Lady Whippet

Morning Campers :)

I'll get straight into the race reports...

Monday 15th - North East Vets track meeting 3

I'd decided to give a few more of the running events a go, just to see how I am running out of my comfort zone. So after doing the 800m at the last meeting, I put my name down for the 200m, 400, and 1500m for Monday's races. A fairly wide selection of distances, but I was thinking "What's the worst that can happen?"

I wasn't expecting much from the 200m tbh, it's been a while since I did anything this short, I enjoyed the race itself - but the lactic in my arms afterwards was really painful, even with a good 30 min warm up. Finished in 36.3 only .8 of a second outside my pb (35.5) which I was fairly pleased with.

Second race of the night was the 1500m (my target race), I felt comfortable on the way round, but a tad slow, could have prolly aimed to go a bit quick, though saying that with a 6:14.0 finish I was actually a lot quicker than my last 1500m (6:22), though I'm capable of 5:45.

Really enjoyed the 400m, was the last race of the night and I was wishing it'd been the first. Felt strong till 150m, dipped for around 20m then picked up the pace again. I reckon I could make vast improvements at this distance with some strength training and short reps on the track - maybe next year after my marathon. I finished in 81.3 (pb 76.2) which isn't too bad after two other events.

Wednesday 17th - Newburn River Run

I always really enjoy this race, it's very scenic and the second half is a bit more challenging that the first so it's a bit of a challenge to keep your cool for the first 3 miles, then start the hard work.

It was great to see 4 other Jarrow ladies there (practically unheard of ) managed to catch up with Anne-Marie, Maria, Rachel & Alison just before the start, but I'd kinda set myself a bit of a race plan to help pace Jenny from Heaton, after we did our warm up and she said what a horrible race she'd had last year. So, my plan was to get her to halfway, then back down the south side of the river and not go daft myself.

We started near the back of the pack, but once we got going, managed to weave our way round quite a lot of people in the first mile. A girl from Wallsend Harriers joined us running a fairly even pace so I tried to work with her over then next 1.5 miles (she'd actually make an excellent training partner but I didn't catch her name). We did pass Caroline from Wallsend at just over the two mile mark too (sorry Caroline ). Jenny was running well. I asked how she was just before the bridge, and she was fine, so time to work our way down the narrow trails. It seemed to fly over pretty quickly on the south side, but there was a guy who was heavy breathing right on my shoulder and it was starting to do my head in, I moved to one side several times to let him past, but he just stayed there. After around 2 miles I slowed to the point where he had to go past - very annoying.

We caught the girl from Wallsend again as we were running along the trail through Ryton golf course, and both Jenny and I went past. It was starting to get very humid - lots of puddles there from the rain we'd had earlier, but it wasn't as muddy as I thought it was going to be so I was glad I'd opted for my racers.

By the time we hit the gravel path opposite side of the river to the start a girl we knew from Tynedale came cruising past. Jenny told me to make a move, so I gave chase. She was ahead as I crossed the bridge, but Jimmy from my club was on the other side shouting at me to get a move on "come on it's only 800m, you can catch her".

I know I can run 800m pretty quickly from my recent track efforts, so I just thought "sod it" I might as well go full tilt and try and catch more than one. I cruised by the Tynedale lady as a guy from her club gave her some encouragement, then managed to catch a couple more. Then a quick dip down to the finish line in 49:58 - slower than I can do on the course, but I think I enjoyed the race more than I have before.

Had a good natter to the girls from J&H (well done ladies), to some guys from Low Fell, Heaton & Wallsend Harriers.

Results are available here

And now for the murph...

My sis took this pic, it shows just how big Murphy is for a border collie - he's actually right at the top end for height for the breed standard, and he's deffo a collie - I have his full pedigree sheet, but boy is he large (and heavy)