Monday 18 March - update on this year's Moyleman: Part 1!
So it is done - and what a day! Indeed, what a weekend. Short version: target of sub-2 hours for Moyleman Half - achieved!
Long version follows ... in parts, this is part 1
Taper week for the prep was a very effective taper since I did just the 2 mid-week runs (Tue and Thu) and instead on Sat I treated the walk over 5 miles plus of the Moyleman to mark out the course as the Sat outing.
Running short taper runs seems really odd and bit like cheating ... but I stuck religiously to the prescribed runs.
The weekend was also massively complicated by work - since a massive comms exercise relating to a long-running staff restructuring exercise had move inexorably back in the diary from late Jan, to mid-Feb, to early March, and then, yes, Monday 18 March.
This meant my planned day of post-Moyleman relaxation was replaced (today) with a pretty full-on 10 hours of drafting/amending/querying/emailing etc
And it meant that Friday, Saturday and Sunday were interspersed with all of that activity and more as we made final checks to 300 letters, 15 organograms, 11 change rationales, multiple FAQs .... oh and 120 revised job descriptions. All of which had to be checked and uploaded onto systems in readiness for announcements today.
How I then managed to mark out the course and run half the marathon - plus enjoy pre-run drinks in pub on Saturday and post-run meal in different pub on Sunday, now baffles me. But I did!
Our worries on Saturday were mild compared to 2018 - when the MM was threatened by the Beast from the East, and it was touch and go if it could even go ahead. Comms focus in 2018 was therefore on updates to runners and reassurances about us pulling out every stop to make it happen if we could safely.
This year - the gusting wind from the west, merely made us think that course records were probably safe from attack and marshalling would need to be spot on if signs were blown away from more exposed sections.
We gathered as is now traditional at 9am at Ground Coffee, the non-alcohol based spiritual home of the Twittens and Moyleman alike. (The Pelham takes the fortified prize as MM planning venue.)
We have settled into pretty well established sections to mark out - "mine" being A27 crossing, up the relentless bastard, down Castle Hill and back up to Kingston Ridge. I link into Brian Courage (more of whom anon) at start, and Sweder (who essays his section on e-mountain bike) where I finish.
Rather than jogging and wearing my legs out - I set off with Paula in the teeth of very strong winds to walk the 5 miles or so, and then beg lift back from below Kingston Ridge from our esteemed Race Director (CC5).
Sunday dawned extraordinarily clear, sunny and with winds seemingly much reduced. This felt a little like Noah post-flood.
I sat down to plan a race strategy, having found from Almeria that this actually worked well. Instead of pace however, I was looking to target times by key points on the route: turn after Black Cap (25 mins); bottom of the muddy slope prior to A27 (40 mins); top of Castle Hill (1hr 5mins); reaching Kingston Ridge (1 hr 25 mins); top of YBR (1 hr 30 mins). This was a rough and ready heuristic to tell me if I was on course for coming in under 2 hours ... they had to be rounded to allow me to remember them as I ran.
The HQ at Wallands was just building up as we arrived around 9am - we captured the impressive number of marshals assembled for briefing from Tom Roper (aka Beast of Bevendean) - and then Duncan's (final) race director's briefing for mass of runners at 9:45. V moving that he was able to announce large donation from MM to the Anthony Nolan stem cell charity, recognising core MM runner Naomi Ayers' fundraising efforts.
The main run goes off at 10am, so half runners see the main pack off and then await their own 10:15am start. Having twitter duties distracted me from the reality of running - and with hoodie offloaded, I was ready and suddenly we were away.
Conditions in the first half - aside from the wind at select points - were close to perfect. Cool, but clear and sunny, and ground soft but not slippy even on the two muddiest woodland uphill sections.
I hit Black Cap turn at 23 mins so 2 mins inside schedule ... the downhill section after that proved as fast as expected and we started to pass the very back markers from the marathon at the base of the first muddy sting before A27 crossing.
A cheery wave to ace snapper James McCauley in his usual location - and we were off over the pedestrian bridge, and the section which I had walked to mark the previous day. "What fine well place arrows" I thought as I caught up with a larger pack of full-marathoners.
As I passed I essayed an apologetic - I'm only doing the half ... but I am not sure that helped much
As a "running marshal" (purple arrow on my back) I had half an eye out for runners in difficulty. Half way up the Relentless Bastard, one chap was sat massaging his calves - "All OK?" I asked? He was fine and waved me on with a thumbs up.
The wind was as bad as it would get - and that was not too bad, since it was half the previous day's and at slightly different angle.
Marshals at top of RB and the turn off the SDW towards top of Castle Hill were there in force - which was especially important since new signs were up at the turn - meaning a key sign had indeed been blown away overnight.
Top of Castle Hill was just about 2 mins inside my 1:05 target, so I felt confident to press on down into the Valley of Death, with only one steep climb left.
The Valley was as beautiful as ever, and I continued gradually to pass marathoners - with a dog runner just ahead of me, marking out a potential target runner to follow in the closing sections.
[part 2 follows]
A Moyleman For All Seasons
