All four Warriors made it round in under four hours which was a great effort. As expected Biggs was the first home and also won the charity prize pot coming in within 3 minutes of his prediction.

The final scores on the doors were:

1. Biggs (3:12:34 – 453rd overall)
2. Steve S (3:13:14 – 486th)
3. Kev (3:54:03 – 2,467th)
4. Roo (3:57:45 – 2,771th)

Great work all round, lots of cash raised for lots of worthwhile causes. 3 hours next year for me & Biggs, 3.5 for Kev & Roo, and hopefully a few more of the warriors will take the plunge.

What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger etc.

Here are a few unflattering photos of us wearing bin bags/recovery blankets/in the recovery position:

New PBs for a few of the warriors in this year’s Wilmslow Half marathon. Looking forward to seeing people wearing the souvenir t-shirt which is a rather fetching shade of pink.

Full results: http://www.tdl.ltd.uk/race-results.php?event=1306

Kev came in 158th with 1:10:51. Steve S (me) a short time later in 172nd with 1:11:32.

Full results: http://www.chiptiming.co.uk/pdf/Stockport10.pdf

http://www.parkrun.org.uk/burnage/results/weeklyresults?runSeqNumber=20

http://www.mapometer.com/running/route_2102761.html

Good efforts by all the Warriors though despite the hills and the less than perfect preparation (some may have slightly over-indulged at the Stone Roses gig at the weekend).

1. Steve S (42:29 – 29th)
2. Biggs (45:37 – 55th)
3. Matt (48:39 – 85th)
4. Owen (51:00 – 112th)
5. Ben (signed up on the day and seems to have been missed off the results list)
6. Steve C (52:35 – 124th)

Full results: http://www.ukresults.net/2012/off10k.html

Highlight of the race was probably Owen getting dropped by a 68 year old as they entered the track for the final lap (good work Dave). Though I can’t really talk as I was comfortably overtaken in the latter stages by the first placed woman who is a few years my senior. Also good to rub shoulders with local running celebrity Tony Audenshaw aka Bob Hope from Emmerdale. As you can see from the photo below Matt was especially happy to see him, his face has gone bright red from all the excitement (or maybe it was that hill).

1. Biggs – 41:27
2. Matt – 44:12
3. Roo – 47:12

Unfortunately I couldn’t be there as I was travelling back from London. I asked the lads whether they had any photos or anecdotes to share from the day and this is what they came up with:

Biggs: “No pictures unfortunately but Not So Fat Matt couldn’t fill his large T-shirt so he put his running shirt back on, jumped the fence and collected another medium bag.  Tried to swag a small for me but got busted by some army child.  You’ve got one already you snide git.  This is a charity event!”

Roo: “When I got back to the car after the run I nearly absent mindedly drank from the lucozade bottle I’d p*ssed in before the run. Probably would have tasted better.”

Thought I’d write a post on the Manchester marathon despite being the only warrior who took part. It was my first marathon and therefore quite a daunting prospect even though I’d followed my Runner’s World 3.5-4 hour training plan to the letter. It was made even more daunting when I got up and saw the weather, wet, windy and cold. Managed to forget my Garmin so ended up arriving just before the start but this turned out to be a good thing given the weather.

Positioned myself as close as possible to the 3.5 hour pace flag at the start. Once we got going I caught up with Dingo (James – Ben’s workmate and occasional warrior) and we ran together for most of the race. Turns out having a comedy name written on your running top gets a lot of attention. James was being cheered on the whole way round which was nice. Really surprised at how many spectators turned out in the rain but it definitely helps to spur you on.

We edged ahead of the 3.5 hour group and managed to hold that pace for probably two-thirds of the race. As expected it was after the 20 mile mark where things started to get a bit dark. Mainly this was down to the weather though, my legs felt OK but the wind really seemed to get up in the last quarter. At about 22-23 miles the 3.5 hour pace group caught up with me so I knew I must have slowed up a bit. This seemed to give me a bit of a boost though. I stayed with the pace group until a couple of miles out and then managed to push on in the final stretch finishing with a chip time of 3:28:09.

http://results.racetectiming.com/MyResults.aspx?CId=38&RId=281&EId=1&AId=100048

Unfortunately after the race I was so cold I couldn’t really bask in the glory of the achievement. I didn’t stop shaking for about half an hour even after I got changed.

Here’s the route: http://www.mapmytri.com/routes/fullscreen/36198328/

I’d like to thank everyone who came out to support me, appearing on the course in this order: Tony, Richie, Steve, Owen, Sarah, Kev, Biggs, Ed and Kate. And also everyone who sponsored me, managed to raise a grand for The Christie. In retrospect it was a great experience (though I didn’t think that when getting battered by the wind at mile 20-odd) and I definitely want to try another one (sorry Kate) but maybe somewhere a bit warmer next time.

1. Steve S (1:32:06)
2. Roo (01:52:09)
3. Owen (01:55:29)

This morning four of the warriors took part in the Stockport 10, supported by Sarah and injured warrior Kev. Just like last year the weather was pretty unpleasant but it’s a really fun race with friendly stewards who keep your spirits up as you slog up a few big hills. I think all the warriors managed to beat their times from last year with Roo smashing his previous time by 20 minutes!

http://www.stockportharriers.com/index.php?q=club-races

A big thank you to Sarah and Kev for coming to cheer us on. I’m not sure I would have braved that weather if I wasn’t taking part.

Results:

1. Steve S (1:17:44 – Pos 313 / 780)
2. Owen (1:25:01 – Pos 493)
3. Roo (1:25:04 – Pos 494)
4. Ben (1:26:19 -Pos 514)

These aren’t chip times so I suspect our actual times for the 10 miles are probably a little better than the above.

Full results here: http://www.race-results.co.uk/results/2011/stock11.htm