Newsletter November 2009
This is possibly going to be the longest Newsletter yet I have had some good reports sent in, and have been kindly reminded by Mike Fawcett that I forgot to add in an article about general safety that we all need to take note of. Since the last newsletter we have had the first X country and the Club marathon, which this year was at Dublin. Simon has sent in the Dublin report and it is really a drinking club part 2 as it follows a similar theme from the last trip. Sounds like an event not to be missed next year. Also Alyson Knowles has sent in her 10 in 10 report. So for this newsletter I am carrying out the role of editor and not just rambling on with my own take on things.
Graham
RUNNING SAFETY
It’s the easiest thing in the World to join our club, you just turn up, introduce yourself, and start running.
Eventually if you decide you like it, you fill a form with your name and address (I’m not even sure you have to put your phone number on it) get two existing members to sign it, pay some money and your in - a full member.
Because of what we do, running on Mondays and Thursdays and I know many of you , including myself, do much more its safe to assume we are all relatively healthy- BUT WHAT HAPPENS IF YOU’RE NOT ?
Many sports clubs keep health details of their members, we don’t.
Having said that however, PLEASE , PLEASE if you have any kind of condition that you are aware of, that might cause a problem when you are out running let me know and if your not comfortable letting me know at least let the people you normally run with know (which is probably a better idea).
The type of things I’m thinking about are asthma, which I suffer from and I regard it as a minor irritation not as a major problem, sometimes I even remember to bring an inhaler to the club - but not always!!!
Another thing is allergies, I think its called anaphylactic shock (no chance of that being spelled right ,even with spell check) if you have a reaction to an insect bite or sting or by eating something like a peanut and you need an adrenalin pen to counteract it.
Whatever it might be, if you are aware of a problem, however small you think it may be, please let someone know, the only interest is in your health and well being.
In my time at the club we have had broken ankles and split heads and we have all read in the press about people collapsing when exercising.
We have a large number of qualified first aiders in our club, I was genuinely surprised how many when I asked a while ago, it would be nice to be able to give them a “heads up” if we ever did have a problem.
Keep safe.
Mike F
A Drinking Club with a Running Problem – Dublin 2009
Or
How we took the myth out of Guinness!!
All we had to do was travel to Dublin, take in the atmosphere, and enjoy the Marathon and travel back home. Well that’s the theory ----what actually happened was --
Well, take 4 Italians (pasta/pasta/pasta/pasta/out of pasta!), 20 French people from Albert, 18 GHHH, 12000 other competitors and 1 million Dubliners – and maybe it wasn’t that easy!
It was like one of those long dreams when you suddenly wake up and think I was nearly daft enough to have done that Marathon, until you try to get out of bed and – yes you guessed it – you did! But where do we begin?
I was assured from Chairman Ken (who has been promoted to President to keep us on a level footing with our Albert contingent) that a pint of Guinness each day would be sufficient to cover any gaps in training for the Marathon. I took him at his word and immediately had 4 pints, as my longest run was 11 miles, which based on each pint contributing an additional 2 mile capacity meant I had an awful lot of pints to consume to get to a long run of 22/23 miles. Not to be deterred from the thought of having to go through such an intensive training programme in such a short time prior to the marathon I continued with my schedule the following night. By the third night I had required some coaching from Ken as my Guinness consumption had increased so dramatically I had over run my target long run by a good couple of pints! Now I understand “over training”; In this case there was the “overstretched” feeling of some of the muscles across the front of my stomach – oh and the need to get an extra large T shirt at the Breakfast Run. Was it too much too late?
So with training back on schedule***?? Things were looking brighter, a new vigour in the old legs and a spring “back in me step”, as they say in Dublin.
But hang on is that all that happened? Correct, there`s more!
Let’s support our local/regional airport we thought, (Blackpool) easy to get too, cheap flights with no hidden extras - AND free car parking - wonderful just the way to keep it local. Bags checked in, flight on time, just one thing? What’s that? That will be £10 each for the airport development levy – just when you think its safe – stung for a tenner!
Into the plane, it was only a little one – with propellers – they look a bit intimidating when your sat next to them – anyhow off we go to Dublin, the chap sat next to me – very nice, we chatted away, he loved flying, taking off & in the air – it`s the landing bit he didn`t like! He only flew twice a week. Nice. Thankfully he wasn`t a pilot!
One thing Eric was looking forward to; was to investigate the female company in the city. Now this had been spurred on somewhat with the information from Ken that there was a Carroll’s on every corner. Can`t go wrong here thought Eric – sorry Eric, as Carroll’s is a gift store, and there is one on every street!
The multi-national Breakfast run is held the day before, it`s an opportunity to meet not only our Albert colleagues but also those from other nations. It’s a 5km, you get free breakfast, free Irish entertainment AND another opportunity to recoup some of the 70 euro entry fee with – a free T shirt.
Hotel not booked. What? Penny and Eric duly arrived into Dublin, great; off we go to get booked into the hotel – sorry Madame we don’t seem to have your booking! That`s ok, said Penny, if you would like to put that pen down I will strangle you!! Seemed to get the correct response from the Hotelier and all was sorted out.
George, Harry and Janette came out on the very same plane as we did, but a couple of days later. They too got stung for a tenner a head by Blackpool. One observation made by someone
was “you know you can`t see those propellers when they are turning, which was confirmed by – I can see mine and it`s not – hoping it will soon be, as we are nearly ready for taking off.
Chairman Ken was relieved after the football result:
Liverpool! phew! (2)– Man Utd 0
Madigans was declared the best Guinness in the city by the GHHH hydration committee! Talking of Guinness, a tour of the factory was taken to understand how the creamy bit always sits atop of the dark bit. Lots of samples had to be tried and eventually we realised it was due to – err can`t remember. It must have been due to us visiting the Jameson’s distillery an hour before, which required the imbibing of their products. Two members of our group were chosen as apprentice tasters and both passed their final exams with flying (hic) colours. Well done to Anne and Ken
.
Eric maintained his excellent reputation with a near direction disaster; whilst we were in the Italian he took a wrong turning to the toilet and nearly ended up in the river Liffey.
On a more sober note, one of our team came unstuck on the marathon route. At the 14 mile mark, Penny was hit from behind by a bike and ended up in hospital. Lots of x-rays later she was found to be ok. Just shows how important it is to put your info on the back of your number. It worked for Penny.
Anyway to the reason why we went to Dublin – The Marathon Results:
Harry Stainton 3:13:55 Eric Hampton 3:42:06
Jeremy 4:08:18 Ken Lamb 3:53:53
Abbie 4:20:14 Lorna 4:00:27
Mike L 4:52:54 Simon 3:53:53 (for 11.5 miles!)
Penny 2:26:15 for 14.5 miles
Well done to everyone and to Harry for 1st U19 in the Marathon, receiving a bottle of wine. Not more alcohol!
There was also a new “Perpetual Friendship” Trophy which is competed for by GHHH and Albert running clubs. The inaugural winner was Pierre from the Albert team. Thanks Penny for supplying the trophy.
Hope you enjoyed the Dublin blog, we all had a brilliant time and maybe you should consider coming along on the next one?
Simon Barton.
10 in 10 Marathon Challenge
I promised Graham ages ago that I would write a small piece for the Hoad Hill newsletter. It’s taken some time but now ‘I’ve done it’ and that’s not just the article!
The words ‘I’ve done it’ was a mantra I kept say over and over again just after I had come across the line on Day 10 – 262 miles completed in 10 consecutive days!
My journey had begun 12 months previous. After being involved with the 10 in 10 Brathay Challenge (I work at Brathay Hall as a Staffing Manager) and being inspired by the runners that had taken part, I decided in May 2009 that I was going to have a go!
My husband, Mac and 2 sons were all in agreement about my decision to attempt the Challenge. This was essential as basically I had to put my life on hold for the 12 months. I threw myself into the training 100%. I was totally committed (some say I should have been!) and focussed. Everything I did had the challenge at the heart of it. I would run whenever I could fit it in – often running around the Lake in the morning and working in the afternoon. Not the best recovery to sit at a desk after running 26 miles! But it had to be done if I was to achieve my dream.
It was an incredible journey. One which saw me going from running 2/3 times a week, 15 – 20 miles in total to running 70 miles a week, running back to back marathons, sometimes running twice a day to get the miles in, running 10 days taking a day off and then running a further 10 days on a regular basis. My times improved, setting PB’s at every distance and even knocking 17 minutes of my best Marathon times to run a 3:44. I went from being the fat lass at the back to winning my age category in races. A highlight on more than one occasion was receiving the ladies team prize along with Sharon Dixon – an athlete who I had admired from afar for many, many years.
The Challenge started on May 8th 2009 and ended 17th May – the day of the official race. During the 10 days, we quickly settled into a routine. Get up about 6:45 eat a good breakfast, have physio, get prepared to run, set off at 9:30 from outside Brathay Hall, run around the Lake, have lunch, sit in river for 10 minutes, have physio, have snack, prepare drink bottles for next day – 2 for pre-run, 12 during run, 1 protein drink for post run, Attach snacks/energy bars to bottles and put in boxes ready to be transported out the next morning (had to have all this written down as my head was fuzzy and I couldn’t think straight) walk down to dining room for evening meal, attempt and fail miserably to eat what was on plate, walk back to lodge, have snack, write blog, answer text messages, sleep, get up at 6:45…..
I have never been so tired and exhausted in all my life! Was it worth it? You bet it was.
To be part of such an amazing feat has been life changing. If you set yourself goals and have the strength, courage and determination to achieve them you will succeed. I said from the beginning that I didn’t know whether my body would be able to do it. My mind was strong and that kept me positive. If I had had to drop out at any stage during the training I would have been disappointed but had a strategy to look back and keep reminding myself on how far I had come. Celebrating the short term goals kept me strong and motivated.
Thanks to everyone who supported me one way or another. My final fundraising total was over £7600 knowing that this money will enable Brathay to work with a group of disadvantaged young people from Ulverston makes it all worth while!
Only 6 women in the world have completed the 10 in 10 Challenge and I am the second fastest – and the first Welsh woman. How good is that!
Alyson