☀️ 🌬💨      🏃‍♂️💨💨      🏆🎺 ⏱️🏁    
parkrun #80 - Poole

☀️      🏃‍♂️💨
Warm-up run to Poole parkrun startline...

🚶‍♂️🚶‍♀️🚶‍♂️  🦃 🍗 🍽 🍷🍺
Toby Carvery for Boxing Day

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Boxing Day appetite builder...

☀️🌬💨🌊       🚶‍♂️🚶‍♀️🚶‍♂️  🎄🎅
Three take a short Christmas Day Walk...

Yay! It's here at last, the race you've been waiting all year for. BOTB 2017, at last!







So. Usual panic and last-minute re-arrangement of food, drink, tools and spares. Then double (and triple!!!) checking. Which all conspired to leave me virtually dead-last at the start funnel. 







Start 'line' (it's more of a 'blob' really) stretched right back off the beach this time, and was really narrow for those at the back, which put us (me!) at a distinct disadvantage by delaying our access to the beach.







Beach section went OK. I was ripping through the field, picking off groups and individual riders all the way to the tower, and back down as far as the first single-track section.







That's where it started to go wrong. The bottleneck was terrible by the time I got there, walking along pushing bikes, and even coming to a complete halt at times. So I sacrificed field position and time to help a woman who'd suffered a flat tyre and had brought no means to repair it. Silly in hindsight, because I was supposed to be racing. But I thought assisting another rider might bring good Karma. 







After that I shredded my legs playing catch-up, and again worked my way back through the field for the next two laps. Normally I don't take much in the way of nutrition, but I worked so hard I chomped my way through all of my cereal bars and both bottles of squash. And still needed more at the end. I'd taken more than I thought I'd need, and ended up needing more than I thought. 







Lap three was dispatched quickly enough (for me!) and I was still passing riders who'd long since faded away. Right at the end I caught the last of the Sumo-suited riders, just as we turned off the grass onto the tarmac finishing straight. Happy days! I'd helped a damsel in distress, and still worked my way past a few riders I recognised from being close to me on the start line, as well as catching and dropping 'Team Sumo'.







About half-way through lap three I REALLY started to suffer. Fluid and energy reserves were low, and cramp was kicking in with a vengeance - mostly in my calves. Somehow I persuaded myself to keep pedalling and made it to the end, even finishing with a little sprint. Followed by agony and lots of stretches before I was fit to head back to dump off empty bottles and grab cash to get some food back into myself.







All in all a great race. If I hadn't stopped to assist a puncture stricken rider I could have knocked ten, maybe fifteen minutes off my time, but I was never going to 'win' so doing a good deed felt like the right thing to do at the time.







Results to follow... 



Race number = 609 (team = PistonHeads) 

Category = Veteran Male (40 to 49)

Category position = 208th/262   

Race distance = 3 laps (finished)

Lap 1 = 1:02:18.26

Lap 2 =    47:01.84 

Lap 3 =    45:41.98 

Total race time = 2:35:02.07 (+72:10.4 over winner)

Overall position = 508th/648

Highest bib number seen in the finishers list was 906, which suggests over 250 DNS (no show) entries. Disappointing for those who didn't manage to get an entry because it was billed as a "sell out" within in day or so of entries going live.



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26/03/2017 - "Battle On The Beach 2017" - the three-lap main event!!!

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☀️ 🌬💨 🏃‍♂️💨💨 🏆🎺 ⏱️🏁 parkrun #80 - Poole

☀️ 🏃‍♂️💨 Warm-up run to Poole parkrun startline...

🚶‍♂️🚶‍♀️🚶‍♂️ 🦃 🍗 🍽 🍷🍺 Toby Carvery for Boxing Day

☁️ ☁️ 🦃 🍗 🍗 🏃‍♂️💨 Boxing Day appetite builder...

☀️🌬💨🌊 🚶‍♂️🚶‍♀️🚶‍♂️ 🎄🎅 Three take a short Christmas Day Walk...

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