SLGR 33

The monthly magazine, written by runners for runners.

Issue Thirty-three – October 2014

Sponsored by T. Miller Roofing…

£2.00 Gina Little’s 500th Marathon, 1st Shoreham Woods 10k, Rob Young…

Editor’s Letter…

Issue 33 – October 2014

Hi Runners, Well, now the summer holidays are eventually over, we are back into the routine of entering and training for races, with many of us waiting for the postman to bring the ‘YES’ (or ‘NO’) letters for the 2015 London Marathon.

One lady who has run a London Marathon or two would be Gina Little of Plumstead Runners, who has recently completed her 500th marathon; a feat that has never been done before, and may not be done by a young lady again. Well done Gina!

On the subject of marathons, this issue also brings you the ongoing exploits of the iconic Rob Young, also known as MarathonManUK, who is currently on track to run a minimum of 367 marathons in 365 consecutive days, some of which are scheduled events, while others are daily 26.2 mile jaunts around Richmond Park, either before or after work; so lots of mileage being done in the dark in unsociable hours.

And while talking about endurance running, we are lucky to have an article by Helen Summer, a runner, coach and author who has published ‘Running Crazy’ and ‘Mental’, two books on the most extreme runners and endurance events known to man!

And now the dark evening nights are with us, we must remind you to ‘Be seen and be safe’, so we would strongly recommend you looking at getting some hi-viz tops, reflectors, flashing lights and head torches; in fact anything that helps you get noticed by drivers and the increasing amount of cyclists that decide they need to travel on the pavements!

And, we have reports on the 1st Shoreham Woods 10k, a new trail race from PB Events, which looks like it will be a firm favourite with runners local to Orpington (Kent), especially those from #TeamSLGR, who managed to pick up team prizes So until next month, happy and safe running…

Brian

The editors of

are Dawn Annett (dawnannett@hotmail.co.uk) and Brian Page (brian@slgr.co.uk) and we are now also on slgr@hotmail.co.uk and @soletsgorunning on Twitter

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Contents of this month’s

include…

Cover picture: Gina Little’s 500th Marathon (Photo supplied by Jodi Hanagan Photography)

Pages 4-8: John Driscoll’s ‘Celebrating Gina's 500th Marathon with the Plums…’ * * * * * * * * * * * * * Page 9: Down Under Finds Kent Coast Half Marathon a Challenge – Sandra Pigram Page 10: Kent Coastal Gallery through the Lens of Jodi Hanagan Pages 11-14: 1st Shoreham Woods 10k – reviews by Rachel Bignell and Gary Clements Pages 15-18: A Week in the Life of a parkrun Race Director – Richey Estcourt Pages 19-21: Then There Were Twelve – a report on Kent’s parkruns Pages 22-26: Introducing Marathon Man – Robert HP Young Pages 27-31: Canterbury Half Marathon – Steve Stockwell Page 32: Running Blind – reviewed by Bethan Taylor

Page 48: Forthcoming Events October Events – sponsored by

Page 33: Fundraiser Takes to Two Wheels – Allison McArthur

Nice Work

Pages 34-35: The Tale of an Injured Runner – Allison McArthur Pages 36-38: All About Me – Helen Summer (author, coach and runner) Pages 39-40: Fat, Fed-up an Over Fifty – by Dawn Annett Pages 41-44: Jaz Sandalli’s 50-mile Challenge Pages 45-46: So Let the Battle Commence – Learning to run again!

Page 48: Nice Work’s Forthcoming Events Pages 49-50: So Let’s Run to the Beat

Performance Physiotherapy – 01634 817116 3

Kent Coastal Marathon… by John Driscoll (Plumstead Runners) Celebrating Gina's 500th Marathon with the Plums…

Sunday 7th September 2014 Whoever thought it would be a good idea to run marathons first thing in the morning, eh? Surely a nice afternoon start would be a better idea?

Alarm set for 5am. I was out of bed before the iPhone had bleeped for the second time.

Toilet. Porridge. Pack ruck sack. Toilet. Cup of tea. Toilet again...

Maybe the nerves had set in already? I've blogged in the past about my issues with long distance running and the effects it has on my stomach. I need to feel comfortable otherwise I could be in trouble. I didn’t feel comfortable in the slightest. As usual for any long distance run, I opted to take Imodium to avoid any Paula Radcliffe-esque moments later in the day.

However, given this was my first ever marathon which involved a long journey to get to the start line, I made the mistake of taking the Imodium before I left the house. In reflection, five minutes before the start would have been a much better idea...

Thanks to the TFL webpage bookmarked on my iPhone, I got to the end of my driveway and I could already see the 486 bus about 400 yards down the road, so knew I'd be on time at the club. Already sitting down on the bus was Ian, Felicity and Carl; so strange bumping into people you know at 6:40am on a Sunday morning.

I got to Bexleyheath Sports Club and the Plums were already gathering. Considering it was so early, everyone was in a cheerful mood.

Now let me take a moment to set the scene as to why 50 odd hardy souls were climbing aboard a coach to get to the Kent Coast so early on a Sunday morning. The Plums were heading to the Thanet Roadrunners-hosted Kent Coastal Marathon (and Half Marathon for those not wanting to run the full distance) to celebrate the amazing feat of our fellow club mate, Gina Little, who would run her 500th marathon on the day, becoming the first UK woman to do so. Pretty amazing, I'm sure you'll agree.

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The coach turned up (a little late) but we all climbed aboard and after a chat with the two Lee's and Chris, we arrived at Palm Bay, in Cliftonville, on the NE Kent Coast between Margate and Broadstairs.

Off the coach, into the Race HQ, quickly picked up our race numbers and then it was into the queue for the portaloos. I knew I was in trouble but the dose of Imodium had put paid to any chance I had of feeling comfortable before the race started.

Once everyone was ready, we took a stroll over to the start, where we lined up on the start line for some photos, to mark Gina's milestone.

As you can see, we were all wearing rather fetching yellow t-shirts and vests, whereas Gina was resplendent in bright pink.

Following loads more photos, some stretching and the official announcer telling us that Gina would be first over the line with her entourage, we were off.

Now, beforehand, we had been warned several times that this course was hilly. Somehow, that didn’t really register beforehand but the first half of the marathon was brutal. Hilly and hot. I don’t think you could wish for a worse combination.

However, today was not going to be a race for most of us. For me, the plan was to run along with Gina and the guys, not run for a particular time and just treat it as an enjoyable long and slow training run, with a view to trying to run a decent time in Amsterdam in mid-October.

Now I learnt a valuable lesson. You can never underestimate a marathon. It is a huge physical undertaking and you just can’t wing it. It’s not possible. I certainly underestimated the effects this marathon would have on my body.

For any endurance athlete, you need to keep fully fuelled throughout the event. That means sipping a drink every mile and taking supplements where necessary...the one last thing you want to do when you feel you need the nearest bathroom, so this was going to be a challenge of a different kind. I had to try and drink enough to stay

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hydrated but not so much as it upset my stomach. I can tell you now; I was in all sorts of trouble by mile 10. I'd had cramps from mile two but by 10 miles I felt like I'd been kicked in the stomach and I had no choice but to walk for a bit. Christ, when I ran Paris back in April, I ran the whole way and didn’t even have to break into a walk but I was walking. This wasn’t good. I managed to walk/run for a bit and caught up with the group again but my legs were pretty much gone by then.

From mile 10 through to half marathon distance, I contemplated stopping and pulling out. I was seriously considering it. I didn’t really know what to do. Had I not told anyone I was running a marathon, I likely would have stopped but being the stubborn git I am and without wanting to lose face, I battled on.

I managed to keep with Gina's group up until mile 14 but then it became too much. I carried on plodding away but my pace was dropping. I was force-feeding myself gels by then and trying to drink as much water as I could but I felt sick as a dog. I wanted to curl up and die pretty much by then. Although the second half of the marathon was flatter than the first half, running along the sea wall became monotonous and the miles seem to drag longer and longer. My pace was continually dropping but I dug deep and found some energy from somewhere.

Above: Struggling big time at half way and about 200 yards behind Gina's group...

By mile 21, I managed to catch Graham and Keith who had dropped off Gina's group. Graham was struggling with tight hamstrings...and Keith, the poor sod, was more in need of finding the Gents than I was and didn’t dare run any further. See, it’s not only me it happens to!

Graham and I ran (for ran read shuffled as its probably the best description of our style given our discomfort) together for the last five miles and kept each others spirits up, pretty much talking about anything but running, just to keep our minds away from the pain.

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Above: Graham and myself at the finish

Although I seem to be smiling in the photo where I'm crossing the line, my legs were screaming. Of the three marathons I've done, this was most definitely the hardest!

After picking up my medal, finishers t-shirt and goody bag, I collected my bag and headed straight for the massage tent. Knowing I still had at least an hour’s coach journey to look forward to back up the A2, I thought I'd give myself the best chance of a decent recovery. The smiles in the selfie didn’t last long.

The masseur inflicted serious pain on my legs.

Twenty minutes later, I had some feeling back in my legs and I headed back to the throng of the Plums, who had made camp under a marquee where we were treated to the most fabulous spread and lashings of alcohol; the perfect postmarathon recovery aid ;) Above: Massage selfie Right: Gina with celebratory cake Gina was the centre of attention as the Plums presented her with a lovely gift and we listened intently to Graham and then

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Richard, followed by Gina being presented with a lovely trophy by the 100 marathon club for her achievement. All that was left to do was for Gina to cut her celebratory cake.

Given how well my preparation for Amsterdam has been going (an 18.5 miler at sub-4 pace only two weeks ago), I'm surprised that I found the marathon such a struggle but I'm fairly certain that was down to my pre-race preparation this time around.

When in Amsterdam, my hotel is only a 10-minute walk from the start/finish line so I'm sure I'll be lining up on the start line much more relaxed, comfortable and focused on the job in hand. I wont be rushing about to catch a bus to catch a coach etc.

Above :The back of my running vest and marathon medal #3 Right: Four miles out

However, there are four things I can take from this: 

Never underestimate a marathon...



I've now chalked up marathon #3...



Gina Little is one of the most inspirational women I've ever met...



The Plums are an awesome bunch of people...

What a fabulous day.

Last words for Gina though…

“Awesome. It was an honour to run with you on your special day…”

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Down Under Finds Kent Coast Half Marathon a Challenge‌ Two Aussies from Sydney travelled 12,000 miles to run 13.1 miles in the Kent Coast Half Marathon recently.

Sandra Pigram from Sans Souci in Sydney and Les Harris (originally from New Zealand), entered the run to experience the English coastline in a different way.

"We pick a location every year and then travel there to do a Half Marathon". This year it was the Kent Coast Half Marathon, and we couldn't think of a lovelier way to experience this beautiful scenery, said Sandra. "The hills and incline were certainly a challenge, as we had been training on the seafront in Sydney which is quite flat" mentioned Les Harris. "We will be spreading the word about this amazing event, as we enjoyed it so much and want other Aussies to also get over here to do the run".

Mr Harris, who is over 6 foot 6 inches tall had been recuperating from a major surgery earlier in the year, and wanted to have a goal to work towards. A long trip to another country and a challenging run ahead in Kent was certainly a motivating force which helped speed up his recovery.

Sporting their running club's training outfits from Tribe Social Fitness in Sydney, and also appropriately decked out with little koalas on their hats, they were enjoying the warmth of the day, and friendliness of the locals, and of course those beautiful white cliffs.

The Aussies now add the Kent Coast Half Marathon to their growing list of completed runs which include Great Wall of China Marathon, Round Rarotonga Road Race (Cook Islands), and the Gold Coast Full Marathon. "The Kent Coast event goes into the memory box - we had such a warm welcome from everyone, and the race was run so well. We will return with a tribe of our running mates one year soon" commented Sandra Pigram.

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Fosters Law Kent Coastal Marathon and Half Marathon Gallery

Images by Jodi Hanagan Photography 10

The 1st Shoreham Woods 10k Trail Run… by Rachel Bignell I first heard about this run a few months back. I think Janice Munday was given a flyer at the ‘Harvel 5’ (which I missed) and said she would like to do it. I do love a trail run, so we entered. The price was £18 for affiliated runners and £20 for unaffiliated. The event was well advertised and I must have picked up 5 or 6 flyers advertising the race in the months beforehand. I managed to buy myself a pair of Brooks trail shoes for £30 in preparation and was desperate to break them in. I wore them a few times before the Shoreham race - Joydens Wood, Rocky Road and a couple of times at Shorne Woods. They were great - really comfortable and an excuse to run straight through the mud instead of tiptoeing around it. Anyway, as race day approached more and more SLGR’s entered and there was a real buzz about this one.

Race day arrived and the lovely Emma Crowley drove a few of us there in her newly valeted car (maybe we should all cram into my dirty old Micra for the next trail run?). There were plenty of parking spaces at Polhill Garden Centre and it was about a 10-minute walk to the race. There was also a carpark in the woods, but not many spaces.

We all registered and began pinning on our badges and attaching our chip timing tags. I must say, there was a real presence from the black and orange army and I think we were the most represented club there - 13 of us in total.

It was soon 9.30am and time for kick-off. Most of SLGR positioned ourselves towards the back of the start - there was a sub-45 starting point - but I'm not sure any of us are quite that quick yet!

As usual, I started off at my own quick (for me) pace. I just can't help it. As soon as the race is started, I am off; all thoughts of pacing myself completely go out of my head.

My GPS watch decided to play me up, but I managed to get it started again halfway across the bridge over the M25 - lots of cars tooting their horns. My overview of the course is a bit sketchy - but I can safely say it was mainly hills.

A nice downhill start and then already it began to get tricky. You had to watch every step you took - the ground was muddy, uneven, tree roots, rocks, etc, etc. It was about one and three-quarter laps around the woods before entering the valley. Already, the first laps took in a hill - twice. I thought to myself "If all the hills are like this, then it's tough, but not so bad". I was wrong. These were baby slopes! I managed to keep up with Stephanie Ham for the first few kms, but then she was off. I caught up with Sarah Cooper on an uphill stretch (I think she had stitch) but was doing amazingly well for her first 10k.

Each large hill (there were at least three of them) was longer, steeper and far more challenging than Gore Road (my old nemesis), but you were rewarded with breathtaking views of the Kent countryside - none of them for long though, as there was always soon to be a sharp turn, through a kissing gate, into woods, mud and another hill. I must admit, I did walk quite a lot on the uphill sections - but I wasn't alone. Even walking up the hills was painful.

One of my favourite points was at about 5k. We ran through a grassy area (difficult to run on because the footpath was so narrow and uneven) and were greeted by a man singing "Keep on running" and playing his guitar.

A real highlight, until the sharp left turn back into woods, mud and another killer hill.

Soon came the 7k, 8k and finally the 9k markers, instructing us to "dig in", I must admit I didn't feel like digging in at this stage, but tried my best. The terrain was really tricky and I nearly tripped, but just managed to save myself.

Emma Crowley was not so lucky and fell over. When a sign came for the last 100m I even managed a little bit of a sprint across the bridge and to the finish.

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What a race. My chip time was 1.09:40. I won a spot prize as well as the medal. I was third SLGR lady to finish and was glad it was all over. I also happen to be one of the stars of the official Shoreham Woods 10k Trail Run video - not quite sure how I managed that.

The race was very tough, scenic, undulating, hilly and a real challenge.

A big thank you to all the organisers, marshals and of course the fantastic Team SLGR. SLGR Results 40 42 44 58 65 66 73 83 102 113 118 120 122

Stephen Burgess - 00:59:34 John Annett - 00:59:36 Chris Preston - 00:59:54 John O'Connor - 01:03:28 Gary Clements - 01:03:57 Janet Cooper - 01:03:57 David Reid - 01:06:01 Stephanie Ham - 01:06:50 Rachel Bignell - 01:09:40 Sarah Cooper - 01:11:52 FIRST 10K! Janice Munday - 01:12:20 Emma Crowley - 01:12:35 FIRST 10K! Jane Reid - 01:13:23

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1st Shoreham Woods 10k… by Gary Clements (#TeamSLGR) Or “If you go down to the woods today you better be wearing Black & Orange…”

As a runner late to the running, it’s hard to be involved with the first run of any yearly event. When word spread about a new local 10k, I jumped at the chance to run it. I mean, less than 10 miles from home, not on shift that day, what’s stopping me? It quickly became apparent that I would not be alone on the run, with a decent turn out from the local Dartford running community assured. Why stop there though; plenty of the club wanted to move up to 10K, so who could we “initiate”?

A couple more names on board, a couple of last minute additions, and a 10k training plan added to Tuesday nights, this was going to be a great turnout for the club and some great times. Or maybe not…

I had already scouted the woods, badly, on a rainy Friday, a week before the race, but if one thing was certain, it was going to be hilly and muddy, not a great first race for any 10k virgin or a PB. Feeling guilty, I avoided any subject of hills, changing the subject to how dark, scary and muddy it was going to be. They would soon find out, as would I, because I was yet to discover just how much of a challenge it all was.

They probably guessed when the Race Director gave a sarcastic tinged “good luck” to anybody who chose this as their first 10K. It started of nice and easy, over a bridge on the M25, a little ring around the top woods, then a drop down into the beautiful rolling countryside that Kent is renowned for. The pack was a little bunched still, and the wide track was still moist in places, with some trip hazards, but we all seemed to get through without incident. I slowly made my way through the pack, from one SLGR’er to another, still finding a natural pace on the slopes and mud of the first 2k.

We then started to meander down a largish hill and into another wooded section. I was settled into the run, just checking breathing and stride, and enjoying a rare run with our “elite” athlete Janet. Everyone was in a great mood, the weather was perfect, we were in lovely surroundings and then someone spoiled it. “I suppose all this downhill means we have to climb again” came the shout. Thanks Janet, no sooner had she finished, we turned a corner and confronted our foe. I refuse to call this a hill; it was a cross between a mountain and a cliff face. I dug in and concentrated on one foot in front of the other, plodding away. I refused to walk it, even though Janet was, and at a pace matching my run. One last shout of “I love hills” and I dug deep, to the encouragement of fellow runners. I was almost at the top, almost, not far I kept thinking, as runners moved aside to aid my climb. I was struggling but determined, as we rounded a corner and the reality of the task hit me hard. I was only half way up!

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My determination at that point was beaten to a pulp and I resigned to concentrating on using my energy wisely. I settled for the walk up the remaining climb, and reaped in the reward of just having climbed it at all.

Another bit of wooded section and we ran into a clearing on a ledged hill side that gave the rewards of the climb in abundance. Not a road in sight, as we ran along the edge, taking in fresh air to recharge, ready for the next challenge. My pleasure was tinged with guilt at the thought of the 10k newbies I had convinced to run this. In fact it was the only thing that kept me going on this tough course, lest they catch me and bury me in the woods somewhere. Well maybe the overriding thing, as the constant cheering of the marshals, and a singing one man band at the start of another climb made this an event that spurred you on to complete. I don’t think I have ever run a race where every single person was given encouragement. Anyone in a top with club or name was called to and anyone without applauded loudly. All great touches along with sports top small bottles of water at the water station and jelly babies at another point.

Most of the course settled into an uphill downhill uphill pattern, with the odd tree stump speckled trail to break them up. One trail was a major challenge, as you didn’t know whether to concentrate on the small ditch you were straddling or the bushes you needed to duck at the same time. The odd small branch needed swiping and hoping you don’t hit anyone following too.

The woods were still open to public, and they were polite in holding the dogs and cheering us through, which after the odd park run issue, is extremely pleasant.

It’s a tough course; I may have mentioned that once or twice, with even the downhill so steep at times, more effort is used not going too fast, rather than recovery. Even the finish is an uphill slog to get to the bridge you started at, and my infamous sprints vanished, as all energy was expended just keeping the huge grin on my face that this event bestowed. That was until I thought about the rest of the group, and whether to hide from them, or go back and cheer them on up the last climb.

So I grabbed a bottle of water, and set back towards the last climb, but to my surprise Emma and Sarah were soon across the line before I even got near it. Both smiling, Emma clutching a spot prize and a bottle of wine. Both great little touches that show just how friendly these smaller local events are, both in what I would call really good times. I was almost 10% slower than my PB, which gives an indication of the course, but the initial never again, was soon replaced with the usual can’t wait until next year, which we runners soon move to, far too quickly.

A quick chat with other runners, a standard group SLGR photo, and it was back to Polhill garden centre for a welldeserved recovery tea and snack, then a short drive home to rest and recover for the next one.

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A Week in the Life - of a parkrun Race Director…

Brian kindly asked me to put together a 'Day in the Life...' article for ‘So Let’s Go Running…’, but I wanted to share a little more about what happens during the rest of the week as well…

Sunday…

Check the parkrun mailbox. This is always a nervous moment, as I switch off of anything parkrun-related on Saturday lunchtime as soon as I've posted the results, and filed the run report. If the results are accurate, there shouldn't be too many emails. If there was an error in the stopwatch timers or the barcode scanners, then the results table will be inaccurate, and I'll have emails from a several dozen runners telling me I've ballsed it up. This has only happened once so far thankfully (entirely my fault), but it could easily happen again at any time.

Thankfully, there's nothing to worry about. A couple of emails from runners offering their services as volunteers in future events, which is nice.

Monday…

Now that I'm satisfied the results from the last event are accurate; the raw data on the stopwatches and barcode scanners can be cleared in preparation for the next event.

In reality, my wife usually has this done fairly efficiently, but I had to do it all by myself one time ...

I should probably think about the volunteer roster for the next event round about now. It takes about 11 people to stage Dartford parkrun, and that involves a few of us doing several jobs each. A couple more is nice, and at a difficult push, we could do it with less, but it would lead to grumblings about the course not being marked, or a long queue for barcode scanning. The Dartford parkrun course needs five marshals, two timers, two scanners, a tail-runner, and a finish token allocator, and that's just for the period in which the run is taking place. Anything that's not covered during the run, I'll do myself.

Before and after the run, there's a list of other jobs that need to be done, but rather than try to find 15-20 volunteers a week, I'd sooner have them done in the core volunteer team, so we can save people's goodwill and volunteer effort for later in the year.

A quick glance at the roster and the emails suggest we've got three volunteers out of the 11 required. Hmm...

Tuesday…

Send a few polite emails to some mates about volunteering. There are some people who usually volunteer anyway, but I'd hate to stick them in the roster without asking first. After all, you're expecting people to get out of bed at the weekend, and support other people in their enjoyment of running, and miss out on their own parkrun, which is a big ask.

That results in two more volunteers. Halfway there!

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Wednesday…

Aside from checking emails, I might not do much in the middle of the week. If I get an hour in the evening, I'll go through some other parkruns' run reports, just to see if anyone else has had anything go extremely well or extremely wrong.

Thursday…

At this stage, I'm looking at the weather forecast. If there's obviously going to be weather conditions that make the course unviable or unsafe, then the event might need cancelling. I'm also sending out more polite emails, and maybe posting something on Facebook about volunteers. The parkrun laptop needs starting up before Saturday, so that it can download any security patches or software updates. If this is left until Saturday, then it's a drag on time in which we can't get anything else done.

Two more volunteers. Nearly a full team!

Friday…

A couple more emails from willing volunteers. Superb! That gives us nine. Or ten. I always work on the basis that someone will get stuck in traffic, or have some domestic occurrence that stops them from coming, so it'd be nice to have a couple of names in reserve. A quick go through the equipment bag to make sure everything's there.

Recharge the camera batteries, just in case I get a chance to take some photos.

It's a good idea to get an early night on Friday, or at least, not go out and hit the pubs too hard. Starting early with a hangover and a parkrun to direct isn't easy. That's not to say that it's never happened...

Saturday…

Showtime! My alarm goes off at 6:00. A bit early, but I'd sooner give myself plenty of time to think, prepare and check. A quick bath and a cup of tea, and I leave the house at 7:00. I'll have a fairly big kit bag over one shoulder, and an A3 case for the hi-viz signs to carry.

It's a bit of a faff, but as I've never driven, I'm used to this sort of thing. Thankfully, I live a few doors down from a sandwich bar, so I'll pick up coffee, water and a Yorkie (breakfast of champions) to cram down my throat on the walk down to Central Park.

At 7:30, I meet Steve Stockwell by the library. We can immediately start marking out the course with signs and cones. It's usually a good opportunity to discuss any improvements we can make, or any changes that would make the voluntary work a little easier. These sorts of observations have allowed us to reduce the number of course marshals from seven to five during the first month of parkrun, so it's made a huge difference to the workload.

The flower garden area gets prepped with signs first, then over to the bandstand, the playground and the café area. When we get to the Ellenor Lions Bridge, one of us will need to run up to Ivy Leaf Corner (the most northeastern point of the playing fields by the Ivy Leaf pub) to lay out some traffic cones, and then a quick run round the whole of the playing fields and trail area to do a quick check for obstacles or anything else that could foul up a parkrun.

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Once that's done, we're back in the main body of the park to finish off - this involves giving the Mick Jagger statue his hi-viz jacket, laying down a couple of signs down the Jagger's Leg section of the course, and the remaining traffic cones on the final turn into the finish straight. Depending on who's volunteering this week, and what time they arrive, the rest of the team might have put up the finish funnel by now, or it might still need doing. I usually make a mess of this somehow, so I'm always relieved to see Riley, Tess, or one of the others do it properly...

It's about 8:20. By this time, we've got a course, and we've got some runners. At this stage, I'm usually a bit more relaxed, and talking to people - some I know, some I've just met, and some with questions, all that need to be answered. The most important aspect of parkrun from my point of view is that it's a friendly community event, so at this stage, I try to make sure that anyone who looks a bit lost or confused gets any questions answered. There's very often someone who has never taken part before, so they often need a quick overview before we start.

It's about 8:40. With a bit of luck, we should have the rest of the team by now, as they tend to arrive in dribs and drabs. As we're still a fairly young event, each run so far has included new volunteers, so they need showing their duties. The genius of parkrun is that nothing is especially difficult or involves complicated technology, so things like stopwatches and finish tokens can be demonstrated to new team member in a couple of minutes. The marshals need allocating to their points, and if they haven't marshalled before, I'll show them to their points, and explain how the runners will need directing. Finally, we've got a course, some runners, and a volunteer support team in place. We're nearly ready to go...

It's about 8:55, I've just shown the marshals their posts, and I'm now 300m away from the start/finish line, so it's a run back as quickly as possible. There's nothing worse than keeping over a hundred people waiting, when they're all well-prepared and keen to have a crack at their PB’s. I need to give a pre-run briefing to all the runners about consideration, safety, facilities and procedures etc. I mentally prepare this ten minutes beforehand, and then forget something important by the time I've found wherever I left the megaphone...

It's now 9:00 (or 9:03 usually...). Check both timekeepers are ready to start. 3....2....1.... *whistle*.

I can sit down for a while now. The runners have made off, and I won't see any of them for at least eight or nine minutes, when the fastest runners come by to begin their second lap. This is the quietest eight or nine minutes of the day, and finally an opportunity to catch up with the other team members or visit the loo. I'll have a quick dash around the park to see if there are any issues or problems anywhere, but aside from an injury in event #2, there's been nothing crop up during the run so far.

It's 9:08 (roughly) when the faster runners begin to approach for their second lap. If I've left my camera in a sensible place, I'll take a few shots of them passing by, and try to capture as many as I can for the album.

It's about 9:17, and the fastest runner emerges from the cafĂŠ corner and approaches the finish area. I'll quickly check that the timekeepers and finish token allocator are ready, which they always are, because they've been paying attention and not mucking about with a camera for ten minutes. At first, it's only a steady stream of pretty fast runners crossing the line to collect their tokens, and after about 20 minutes, the main body of runners begins to arrive en masse.

It's important to keep checking that the two timekeepers and the finish tokens allocator are all in sync throughout the whole run, as mistakes are easier to rectify if you've got a rough idea of where it occurred.

I try to do this as every 15-20 runners pass through.

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The next thirty minutes are so are spent welcoming runners back, and making sure they know the barcode scanning procedure, and where to get scanned. I usually have to remind a couple of runners about the 'no barcode, no result' policy, and let them know they're not getting a time this week. It's annoying, but the runners only have one obligation, so I've not much sympathy for those who omit to fulfil it.

While this is going on, it's a good opportunity to chat to as many runners as I can to get some feedback on the course, and deal with any concerns. The final runner and tail-runner usually gets back at around 09:45, so after a final round of congratulations, and making sure nobody's had a problem on the course, it's time to take the whole thing apart and pack it all up again...

It's 10:00. The volunteer team decide amongst ourselves who gets to jog round the course collecting signs and cones. The rest of us head back to the Dartford Harriers clubhouse for a cup of tea, and to begin the final stage of work. The tokens need sorting back into sequential order (there's normally about 130 to sort), and the times and results need to be downloaded from the stopwatches and scanners to the parkrun database. If there's been no hitches with the stopwatches and scanners, this doesn't take too long. If there's a discrepancy, then the data from two stopwatches and two scanners has to be stared at amongst much cursing, until the error is discovered. Once this is done, the results are published, all the runners get their times, and the volunteers get their thank-yous by email shortly after.

By 11:00, that's the hardest work done. The kit is back in its bag, and I'm guzzling diet coke in the clubhouse, and scanning the results table for PB’s, and seeing how my mates got on... Sometimes one of the volunteers fancies a run round the course, so I'll accompany them (if I can keep up...). Otherwise, we normally have a sit-down for half an hour to debrief how it all went.

It's now about 12:30, and I arrive back home (via the coffee shop for a takeaway latte). I've got one last job to do the run report. Some locations publish their results later in the week - I prefer to do it whilst it's fresh in my mind, and I can get the whole process wrapped up for another week. The run report is my recollection of the day's highlights and issues, along with a few outline stats and my congratulations to those who have hit milestones and PBs. Whilst I'm thinking about this, I download any photos I've taken, delete the 90% that are too awful or badly focussed, give the rest a little crop or exposure adjustment if they need it, and upload them to the Dartford parkrun album. The run report takes me about 45 minutes to write, and about 15 minutes to edit out the boring and irrelevant bits. Check it for errors, double-check it, and triple-check it, and then hit 'publish'. I usually find an error 15 minutes later anyway, which needs a hasty edit...

13:00. The final decision of the day: Wimpy or Burger King?

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THEN THERE WERE TWELVE! – PARKRUNS IN KENT Since writing the last article in May, two more parkruns have been born and are flourishing very nicely.

Dartford had their inaugural on Saturday 26th July, with Richey Estcourt, Steven Stockwell and Tessa Hampton running the show. It was a beautiful day with more than 230 parkrunners taking part. Over two hundred were tourists who came to see, run, test and comment on the parkrun. It was not found wanting at all. Every inch of the park was utilised to fit in the two-lap 5km run including the lane leading to the Sir Mick Jagger statue. There were bridges over the Darent River, some trail paths, open fields, a medieval bridge and flower gardens to delight the eye on the journey as well as by-passing the bandstand. After the first flush of tourists, the parkrun is still attracting more than 100 runners a week.

Left: Dartford, Central Park Folkestone parkrun had their inaugural on Saturday 16th August, with Maggi Rose, Rob Huish and Emilie Moffat. This flourishing seaside holiday town had the remembrance arch opened by Prince Harry only days before and is one of the attractions of the run. This utilises the whole of the upper Leas and the main part of the run is on a tarmac footpath which is wider than the road.

This run consists of three loops. The first loop takes you westward for just over a km and then turns back down a winding pathway which runs parallel and takes you through the Binary Vinery (the name given to the viewing pagoda built into the cliff, with vines growing all round), back to the bandstand and the start. The next loop takes you to the remembrance arch and back to the start. Having completed these two loops the first one is repeated again.

There were 77 runners on their first week with 50 tourists, who were staggered by the views from the high advantage point overlooking the sea, Folkestone harbour and France in the background.

Seaside parkruns‌ The seaside parkruns are Whitstable, Margate, Pegwell Bay and Folkestone. And these are particularly lovely when the sun shines and the wind is kind.

Below left: Margate, Palm Bay

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Dunorlan Park, Royal Tunbridge Wells Lakeside parkruns…

The lakeside parkruns are truly beautiful. Dunorlan Park in Royal Tunbridge Wells which had its inaugural on Saturday 26th April and attracts over 100 runners each week. Then there is Tonbridge which takes you through woodland and around Barden Lake, where you can see swans. Tonbridge is a popular run with over 200 taking part each week.

Riverside parkrun…

Maidstone is the most popular of the Kent parkruns with more than 300 on occasions. Their run takes you along the edge of the River Medway past Allington Lock, canal boats, up and over the river on a ‘moving’ bridge and into Whatmore Park.

Right: Maidstone, Museum of Life

Park parkruns…

Ashford parkrun is in the beautiful green space of Victoria Park which is a two-lap tree-lined course with lovely wide tarmac paths and a copse loop. There is also a huge fountain which is twice lapped.

The parkrun in the heart of Medway takes place in Gillingham at the Great Lines Heritage Park. This is a two lap course circumnavigating the WW2 Naval Memorial.

Great Lines is the largest green space in the Medway and links Gillingham, Chatham and Brompton, with plenty to do after your parkrun in this military area.

Left: Great Lines Heritage Park

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Shorne Woods is in a completely wooded area consisting of two and a bit laps. This tree shaded run is on well established trial paths and is completely flat.

Canterbury’s parkrun is in the heart of Kent University. This is a two-lap course which takes you out onto the Crab and Winkle Way, the disused first railway line in Britain with a turn around point at the very old and quaint St. Cosmas and St Damien Church. You also get to run around some of the University tree lined fields. The University is on the outskirts of the cathedral city with beautiful views.

And Dartford, as described above.

Future parkruns…

In the pipeline are several junior parkruns. These are designed for 4-14 year olds, take place on a Sunday morning and are of 2km distance. The children may run with their parents but filter off before the finish funnel.

Whitstable junior parkrun starts 12th October with Gravesend, Maidstone and Goudhurst following.

Finally…

There is something for everybody…why not become a parkrun tourist and try them all! They are free on production of a free barcode (www.parkrun.com/register), fully inclusive and great fun. If you would like to come along to one to see what its all about and to volunteer to help you can email the event office (for example maidstoneoffice@parkrun.com).

Hope to see you at one soon.

Jacky MacDonald

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Introducing Marathon Man… My name is Rob Young and I am a 31 year old living a regular life in London with my small family. Whilst watching the London Marathon this year I was moved by the fundraising stories I heard. Inspired by this and the fact that my partner said I was not able to run a marathon! I set out the next day to run my first marathon. I have always wanted to do a long event and support charities so this was my chance.

Since that first day I have run at least a marathon a day non stop and have turned inspiration into a fundraising and world record beating ambition. My aim now is to run 367+ marathons in 365 days, running at least a marathon every day.

The charities I have decided to run for are the NSPCC, GOSH and Dreams Come True. They are three amazing charities who all help vulnerable children have a better chance in life.

To understand what motivates me to want to help these charities; you’d need to know a bit about my personal story. To that end I have written a few words to explain.

My early years were difficult and painful, full of experiences I survived rather than lived. But through these tough times I developed many good qualities which otherwise I would not have, all borne out of years of hardship and abuse. Do not get me wrong, I have done my fair share of bad things too, but nobody deserves to have a childhood like I had.

It is my hope that by sharing my story I may inspire others with similar experiences and help them move on.

Though I'm still young myself, if I can help people in similar situations and encourage them to make peace with their pasts then I feel something good has come out of all I have had to endure.

Rob’s Story…

Life can be tough but you will make it through…

People who know me well know that my early years were difficult and painful, full of experiences I survived rather than lived. But through these tough times I have developed, I like to think, many qualities which otherwise I would not have: strength, kindness, loyalty, honesty and others too, all borne out of many years of hardship and abuse, but do not get me wrong I have done wrongs too.

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It is my hope that by sharing my story I may inspire others with similar experiences and help them move forward towards a better place and NSPCC does this amazingly well. Too often people who have painful childhoods go on to perpetuate the abuse, spreading the pain to others. This cycle of abuse is sickening to me and I want to show people that there is another way.

Though I am still young myself if I can help young people in similar situations and encourage them to make peace with their pasts then I feel something good has come out of all I have had to endure.

My early years: My father was a very abusive man and made my life (as well as my sister and mother) a living hell.

As a young child I was witness to some terrible things, things which most people would find hard to imagine or understand. These include the sexual assault of my sister, the torture of my mother and even the senseless hurting of the family dog.

The abuses I myself had to endure were, by comparison, less traumatic. I was beaten pretty much everyday; for me this was normal. I got beaten with anything that easily came to my father’s hand. It could be a slipper, a stick or a plank of wood. Today I still have quite a number of scars on my body from these beatings.

Sometimes my father would zip me into a suitcase and push me down the stairs. This was one of the milder things I had to endure, though. The worst thing was being dangled over the banister at the top of the stairs by one leg; seeing all those stairs beneath me was just awful - something I had to endure regularly. He used to tell me that if I made any noise at all or if I cried he would drop me. I learnt to close my eyes and think of other things.

As for the food I was given, it was limited and not always good. I learnt later that my sister was fed different things to me, better food and even sweets. I got no such things apart from the odd sweet that my mother risked sneaking to me. When my father caught her doing so however we were both punished severely.

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My sister had lots of treats and toys too. I remember taking one of her sweets from a big bag she had once. She saw me and stabbed me in the knee with a fork. Then my father found out and beat me. Needless to say, I never took one of her sweets again.

The last beating… The years of abuse came to an end when I was about six years old or so. I remember those final days as if it was only yesterday.

I remember hearing my father come into the house one evening. His banging and crashing told me he was angry.

So I knew I had a bad beating coming my way. He called my name and as always I ran to him as fast as I could. He threw the usual punches at me, kicking me and throwing objects at me. Then he dragged me up the stairs and began the dreaded dangling over the banister. Then he started pushing me down the stairs when my mother arrived. She rushed to help me and begged him to stop. So he hit her and told her to get out of his way.

Next he tied a rope around my neck from which he hung me on an old-fashioned coat hanger near the front door.

It might seem strange but I remember feeling happy at that moment, that it was all going to come to an end at last. I remember the feeling of having no air to breathe and I struggled as my father held my legs. It became very scary until he decided to let me down. Needless to say I am very glad now that he did.

Then my mother took my upstairs to bed (I feel bad even to this day that she had to witness such things). I told her I could not cope with all this anymore; that I was in just too much pain. She promised to take me away just as soon as I could walk properly.

The leaving… My mother stuck to her promise and some days later we left. We were put into a safe house; supposedly somewhere my father could not find us. He did however, but thankfully was prevented from getting to us. We moved again but it felt unsafe where we were so we decided to walk to my granddad’s in Hampshire (from Yorkshire where we were at the time). On that long journey we slept overnight in a ditch. I remember carrying my sister when she got tired. Sometimes we fell down little holes next to the ditch, which I remember us laughing about.

The only part of all this that upsets me in a way now, though it should have been a happy moment, was when a car stopped by the motorway in front of us. A middle-aged gentleman got out of the car and advanced towards us.

As he did I stepped in front of my mother and sister to defend them and told him to leave us alone. He could see we were scared so he got his wife to come to speak with us instead. They were genuinely concerned for us, it turned out ,and wanted to help (they did seen us earlier on when driving somewhere and now on their way back had seen us again). They offered to drive us all the way to my granddad’s house.

On the way we stopped at a service station. As we had nothing to eat or little to drink for a day or two the couple offered to buy us some food. I hesitated to take it (some kind of burger) but was told it was OK, so I did. I said before that the food I was used to till then had been of very poor quality, cheap stews etc. By comparison the taste of this burger was amazing! To this day, it is still the tastiest thing I have ever eaten (or at least that’s how I remember it). This was the first real treat I had in my life and from complete strangers too! I will never forget that act of kindness and how those strangers gave me the first real hope of freedom. I find it upsetting to think about now, that poor boy that had to feel so grateful to be given a cheap burger from a roadside cafe. It is humbling to think back on and has made me want to spend my life doing things to help other children faced with similar hardship.

A new beginning… Eventually we settled somewhere and a court order was put in place for my father to stay away from us - he was also sent to prison on several occasions during this time. However it was not to last and only some time later my mother could not cope with both me and my sister. So I was taken from her care and placed in an orphanage; this is something which i do not blame my mother for as she had been living in terror for many years and it had clearly taken a toll on her.

So my life in care began and during this time I was moved around all over the country from orphanage to orphanage with no real structure in my life. Like many others in my situation I got caught up in trouble. Sharing rooms with much older kids (some twice my age) meant I went through many frightening experiences; from being bullied into doing things that caused distress to others and much more. My way of coping was to get really angry, exploding in fits of rage and fighting everyone, a strategy which helped me make it through.

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Eventually I got moved to a much nicer orphanage where I was among children of my own age. My behaviour calmed down a lot and it was such a relief not to be scared any more. I really wanted to go to school and do sport and I kept asking for this. At that time I would read and study whatever books I could find, so eventually, at the age of 11 I think, I got my first taste of a real school.

Soon into my time at the new school I had the good fortune of being fostered by a wonderful gentleman. He was the Deputy Headmaster of a top private school and taught me the correct ways of life, old fashioned ways perhaps, but good ways, straight ways. He showed me everything from how to lay the table correctly through to all school subjects as well as more practical aspects of life.

To this day I believe He enabled me to be the person I am today - all my best aspects derived from his tutorage. If it had not been for him I would not have passed all my GCSEs and A-levels (with very good grades) and been able to prepare for a good life.

After school I entered the British Army (the Royal Signal Corps) where I served five and a half years. I started competing in athletic meets and many other sports at about this time. As a kid I always loved sport and had a very competitive nature, always giving 100%, always pushing myself. I enjoyed athletics and I remember turning up to meetings and competing in all kinds of events. If other athletes failed to turn up I would happily take their spot. I did the 5km, 3000m steeple chase, 1500m, 400m hurdles, 400m flat, 4x100m relay, shot put, hammer, pole vault and javelin with a mixture of success. I then represented Great Britain at the Biathlon event (run-bike-run) as a Junior and was selected for the GB junior Duathlon team. In the end though I found the triathlon and represented GB (age 20-24 team) at that instead.

After the Army I competed on the cycling circuit for a while until my partner at the time fell pregnant. That prompted me to move to London and to get a job to support my new family. When my daughter Olivia was born we all lived happily enough for a few years. But eventually we split up - a very difficult time for me. These days Olivia lives with her mother full-time, which has been hard for me but is probably for the best, and my ex-partner does look after Olivia well.

Since then I have moved on and eventually met the Joanna. Today we are engaged to be married and have a wonderful, one and a half year old son called Alexander-Lui (I like to call Alexander my Course Director - though he spends more time playing than sourcing routes!) Life could not be better! After so many ups and downs in my life I feel truly blessed now to have such a great family.

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The World Record Attempt… Regarding the running and the World Record attempt, my first big target was to run 50 marathons in 50 days. The bigger aim now is to break the current World Record of 366 marathons in a year (running at least one marathon every day consecutively). There are many forms of this record and I am trying to cover them all…

A lot of people have asked me if I had run a marathon before taking on this challenge and the answer is No.”

MarathonManUK, Rob Young, has now completed 139 marathons in 128 days to raise money for Dreams Come True and the NSPCC. Rob Young is a kilt-wearing 31-year old runner on a mission. He has one aim: to run at least one marathon a day for a year and complete at least 367 marathons in 365 days, while raising funds for his chosen charities. This goal will see him running nearly 10,000 miles in the year, which is almost the equivalent of a flight from London Heathrow to Sydney, Australia.

The man now known as MarathonManUK is impressively getting through the miles around a full-time job and life with a young family. Rob is driven to help children’s charities by his own very difficult experiences of abuse as a child. Along the way, Rob is aiming to raise £100,000for children’s charity dreams come true, whose aim is to bring joy to terminally and seriously ill children and young people by fulfilling their dreams, and the NSPCC, which helps to protect vulnerable children and prevent abuse through its projects and services including ChildLine. Rob is asking everyone reading thisto donate just£10 to really make every mile count. You can donate here: http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/runfordreamscometrueandnspcc Rob has a solid team of professionals behind him, including Dr Courtney Kipps, who is the Medical Director of the London Triathlon, the Blenheim Triathlon and London’s ‘Run to the Beat’ half-marathon. Dr. Kipps is also the assistant medical director of the London Marathon. Working with the Institute of Sport, Exercise and Health (ISEH), Rob has become a person of scientific interest, undergoing tests to assess pain thresholds, improvements in VO2 Max and other tests. He’ll be consistently monitored throughout his attempts by the team there.

Rob has always wanted to complete a challenge of magnitude, but this is beyond what he had anticipated. Rob said: “Pushing myself on a daily basis and raising money for charity is a dream come true for me. I had a difficult childhood and do not want other children to have a similar experience to me. I have always wanted to raise money to help children born into less fortunate situations. Along the way I am meeting the most incredible people and am so proud to say that I’ve inspired people to start running and much more.”

More information on Rob’s fundraising challenge Dreams Come True: Rob is hoping that his fundraising marathon challenge will fulfil the dreams of children like Annie: Annie’s Dream Ten-year-old Annie has Congenital Muscular Dystrophy and Scoliosis. These problems cause her an incredible amount of pain which wakes her up to 15 times per night. Despite all this, Annie loves swimming and her dream is to swim with dolphins in Discovery Cove. Rob would like to help raise the £4K needed to take make Annie’s dream come true. NSPCC: The NSPCC is the UK’s leading children's charity specialising in child protection. Our vision is to end cruelty to children in the UK and we make a difference for all children by standing up for their rights, listening to them, helping them when they need us and by making them safe. The NSPCC runs projects and services across the United Kingdom and Channel Islands to help vulnerable children. We also provide ChildLine, the UK’s free, confidential 24-hour helpline and online service for children and young people and a helpline for adults who are worried about a child or want advice.

For more information, please visit: http://marathonmanuk.com/ If you would like to run alongside Rob for an interview, or meet him after one of his Marathon runs, please contact Claire Williamson at Claire@brightbeecommunications.com or Mob: 07545 088630; Or Laurena McKenna at Laurena@brightbeecommunications.com Mob: 07775 620 232; or Emily Sams at the NSPCC Emily.sams@nspcc.org.uk, 020 7825 2919

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Canterbury Half Marathon 2014… by Steve Stockwell The Canterbury Half Marathon is organised by Nice Work in support of Pilgrims Hospices and is supported by the Canterbury Forest of Blean Rotary Club. It is run on undulating, and at some points hilly, country lanes just to the south of Canterbury town centre, in Kent. The running surface is 100% tarmac so road shoes (I wore a pair of my New Balance NB1080v3) were the order of the day.

Left: Merton Farm [photo: 7t]

This event took place on the August Bank Holiday Monday. I had made a note about it in my race calendar a number of months in advance of the event, but I didn't enter it until about a week beforehand. When I finally entered, I did so through the runbritain website and paid the affiliated fee of £16. Unaffiliated runners had to pay an extra £2.

The event HQ was clearly signposted from the main road in the town centre and free car parking was available on an open grass field within the extensive grounds of Merton Farm. The toilets were provided in the form of portaloos - they were mostly single occupancy units but the addition of a male urinal-type unit which could accommodate about six men at a time was a welcome addition.

Race HQ contained the number and timing chip collection desk, the late entries desk, an official race t-shirt retail area, and a massage area. These were all under gazebostyle covering right next to the start/finish, which was handy because it was absolutely pouring down!

The race start time was 10am, which was a good time for me - it meant that I didn't have to get up too early to make it there in time. As I understand it, there was a two-mile fun run and also a children’s race. They were both due to take place once the half-marathoners had set off.

The Half Marathon itself got under way on time and despite starting a little too far back, I managed to head out at a reasonable pace. In order to filter all of the runners over the timing mats, the start line was quite narrow, so it took a little longer than I would have hoped to reach and filter through the start line.

The good news is that as it was chip timed each runner’s individual time was not actually affected by this - it’s just a little disheartening watching the runners ahead of you charge off into the distance while you are still standing still. Anyway, that’s how these things work and the fact that I've mentioned it shouldn't be taken as a complaint.

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Above: #TeamSLGR kit on and out into the rain [photo: dani] Below: at race HQ [photo: 7t]

The course is best described as a lollipop (although not quite in the traditional shape).

The stick part is run at the beginning and the end of the race with a big loop (the sweet part) run during the middle miles. It’s hard to remember every detail of the course so I’ll run through it the best I can remember.

The first kilometre was slightly downhill with the following three kilometres taking the runners on a gradual incline. There was then a 500 metre or so downhill section that got very steep at one point - most of this part allowed an increase of pace, but the steepest point saw the brakes come on a little as the marshals were warning of slippery patches.

Right: the start area [photo: 7t]

The course flattened slightly before returning to a downhill where the runners entered the village of Petham. It’s only a small place but it was really great to see the locals out on the street in the rain supporting the runners - I gave waves and thumbs up as I passed to show that their support was appreciated.

If I remember rightly there were four opportunities to pick up some water on the course, and with the weather being cool and raining, they was more than sufficient. In fact, I only took water at two water stations and even then I didn't actually drink that much during the race. There were a few people out on the course supplying unofficial jelly babies or something similar but as I couldn't be sure if they were suitable for vegetarians, I just ran straight past.

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Left: the stick part of the course [from the official webpage]

At around 9.5 kilometres into the race, the route passed through the village of Waltham before heading out deeper into the countryside during the rest of the loop. On the course not all of the roads were closed but they were extremely quiet.

The drivers that I encountered were all very respectful of the runners and most had pulled to the side of the road to allow space for us to pass.

I hadn’t set myself a specific time goal for this race because I had read that it was a tough course and approached it with a ‘see how it goes’ mind set. However, as I approached the halfway point, I worked out that I was on target for a possible sub1.30 finish time - something that I hadn't even considered when reading about how hard some of the hills were.

Below: the lollipop part [from the official webpage]

One of the most memorable parts of the race came around the halfway point. The course reached its highest point and the views from here were breathtaking, and that is coming from someone that had glasses covered in raindrops on a day when the cloud cover was low and thick. On a clear, sunny day this could be one of the nicest views from any race I have done so far.

The descent from the halfway point came in the form of a long, fast downhill section. It lasted for around a kilometre and when I glanced down at my Garmin I saw that I was flying along at 3.20 per kilometre pace (5.22 minutes per mile). I didn't glance for too long as I didn't want to risk slipping on the wet surface.

After this, I started to think about the uphill sections that were to come. And before I knew it, I had completed the loop and was heading back through Petham - this time it was uphill, and much steeper than I had remembered as I had descended into the village a short while earlier.

The road flattened out for a brief stretch and then began the hill that I had read so much about in previous years’ online reviews. I slowed down, kept my effort level the same and forgot about pace. As I reached the steepest point I was barely moving faster that walking pace, but I was firm in my intent to maintain a running motion and not to be reduced to a walk.

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Above: the hill profile

In the end, it wasn't as bad as I had prepared myself for and I then hit the three kilometre long section that had been slightly uphill on the way out. Now being slightly downhill, and with only 4kms left to go, I naturally opened up my stride and began running a series of sub-four minute kilometres - It was an amazing feeling and I loved this part of the course!

Then as my Garmin beeped to notify me that I had reached 20 kilometres, the final steady incline started. Some sections felt steeper on the way back than they had at the beginning of the race but I soon saw the 13-mile marker, and then the finish line appeared. I crossed it, collected my participation medal and wandered over to race HQ to find some water.

In addition to the water, I was pleased to see a few sweet treats so I tucked in before chatting to some fellow runners and then heading back over to the car to change out of my dripping wet kit.

About an hour later I had worked my way through a couple of bouts of back seat cramping (don't ask) and finally managed to get into something dry and headed off.

Left: all done [photo: dani]

The official results were up online later that day. I completed the course in 1:28.49 - only five seconds off my personal best which I set at the Paddock Wood Half-Marathon earlier in the year. There were 446 runners listed in the results and I was the 38th runner to cross the finish line (35th fastest if you go by the chip times), meaning that I finished well within the top 10% (8.5%).

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I was pleased with my performance but at the same time I'm slightly disappointed that I hadn't realised how close to setting a new personal best I was going to be and in retrospect could have pushed a little harder during some parts of the course. However, given that it was a undulating/hilly course, I think that overall it will still go down as my best Half-Marathon performance to date.

Left: medal (photo: 7t)

The participation medal was nice and I really liked that it was a bespoke offering rather than one of those generic ones you get at a lot of races. I thoroughly enjoyed the race and would definitely run it again. I would just request a nice clear day so I can really enjoy that view at the halfway point!

Liz Weeks Mobile Personal Training, Run Coaching and Sports Massage (Level 3 qualified REPs registered instructor)

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‘Running Blind’ - Simon Webb (reviewed by Bethan Taylor) Lots of things go through your mind when you are preparing for a marathon, not least its distance, and everything that means. 26.2 miles is a long way, and in the run up to his first London Marathon in 2011 Simon Webb got a little bit concerned that he was going to get bored along the way.

Absurd as it sounds, I can see where he was coming from - there are some long, lonely miles when running a marathon, and they can wreak havoc pushing doubts to the forefront of your mind. Boredom can only make that worse, and must be managed.

In response to this marathon ruining risk, Simon decided to research some of the locations he would pass along the way - points of recognition that would motivate him to push on that little bit further when the going got tough. Running Blind is, in part, his exploration of the art, history, music, sport, politics and pubs of South and East London. It is also the story of how a blind runner completes one of the ultimate sporting challenges.

Simon’s sight, or lack of it, amounts to only light and dark perception, and in his own words “What I can see is no use when it comes to running”, so he runs with guides. A chapter of the book is dedicated to explaining how the relationship between runner and guide, and the immense trust involved.

It would have been easy for this book to have focused exclusively on Simon’s sight and the challenges that presents as a runner. And there would have been nothing wrong with this, I am sure it would have been a great read. However, I was impressed at how he cleared up the FAQs of blind running at the outset and got on with the fascinating business of telling stories and sharing tips on where to find a good pub lunch! Simon’s unique perspective of looking at the city from the marathon route offers an unusual opportunity to explore some of the less glamorous corners of the city, and uncover their often colorful and quirky histories.

There are tales of long forgotten feats of engineering, stories about serial killers, and enough pub quiz trivia to keep you going for several years. The insights in to the social and cultural development of the city are fascinating - London has a dramatic and continuing history, and Simon has managed to capture this in a way that is informative, engaging and captures the energy of the marathon. This is a book that has broad appeal to runners and non-runners, as well as those who love London and those who hardly know the city.

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Fundraiser Takes to Two Wheels for Macmillan Perth runner and Macmillan fundraiser, Allison McArthur, is swapping her trusty trainers for the whirr of two wheels for her next fundraising event and has signed up to take part in this year’s Cycletta Scotland, which returns to the beautiful surroundings of Scone Palace for a second year running on Sunday October 5th.

Normally a runner, Allison picked up an injury part of the way through her 2014 Macmillan Fundraising Challenge, which she is doing in conjunction with her husband Steve Bonthrone, and has dusted off her bike to maintain her fitness levels and to keep up her commitment to Macmillan; a commitment for which she has already raised £3,500 this year so far.

Together the couple hope to raise £10,000 for the charity this year and are already well on their way to hitting that target.

Allison commented “I had set myself the challenge of running three marathons this year, but when I got injured I needed to find some other way to continue with my fundraising. I ran the Paris Marathon in April and set a new PB of 4:05:07 (my previous best was 4:32:17). I also ran the Edinburgh Marathon and it was during that race that my injury, which had been building for a couple of weeks, properly flared up. I limped to the finish in about 4:40. Loch Ness was to be the culmination, but without being able to train properly, running it would not be a good idea and would probably set me back.

I already have plans in place for a spring marathon so I am being sensible and making sure I'm fit to train properly for that. I've known for a while that I wouldn't be running the Baxters Loch Ness Marathon, and had focussed on the cycling during my recovery, so when I heard about Macmillan Cycletta at Scone Palace it seemed the perfect event and I quickly signed up.

Cycling has been a fantastic way to keep up my fitness levels. There is plenty of time for marathon running in the future.”

“I'm fundraising for Macmillan because I lost my grandparents and, more recently, my father-in-law to cancer. I’ve also seen friends and colleagues battle this terrible disease.

Macmillan do wonderful work in ensuring that nobody faces their fight alone, and were there to support the people close to me. I want to help raise vital funds so they can continue to support families and make a real difference to the lives of everyone affected.”

Allison McArthur is an English Teacher from Scotland.

She is married and enjoys writing about her experiences and connecting with other runners.

She has been blogging about running since 2011, her blog is at http://runningprincess78.wordpress.com 33

The Tale of an Injured Runner… Allison McArthur For the past five years I have been a regular at this local race, bagging a PB on more than one occasion, but this year my experience of the Perth 10k was to be slightly different…

I entered the race some time ago, expecting to have put my injury behind me and be back to regular training, but as I counted up the number of weeks that my enforced summer running ban would last, I realised that at best I would be just one week into my “comeback” and that diving straight into a 10k would be crazy. Since Steve (Bonthrone) is one of the race organisers, I instead volunteered to help him out with race registration and take the role of ‘sweep cyclist’ (the sort of job I normally find quite tedious, but a sweep cyclist was needed and I was able to do it) on condition that I could still have my race medal and T-shirt since officially I had paid for them! He agreed to this so I dug out my hi-viz vest, made sure I was familiar with the route and prepared myself for a long, slow cycle around Perth.

Race day stated early for me as registration opened at 8:30am. There was a team of us on hand to register runners and answer any questions they had.

There were a few early birds trickling in, then a surge of registrations closer to the start time. Everyone was in good spirits and pleased that the weather was nice after a few rather chilly and damp days. Since I was technically working for Steve, I wore my branded team top from the triathlon the week before, along with my cycling skirt.

As the start time approached, I collected my bike and headed towards the start line where Steve was delivering a briefing to around 420 runners. By now, the sun was splitting the skies and I could tell the runners were in for a hot one.

And that’s when I spotted ‘him’.

Can you? Just to the right of the tree just left of centre in the photo to the left. So have you spotted him yet?

This is local runner and fundraiser Alan Glynn who works tirelessly to raise money for Meningitis Now in memory of his baby daughter Alexis Rose.

He has committed to running both the Great North Run and Loch Ness marathon in this mascot costume, so the Perth 10k was an ideal opportunity for a “test run” (after all, you can’t exactly head out dressed like that on a Sunday morning by yourself!). Immediately I realised that he would be BAKING in there, and that more than likely I would be keeping him company (and making sure he didn’t pass out from heat exhaustion!). Cycling along next to a giant green mascot? This was going to be an interesting morning!

And so, armed with a pocketful of fruit gums and the phone number of the First Aider who was roving the field on his bike, I set off behind the runners for a pleasant tour around some of my staple running and cycling routes. As I pedalled around, I smiled and called greetings to spectators, gave information to marshals and checked in a few times with the first aider. Soon, though, it was just me and the big green mascot. I know of Alan from our running club but hadn’t previously had much chance to chat to him, so we were able to pass the time quite easily in that way that runners can. So long as he kept chatting, I knew he was ok (although absolutely boiling) and I could help make sure he was drinking plenty to replace the fluids he was losing as he sweated it out in his own personal

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sauna. I even shared my fruit gums! Because of the heat, much of his race was a walk rather than a run, but this was all about testing out the costume rather than thinking about time and he was more than comfortable with that.

At the halfway mark there was a water station so while Alan poured some water over his head and down his throat, I was stashing extra bottles in my backpack and encouraging him to put some extras in the mascot head which he was now carrying (we were the last to pass the water station and there were lots of bottle left). He was in good spirits and chatting merrily with race volunteers and anyone else who passed by. We blethered about running, our “bucket list” races and a fundraising race he is organising for next summer. It was really pleasant and I’m glad I was able to spend that time chatting with him.

Eventually, we made our way back to the North Inch and the home straight. Some of the marshals still out on the course (mainly local cadets) joined us, then Alan’s wife and other Meningitis Now supporters joined us and soon I felt like I was cycling along behind Forrest Gump (albeit it a rather large and green Gump!). It was fantastic to see the support he was getting at a time when the fastest runners would have been home, showered and sitting with their feet up! As the finish line loomed closer, Alan donned the mascot head once more and ran to the line for his big finish (flanked by two cadets with the first aider and me close behind) where a medal and plenty of water were waiting for him:

I take my hat off to him. I honestly don’t think I could cope with running in a costume – even those Santa suits for 5k fun runs in December are pretty toasty – and in that heat too. But he did it and both he and his family should be very proud.

With my duties over, I collected my medal (there were plenty left) and had one of my more unusual medal photos taken before grabbing a quick bite to eat and hearing reports of the rest of the race which by all accounts had been a great success.

Left: Photo from Alan Glynn

To reward me for my efforts, Steve even treated me to an ice cream (right) from the Perth branch of Jannetta’s. Yum! I really quite enjoyed my ‘sweep cyclist’ experience and the Perth 10k is certainly a race I will continue to support as it has a 30+ year legacy here and means a great deal to Steve as it was a race he used to take part in with his dad.

Far left: Newest member of The Village People?

Hopefully next year I will be able to run it again. And you never know, maybe it will be a PB…

For anyone interested in travelling north of the border for this race in 2015, the link for Alan's race is… http://www.entrycentral.com/index.php?raceID=102990

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All About Me… by Helen Summer (author, coach, runner…)

When Brian first invited me to write an article all about me, I thought that would be really boring: a) for me to write (because I already know all about me); and b) for you to read (because you’re used to me writing about really interesting people who inspire you to go out and do something amazing yourself).

But then I started being followed on Twitter by someone who said they admired all the things I was doing (what – like getting up, going to work, coming home, writing a bit, washing my hair?), and someone else came up to me at a book signing and congratulated me on running all those marathons.

And that’s when it dawned on me that I really ought to set the record straight –preferably before my name gets erroneously entered into the Guinness Book of Records for being the first woman to run over 100 marathons whilst completing all 70+ of the toughest, bloodiest and hardest sporting challenges in the world!

I was also getting asked more and more at book signings about who I was – had I ever run a marathon or taken part in any of the events mentioned in ‘Mental!’ or was I just a sports spectator/couch potato? Which I took to mean – just who the hell do you think you are to be writing about running and other sports, what authority do you have to do such a thing? And, by the way, is that you on the cover of ‘Running Crazy’?

Well, I am none of those things – that is to say, I have not run a marathon and I have not taken part in any of the extreme sporting events mentioned in ‘Mental!’, neither though am I a sports spectator or a couch potato – although to be fair I do spectate at marathon events rather a lot (usually armed with a pile of my books) and I do watch sport on TV from my couch.

However, let me not digress – although I am very good at digressing – indeed, if digression were an Olympic sport, I reckon I’d have more gold medals than Usain Bolt.

So, where was I? Oh yes, who am I? In a running nutshell, I am a former county middle-distance/cross-country runner and UKA Level 3 endurance coach. Throughout the 45 years I’ve been involved in running, I’ve served two different clubs as athlete, coach, press officer, minutes secretary, disabilities officer, junior coaches’ manager and social liaison officer (oh yes!). I also feature in UKA’s Best Practice Manual on how to be an effective club press officer.

My actual running career, however, began in 1969 when I represented my junior school in the Town Sports’ 60 yards dash, following which my mum took up my teacher’s suggestion and enrolled me in Bournemouth Athletic Club (where Steve Way now hangs out by the way – pun and name-drop totally intended).

I was very fortunate to be coached by international coaches, who quickly recognised me as more of an 800/1500-metre/crosscountry runner and in my first major championships at the age of 12 I picked up a bronze medal.

Without wishing to boast, this would have been silver if I hadn’t gone the wrong way into a field at one point (this was crosscountry by the way – even I couldn’t get lost on a 400-metre track, although I did once lose count of the number of laps I’d run in a 3,000metre race, but that’s not important right now). What is important is to know that had I not got lost, not only would I have won a lovely bright and shiny

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silver medal as opposed to a dull bronze one, I would also have won a beautiful matching pen and pencil set presented in a gorgeous, silk-lined maroon gift box, instead of a manicure set contained in a dark blue shiny plastic wallet with a picture of a pirouetting ballerina on the front. It was a lesson to check the course map very carefully in future.

There followed my ‘glory’ years when as a junior athlete I was selected to represent Hampshire and later, when the county boundaries were changed, also Dorset. During that time I won the first ever Town Schools CrossCountry Championships for Girls (up until then only boys were considered tough enough to run cross-country!) where I picked up another glorious prize (aside from the gold medal) – a book about Princess Anne. I also ran in France - where I won a bottle of orange cordial. They knew how to reward athletes in those days.

Then, in 1978, aged 19, disaster stuck – it was discovered that I had kidney disease. Running stopped and I spent three years in and out of hospital, until they eventually decided to remove the diseased kidney (as opposed to the non-diseased one – lucky, eh?).

I clearly recall laying there after having my op thinking that if the Queen herself were in my shoes, it wouldn’t matter how much money she had, it would be worthless. That’s when I learned to appreciate the importance of good health and to never take it for granted. I also learned about recycling – listed on the following day’s menu was steak & kidney pudding.

It was at that non-running time I began coaching, becoming one of the youngest qualified Assistant Club Coaches at Bournemouth at that time at just 20.

Following my ill-health, I did make a brief return to competitive running, but it’s a long hard road back from three years out at that level, and I just didn’t have that sort of commitment any more, although I did continue to train three or four times a week and take part in low-key competitions to help out the club.

Ultimately though, it was coaching that lured me fully back into the sport and following a move to Cheshire and joining Macclesfield Harriers & AC, I worked my way up to become a UKA Level 3 endurance coach, coaching a delightful group of youngsters aged between 11 and 17. In that group was a young blind runner by the name of Libby Clegg. Libby is now an international athlete who this year won Commonwealth gold, but for me nothing will come close to the emotion I felt watching her perform live at the London Paralympics. Alongside me was another former athlete of mine and together we watched Libby win the silver medal. To think we used to joke about such things when we were all training together. Special times.

But life, as we all know, doesn’t stay the same forever. Junior athletes move on, elderly parents die, new horizons beckon…

And so it was, that in 2008, I found myself back on the south coast where I grew up (or not) and a new job awaiting me – one that involved taking runners to race overseas with a company called ‘Running Crazy Ltd’. It was through this job that I started coaching adults who were often new to running and wanting to run anything from 5k up to marathon distance.

It was also through this job that I met my publisher, John Blake, who was a customer of Running Crazy Ltd. John invited me to write a book about people who had run over 100 marathons – that book became ‘Running Crazy’ and was published in 2012. Two years’ later, he invited me to write a second book about the toughest, bloodiest and hardest challenges in the world - ‘Mental!’ was released in July 2014.

And that’s it really – all about me in quite a large nutshell. Of course I could add more - like how I have a slipped disc (which is why I don’t run marathons incidentally) and had eight whole years out of running then managed to make a return by changing my running style just slightly; or how I entered a triathlon, fell off my bike and ended up in hospital with a torn rotator cuff; or how, given how much I value good health, I continue to run to this day, even if it is more of a jog, and also cycle and swim - but this is meant to be an article, a slice of my life,

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an effort to let you know that whilst I have not run a marathon or taken part in any ‘Mental!’ events, neither am I just some random writer who has written a book or two about sport. I am a sportswoman, a runner, a coach, I have been involved in running for 45 years – I like to think that gives me a little bit of authority to write about such matters.

Oh, and by the way, I am not the woman on the cover of Running Crazy either, although I grant you she looks a lot like me – so much so, in fact, that, initially, even I thought it was me – despite having no recollection whatsoever of having travelled to Colorado and bounded over its glorious red rock with a professional photographer snapping away at my backside!

Helen Summer is the author of ‘Mental!’ & ‘Running Crazy’. Both books are published by John Blake and are available from bookshops, Amazon and on Kindle.

Both of Helen’s two featured books will be reviewed here by Bethan Taylor in future issues of ‘So Let’s Go Running…’

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Fat, fed up and over fifty? – by Dawn Annett It struck me on my annual holiday that there appeared very few men aged 55 plus who had managed to avoid being overweight.

In fact it looked to me that more men seemed to be obese in this age bracket than women. I wondered whether this was the case or whether I was mistaken. Were all the men simply working out in the gym? What about being fat, female and fifty? Where does the menopause feature in all of this?

On doing a little further research I still wouldn't like to say as there are too many variables to make an accurate picture. Every site I looked on had a different set of statistics which I suppose is not too surprising given ethnic diversity, the year the study was released, the income of those studied and their educational backgrounds. All of these factors had an important part to play.

Generally what I can say is that although we can blame age for the natural slowing down of our metabolism, we certainly tend to be far less active in our fifties than in our twenties. Actually the less active we are the more we tend to choose to stay home and choose less active pursuits and pastimes etc.

Those of us unlucky enough to have arthritis will be even more likely to become obese. Couple these factors up with a significant decrease in muscle mass and the future looks quite gloomy which is why getting close up and personal to hand-weights and body-resistant exercises is so important in the fight to look and feel younger Of course there are also differences between culture and the way they view health and weight. Some men on my holiday seemed to display their ample frame as a sign of becoming financially successful.

One such man was part of a trip to the caves with us. He was accompanied by his pregnant wife and small son. He was keen to separate himself from those around him with his "look at me I have made it" attitude. He rudely shouted as he took numerous phone calls from his two Gucci mobiles. I hope the attention his wife gave him as she kept his glass topped up with the whiskey he had brought with him was deserved. He waved away the plastic cups of rum the rest of us had been given by the trip organiser. When we reached the caves I was rather irritated how he proceeded to try to take over barking out instructions to the other members of the trip despite it not being his place to do so. Interesting this gentleman's wife was a slip of a thing with the only round thing about her being her baby bump.

Back in the UK, I recalled conversations around cups of coffee at Coffee Republic, which highlighted men being rather grateful to get to 55 and remain in a 32� or 34� waist trouser, even if the six-pack they had in their twenties had diminished and was no longer in evidence.

Both runners of the male or female gender are aware that their PBS are being achieved when they are a sensible weight for their frame. It is perhaps important to note that the weight you see creeping around your waist in middle age hasn't in fact crept on at all! This flab has been carefully cultivated throughout our twenties and thirties when we were smugly

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thinking we were "getting away with it" but what we were actually doing was actively replacing muscle tissue with fat (if only we had realised - why didn't someone warn us?).

Therefore when we make a conscious effort to wave the flab goodbye, don't expect to see this mid-section diminish quickly. Ignore those “lose a stone in two days” diets! Your body will need to get rid of the intramuscular and visceral fat first so be patient. When your clothes start to fit better and those slack muscles wake up and tighten you will start to notice and sleeker and more muscular mid-section again. There are NO healthy short cuts

Fat and female…

30% of women between 50 and 59 are overweight and it is thought that oestrogen helps us to control body weight. We women folk need to try to keep our belts and our waists under them to 35 inches or below.

So what are the actual facts around obesity and our autumn years and how can we remain svelte and sexy as the years roll by?

The jury is still out on whether a beer-belly actually exists or whether it is just part of a less healthy food and drink intake. Obviously beer does not contain fat but it does contain sugars and the average beer will be 150 calories. As you habitually drink beer it is thought that your stomach lining stretches and that combined with weakened muscle means that unless you want your six-pack to look like a beer keg you need to take action.

The best way to remain in good shape therefore has to be to eat more pure. By that I mean to avoid processed packet foods, to ditch the creams and sauces with hidden sugars and to increase the lean cuts of poultry and meat and low fat items like Quorn etc.

If you don't want your belly to look like soft dough keep the cakes and biscuits as occasional treats and replace sweets with the natural sugars in fruits.

Increase your protein. Eat a variety of vegetables with every meal.

Generally speaking your meals should be a colourful mix of red orange yellow and green. The more beige your meal, the more unhealthy!

Drink water throughout the day and ensure you are taking on at least twenty minutes exercise each day that increases your heart rate.

In short the rather boring truth is now just as it has always been increase your exercise decrease your calories and try to vary your exercise routine.

I’m looking forward to seeing you all a clothes size smaller for Christmas!

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50 Mile Challenge 2014… by Jaz Sandalli Sunday 13th July 2014 Almost as soon as I’d yanked off my running shoes at the end of the Brighton Marathon this year, I was looking up my next race. There wasn’t much point in looking around though. I already knew which one I wanted to tackle next.

Back in February I had entered the Moonlight Challenge, a race of up to five laps each measuring a quarter of a marathon, on a farm in Kent, in the middle of the night. Race is a misnomer actually; its called a challenge, because that’s exactly what it is. Finishers get a medal and a certificate regardless of the distance they complete, and there’s no award for coming first.

I had both massively underestimated and missed the point of the challenge at the time, entering it in the hope of finishing my first ultra-marathon before my 30th birthday in March but being forced to call it a day after the fourth muddy lap took the last scrap of energy out of my tired legs. It wasn’t until a couple of weeks after that I began to appreciate this fantastic event for what it was, and to stop measuring success by dates and times. I had any number of excuses handy for why I hadn’t finished the fifth lap, but they never gave me anywhere near as much freedom as just getting on with it would have done.

So here I was again in the middle of July, with a double or quits challenge to complete eight laps this time. The 50 Mile Challenge is actually a double marathon or 52.4 miles, with a very generous thirteen and a half hours cut-off point for the final lap, and is run on the same course starting at 6am instead of 6pm. As usual, I had barely done any training thanks to work commitments – both a full time job and a freelance project that nearly killed me – and the day before travelling to the race I would be flying back from a holiday in Menorca and hoping that there weren’t any Icelandic volcanoes planning a surprise eruption. Details, details….

Team Mum and I stayed in a Travelodge a twenty minute drive away and test drove the route to the starting line the day before so that I could pick up my race number. Good job too – driving there just five months beforehand did not prevent us from getting lost again and nearly throwing the sat-nav out of the window. Nor, unfortunately, did it mean we made it on time the next morning for the 5:45am briefing. In fact, we drove up just in time to see the rocket set off for the start at 6am, me in the wrong shoes and still changing them as the other runners set off.

All captured for posterity on the DVD of the event, including a sound-bite of legendary organiser Mike Inkster telling me not to look so scared. Not an auspicious start.

In a funny sort of way though it was the perfect start. I’ve said before the reason I love these sorts of events is the lack of fanfare and build-up, and to all intents and purposes I could have been setting off on a Sunday training run, except I was in a farm in Kent – and I keep saying Kent and not being more specific because I still don’t know where exactly in Kent we were. So off we plodded, me more ‘ploddy’ than most as I spent two full minutes trying to get signal on my Garmin to record the first lap. Even the bloody Garmin didn’t know where we were.

The course was exactly the same as it was back in February, with the one distinct difference that it wasn’t a bog.

Nonetheless prepared for the worst and wary of weather reports forecasting a storm, I had my new trail shoes on – last time I’d learned the hard way that the only way to get a foothold in the boggiest parts was with some sort of foot armour. It was a risky move as I had only run in them once, for just half an hour, but I had my foam soled

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Gel-Lyte 33’s on standby in case the bog never appeared. The trail shoes were stiffer and heavier than I was used to, but while I was taking it easy in the early laps they handled the terrain just fine.

I remembered how I’d kept my head down last time missing out on both the scenery and the social interaction, and how utterly miserable it had made me. This time I made sure I left out the earphones for a bit and chatted to some of the other runners, and immediately the decision paid off. The first two laps passed in no time at all, thanks to the marvellous Gil: a veteran member of the 100 Marathon Club approaching his six hundredth marathon or ultra distance. We talked about all sorts – tips on quick but nourishing meals (particularly ones you can do in one pan), the best websites for shoes, the best events, the best books. His attitude absolutely changed me; I told him about my experience in February and how I’d like to have gone quicker in Brighton, and he told me that negative experiences are just opportunities to learn, and the most important thing is to enjoy it. It’s really all about joy.

We finished the first half marathon at a steady, almost metronomic pace, under perfect running conditions – warm but breezy, cloudy but not too muggy. Mum had been planning to walk one of the laps with me, so she joined me for the third lap when I could slow down a bit to preserve energy for later. We kept up with Gil’s metronomic pace for a while but eventually let him take off while we enjoyed the scenery.

Soon enough though it became obvious I’d hung onto the trail shoes for a lap too many. With the weather showing no signs of the storm that had been forecast and the ground only getting harder, I could feel blisters forming all over my toes and became desperate to get back to base to change. It was too much for mum though, still injured and not yet able to walk so far without a break, and although she patiently and stoically put up with my impatient grumbling about getting back I could tell she was in pain too. Eventually I had to take the damn things off altogether and do the last mile in just my socks. The rough gravel burned the soles of my feet for a bit, and the chronic pain of blisters rubbing became the acute pain of stones cutting into my skin, but I actually found this much easier to deal with. Plus, running without shoes was surprisingly liberating and had an immediate effect on my posture. Not sure if a cross country run was the best time to try barefoot running though.

Finally back to base my mum collapsed into the car, I quickly changed into my lightweight shoes and petulantly tore off the waterproof jacket that had been tied around my waist so far, annoying me. My muscles were cooling down and I was eager to get out and run again, so I barely even took the time to eat a Nutrigrain bar before shooting off. Back along the road I shot, hoping to get the pistons firing and make up lost time. Guess what happened next?

It turns out that wicking fabric is great for removing moisture from the body, but it has a saturation point. My shorts found their saturation point about two hundred yards into the next lap, when no sooner had I taken off my waterproof shoes and jacket the storm clouds finally made good on their promise and it started bucketing down. I weighed up whether or not to go back for my jacket, but I figured I was already wet anyway, and going backwards not halfway into the challenge would psychologically crush me. Still though, this wasn’t rain. This was Noah’s Ark territory. And with the ground unable to drink it up quickly enough, ankle deep standing water was everywhere within minutes.

I remembered how badly I reacted to the mud and water-logging the last time and felt much more ‘zen’ about it this time. There was bugger all I could do about it, and at least it washed the salt from my skin. I kept my pace up to avoid getting a chill, although half an hour later it was still pouring down with no sign of letting up. On top of this, I was wearing low rising sock liners instead of ankle socks so every bit of grit and mud was getting right inside

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them, causing more friction on my burgeoning blisters. Now I understood why Mike always wears gaiters. They went straight on the shopping list for next time.

It wasn’t all gloom though – for the first time, I realised how much I had developed as a runner mentally, rather than physically. The old Jaz was sobbing and shouting obscenities about mud and bemoaning a lack of preparation; the new Jaz was taking it on the chin and enjoying the cool water, laughing about the conditions with the other runners and the marshals, recognising that it would eventually let up and even if it didn’t it wouldn’t matter. I think that’s my own manifestation of the wall – the feeling that it’s always going to be this bad forever and ever and why bother. Experience teaches you actually it won’t always be this bad, and you’ll feel like a bit of a dick later for having moaned so much. I thought about Gil’s words of wisdom, hoped that I would bump into him again and plugged on.

At this stage I did crack out the iPod Shuffle, which I’d loaded with an audio-book of Jack Kerouac’s ‘On The Road’.

It turned out to be the perfect choice: romantic tales of vagabonds crossing America with nothing but a canvas kit bag and a brass neck, of sunshine and heat and dust and haze. I can see why it inspired legendary ultra runner Jenn Shelton and it carried me through laps four and five.

Eventually the rain did let up, and almost as if it had never come at all the clouds parted to reveal beaming sun to dry me off; even my cotton vest which was so saturated I could have wrung about a pint of water out of it. I got back to base after lap four to find my mum fully recovered and back to her bubbly self, having made friends with the wife and daughters of another runner. She’d also had a costume change into pink trousers and glittery flip-flops and they’d set up chairs, tables and refreshments under a gazebo like a makeshift living room. What a bloody legend.

At this pit stop I cleaned and powdered my feet and changed into fresh (ankle high) socks – not much I could do about my trainers still being damp, but it was better than nothing and immediately put a spring back in my step. I also changed into my QPR shirt and took the waterproof out with me this time. Not taking chances again.

Although my mental strength was holding out, my body had started to creak by the fifth lap and I had to take a few breaks to stretch my hamstrings and hips. It was definitely half and half running and walking now. To quote Zapp Brannigan, the spirit is willing but the flesh is spongy and bruised.

Every now and again though I would bump into Mike Inkster running the other way round the course, checking up on the competitors and offering words of support. Mike is absolutely key to the spirit of the challenge, taking care as he does to get to know the runners and their own personal challenges so you feel like you’re always being looked after. I was gutted to hear this is his last challenge; logistical problems and sheer exhaustion after running them for fourteen years mean he can’t do it any more. There is a rumour that it may be taken on by the Thanet Road Runners who also man Jelly-baby Corner, but for the moment I had to decide whether or not I could afford not to try the full fifty miles if it did turn out to be the last one.

Lap five was tough – I was glowing with the thought of finally being an ultra runner but my muscles were packing up. The team at Jelly-baby corner were egging me on to finish all eight laps but as I rounded off the fifth I knew I’d need a bit of a rest before considering the sixth. Still though, I had always told myself six would be the minimum and so after 15 minutes in mum’s temporary lounge to eat a banana and put my feet up I made for the start again. Mike always says that when you think you’ve had enough you always have one more lap in you, and as usual he’s not wrong.

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As she did back in February, mum came out with me for the first couple of hundred yards of the last lap. I almost persuaded her to do the whole thing, but she was still recovering from the effects of lap three and thinking about a three hour drive home via my house afterwards, so she let me go at the entrance to the farm.

I to’d and fro’d about whether I should try for the full distance, but just over halfway through lap six I knew this would have to be my last. It took me an hour and 40 minutes to complete 6.55 miles on the last lap – and that includes running the last three miles when I knew I was nearly home and that with a bit of effort I could get in under ten hours. A little bit of good natured heckling from the team at Jelly-baby Corner – whose good humour and boundless patience became a highlight to look forward to each lap – set me off for the final mile and a half stretch on road. I didn’t have my Garmin on GPS mode, just timer, as I knew the battery wouldn’t last otherwise, but a few mental calculations helped me keep my pace steady and I finally sprinted through the finishing area at 9 hours and 58 minutes.

A little part of me still thought about finishing the last two laps, even if I crawled them, but by then I knew that I’d come here to do what I needed to and I couldn’t make my mum hang around for another 3 and a half hours. I got my certificate and medal from the support team, cheered in a few more finishers, and collapsed into the front seat of mum’s little Vauxhall Corsa.

I’d finally done it. I was an ultra-marathoner. But this was in no way the end of the challenge for me – all it did was unlock the door to a world I really belong to. Apart from when I got my 10k PB three years ago (which I’ve barely come near since) I’ve never got quite so much joy out of running as I do ultra running. Just to know the experience of the run is half the achievement that nobody cares what time you do or when you place as long as you’re happy, that if you fell you would always be picked up again: all this convinced me that this is what I was designed to do. So my hamstrings and creaky knees had better get used to it.

Chris Domoney (07739 765587) Sports Massage Therapist UK Athletics Endurance Coach and experienced Professional Sports Team Practitioner

Offering elite and amateur support, Sports Massage, Acupuncture, Running Guidance, KT-taping and Muscle Energy Technique Covering Dartford, Gravesend, Medway and SE London area

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So Let’s Start Again - Let The Battle Commence… Part 1 So after having what seems like months out with knee problems and recovering from keyhole knee surgery, plus having the onset of arthritis in my big-toe joints, I decided to have my run analysed and my bad habits erased before starting all over again. For this project I decided to try the services offered by SLGR reader Liz Weeks…

Firstly, living about 35-40 miles apart, we had to pick the venue for the all-important initial session (the camera never lies video session), so we settle on Shorne Woods Country Park, which as my parkrun debut venue seemed quite appropriate for me, and there was some shade on what was the hottest day of the year, some 33 degrees centigrade or 92 degrees in ‘old money’…

The main question being “Can you teach an old dog new tricks?” with the object being to turn ‘Common (or bad) Running Form’ into ‘Good Running Form’…

Session One… So, after feeding the parking machine with the obligatory £2.50, it was off to meet the smiling Liz. Her looking professional with an i-Pad and me with a carrier bag armed with enough fluid to hydrate a small army, not to mention the bum-bag with the broken fastener where I’d shut it in the car door in the mad rush to get to the session on time!

After a short run next to my newly found PT (and lots of panting), we came to a spot suitable for some video footage, where I ran up and down and backwards and forwards to get a few minutes of footage for further analysis, which in this instance was a quick briefing over a well-deserved drink in the on-site café, where Liz flicked through the frames, drawing red and green lines over my image.

Yes, there were a few instant observations, but this was the sole purpose of the exercise; to point out where I could improve, and there were some things so obvious, that even I could see them myself, like bad posture, a bit of over-striking (which I wouldn’t have believed if I hadn’t seen it) and the alignment of a crinkle-cut chip.

Then it was time to part company; with me going off to rehydrate myself on the hottest day of the year so far, and Liz going back to start work on what could well be an uphill task… Only the breakdown of the video shoot would reveal this, and the camera never lies remember.

Well the video analysis shortly arrived; five stills of Liz, five stills of me. Lean, take-off, flight, landing and lean… Good stuff this, five out of five for Liz; all marked up with nice straight or slightly curved green lines. Well done Liz, you certainly look good. I had some work to do…

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And me, well mostly red lines, some nearly straight, some with bends in, apart from picture two, which looked strangely familiar to the pose that Liz was striking. Oh well, one out of five ain’t too bad for a beginner!

But all accompanied with an explanation of where I was at fault and where improvements could be made.

Session Two… Again a meeting at the delightful venue of Shorne Woods Country Park. This time the temperature was a good 10 degrees lower and quite comfortable for what was in store for me. So I travelled lighter this time, with whatever fitted in my pockets and not a drink bottle in sight. Was this wise?

This trip did include taking a few bits and pieces from the back of Liz’s van to the finish area of the parkrun, where there were a few natural props, one being a bush, which was offering a little shade, just in case I started to melt.

This was a session to focus on core (I have a core?) strength and conditioning.

So inevitably this second session involved a few running drills – to show where I could improve after the little video shoot analysis from session one, demonstrations of stretches and all in front of a little audience who had come to picnic in the very same spot. Maybe because of the ongoing entertainment? Should I not wear attention seeking fluorescent colours when putting on a show in a public place?

And firstly, how I should cure my slight over-stride, one that I almost couldn’t believe I had, but as a dyed in the wool heelstriker, something that probably is inevitable. But that will change (hopefully) subject to the old bones being able to adapt to adjustments. But apparently nothing that a slight (?) change in posture and cadence can’t deal with. A little bit more of this, a bit less of that and a faster strike-rate along with the aid of gravity, and I’ll be moving more efficiently.

And why be ‘braking’ on every stride rather than be in a position to start my next stride and get some kind of perpetual motion going rather than being able to stop on a sixpence after every stride as I could with my current technique. It will mean a new school of thought, but I need to run more efficiently and less damaging if I am to continue running, and if it is actually easier, there is no reason why I shouldn’t do it.

So with two valuable one-to-one sessions under my belt, it was then off home to take on board what I had just learnt and to wait for the e-mail with my list of instructions (core and strength exercises) to be ready to book a date and venue for session three…

Whoops, I was so excited when I got there, I forgot to pay for the parking…but at least there was no warden or parking tickets waiting for me when I got back to the car.

Now fully armed with the core and strength exercise sheets, I can see the objectives of where they will play their part in this venture…

Importance of a strong core - Developing strong core muscles is a very important part of building a strong injuryproof body. The core supports the whole body and every limb movement, assisting in speed, endurance and mobility, also aiding running uphill and downhill.

Reasons for Strength Training – It can help correct imbalances such as left-right side differences which are important as it reduces the risk of injury. Plus, it improves overall running form, making you more efficient and is especially important for long-distance runners who want to maintain their form throughout a race.

So with two lessons down and three more to go, let’s see where we can take this….

Contact LIZ WEEKS for a FREE consultation Web: www.lizweeks-pt.co.uk Tel: 07786 731555 E-mail: info@lizweeks-pt.co.uk 46

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Forthcoming Events…

The ‘Forthcoming Events’ page is sponsored by Nice Work, a long established family business – started in 1989 - that has grown to become one of the country’s leading race management companies, whose race portfolio now features in excess of 140 races nationwide.

Forthcoming Nice Work events for October 2014 include…

The Chasers 10k Winter Series October 2014 Location: The Hub, Regents Park, London NW1 4NR (nearest entrance Monkey Gate) Date: Sunday 5th October 2014 Time: 9.15 am The Tissington Trail Half Marathon October 2014 Location: The Tissington Trail, Parsley Hay, Ashbourne, SK17 ODG Date: Sunday 5th October 2014 Time: 10.00 am The Gravesend Floodlit 5k & 10k Series 2014-2015 Location: Cyclopark, The Tollgate, Wrotham Road, Gravesend, Kent, DA11 7NP Date: Thursday 9th October 2014 Time: From 7.00 pm The Crabtree North London 10k and 5k Location: Trent Park, Cockfosters Road, Enfield EN4 0DZ Date: Sunday 12th October 2014 Time: 10.30 am Capital Runners Bushy Park 10k Series October 2014 Location: Bushy Park, London KT8 9BZ Date: Sunday 19th October 2014 Time: 10.00 am Lexus Croydon 10k October 2014 Location: Lloyd Park Avenue, Croydon, Surrey CR0 5SA Date: Sunday 19th October Time: 10.15am

The Gravesend Floodlit 5k & 10k Series

Capital Runners Richmond Park 10k October 2014 Location: Richmond Park, London SW14 8BJ. Race starts in the Park adjacent to the Car Park at the Sheen Gate entrance.

Date: Sunday 26th October 2014 Time: 10.00 am

This popular winter evening series returns in 2014 for a third year after yet another successful year. The tarmac course is floodlit and its undulating nature will offer just enough of a challenge whilst still allowing for some fast times. Book your slot by the race, in blocks of three or buy a season ticket for all six races. Finals Night offers a free race for those who enter more than three races.

The 10k four-lap and 5k two-lap races use the cycling track located within the Cyclopark facility near Gravesend.

The self-contained course incorporates plenty of car parking, great spectator viewing and refreshment facilities.

Toilets and changing facilities. The races are on a traffic-free undulating course and suitable for all abilities.

Series races are being held on the second Thursday of each month from October 2014 through to April 2015.

Enter the above events online or visit www.nice-work.org.uk for more details…

For further details http://www.nice-work.org.uk/

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So Let’s ‘Run to the Beat’...

No, not the rather expensive but none the less very popular South East London half-marathon, but your very own heartbeat, or heart-rate as it more commonly known…

To start, we all have our own resting heart-rate and range of zones that we reach while resting, running or racing, but there are six clearly defined zones…

Resting…

Need we say more? This is when you are completely at rest, and this rate is usually between 60 and 100 bpm for an adult, but this can vary greatly between individuals for a number of reasons; these being...

Ambient temperature Body position (standing up, sitting or lying down) Body size Emotional state Fitness Level Medication(s) being taken A low heart rate at rest implies more efficient heart function and better cardiovascular fitness and an athlete might well have a normal resting heart rate nearer to just 40 beats per minute!

But best to consult your doctor if you ever get this low, especially if accompanied by any signs of dizziness, fainting or shortness of breath…

Warm-up – 50%-60% of your maximum heart rate…

This is the least intense zone, this is just the warming-up and cooling-down zone, just to prevent getting injuries.

Fat Burning – 60-70% of your maximum heart rate…

This is the correct zone for losing weight. The body is fuelled by carbohydrates (10%), protein (5%) and fat (85%). Although the number of calories burned each minute will be less than in the higher heart-rate zones, you’ll be able to continue and maintain this rate for a longer period…

Cardio – 70-80% of your maximum heart rate…

This is the so-called ‘aerobic’ zone; where you will get the greatest health benefits overall. This is where you will increase your heart and lung capacity, meaning your overall fitness will increase too, so you be able to exercise longer in future sessions. Protein burn is minimal, as the body will be using virtually 50% from fat and 50% carbohydrates…

Extreme – 80% -90% of your maximum heart rate…

You are now entering your ‘anaerobic’ zone, where the period of intense activity should be limited to between 10 and 20 minutes. The body’s ability to consume oxygen will increase. Now if you push too hard, your body will start producing lactic acid and you will now be burning approximately 85 % carbohydrates and 15% fat, with only a minimal amount of protein.

Maximum – 90%-100% of your maximum heart rate…

Now you are really pushing your heart to its limits here, and you should consult your doctor to see if you can safely exercise in this zone…

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So how do you determine your maximum heart rate? Usually this is ‘220 minus your age’, so at 54 my suggested maximum heart rate is 220 – 54 = 166 bpm (beats per minute).

So how do you check your heart rate? Well you could just whack on a heart rate monitor or resort to the age-old method of checking your ‘pulse’, which can be done in thirteen different places around the body, but most easily done on the radial artery in the wrist in true District Nurse style. To find your pulse at the wrist, place two fingers between the bone and the tendon (which is located on the thumb side of your wrist), then when you feel your pulse, count the number of beats in 15 seconds (you will need a watch), and multiply this number by four to calculate the number of heart beats per minute.

For the purpose of this, I will use my resting heart rate as 66 bpm to keep the calculations simple.

Then by using the popular method below to find my Target Heart Rates for 55% (warm-up), 65% (fat-burning) and 75% (cardio) guidelines…

My ‘target heart rates’ for WARMING-UP, FAT-BURNING and CARDIO-WORK using my calculated maximum heart rate of 166 and resting heart rate of 66 are as follows…

55% of maximum heart rate for WARMING-UP ((166-66) x 55% intensity) + 66 = 121 bpm 65% of maximum heart rate for FAT-BURNING ((166-66) x 65% intensity) + 66 = 131 bpm 75% of maximum heart rate for CARDIO-WORK ((166-66) x 75% intensity) + 66 = 141 bpm

Gary Clements (regular SLGR runner) contributed the following…

“Yes, I was watching a great video on fat-burning zones. I was surprised to find the Heart Rate for it so low. That’s why I bought the HR monitor within days of the vO2Max test. The problem is, my max fat-burning is just above walking pace, and almost impossible to keep to. I now run to HR rates to gauge my interval training, race pace and cardio zones.

My max fat-burning was 84-105 on a bike, which is add 10-20 for running. Standard running slow pace is 140(ish) for me. Extensive endurance for me would be 142-172 running, and development during interval training is 174-175. Shows the tight margin of just a little extra push in Thursday’s sessions give big gains, and when I push I do feel it in my runs later in the week. I still need to research where that fits into training schedules that give % rates. It is bloody interesting when you get into the sports science of running, and I think it really helps get over that, " why am I not improving, why am I not losing weight" gripe that probably sees a lot of new runners quit, when their goals are not being achieved.

I'm actually at the stage where I wished I had done a vO2max test years ago. It's made my analyse my running and not just go out and think too slow, need to go faster, then burn out, because I am just not in the mood or frame of mind to run faster.

I definitely want to use work for an exercise excuse. I might get the train to work, and run home from Woolwich, or try a cycling route to work on my day off.”

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Have you a business or a hobby to advertise? Or something to sell or a holiday cottage to hire out?

If so, please contact Brian on slgr@hotmail.co.uk regarding advertising in future issues…

Very competitive rates!

Coming next month in Issue 34…

Dartford’s Les Witton 10-miler…

Jaz Sandalli’s Salisbury 54321…

Nice Work’s ‘Forthcoming Events’ for November 2014…

Estelle, ma belle…

Older Runners Train Smarter…

Plus lots, lots more…

- is produced by Dawn Annett and Brian Page - is sponsored by T. Miller Roofing - is printed at Marstan Press, Bexleyheath, Kent

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