Monthly Archives: April 2015

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My London Marathon 2015 Experience

April 28, 2015 0

By Hortencia McKechnie I came to the Virgin London Marathon this year off the back of a brilliant couple of months of running. I’d recently taken 23 minutes off my previous half marathon PB (finally getting a sub 2 hour time) and was feeling fitter than ever. All this meant that my expectations were higher than ever, but also that my pacing was radically different to what I’d managed in the Milton Keynes and Yorkshire marathons in 2014. Walking to the start zones I got butterflies in my stomach. I haven’t experienced that since my first ever race. But the London Marathon isn’t like any other race. London Marathon is the race you watch when you’re a kid. It’s an event that gets the whole country talking. To me, personally, I feel I would have never even considered becoming a runner if it wasn’t for the years I spent first-aiding the marathon at 24.5 miles along the route. Having seen the determination of ordinary people who just loved running, no matter how fast or slow, was incredibly humbling. On top of that, this is my local marathon. This is the race that friends and family want to come to the streets to see, that nan wants to try and spot you in on the telly. People, who can’t make it to the streets, tracking you on their phones and computers. I have never had so much support in a race before. The conditions on the morning were perfect for me. A little chilly and overcast (no danger of me getting a sun tan, thankfully). I set off at 9:30 pace, trying to balance all the advice in my head. “Don’t go off too fast” but “you’ve got potential to run a good time”. Running through South London, I saw places I recognised and could watch for landmarks. Turning towards the Cutty Sark and seeing it for the first time had an amazing effect on the crowd. There was no way you couldn’t enjoy the atmosphere as you turned tightly around the 180 degrees of The Cutty Sark. I was still maintaining my 9:30 minute mile pace over Tower Bridge as I approached the half way mark. It was one of those moments where you think to yourself “I’m running down the middle of the road, over an iconic landmark. There would be no way I’d get to do this if I wasn’t a runner”. As the route turned towards the Isle of Dogs, we ran alongside the fast runners. I always find it inspiring to see the astonishing athletic ability of the front runners. This kept me going for a bit longer. However, by mile 16, I was beginning to struggle. My legs started protesting and my pace slowed. I kept pushing but started having to make deals with myself. Just thinking about the next landmark or mile marker. The most important thing to me was to get to mile 24.5 and the Temple Gardens St. John Ambulance post. I needed to show my fellow first aiders that I really do run and that I do it well. So I kept pushing round the City and back towards the Embankment. The crowd were unbelievably loud. So many people cheering “Go vegan!” and even the odd person saying quizzically to their friends “There are vegan runners?”. Somehow I got the Embankment and from there I knew it wasn’t far. Soon I was waving to my first aider friends who had spent the day cheering on all the vegans (between making sure everyone was safe and well, of course). At this point, I was practically at Big Ben. One big corner to turn and then up towards her majesty’s humble abode. My legs felt like there was absolutely nothing left to give by this point, but it was 1 more mile to go. One last, little push. It seemed like the longest mile I’ve ever run. Seeing the 800 meter marker, a distance so familiar to me from track training, I knew I was nearly there but I could barely pick up speed. I do love a good sprint finish, but all I could muster was 200 meters. Two hundred meters till home. Turning the final corner and seeing the finish line, that smile I had misplace somewhere on the Isle of Dogs came back. I was going to finish the London Marathon and cut 45 minutes off my PB. Push harder, lengthen stride, sprint! 4 hours 34 minutes and 59 seconds. I’m happy with that for now, but next time I want to go faster. I always want to go faster. I got my medal and I went to meet all my lovely vegan friends at the meetup point. Because if there’s anything you deserve after running a marathon it’s vegan cake and good company.

Southampton Half and Fordingbridge

April 28, 2015 0

Jo Brown reports back on a successful 10k in the New Forest, a respectable 57:28 87/117 : ‘Ok so I never remember to submit my race details for the club diary, either because I sign up in advance and don’t give it another thought, or since my new job because I sign up on the day, or because I only do 5km-10km, usually 10km, and this page is full of real runners….anyhow I did the Fordingbridge 10km today. It actually starts from the tiniest fire station I’ve ever seen (think Trumpton!) but I chose it over a flat 10km in Winchester as I ran there in February, albeit another race, but I always try and go for the hilly option as that’s the only hill training I get! Haven’t got an official time through yet but looking at my running log, the last 10km I ended up walking part of it when I couldn’t run off a stitch, so my last 10km where I ran it all (they’re all hilly ones) I was 1m 40s quicker today so slowly but surely I will improve! Not bad considering I couldn’t run yesterday as my back was still bad from night shift. I think my strategy of 10km or less (with the exception of the Lakeside 8m) is working well in my bid to keep my race fees as races fees and not contributing to paying for a physio.’ Just the other side of the forest members were running in the new Southampton Half Marathon. Aaron Ballard  1:34:02 Pamela Denison  2:06:24

Shakespeare Marathon and Half

April 27, 2015 0

Brilliant result for Mike Tomkins at the Stratford Shakespeare marathon yesterday, well done Mike 🙂 ‘Finished Shakespeare Stratford marathon today in 7th and not 6th place as a steward suggested out of 699 people and I am pleased to say more than that I got my first sub 3 hour marathon with a time of 2:54:52. So glad all my hard work paid off!!!’ Maria Hamilton was not trying to keep up with Mike finishing in 5:49:13 Allan Green ran the half marathon in 2:30 for Mascotas Córdoba, the Spanish rescue centre his recent companion Basil came from.

Manchester Marathon

April 23, 2015 0

Big well done to members who ran the Greater Manchester Marathon last weekend! Phil Davies ‘It was great, perfect weather and brilliant support all the way round. I took 4:16:55, new PB by 8 mins . But mostly just pleased I enjoyed it all cos my first marathon was horrible. Will probably do another now! Well not now obviously – later!’ ‘Have only just noticed there’s an Oatly Chocolate drink in the goody bag – yummy! Along with a bag of mango chunks that makes goody bag 50% vegan – that’s pretty good.’ Maria Pali ‘Marathon PB hat trick today at Greater Manchester. 3.36 according to my watch. Never believed I could ‘run’ before but I do now. I’m elated. Boyfriend paced a friend for a sub 3. Everyone happy today’ Caz Lyall-Ford  3:19:21  1355th 86/2303 female 10th FV45 Neil Cant  3:27:30  1901st Maria Pali  3:36:36  2444th  254th female 17th FV50 Gary Andrews  3:59:35  4390th Phil Davies  4:16:56  5405th 7849 total finishers (Gary deserves a special prize for precision timing 😉  )

Busy Weekend for Vegan Runners UK Women

April 21, 2015 0

Some great results coming in from last weekend, well done Nina Nickerson finishing 4th lady at the Bungay Half. ‘4th lady at Bungay half marathon 1:38:24 wanted to get under 1:40 so pleased! 1st lady (1:25!) was also vegan 🙂 ‘ Brilliant win for Alex Portwine – it’s amazing how some people run marathon after marathon and get faster and faster. Interesting article I was reading the other day about how less than 50 years ago women weren’t regarded as capable of running marathons – they got that very, very wrong! ‘I was 1st female at Ashford and District Marathon today! Finish time was 1 minute outside my PB, which amazed me, seeing as I am running a marathon a week at the moment, and so haven’t got close to that kind of form in ages! (80 10 10 plus a big increase in training is paying off!)’ Maria Pali hasn’t exactly been hanging around either with her 3rd marathon PB in a row (more on Manchester Marathon here). ‘Marathon PB hat trick today at Greater Manchester. 3.36 according to my watch. Never believed I could ‘run’ before but I do now. I’m elated. Boyfriend paced a friend for a sub 3. Everyone happy today.’ A great start to the triathlon season for Verna Burgess: ‘Triathlon season kicked off today at New Duston near Northampton. Knocked 5 mins off time and 2nd in age cat, happy with that result.’ Taking a look at the results and I see that Stephen Burgess was also 2nd in his category and 20th of 378 overall, well done Stephen 🙂 Jo Brown had the interesting experience of entering a race on spec and getting the excitement of starting twice – what a bargain! ‘I couldn’t quite manage a PB today but pleased to see my plodding along race pace is getting slightly faster! Did the Fairoaks Five today after stumbling across it late last night and signing up on the day. It’s the first race I’ve done where we’ve been sent back after the start but apparently the narrow path we were thundering along had a horse who didn’t want to move ambling along it, so 2 minute warm up followed by a proper run. I do wish I’d got my running to the point I was faster overall and not just good for a sprint finish, but hey it always brings VR a bit if attention 🙂 ‘ Barbara Xella – refusing to be constrained by running injuries – took to the water at the Swimathon: ‘I obviously had to wear their cap but I made sure I wore my vest and jumper before and after 🙂  2.5K in 53’34”, I am pleased with it as I haven’t been swimming for nearly 3 weeks in the last month due to a very bad cold – I could only be back to the pool twice last week.’  

'Tired' is such a general term

April 17, 2015 0

Paul Snell reports back on a well deserved PB at the Brighton Marathon: ‘My late report from Brighton! This is my third marathon and I have had a good 16 week training block since Christmas, with a bit more than 300 miles covered, which is good for me. I also didn’t run anything over 16 miles, as in my last blocks I ended up over tired from the longest runs. I also did more tempo and mile pace reps. Race day was beautiful and sunny with a cooling breeze. I got a bit held up at the start and missed my wave as the toilet queues were really long! But I kept it really steady for the first 10k and overtook a lot of people without wasting too much energy. I got to mile 18 in about 3 hours still feeling pretty good, so in my head I was hoping to get in at 4:20. However, we had to run far out west to the power station between miles 18 and 22 and there were hardly any mile markers, it was pretty warm and we had a headwind – I was starting to tire and I had to work harder to maintain my pace. At the turnaround, where we head back into town for the finish, we had more of a cross / tail wind but it seemed to go on forever and I started to hit the wall. I had to take a couple of short walks between about mile 23 and 25 and just jogging slowly was taking a huge effort – watching my pace slip away was a bit demoralising, but I can’t really explain the feelings from my body at this time – “tired” is such a general term. The crowds were very supportive, but I even had to take a short walk in the last mile, as I couldn’t see where the finish was – some mile markers, 800m, 400m mark would have helped. I managed to get myself over the line in 4:33 – a big pb (previously ran 4:47 and 5:12), but I was not in good shape so after getting my medal and t shirt I went into the medical support area and rested for what turned out to be about 90 minutes before I could stagger around. I had no medically significant problems, just dehydrated and low on energy. I had hoped to meet up with some of the other runners, but I was not fit for it – but I did see a lot of VR’s rocking out on the course. Very pleased with my race, which really had two parts – one very long run and one short very hard run. I am also very pleased with my training block – I did a good mix of work and stayed healthy. I wonder what I could have done to do a bit more on the day? Maybe I could have gone a few seconds per mile faster overall if I had started with a more similar group at the start – although I am always a slow starter in races. Anyway, my big conclusion is that I did super work in training and on the day. I also believe, based on my continuing improvement during training, that I can beat this time by a long way and that I have the potential to go sub 4 with a longer preparation period with a dedicated speed and tempo block. I think I will stick with my modest long runs, with a cap at three hours and include more fast 12 / 13 milers.’ You can see our other member’s results here.

Northern England Meet-up

April 12, 2015 0

Phil Davies reports back on a cracking Northern VRUK meet-up: Thirteen Vegan Runners UK members and family members from across the North of England got together on Saturday 11th April for a social run and vegan feast in Kildwick near Skipton. It was a great get-together with people travelling from Sheffield, Leeds, Liverpool and the Lake District. Six of us went on a scenic run across Farnhill Moor then on the Leeds & Liverpool canal towpath, while the others (and three dogs) went for a walk by the canal. Then we had a huge feast of all the food everybody had brought with them which lasted several hours! We’re planning more social events in the Peak District and Lake District soon. VRUK North of England members will get details by email. If you’re not yet a member of VRUK,  join up now if you’d like to come.

Stanwick 10K 6 April 2015

April 10, 2015 0

I was available on Easter Monday but not fit to enter so once again I made the long journey by bike, this time via Northampton rail station and managed to arrive for the start rather than see the runners at 3K. Knowing that Laura was entered plus the forecast for fine weather was enough incentive. Setting out early there was a grass frost in the hollow areas. After about 2 hours with breaks I arrived rather tired with 10 minutes to go and just managed to see Laura as she lined up. Laura’s vegan running partner Lee was also running for his local club. The Stanwick village has a holiday atmosphere for this race with most runners at the finish in no hurry to rush away. The village hall along with the main pub provide the social facilities. A fair was also in the hall where I rested for a short time during the race and met a former VC&AC runner who ran last year’s race but like me not fit this year. I moved back out to the course about 200 metres from the finish to see the runners pass by including Laura. We met back at the finish and in the glorious sunshine I met Laura’s local runners from Eye Community Runners including Lee Whitton.  

News from Vegan Germany

April 10, 2015 0

German Vegan Runner Ulises Rey sent us a link to details of a running event planned 29th/30th August to support the Erdlingshof animal sanctuary. It is quite unusual as it’s a group participation run in stages of different lengths rather than a race and partly follows the line where the Berlin Wall once stood. More details via the link below – it sounds like it could be fun 🙂 http://www.erdlingslauf.de/en/ For those who don’t know there is a strong Vegan Runners club in Germany who share our club vest, you can visit their website at the link below (I put the link through Google translate). http://veganrunners.de/

Ultra Easter

April 6, 2015 0

Great to hear from some of VRUK’s amazing ultra runners who have been putting the miles away over Easter weekend. Ian Fiddes spent Easter Sunday at the Pendine Sands Ultra demonstrating true vegan grit in the face of a sore ITB: ‘First ultramarathon completed yesterday. Pendine Sands Ultra. Pain from ITB after 12 miles meant the last 21 miles were a mixture of running/ hobbling/ walking. Glad to have finished and don’t feel too bad today so no lasting damage done. An excellent event and a great day out. I even managed to sunburn my face- not expected in early April in West Wales!’ Jonathan Wilkes and Matthew Toy both had successful runs at the South Downs Way 50 on Saturday. Matt:  ‘South Downs Way 50 today, which went really well for me! Beat my time from last year by over an hour and managed to nab 12th overall, 11th male, in 7:44:04. Yay for vegan super powers!’ You can read Jonathan’s great report here on his blog he sums up his approach: ‘The key (for me) to ultra’s is no distractions, no pace information, no camera and as little stopping as possible – relentless forward progress!’

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