Tag: Steyning Stinger

Unfinished business…

Did we get fat or fit during lockdown?

Did we get fat or fit during lockdown?

Neither. We fell into the usual trap of the mediocre and quietly poodled along during the Pandemic. Thankfully we were safe and well, but I view the approaching end of lockdown with a spate of mild anxiety and trepidation.

To help, we thought it would be a good idea to come up with a list of events and things that represent unfinished business from the last couple of years. Either through life getting in the way, that darned virus stopping our social plans or pure laziness.

  1. Isle of Wight Ultra Challenge in 2022.
  2. Testway Ultra in 2021.
  3. Beer marathon in Liege in 2022.
  4. Steyning Stinger marathon in 2022.
  5. Entering a triathalon.
  6. Pre-race beers.
  7. During-race beers.
  8. Post-race beers.
  9. Eating before, during and after the running.
  10. How many Parkruns can we do?

Admittedly most of that list involves imbibing or eating something. All is as it should be.

Separately, a few things happened over lockdown that I took personally. Some could say I’m holding a grudge…?????

  1. 5k training programmes. 5k training sucks.
  2. Just training and no racing. Training is the worst.
  3. Coronavirus in general.
  4. 5G.
  5. Costa coffee owes me a coffee (this was actually a while ago, but it still hurts).

Of all the distances, I find 5k the most unpleasant and the hardest to crack. Maybe the second half of 2021 will be different? The other items are too personal to provide more detail or are rampantly self-explanatory (stupid Costa).

It’s good to have a list of things to do. It helps you motivate yourself, plan, focus and breakdown seemingly difficult problems into digestible actions. Or, as per usual, we’ll turn up like always with no training and without a hope. I might be getting a little old for this approach though!

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Steyning Stinger Marath..ahem…Half-Marathon – Race Retrospective – 3rd March 2019

Stormy Shenanigans over the South Downs

Ok. It’s been a while since the 3rd March 2019! I must admit to being a little tardy with my reports. But with this race looming again on our schedule, I thought it would be a good idea to cover what happened previously in more detail. So to cover my lateness, I thought I’d title this update with “race retrospective”.

The first time I ran this race was in 2014 and, as my first trail marathon, has stuck in the mind ever since. I distinctly recall the pleasant surprise of the first food stops, laden down with various sweets and biscuits (you don’t really get those in road marathons!). The crazy hills, or “stings”, which at that point I hadn’t really encountered with such frequency, being from Essex. A relaxed and staggered start at your convenience and a cooked breakfast at the finish. It also had one of the quirkier medals I’ve seen, featuring a scorpion, a hill and some trees. I can’t forget the characters we met either, including one runner who decided to deal with some of the muddiest terrain I’ve encountered by running the whole thing in sandles!

So all in all, I remembered the Steyning Stinger as a great race and it was now time to return. There was just one potential problem…Storm Gareth! We’d heard some mutterings in the news about a potential storm coming, but paid it no mind. Then when it came to actually getting there – it’s an early start – the weather was pretty dire and we gradually became aware of how tough this was going to be.

It initially started out ok, with much of the initial race gradually ascending to the top of the South Downs over three steep climbs.

One of the stings….although it was relatively sheltered from the wind thankfully

However, as soon as we crested the top of the hills, it became clear how strong the winds were. Despite being pretty well insulated against the weather, the rain still stabbed like needles and it was hard to stay on the trail as we were buffeted around so much. You could barely see more than a few metres in front of you and the brave Marshalls had to take cover in vehicles at the more exposed parts of the course. At some points it was difficult to keep running, although a steep turn on the course sometimes resulted in a welcome boost from the wind.

Looking at some of the race photos, I decided to add the only one where I’m actually smiling. While I definitely wasn’t smiling inside, I was still glad to get out of the wind! Check out the hazy background and the mud. It was around this point we decided that the weather was a bit too extreme considering our fitness levels. We’ve done more than our fair share of tortuously long races over tough terrain, but it seemed silly to continue and hats off to those that finished the whole marathon. The wind wasn’t the only hazard with the final long descent having morphed into one long mud slide during which I had very little control. I’m very surprised I didn’t stack it! I probably did, but have likely blocked it from my memory.

Finally we finished and I staggered over the finish line to gratefully take cover in a solid stone building and enjoy a well earned breakfast. We’d covered a half-marathon and 457 metres of ascent in ridiculous conditions. However, I’ve retained a nagging feeling since then that we had some unfinished business.

So now we’re returning on the 1st March 2020, hopefully sans storm or anyone called Gareth, and fingers crossed this time we can succeed where we previously failed. You’ll probably find out next year though!