send in. So here is the first instalment.

  

January Chocathon Challenge 

Chris and Katrina went down to Kent for the SVN Chocathon Marathon, SVN put on some great events and their Medals must rate the best in the Country and also the goodie bags. A really big shout to Katrina on her first Marathon and her determination over the last few years. I guess an Ultra in next??

This from Chris:

What a great weekends running we've all had, the Dark Knights in darkest Devon running over Dartmoor, lots rolling around the Bath mud bath, and Kate and I traveled to the other side of the country to Kent, to run around a old mining site now a nature reserve. the day started damp and windy, and the day got windier but slightly drier as we finished doing however many laps of the 4.37mile circuit we wanted. I went with my usual intention of doing the marathon, and Kate was going to try for a little more than the usual half marathon, but it was a perfect day and she felt great and ended up doing her first ever marathon, so very proud of that achievement with all her health issues, must have been the thought of over a kilo of chocolate in the goodybag, or the double chocolate stout, or the impressive bling. It's lovely chilled event and thanks to Travis and Rachel at SVN who were wonderful hosts and Kate and I will be back to do another.

Club Curry Night

The Club Social Sec organised a Club Curry Night and it was a great success and they all seemed to have a great time. Well done Katie.

Bath Mud 10k Run

We had three runners and the Bath Mud 10 Run and it was definitely muddy. 

Dark Knights go to Dartmoor

So the massively fun and brilliantly exciting Wild Night Run (ten miles in the dark across Dartmoor, with a five mile option), happened at the weekend.... Well done to Richard Dodge for pulling, Richard Howes for finding the pub, Katie Brooks for keeping dry, Anita Farquhar Rufus for getting more mayonnaise, Darren Atyeo for manipulating three satnavs, and me for being first YTRRC (something that has been missing of late).

Provisional Results 

Notices

February has arrived so now is the time to think about your March races. Don't forget the Great Western 10k on 6th March -http://www.yeoviltownrrc.com/greatwesten10k.html

. This is a charity event and a lovely multi terrain course. Please support it. For a donation, there will be tea/coffee and cakes to look forward to after you finish.

Club  Events

1. Tuesday Club Night is at YTFC 6:30pm 2nd Feb

2. The Pub Run this week is on Thursday at the The Red House A37 6:30pm

3. The next Championship Race is the Sun 7th 10k Longleat 9.00 am

4. Sunday 7th Ferb is from Montacute at 9:00 am.