by Paul Thompson (and pictures by Shamala Thompson)
We run in interesting times. While much of my life has been turned upside down this past few months there has been one constant. My running, my wife’s support of my running and virtual coaching from Troopy.
My last run with other people was this long easy one on 15 March 2020 in Central Park. It was my usual gig – train from hometown of Peekskill to 125th Street Harlem, 2+ hours on Central Park’s trails, grab coffee and toasted cinnamon raisin bagel, and then board train home. That day six of us rendezvoused at Engineers’ Gate. We exchanged elbow bumps. We sensed we’d not be running together again for some time. We’ll run together again but until we do I figured I needed to race.
So here I was at 8:45am earlier today all set to race. Only a virtual race. The British Masters Athletics Federation (BMAF) Virtual 5K Relays. As a 54 year-old, turning 55 this December, I was running in the M45-54 category for Kettering Town Harriers, the UK club I joined in 1984 and remained a member of since I left the UK in 1998.
My brother had persuaded me to run. I’d have happily waited until I turn 55 (I’m entered for the postponed London Marathon on 4 October but doubt it will go head and, even if it does, I may not make the trip). Ironically I have lockdown and virtual races to thank for presenting me the opportunity to run a BMAF race – I’m rarely in the UK around the time of their ‘real’ races and BMAF are open to you running anywhere!
Virtual races add an extra dimension to ‘real’ races. You get to choose when and where to run, provided you satisfy criteria like start and end in the same place and get it done in the ‘window’ of 14-20 June (the deadline for running being 12pm midnight GMT on Saturday 20 June). I chose to run a section of the North County Trailway – out and back from the parking lot at Route 117 heading south. The trailway is paved, largely flat and straight, and much of the course in the shade of trees.
I recceed the course by running the whole course as my 5K warm-up. I sensed a gentle incline for the first 600m, as the trailway rose above the nearby Saw Mill Parkway, and then flat through halfway. At the half way point I left a water bottle as a marker. Weather conditions were far from ideal – hot and humid with the temperature around 80F / 27C. Pedestrian traffic was light, mainly cyclists of all shapes, sizes, ages and gear from Tour de France to kid basket.
And then I was off. I got stuck in from the get go, setting out at 3:10 minutes per kilometer pace (I reset my Strava to metric as I was running a 5K not 3.1 mile race) – around 5:07 minutes per mile pace per this – before easing back and passing 1K in 3:15. I have a Garmin 235 but its GPS ‘gave up the ghost’ a few months back so I was recording using the Strava app on my iPhone. My target time was 16:30-40 and 3:20s would get me home in 16:40. Hence, I was fixated on my Strava app’s showing an average pace of sub-3:20. Recent training – 60+ mile weeks with two workouts and a LSD – suggested this was possible. I was injury free though recovering slowly from workouts.
The expected flat ‘main course’ middle portion of the race was actually a gentle descent from 600m through halfway (and so gentle uphill for the bulk of the return leg with a slight descent in the last 600m). I’ll blame that optical illusion on the lockdown or an early symptom of some virus (I did not wear a mask by the way).
I ran the 2nd km in 3:19. At the turnaround – a sharp 180 degree which felt like I turned on a penny – my iPhone showed 8:12. But the writing was on the wall. Not only did the course climb slightly, contrary to what I had expected, but I was also paying for an exuberant start and creeping humidity. My 3rd km was 3:23 and my app was now reading an average pace of 3:20. My 4th km was 3:25 and the average read 3:21. With a little bit of uumph I did the 5th km in 3:20 to get home in 16:47.
I was toast. I stumbled into the shade and caught my breath. My Strava data reveals I ran a fraction too far (5.02km) but in a real 5K I’d have likely run even further as we all tend to run slightly off the optimal racing line. The full individual results for M45-54 are here. Stephen, my younger brother, ran 17:08 and buddy ‘Rocket’ Ron Searle ran 20:36.
I was 8th M50 of 674 runners. The fastest M50 times were recorded by Mark Symes in 15:41 (World Masters Athletics 1500m champion at the WMA in Malaga in 2018 – see page 119 here) and Tim Hartley in 15:45 (multiple BMAF champion for 5K, XC and 10K and M50 winner of the British and Irish Masters Cross Country International 2018 where I’d come 8th). Five M55s and M60 Tommy Hughes, multiple world record holder at age 59 and 60, were also ahead of me. The official BMAF race report is here.
Kettering Town Harriers (KTH) had 21 runners. The team results are as follows: M45-54 9th of 117 teams – myself, Steve, Phil Brigden (17:11) and Phil West (17:46); M55-64 34th of 76 teams – Bruce Whitehead (20:03), Ron Searle (20:36), and Pete Goringe (20:40); and W45-54 66th of 111 teams – Trudi Pike (23:43), Karen Albery (24:06) and Nicola Speed (24:09).
Some 4,144 men and women aged 35 and over entered, over 3,300 competed, over £12,000 ($15,000) was raised for MacMillan Nurses charity (runners made a charitable donation in lieu of race entry fee).
So there you go. My first virtual race. The after effects – tired muscles, aching joints – are anything but virtual. Just like the good ‘ole days. We are on our way back. For now we’ll have to make do with virtual races. A good backup but not the real thing.
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