Happy Birthday
“Operation Beat Mike Pennock”
This weekend past saw the 1st birthday of this blog. I started it a year ago as a way of motivating me when I was injured and for me to document my training over the coming months. I really enjoyed writing it, but as my injuries persisted and my running became less frequent and less exciting so did my blog entries. This is the first entry for 7 months and in that time I have not run anywhere near as much as I had hoped to.
In February I pulled out of the Brentwood half and in March I pulled out of the following month’s London Marathon when it became clear that I was just not fit enough to do either. Since then I have mainly been focussed on parkrun and the odd lunchtime run with my club, Westbourne RC.
In April my wife, Sarah, and I had a new arrival…Elsie. It’s fair to say that the sleepless nights and the desire to spend more time at home meant that my running was further impacted. My diet also went to pot and I gained weight (1 and a half stone in 4 months), further impacting any speed and endurance I had previously built up.
By the start of the summer I was still not 100% but was able to start running more frequently as long as I kept the runs around the 5 mile mark or less; anything further I just wasn’t fit enough for and caused me a fair bit of pain in my troublesome foot.
Despite my injury issues and lethargy I had continued to run parkrun every week without fail. It had become the highlight of my week…especially running them every fortnight with Olivia (who had reduced her time from 45 minutes to 30). With Elsie coming along my touring had taken a back seat but this just meant I got to spend more time with the wonderful people at my home parkrun of Winchester.
100th parkrun
In late august I reached the milestone of 100 parkruns. I first started parkrunning back in June 2013 when I attended Winchester’s 8th event. I was training for the Bournemouth marathon at the time and started to include parkrunning as faster shorter runs as a way of mixing up my training a bit. It took me a while to really get it. I went back in July, but then didn’t return until September and it was then that I started to go more regularly.
It was in October 2013 that I did my first tourist trip when I visited Poole and followed it up shortly after with a trip to Southampton. By the start of 2014 I was hooked both with parkrun and with touring.
In my 100 parkruns I have been fortunate enough to visit 46 different locations. I’ve met some amazing people and run at some beautiful venues. I look forward to visiting many more in the coming years.
The 100th run its self was at Poole as I was down for the East Farm Frolic the following day. I was one of 4 100th runs that day and so there was stacks and stacks of cake to help us celebrate. 
My family and my in laws all came down to support me on this special occasion and there was a fab turnout from the “Westies”. It was lovely to have them there and the day was made even more special with my Nephew (7) and Niece (9) running their first parkruns with me.
With it being a beautiful day and the end of the summer holidays Poole was very busy and there were a record 870 runners. I came in at just over 35 mins (position 797) with my nephew.
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I’d like to thank everyone who contributed to making my day so special. THANK YOU!!
Here are some stats:
2013 – 8 runs, 3 new venues
2014 – 25 runs, 8 new venues
2015 – 38 runs, 22 new venues
2016 upto 27/08 – 29 runs, 13 new venues
I’ve run 43 times at Winchester, 8 times at Poole, 5 times at Southampton, twice at Andover and once at Bushy, Didcot, Alice Holt, Hanley, Wolverhampton, Newbury, Eastleigh, Bath Skyline, Lee-on-the-Solent, Guildford, Hereford, Rushmoor, Black Park, Yeovil Montecute, Brockenhurst, Netley Abbey, Southwick, Killerton, Lymington, Gunnersbury, Halifax, Fareham, Havant, Salisbury, Blandford, Old Deer Park, Great Cornard, Basingstoke, Queen Elizabeth, Woodley, Mile End, Abingdon, Bracknell, Bournemouth, Moors Valley, Portsmouth Lakeside, Southsea, Hastings, Swindon, Buckingham, Frimley Lodge and Weymouth!
My PB is 21:01 at Mile End and my slowest 44:31 at Yeovil.
East Farm Frolic
The day after my 100th parkrun was the East Farm Frolic. This is another in the growing stable of White Star Running events. The premise was simple, a 3.9 mile loop of the Dorset countryside run as many times in 12 hours as possible. It could be run solo or in teams of 2,3 or 4. The relay baton was a rubber chicken (see picture) and there was the infamous Lovestation on each lap, stocked full with cider, beer and limoncello vodka, as well as cake, sweets and water.
I had teamed up with my brother Chris, my sister Carly and my nephew Kieran in an all-family affair. We met up early on the Sunday morning and travelled to East Farm. We set up our running base for the day (a gazebo, picnic blankets and a wide selection of food) next to friends of our Sam and Sarah. It was a wise choice as Sam is a master cake baker and Sarah’s fudge is to die for. But enough about food…
Just before 8 we lined up and were given the pre-race briefing. This involved the normal info about the course, the health and safety info and a demonstration on how to blow up our rubber chickens. Pretty standard.
At 8am we set off. I was running the first leg and so had the honour of leading our team out. The course started on a grass straight that gently sloped upwards. This then dipped down to a path through a field. At the far end of the field we turned and met the first and largest of the hills on the course.
Prior to the race I had made the decision to walk any really large hills to save energy for future laps. I therefore put my hands on my knees and walked up the hill. Following that the route cut across the ridge to a gate which led into a small copse perched high over the farm.
At the end of the track we turned and headed back up hill for my first visit to the Love Station. As it was only 8:30 in the morning I decided against any alcoholic beverages, although some of the more hearty runners decided an early morning pick-me-up was required. I settled for some squash and a couple of squares of millionaire shortbread.
After the love station it was downhill through some pasture before turning back towards the farm and the start/finish line. I handed over to my brother who set off on his first lap. My brother then handed off to my Nephew and he to my sister. One of the hardest things about doing the event as a relay was that after my leg I had over 2 hours to wait until my next run. Just enough time to fully cool down!
At around 11am I set off for my second lap. I had resolved to try and beat my first lap time of 38 mins and so pushed a little harder. Knowing the route helped and I completed my second lap, and our teams 5th, in 37 minutes. As I was pushing I decided not to stop at the Love Station which elicited shouts of “proper runner coming through” from the guys manning the station.
Once again I handed over to my brother for his second lap and he handed over to my Nephew. My sister has had a stress fracture in her leg and so had decided that she wasn’t going to run another, so in quicker than normal time I was out on my third lap. Once again I tried to push myself and beat my previous lap time, and managed it, coming in in 36 minutes.
However, at the end of this lap there was no one waiting for me to hand over. I ran up to our tent where the team were sat around, shoes off, chilling out and chatting. They had decided that they needed slightly longer to recover so I went back out for my forth lap and the team’s 9th. I was starting to feel my lack of fitness and the earlier miles by this point and so I decided to slow my pace and enjoy the running. I stopped for a long break at the Love Station, including my first beer, and ran back towards camp.
This time I found my brother asleep and nephew on his
phone. With my sister not running I had
the choice of stopping and resting until one of them wanted to go back out or
going back out myself. I therefore set out on my 5th
lap. At the top of the big hill I came
across teammates Catherine Midgley and Lisa Thomas. They were taking photos and generally having
a laugh. Lisa even had a pint of beer
with her!By this point I was walking all of the hills and running slower in between. I was also stopping longer at the love station (and drinking more). I also met up with James McCafferey and Jo Peasland, both of whom were running solo. We ran/walked/talked for the remainder of the lap. Jo was just finishing her 7th lap (marathon distance) and James was on his 10th lap (from memory). Seeing Jo finish her marathon made me think that maybe I could push myself to complete two more laps and bag myself an unexpected marathon.
On returning to our base I managed to talk the whole of my
team into doing one lap together. We all
set out together and despite me starting to really struggle it was probably my
favourite lap of the day. It is so nice
to be able to run with my family, especially now Kieran (17) is really getting
into it. This was the team’s 11th
official lap (and 14th lap overall) and I was only one lap away from
completing a marathon. Despite not being
able to run I decided that I would walk my 7th lap just to get up to
the magical marathon distance.I set off at a gentle walking pace. I was chatting to everyone I could and trying to make it as fun as possible. I walked a fair way with a couple of ladies from Buckingham who had driven down for the weekend. They kept me going despite an increasingly grumbling knee. The lap took me well over an hour and I had drunk 3 beers at the love station but I made it home and completed my 7th lap and my marathon. However, with over 2 hours left and the weather finally improving, I felt like it would be a shame to stop there.
My sister could see that I was struggling and that my knee had completely seized up. She tried to stop me going back out (rightly so) but I am a pig headed sod when I want to be and so I want out for one last lap. This one would take me up to nearly 50km. This lap was again walked and again I spent most of it chatting, this time to some ladies from Gosport. I spent even more time at the Love Station and six small cups of beer later, I set off down the hill for the final time. I crossed the line completely spent and hardly able to walk another step.
All in all I exceeded expectations for the day. I ran further than I had dreamed possible and
I had so much fun doing it. The
camaraderie amongst runners and teams was superb and the organisation by white
star was second to none and the medal was the biggest I have ever received!!I would like to firstly thank my teammates, Carly, Chris and Kieran. As a team we ran 13 official laps and 16 laps in total. Nearly 100km. A superb effort. Kieran in particular was a superstar. Running just short of a half marathon at just 17 years old in challenging conditions on tough terrain. A star of the future potentially.
I would like to thank Sam and Sarah for their cake and fudge
and support during the day. All of my
Westbourne teammates who always seem to make the day a weird, fun filled
day. Congratulations must go to James M
for running 100km as a solo runner, for being his smiling and supportive self
and for being an excellent tent mate with my mad mad family. Also huge congratulations to everyone who ran
their first marathons on the day, such as Catherine Midgley.I would like to thank Andy and Kevin of White Star, as well as all of the volunteers on the course, for putting on another unique event. Absolutely superb day that went without a hitch.
Lastly, as ever, thanks must go to Sarah for her never ending support and for dragging Elsie and her Mum and Dad out in the pouring rain to support our team. I couldn’t do it without her.
Hopefully the blog will become a little more frequent from now on...thanks for reading and see you all soon!
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