I had a really enjoyable race at the weekend in the local Tunbridge Wells half marathon. It occurred to me afterwards that along with another local early spring half marathon in Paddock Wood, I’ve been lucky enough to have a couple of really great, well organised halves on my back doorstep for the best part of 40 years, and I’ve run both of them so many times down the years, that they both qualify as being among my favourite races.
On a related theme, have you ever taken a look back over your running life and remembered those special few races where you performed at the best you were capable of – at whatever level that may be ? You may not have ended up at the front end of the race, but you know that you gave it your best – maybe getting your PB at the distance ?
There’s a chance that those races are in the dim and distant past, but if you take encouragement from the age grading system (see post #36 from 11/04/2021) you may still have some great races ahead of you !!! While I await the good races yet to come, I’ve trawled my memory, with the assistance of my old diaries, to find a handful of runs where I got the best out of myself, and couldn’t have done much more with the very limited ability at my disposal. Whilst none of them are of any great distinction or standard, they represent the best I could do, and I still have hazy, happy memories of them. I bet you have yours too – let me know. Here are some of my favourites:
Maidstone marathon 1984: This race felt something like a breakthrough, as I not only improved my PB by 9 minutes, but placed 5th in a field of approx 1500 runners on a very hot day and on a fairly hilly course.
London to Brighton 1990: If I had to single out a run as being my best performance ever, it would probably be this one. Being one of the genuine “old school” classic ultra distance road races, I had done the London to Brighton five years previously in 7 hours and 1 minute, but on this occasion, I improved my time to 6 hours 34 minutes over the hilly 53.4 mile route, and placed 13th. Easily my best ultra, the standout feature being that I was able to maintain a good steady pace almost from start to finish
Finchley 20 1987: This was another example of how getting your pace judgement right can really improve the outcome of your race. The Finchley 20 was one of the oldest races on the British road running calendar, and although 20 miles is quite a rarely run distance, I had an ambition to break two hours for the distance. Being a route of 4 identical gently undulating laps, it was very easy to track my pace. My lap splits went 29’53”, 29’53”, 29’41” & 29’24”, to finish with 1 hour 58’51”. One of my best PBs.
The National XC championship, Milton Keynes 1985: Just one of those events that if you were there, you’d never quite forget it. The conditions on the route at Milton Keynes were quite exceptional with most of the 9 mile distance being a sea of deep, clinging mud, with occasional stretches of calf-deep standing water. Certainly no place for the faint-hearted. The race itself was won by a then favourite athlete of mine – Dave Lewis of Rossendale Harriers. My simple pleasure was placing in the top ½ of the 2000+ runners. What a day !
Mascalls 10K 1990: The only times I ever had a chance of actually winning a race, was if it was pretty local, pretty small and no-one of any ability turned up. This did actually happen a small number of times, with the Hildenborough 10 miles and the Mascalls 10K being a couple of the better efforts. Mascalls sticks in the mind, as I only decided to run 40 minutes before the start, and I had a fairly clear win at the head of the 250 strong field.
SLH 30 – various years: Although I had one or two strong runs in the SLH 30, there’s no single year that stands out – it just makes my list of favourite races, because it was an old ultra “classic”, and was my first gentle introduction to running beyond the marathon distance. Four fairly hilly laps adding up to slightly over 30 miles. One of those races that attracted real quality at the front, but with minimal organisational fuss – jog from the SLH clubhouse off Coulsdon high street up to the start outside the Tudor Rose pub, and when the man said go, go !
Northdowns 30k 1990: And finally, the Northdowns 30k which is a hilly mix of road and cross country and at the time was a regular in my annual fixture list. Only just failing to beat the 2 hour mark by a few seconds, I placed 5th in a pretty high class field – winning a pair of running shoes into the bargain – and described it in my diary as “probably the best race I have ever run”. (I got a bit carried away !)
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