“Have I got clean, ironed work trousers and a shirt for Monday?” is a very common question in my life.
However, this (maddening) question is usually asked late on a Sunday evening, so the fact that Daniel was asking me on a Saturday afternoon, following our return from Potternewton parkrun was unsettling,as it either implied a level of planning that Daniel isn’t known for, or that the self-navigating event that he had signed me up for on Sunday truly required some navigational skill and I was doomed!
It all sounded so positive the weekend before; we had decided that we liked the sound of the Shires and Spires event, which offered the options of a 10k, half marathon, ¾ marathon, marathon or ultra marathon from the race HQ in Naseby. Naseby is only 50 minutes from us, the event sounded friendly and had a good cut off (9 hours for the marathon), so it sounded ideal for us to get in another marathon, with the added bonus of being quite local for us! There was the aspect of self navigation which isn’t my strongest point but we decided that we’d do the event together, so Daniel could be the navigator as navigation is (one of) his areas of expertise!
Daniel signed us up and we promptly received our confirmation emails and put the event on our calendars. However at work the day after I received a very grumpy WhatsApp along the lines of ‘I forgot I have a work event and can’t do the marathon; you’ll have to go it alone and not get lost!’.
My inner suspicious voice puzzled over this message – given that Daniel is a teacher he doesn’t usually work weekends; that was my domain. Was he setting me up to loose me? The question that followed after parkrun seemed to confirm this thinking – what did he expect was going to happen on this marathon that would mean he wouldn’t have clothes ready for work on Monday! Daniel was even considering braving asking our daughter to iron for him, which I guarantee would have provided a very unprintable response and would still have meant Daniel had no ironing done, though he might have found the iron embedded in part of himself by an irate daughter…
Despite my lack of faith in my ability to navigate via GPS, I decided I would go for it alone. It has been a little while since the last marathon (4weeks), so I felt ready for the challenge and it would be nice to explore different part of the country.
I received all the information I needed via email – a comprehensive race briefing, instructions, the gpx route information and instructions on how friends/loved ones could track participants on the day (or perhaps watch them disappear into the wilderness). Daniel downloaded the route for me – I assumed that it was the correct route and not one for an entirely different event to totally confuse me! – and I got my kit ready, including digging out my trail shoes as the race instructions recommended these.
Sunday arrived dry and a little breezy – decent conditions for running in. The directions given for finding race HQ at Naseby Village Hall were spot on and there were several carpark marshalls to guide everyone for parking.
Race number collection was straightforward with the pick ups for the different distances clearly labelled. As I collected my number I asked about shoes, as I knew it had been dry in Warwickshire. I was told that with the conditions as they were today, road shoes would be fine – the lady I asked was chatting about different sections of the course and was clearly knowledgeable about the route and the conditions – always reassuring. I was given a tracker to go in my back pack.
There was a short queue for the toilets – either in the building or portaloos, which were clean and well stocked with loo roll and hand gel. We were called to the start area at around 8:15 with instructions as to how the race would be set off – 10k, then the half, ¾, marathon and then the ultra.
Shortly after 8:30 the marathon was started and we were off, heading down a country lane away from Naseby. The group of runners spread out reasonably quickly, and shortly we were joined by the ultra runners and found ourselves joining runners of the other distances.
I remembered from the instructions that the routes split off at certain points. In addition to being pleasantly surprised that I’d managed to both start the route on my Garmin and to follow it, there were friendly marshalls at the split points, so runners were clear on who needed to go where.
At around 4 miles the marathon and ultra split,at the first of 4 friendly aid stations which provided water, snacks, fruit and fun sized chocolate bars – for me the event was powered by Milky Way bars!
The first 4 miles were on road but the route then became a mix of trail and road sections. Whilst the advice for road shoes today was spot on, I could see why the instructions mentioned trail shoes as wet weather would mean some sections would be tricky in road shoes.
The route was beautiful, alternating between quiet country roads (with 3 busier roads to cross but these were highlighted in the instructions) and footpaths, the majority of which were clear and easy to follow. There was one section where crops had been planted across the footpath, which isn’t something the race organisers can control and apart from this the route was straightforward and easy to follow.
The support from the aid stations was great and I felt well-looked after as the teams checked that runners were ok and if they needed anything. Runners were being monitored on the route via the trackers, so we could be confident that the event team knew where we all were and when we would be coming into the aid stations. Other runners were friendly and there were family and friends cheering all participants along the route which was lovely. For the last few miles, back into Naseby there were signs up as well to indicate the route.
The team were welcoming on the return to race HQ. Runners received a medal and baseball cap (the cap was given out with the race numbers which was a great touch if you’d forgotten a sunhat). Cold drinks were offered at the finish line and then we were directed into the Village Hall where we were offered hot drinks, snacks and cakes.
It was a really lovely, friendly event and I had a great time. I’m definitely putting this one on the calendar for next year and would recommend it for fellow club members looking at a range of distances.
– Mary Connolly