Returning to running after a dose of suspected H1N1 flu, and with a week's leave at half-term, I have quite a lot of runs to record. As I now have a feed from Garmin Connect in the left hand side bar, entitled Recent Running, I'm no longer going to quote statistics in these posts, though I may make an exception for races. So this is what's been happening in the running world since I last posted:
24 October: I marshalled, hence the title of this post, at High and Over for the Beachy Head Marathon, in filthy weather. I've been a competitor for the past five years so it was strange to stand in a field encouraging the runners and pointing them in the right direction. I've known some wet and windy Beachy Heads, but never anything quite like this, so everyone who ran is to be congratulated, but especially the winner for the eight time, Stuart Mills of the University of Brighton, and the Seaford Striders who took part; Ryan Stewart was the first Strider to finish, in fifth place in 3:24. See these photos by Chris Wrathall
25 October: my first run for ten days over Seaford Head. The rain that soaked the marathoners had gone, though there was still a strong wind
27 October: a late afternoon run along Seaford front. An evening fog was developing, and a tongue of mist projected out to sea from Newhaven harbour mouth.
28 October: a club run with the Seaford Striders, again with thick fog in places
30 October: an evening run along a shortened version of the same route as the Striders
1 November: a seafront run in very windy conditions.
While all this was going on, Martin Bulger of the Seaford Striders and author of Living Makes You Run Longer achieved his 150th marathon over the Beachy Head course on his 60th birthday. You can recognise his achievement by sponsoring him in aid of the Meningitis Trust. In other news, Paula Radcliffe came fourth in New York.
In this week I achieved a total of 25,82 miles. That's about five times my usual weekly total at the moment.
