Fetch Five - Run For Your Soul 4

Tue June 6 2006
Listed by fetcheveryone
Entrants (18) Club PB SB Pred Time WAVA
Agent Orange My running is always a bit of a comedy (though not always divine).  So for today my circles of hell were laps of Didcot's Ladygrove estate - hard to tell the difference, really.  I was doing a 20km run and the conditions turned out pretty hot.  I counted the first four miles for this challenge.  Good job I didn't count the last four miles or the time would have been considerably slower.

It felt like I'd got through the circles of hell and was stuck in  the fourth terrace of purgatory (punishment against sloth by constantly having to run, apparently).

But the cold drink in the shade when I finished was paradise. Unaffiliated 31:50 55.02
anthony a Sold my soul for a 4 mile recovery run  at club :)

Still very warm at 8pm tonight! Bournville Harriers 38:30 37:20 47.63
BlueWombat I'll sing you four oh, Green grow the rushes oh.
What is your four oh?
Four and I'm gross-spew knackered,
Three, three, sick to the eyballs,
Two, two, the ill and tight throat, choking, clogged with green-ohs. 
One is one and not alone and never more shall be so.
Cambridge & Coleridge AC, Cambridge University Hare & Hounds 30:00 29:34 60.61
ceri Unaffiliated
D2 Planning to do this tonight, course will include hills and will have to take small dog - these are my excuses for the predicted time
UPDATE:
Hi, I’m ‘Steady on Amber’ and my mum has asked me to submit this report as she’s hot and tired, I ask you, at least she can sweat when its hot I just have to stick my tongue out and pant.  She says the hot weather this week is something to do with fires escaping from hell when souls are captured and that is not going to happen to us.
I’d like to see anyone try to hurt my mum, I may look ‘sooo sweet’ in that silly baby picture she insists on using of me; but that was years ago, I’m more of a big gold chains and sunglasses person now.  If only she would buy me a spiked collar…………….. Still I digress; race report;
Tuesday 6th June Fetch Run for Your Soul 4 miles, I was expecting the usual opportunity for a gentle peruse of the messages left for me on the trail and a chat with the local sheep with accompanied mumbling from mum but no, we took the usual; water, Garmin, lead and cooked chicken and went in the car to the gated road on the moor.  
Set off left at a fine pace, opened and closed gate quickly with no time for checking who else had been through, up the road to the farm where that sneaky sheep dog lurks behind the barn, guinea fowl tried to warn him we were coming but he was tied up so I could give him a piece of my mind.  She still has to walk up the next hill but we went really fast to the cattle grid and back as the bull was in the field with the cows, he doesn’t like me! First 2 miles in 14.10 and 12.03!  
Back to car, tried to get in but we are pressing on; turn right now, there’s only us and a very loud meadow pipit up here plus the inevitable sheep of course.  The small ones have very high pitched voices and there’s some very silly stamping from the mothers, as if that would scare me……..
We like this long down hill, mum thinks she can run as fast as me down here, some talk of sub 9 minute pace swiftly counteracted by 17 minute pace on the way back up.  Went for big sprint finish as soul was in serious danger, phew 10 seconds to spare, last 2 miles 14.24 and 11.13.
Big drink from puddle and back on my comfy car blanket, I’ll go for the ‘I’ve worked hard and need extra tea when we get back I think’
We are doing the 5 miles tomorrow apparently, so I’ll talk to you again then ‘cos I expect she’ll be ‘tired’ again,  Woof
Unaffiliated 52:00 51:50 45.74
Diogenes As the hour of the fateful run arrived there came an almighty crash of thunder and lightening split the sky.  So I ironed a couple of shirts until the storm cleared.  I truly am a saint amongst sinners.


The rain washed the streets clean and, exorcised of my tea-time demons,  I darted out of the door with the fear of Gobi behind me.  I was afraid, ultra-afraid.


Running scared, the first mile arrived ahead of schedule in 8:30.  I'd set off too fast.  With The Devil's music driving me on I had put my soul in jeopardy.  Now Beelzebub and a host of his little helpers had taken residence in my stomach and turned it into a swinging cauldron of bubbling brimstone.


There was a song going around my head:


Unaffiliated 36:36 34:55 49.79
Hanneke It was swelteringly hot under foot when I left home and tunred right... yes, I know, my normal turn to the park is left, but I had to pop into Tesco's first, to stock up on Dime bars...
Suitably equipped for this mornings running expedition I set off from Tesco's for Holland Park. My rucksack was weighing me down heavily, as I had bought their full supply of abovementioned sweets. When I got to the gates of Holland Park, I left my bag with the Dime Bars on the park bench, next to the man I thought was the judge of my run.
Feeling a little lighter now, I sprinted up the hill for the first time out of three, having the feeling of two little eyes pricking into my back. I look over my shoulder... nothing.
Panting slightly, I get to the top of the hill and can relax a little. Only, I am now under the trees and in every single one there seems to be sitting a creepy red thingy, shouting at me. Not out loud, but I can hear it reverberate in my head nonetheless: I will have your ssssssoullllllll..... I will have your ssssssoullllllll..... I up the pace a little more, going downhill, in order to get away from this and enter the open and more populated spaces of the park again. At the bottom of the sportsfield I turn left, for my second round. No sign of the man on the bench, or the bag of Dime bars...
I up the pace a little more, uphill, as I want the part through the wood to be over quickly. It is getting hotter and my head starts to feel swollen.
One more round through the park and I will be safe, out on the roads of Kensington again, where the little red thingy that shouts at me can no longer follow...
I have to stop for the traffic lights, start again and run for my soul... the last km is hard. I get followed by a barking alsatian, which spurs me on even further. I manage to dash in between two lorries to get to the corner of the street, the end of my run... I can see the lamppost where I clock off my watch and.... dash!!! Gobi is standing there, grinning. I have not made it... lost my soul by 49 seconds! FELL PONIES, Black Mountains MBO 29:51 36:36 37:25 52.69
Hev Changed my training run to this race instead!!! Wish I'd pushed myself a bit harder now but nevermind! Unaffiliated 46:02 41.27
Hollywoof! BEFORE: Perfect for my Monday club run - not going to be quick as it's the day after the Windsor tri - but it won't stop me pushing for the gate at the end...

AFTER: Actually rather fast :-) Unaffiliated 32:00 31:19 53.64
Is Hill work, for some crazy, crazy reason. Strapped my bad right ankle up in various bandages and stuffed this swollen and padded foot into my trainers. 

Had to borrow dad's Garmin to measure 4 miles. This is a challenge in itself. We don't get on, the Garmin and me. I don't like lugging this massive brick strapped to my wrist uphill and it doesn't like nearly falling off my arm each time we hurtle downhill. It's beeping at me. Why? It doesn't need a reason, it's attention seeking. It just likes to beep.

So I head down to the hills. Beep. Ankle's okay so far. I've got Geek In The Pink in my head, so things are pretty good. Up Llythrid Avenue, down Knoll, up Pantgywydr, down Bernard Street, up Ernald Place, repeat, beep, beep geek is the colour for fall beep in the pink... 

This goes on for a while, running up and down the same hills can get kind of boring but I'm playing Jason Mraz songs in my head and I have french revision across my eyes. It's coming up to 3.87 miles. Ankle is making itself felt, but nothing more painful than the Garmin's beep in my ears.

There's two lads in England shirts kicking a football about across the road. Beep. Why are they wearing England shirts? We're in Swansea, for god's sake! BEEP BEEP BEEP they've seen me. Okay, they're pointing. Right, beep, keep beep runnbeeping, would you stop with the beeping??

The lad with the stupider hair kicks the football towards me, beeping hard. It goes into my bad ankle which, incidentally, is not covered in marmite. BEEP - Garmin has small heart attack. I have considerably larger heart attack. Right, SERIOUS pain now. Lads are laughing, coming over to retrieve their football. I feel like pelting them with jars of marmite. Beep beep beep. I don't have any marmite on me, not even a little bit of the stuff smothered across my ankle, so I have to keep running instead. Bit beeping unfair. 

Beep, four miles. Job done. PAIN.

Gobi can't get my soul, I've sold it to the physio and a bag of frozen peas.
Warwick Uni Triathlon & Road Cycling Club 36:00 35:14 54.80
Jenelopy Predicted time is a little faster than my fastest at this distance when training, so fingers crossed :)

Well, I did it, but only just.  It was sooooo hot. Unaffiliated 44:00 43:43 43.46
Longlegs Longlegs 3 - Gobi 0.  Enjoyed this one today.  Put my foot down from the start felt great, could have goe on and done five miles but stopped at 4.  Guaranteed PB as I have never done a 4 mile race before.  Looking forward to the rest of the week. LL Swanley & District AC 32:00 29:44 56.22
Lumsdoni Ultra-soul - Leg 4 - 9th June

Friday - tempo run.
3-1 Gobi, you can draw at best now. Following a 90s rest after a storming 2 mile run, I set off on the 4 mile attempt more than a little concerned that I may have over done it in the 2. The time estimated was 35min, but the short rest appeared to give me new life for a while. 
First mile 8.21, under target pace nicely so I tried to lift it a bit as it was a race after all! It was starting to hurt in the lungs again nearing the end of the 2nd mile so when I passed in 8.12 I knew I had plenty of time to play with to beat the estimate. But again, this was a race, a race for my soul so I decided to really push it, the third mile was 8.13 and I was struggling. One mile left though, and two races in a morning, so no option other than to put the foot down, hold on to the eyeballs, make a note of where my lungs fell out and as Paula would no doubt say, Stotfold Runners 35:00 32:27 51.55
MarkC It' s surpringly tricky to run with a load of garlic in each pocket, carrying a 4foot high crucifix and towing a priest on a trolley you know.

Love Fetcheveryone. Fear the Gobi.  ;-) Unaffiliated 31:00 29:16 58.17
Max71 I'll have that back thank you very much Mr Gobster. Unaffiliated 50:00 46:59 40.70
McGoohan McGoohan's sexathon part two - the elliptical.

I was gonna do the swim as part two, but a) slept in so missed the early bus etc, b) went out at lunchtime to the pub cause we've got a new team member, c) I had to get home after work cause t'missus was going out.

So.... elliptical brought forward as it were. Now, tother day I made a CD of music to listen to while exercising. It's 20 tracks long and lasts 77 mins. There was no way I could do 4 miles on my elliptical in that time, but I reckoned with one or two rule bendages I could:

1) I would do it in three sessions: 1.25 miles (5 circuits), 1.25 miles (another 5 circuits) and 1.5 miles (6 circuits)
2) Over the combined three sessions I would try to beat the CD, i.e. to finish before the CD did.
3) If a song was part way through when I got to the end of session 1 or 2, I could replay that song from the start at the beginning of the next session
4) as the CD was a bit on the short side anyway (77 mins), I would also allow the first three songs (the Clash) to be played again.
5) I'm rounding that up to 90 mins.


So - Wednesday evening, first session: 26 minutes, 5 laps and 6 songs played. Interrupted by my mum phoning but never mind. This leaves 11 more circuits and 17 songs.

Then - Thursday evening, second session: 25 minutes 49 seconds, 5 laps and 7 songs played (darn - shouldn't have put so many short songs on there...). So I'm left with 6 laps to do in less than 38 mins, but more importantly, with only 11 songs to go...

And so to the final session... only 10 songs were required and I crept under the time barrier with plenty of space and to the sadly missed strains of the late, great Joe Strummer.

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED - SOUL SAVED




For the record, the tracklisting is as follows:

Lighting Strikes (Not Once But Twice)	The Clash
Up In Heaven (Not Only Here)	The Clash
Let's Go Crazy	The Clash
Take It Easy Chicken	Mansun
Buck Rogers	Feeder
Nothing	A
Vertigo	U2
I Believe In A Thing Called Love	The Darkness
Harmonic Generator	The Datsuns
Song 2	Blur
Will Anything Happen	Blondie
Electricityscape	The Strokes
Reptilia	The Strokes
When Lucy's Down	Kingmaker
Burn Burn	Lost Prophets
American idiot	Green Day
No One Knows	Queens Of The Stone Age
Word Up	Gun
Kevin Carter	Manic Street Preachers
Mr Brightside	The Killers FERC, LDWA 1:30:00 1:22:49 21.64
Tappers Did it today (7th) as my foot was a bit sore still. Ya boo sucks to Gobi Walton AC 32:00 29:29 58.52
topcorner I set myself a pacey (for me) yet modest target of 36.00 to beat for this tug-of-war with Gobi for my soul.

With the sun beating down I headed out the door. Looking down the road through the shimmering heat haze I squinted into the blinding light and made a solemn vow to myself that today would not be the day I'd lose my soul.

Dizzy and light headed, throat parched, I struggled through that epic adventure. Just me and my will to carry on, supported by weary feet, blistered by the baking road beneath.

Summoning every last fibre of determination (and looking forward to a Ribena at the end) I dug in and slugged it out with the final hill, arriving home in 34.13, burned and exhausted, yet happy. Safe in the knowledge that Gobi (and the little training partner man on my Garmin) lay crying in the dust behind.

My soul remains mine at least for one more day...

Sandhurst Joggers 36:00 34:13 48.86

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