Roy of the Monkeys / A Viking Challenge
I celebrated by joining with the Bald Monkeys Running Club to run the Saxon Viking Normans Viking Challenge at Betteshanger Country Park near Deal. There were eight of us taking part. Roy (second left) was attempting to complete his first ever marathon and we were there to support him. He had a place at London but it was cancelled because of the pandemic.
Julia was also supposed to be doing her first marathon but broke her arm the week before. Still she turned up and walked a half marathon four days after the operation!
It was a humid but dry day when we arrived. Traviss and Rachel from SVN welcomed us and gave us goody bags and medals in advance. This was a socially distanced run and everything was done to reduce contact between people. 30 people were running and were set off in groups of six at ten minute intervals.
I accompanied Roy, his wife Sharon and son Ethan on the first 4.4 mile loop. This consisted of about a mile along an up and down trail from the car park to the lake, another couple of miles around the lake and back the way we had come to the car park.
After a quick drink (I was sweating heavily) I went back for my second loop on my own and chatted to a few others I knew on the way around. One was Paul who is an SVN regular and is on a 500+ day running streak. Oh, and he has managed 7000 miles with SVN!
I also met Ian, Jo, Tekah, Sara, Claire, Barry and others I know from previous events as well as my fellow Monkeys.
For the third and fourth laps I pushed a bit harder and ran a tempo pace averaging 7:30 minute miles. I wanted to break the back of it. This made it a pyramid run starting slow, speeding up and ending slower again.
Lap five was a tough one and I struggled to the end where John was waiting for me so that we could run a lap together. It was great to be side by side again, chatting, in silence, just enjoying our first run together in four months. That said we were both feeling tired and were glad to get back to the finish at the end of a marathon distance. Last time we finished together John had sprinted ahead of me on the line so obviously I took my revenge this time pipping him by one second and managing 2nd fastest marathon on the day.
Part of the reason for struggling over the last two laps was the incessant rain that had arrived. It was thick drizzle and soaked everyone and everything. Poor Traviss and Rachel just sat in the pouring rain counting off people's laps, filling water bottles and shouting encouragement. So did many of the families and friends who had come to support.
I was cold, tired and soaked to the bone. My initial plans to go back out with Roy on is last lap and make it a 30 miler were abandoned as I also had to drive back to London for my daughter's bedtime. Instead I changed, necked a coffee and some of the grub from the goody bag and headed off.
It was great to hear that Roy finished his marathon in the dire conditions. He was accompanied at the end by Sharon who managed her longest run ever (17 miles) and Ethan who did his first half marathon.
Seeing all my Bald Monkey Running Club friends was so good, and to witness some herculean efforts made it all the more special. It was also good to be running in a proper event again after months of virtual races and solo challenges.
The icing on the cake was recording my 25th official marathon - although I count the other 9 too. Maybe one day I'll get to 50 and who knows if I could join the 100 club...…?
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