December Update

Andy Reading 10k - 8/12/13
* Time 37:00 (bl**dy windy!)
* Overall Position 30th
* MV50 Position - 1st (trophy AND a bottle of wine >>>)
* New MV50-54 Club Record (beating my own previous mark)








East Haddon XCL - 15/12/13

* Overall Position 31st

* MV50 Position - 2nd - winning MV50 title with race to spare ;)

Buntingford 10 Mile - 29/12/13
* Time 01:01:24
* Overall Position 13th
* MV50 Position - 2nd (the trophy! >>>)
* New MV50-54 Club Record
   (beating my own previous mark)
* NHRR 2nd Team in Herts Snr Champ's

MV50 Career to-date

A good 8 months!

• 20 races completed - 1^st MV50 in 12 of them, 2^nd MV50 in the other 8
• New MV50-54 Club Records set at 5km 5-mile, 10km (twice), 10-mile (twice) and half-marathon
• Midweek Road-race League – MV50 Series-winner (4 wins)
• 3 Counties Cross-country League - MV50 Series winner (4 wins)
• Herts County MV50 Champion at 5km and Half-marathon
• Ranked in top 5 in Eastern Region for MV50-54 at 10k (5th), 10M (4th) and Half-marathon (3rd)
• 11 out of my 12 best-ever age% scores set since May 2013

Updated 12th Jan 2014 - never lower than 2nd MV50 in all 20 races completed since my 50th birthday!!

Leighton FR XCL (Wing)

All-out effort on challenging course

After a semi-cautious approach at Wooton, I put it all on the line this time and made up a 'massive' 2 places to 29th vs 31st last time).  Given how I felt in the last km, I'd hoped for a better reward, but at least I know I left it all out there amongst the cow-pats, stagnant water, hills and cloying mud!

I was pleased to finish 1st MV50+ again, leaving me in a strong position to lift the MV50+ Series-prize with 3/5 races completed.  I am also standing 12th in the MV40+-rankings.  

Sir Darth Frampton eases through the stream... but Andy doesn't ...











NHRR ladies were 2nd on the day and the men 4th. Overall NHRR were 4th on the day and moved one place up the rankings to 4th after 3 races.

St Neots Half-marathon

Sunday 17th Nov - another good effort...

• Good conditions - cool and still
• Good quality field
• 01:20:19
• 1st MV50 prize (106 in category)
• 27th out of 900+ finishers
• 3rd best half-marathon time ever
• 3rd best-ever age% score (83.37%)
• Best time on this course
• Suggests 10k time of 36:00-36:30 possible

Well, that's 9 races in 8 weeks and I am still in one piece.  My right calf and hamstring are quite tight though, so no speedwork this week.  Next Sunday - guess what?  Another XCL meet - race 10 in 9 weeks!

I am feeling very good in half-marathons, despite hardly doing any over-distance training.  If I can translate 6:08 mile-pace into 10-mile, 10k and 5-mile races over the coming months I'll be very happy.

Wootton XCL 10/11/13

No mud-baths, fell-running nor water-crossings - perfect, but...

I liked this new course, although 3 big laps and 2 small ones (as opposed to 3 small/2 big) would have have been better.  4.3 miles is a tad too short.  I felt I set off far too fast at Wellingborough, so decided to set off more conservatively this time.  I was quite happy with my performance until I found out my finishing position was 31st - compared with 25th last time.  I'd hoped this was due to an injection of faster runners who'd not made the first race - analysis showed this not to be the case - I think I just played it a bit too cautiously.  Having said that, perhaps my mind and body were just not up to another full-out effort, given all the racing I've done in last couple of months?

Never mind, I was 1st MV50 again, putting me in a strong position to win the series-prize for that category and I did my bit for team-NHRR. 

Despite fielding a much weaker team than in Race 1 (I was 3rd male-scorer), NHRR finished 5th overall (3rd Men, 7th Ladies) and are still in touch with a top-three position.

Wootton XCL PREVIEW

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