The Isle of Man Easter Festival is a 3 day running festival which is organised by Manx Harriers every year. This year was the 6th time I have been to the festival and it is possibly one of my favourite weekends. In 2004 I won all 3 races and the overall title. I'm not in the sort of shape I was then but my form was good enough this year for 3rd in the 10k (32:05) and 3rd quickest leg of the 5k relay (15:27). I skipped the hill race so as not to risk injury and instead opted for a few pints whilst watching on top. For me the Isle of Man thesedays is more about having a good time. And my 5k which was my better of the 2 races came the morning after having 16 pints on the Saturday over an 11 mile pub crawl and 4 jaeger bombs in the club before swimming in the sea at 3am! Winning the beer race as part of our 4 man team (Gareth Turner, Mike Holden, Adam Gooch, myself) that recorded 15.8 seconds for the 4 pints was perhaps my highlight of the weekend!
I really wanted to enjoy the Isle of Man experience and I came through it without my foot flaring up which is a good sign. I want to knuckle down over the next month and start building up the miles a little with a view to getting back in to sub 30 minute 10k shape by the Bupa Manchester 10k in May.
Summary of this week below:
Monday - 9 miles 63 mins on own.
Tuesday - 8 miles including 4 by 1km loop on grass. Our cinder track was waterlogged tonight so we had to train around the outside on the grass slipping around in the mud! Gave the rest of the group 10 seconds head start and played catch up to get the most out of the session.
Wednesday - 9 miles 62 mins
Thursday - 8 miles 56 mins 6 of them with Adam Wareing
Friday - 9 miles including 10km race on the Isle of Man (3rd - 32:05). Didn't expect to beat James Walsh or Matt Gillespie in my current shape so was happy with this. 2 mile warm up but v. little warm down I was told I had a pint waiting for me in the pub! Trials for the beer racing team (4 rounds) + other fun and games followed later that evening.
Saturday - 8 miles. I'll call it that but its hard to say exactly what I ran. The 'Cross Island Pub Crawl' from Peel to Douglas takes in 8 pubs, 2 more beer stops (kegs hidden by us that day along the trail). Since I was watching the Hill Race that day I put 4 pints down before running a step and I didn't run the entire 11 miles. The last couple I was struggling with sciatica in my left side which has been bad this past 2 weeks. Had an interesting 3 egg race with Adam Grice, Mick Hill, Laurie Luscombe and a couple of others... Cadburys cream Egg, pickled egg, raw egg (in Vodka). Hilly proved invincible. Ran the naked maypole. Moved on to jaeger bombs in the club and wound up swimming in the sea at 3am! What part of this activity I can call training is debatable!
Sunday - 8 miles including 5km Road relay. 15:27 (3rd quickest leg). Had felt pretty horrific this morning after 16 pints and 4 jaeger bombs yesterday! Didn't wake up for breakfast but did get up to watch the start of the women's race and warm up for my leg (leg 3) of the relay. Had thought about taking this easy but felt surprisingly bouncy once I got going. Came home in 15:27 which on a windy seafront was not bad at all. I just missed second quickest leg which Matt Gillespie posted (15:26). Fastest leg James Walsh 14:58. Ran leg 4 for the C team as a warm down since we had a couple of people in a bad way this morning!
Total - 59 miles. Biggest week so far and with a heavy weekend of drinking and socialising. Always a great fun week but one you wouldn't repeat too often!
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I really admire what your doing considering i'm a distance runner as well. I participate in my high school Track and Field. My events are the 1 mile, 2 mile and high jump. I'm excited to see that i am not the only one that has made running their life. Although i'm about to graduate, i will continue with my running no matter how old i get.
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