BRR Blog – 22 April 2024
Howdie, Road Runners!
Cristina, Jason and Nikki with their medals
Phew! Another London Marathon is done and dusted. Congratulations to all our fantastic runners a big ‘thank you’ to all our fantastic water station volunteers. It was another full on day for all of us. The runners had to contend with a chilly wind (oh, and 26.2 gruelling miles). The water station folk had to put up with several hours of hard graft! As always, apologies to anyone that I shouted at during the day, which was made more stressful than usual by London Marathon events deciding we needed to have a water station manager assigned to us (and every water station), despite the fact that we have been doing it very well for 30-odd years.
Mass insanity seemed to break out after the event, with several people throwing their hat in the ring. If they are all successful I will be on my own on the water station next year, though perhaps some of this year’s marathoners will help me out! That’s if I don’t decide to enter too. So far I have managed to avoid the FOMO (fear of missing out).
In the meantime, sit back, relax, and enjoy this week’s blog.
BRR Committee Minutes – April
With apologies to a Club Secretary Isabel, click here for the link to the webpage with the April Committee minutes that I failed to include last week. On the plus side, now the London Marathon is out of the way, a lot of the actions have already been completed. The more observant of you will be asking what happened to the March meeting? The answer is that we arranged it for 29 March before we realised it was Good Friday! Even I’m not cruel enough to make the Committee meet on a public holiday.
Beat the Post Marathon Blues
A while back we looked at the phenomena of maranoia – that paranoia that you suffer when preparing for a marathon. But the stress doesn’t end after the big day. That’s when the post-marathon blues can set in: after spending months of your life training for the marathon you can feel a loss of purpose, direction, and sense of emptiness with nothing to focus on.
It usually hits a few days after your marathon, when the initial sense of euphoria, physical discomfort, and relief it’s all over, has worn off. It’s important that you recognise that you are not alone; many, if not all, marathon runners will have felt the same way. You can and will bounce back!
To tackle the blues, Runner’s World magazine suggests that you:
· do some post-race analysis, so you can learn from and build on your experience at the race e.g.
o What did I do well?
o What could I have done better?
o What will I stick with?
o What should I change?
o What actions(s) can I take forward into my next training block?
· you connect with other runners who have done the same race, or your wider clubmates, so you can maintain your engagement and sense of belonging.
· plan what you will be doing for the fortnight after the race, so you have something to look forward to. This might be celebrating with friends and family, doing all the things you’ve missed out on while training, or getting a nice sports message.
· Set a new goal, to give yourself something to start working towards. Don’t feel it has to be another marathon or even longer. You might want to focus on some shorter, faster races, to give your body a complete change.
Good Samaritans
Good Sam or Barry King?
You may remember that Dawn C and I attended lifesaver training a little while back, to teach us how to give CPR if someone has suffered cardiac arrest. We have both also signed up to the ‘GoodSam Responder’ App, which means we might be contacted to provide help if someone in the area we are located needs emergency help before an ambulance arrives; the average person can only go without oxygen between four and six minutes before irreversible damage is done to the brain, so keeping the oxygenated blood pumping around the body during that period is essential. Coincidentally, the Responder App logo looks very much like our own Barry King, so it was almost meant to be:
The emergency siren actually went off on my phone during our track session last Tuesday, but the App showed that the person was too far away for me to reach within the critical timeframe so I had to decline to help (I heard the ambulance siren very shortly afterwards, so help was on the way). I did, however, answer a call on Thursday morning. A male aged 35 had collapsed outside the Cabinet War Rooms, near St. James’s Park, which is just around the corner from where I work. I hotfooted it round there (should have put my watch on – I’m sure it was a PB sprint) but, luckily, the chap was still living and breathing, with paramedics in attendance. Having wished them well I was able to go back to work, at a rather more sedate pace.
I know Dawn has also answered a call and, thankfully, on that occasion, the ambulance had turned up when she got there too, and the casualty was OK But, even when it is a false alarm (thank goodness) you still get a warm feeling that you were there and could have saved a life.
If you are interested in what you could do to help in the event of a cardiac arrest, see Lifesaver learning | Resuscitation Council UK
Running in the News
It’s always a shame when running gets media coverage for all the wrong reasons. That’s what happened this week, following the Beijing Half Marathon. The four top finishers have now been disqualified after three runners appeared to step aside to let a Chinese competitor win the race.
Willy Mnangat and Robert Keter of Kenya, He Jie of China and Dejene Hailu of Ethiopia approached the finish line together but then the three African runners appeared to move aside and gesture for He to pass them. He won the race and the three other runners took the next three places.
Afterwards the four claimed that the African runners were pacers, hired to help He break the Chinese half marathon record, but there had been no advance publicity of the record attempt. In addition, pacers usually wear pacer bibs and drop out before the finish line rather than going on and earning finishing prizes for themselves.
A Committee formed to investigate the incident said in the statement issued by the race organizers that it would “withdraw their trophies, medals and bonuses.” The committee apologized and said that it would “learn lessons” from the episode.
The organizers confirmed that Chinese sportswear brand Xtep had hired Mnangat, Keter, and Hailu to be pacemakers, but said that they had instead been registered as competitors by mistake.
“We bear significant responsibility for this incident and fully accept the penalties imposed by the organizing committee,” Xtep said on Friday, according to the South China Morning Post.
Of course, as He was attempting to break the Chinese record rather than win the race, the other runners could just have kept running with him right to the end, finished as normal, and none of them would have been disqualified. That might have even helped He more, as he ended up finishing the race in 1:03:44, a second short of the record he had been trying to break.
There has also been coverage this week of the national kits that will be worn at this year’s Paris Olympics. The Team GB and NI kit has been designed by Adidas and the competitors seem very happy with it. The Team USA kit, however, has caused astir due to its skimpiness.
As reported in the Guardian: ‘There was nothing to see when it came to Team USA’s men’s track uniforms: standard shorts and a tank top. But when it came to their female counterparts, there was everything to see, especially around the nether regions.’
The US kit for the Paris Olympics. Even the mannequin thinks the womens’ kit is uncomfortable…
The Team GB kit is slightly less revealing…
Someone on X commented that ‘Men can worry about their athletic performance while women have to worry about chaffing, their genitals not falling out and getting a bikini wax. Definitely equal opportunities huh”.
Not everyone was critical of the kit, which looks best suited to page three of The Sun or an episode of Baywatch. Reigning Olympic pole vault champion, US athlete Katie Moon, said “Whether we feel best in a potato sack or a bathing suit during competitions, we should support the autonomy,” Moon is sponsored by Nike…
There is a serious issue here: girls are more than twice as likely as boys to drop out of sport by the age of 14, often due to self-consciousness. The last thing we need is kit that makes women think that only those who look good in their kit can take part in athletics.
Barking Riverside parkrun update
And the update is…there is no update. The event is still waiting for all the necessary permissions before it can start. Mary Burkett, the local ambassador for new parkruns was at Barking parkrun on Saturday, along with one of the new RDs, Kushnood Ahmed, who is practicing the different volunteer roles before she is thrown in the deep end. All Mary could tell us was that the course is definitely not suitable for people in wheelchairs or with prams.
Greg’s Race Report
London Marathon weekend saw eight BRR members complete the iconic 26.2-mile course through London starting in Greenwich Park and finishing on the Mall.
BRR also took their usual place manning the 14-mile water station situated on the Highway near the Limehouse Link helping to rehydrate and encourage the 50,000 runners taking part in this year's race.
First finisher for BRR was Tom Brennan in 3:33:37. He was followed by Cristina Cooper 3:59:23, Martin Brooks 4:51:03, Louise Chappell 5:01:46, Nikki Cranmer 5:48:35, Jason Li 5:54:49, Clodagh O’Callaghan 5:54:26 and Dawn Curtis 5:59:38.
Jason and Dawn at the finish
Louise after achieving a new PB
A smiling Clodagh
Martin Brooks, ready to run (but Martin…Y?)
I think this is Tom Brennan, but I haven’t looked too closely.
BRR parkrunners
Barking -Steve Philcox 18:14, Stuart Mackay 20:40, Jess Collett 21:48, Derv Bartlett 23:01, Belinda Riches 23:15, Rosie Fforde 25:17, Tom Shorey 25:36, Lizzie Beth Garraghan 26:43, Sian Mansley 27:4, Martin O’Toole 27:54, Joyce Golder 28:03, Rob Courtier 28:35, Julie Gilender 34:33, and Alan Murphy 56:55.
Chalkwell Beach - Ron Vialls 27:06.
Harrow Lodge - Mark New 24:17 and Rory Burr 26:04.
North Yorkshire Water Park - David Botterill 25:51.
Thames Path - Stephen Colloff 29:04, Vicky Henderson 22:20, and Dennis Spencer Perkins 37:23.
Valentines - Kevin Wotton 24:50 and Andrew Gwilliam 34:22.
Highest BRR age gradings this week were Belinda Riches 73.91% for the women and Stuart Mackay 70.24% for the men. Second claimer teve Philcox achieved the highest age grading overall at 86.47%.
Steve and life member Vicky Cooper at Woolwich.
Dennis and a new friend at Woolwich
BRR Diary – April/May
7.00pm, Tuesday 23 April - Speed development. Jim Peters Stadium, Mayesbrook Park. As promised/threatened last week, this week we have a ‘right way up’ pyramid:
30 sec run, 1 min recovery
1 min run, 1 min recovery
2 min run, 1 min recovery
3 min run, 1 min recovery
4 min run, 1 min recovery
5 min run, 2 min recovery
4 min run, 1 min recovery
3 min run, 1 min recovery
2 min run, 1 min recovery
1 min run, 1 min recovery
30 sec run, 1 min recovery
7.00pm, Thursday 25 April – Road Run. From the Castle Green Centre/Jo Richardson School, Gale Street, Dagenham. Usually around five miles. All abilities welcome.
7.00pm, Thursday 2 May – Summer 5k Handicap 01. Barking Park, Longbridge Road. First race in the competition! £1 entry (or £5 in advance for all seven races in the competition), with a tenner prize to the first person across the finish line. Also trophies for first second and third place in the series, based on the best five results across the seven races. NOTE: there will be no road run from Castle Green.
10.30am, Monday 8 May – Witham May Day 5. Witham Rugby Club, Spa Road, Witham, Essex, CM8 1UN. Not a Club competition, but a nice run through the Essex countryside. https://www.withamrc.org.uk/races/may-day-10/
7.00pm, Thursday 16 May – Summer 5k Handicap 02. Barking Park, Longbridge Road. As above!
10.00am, Sunday 19 May – Great Baddow 10 (GP03). The Recreation Ground, Great Baddow, Chelmsford, Essex CM2 9RL. Enter at: https://baddowraces.co.uk/
7.30pm, Wednesday 22 May – Dagenham 88 5ish (EL01). Discovery Centre, Eastbrookend Country Park. The first race in this year’s ELVIS series. Slightly cross-country so trails may be best, especially if it has been wet. Still waiting for entries to open. Watch out for further details.
11.00am, Monday 27 May - Hatfield Broad Oak 10k. Village Green, High Street, Hatfield Broad Oak. This is not a Club competition race, but it’s a nice way to spend a Bank Holiday Monday. There is a kids’ race too, and village fair, which is quite fun. More info and entries at https://broadoak10k.co.uk/
7.00pm, Thursday 30 May – Summer 5k Handicap 01. Barking Park, Longbridge Road. As above!
Cracker Corner
I bought four hot drinks: I dropped the coffee, spilled the hot chocolate, and lost the cappuccino. That’s me down to a ‘T’.
Someone broke into my house and stole all my limbo dancing trophies. How low can you get?
I went to the doctor because I kept saying the same thing over and over again. He gave me a repeat prescription.
Boom! Boom!
Quote of the week
“Running is about finding your inner peace, and so is a life well lived.”
Dean Karnazes
And finally…
For your next marathon, Runner’s World magazine advises that you lay out your kit the day before, to make sure you have everything ready. But DON’T lay it out in the shape of a person, in case it comes to life in the night…
