Worthing 20 2014

I love the Worthing 20.

Its a lovely race with a local feel, I am slightly bias however as its my clubs very own race. TheWorthing Harriers.

The Worthing 20 as I've said before is well Positioned in the race calendar in preparation for the spring Marathon season. If you are training in full swing its usually your last long run as it often falls on mothers day, but this year it was held earlier which was great for me. The race itself is fast and flat, 4 laps of Goring (Worthing). There are 2 drinks stations and every couple hundred yards there are friendly Marshall's cheering you on and blocking off roads making it nice and safe.

Many people don't like a loop race but here its just enough, seeing the Marshall's (many club runners who are helping out) regularly is great and there is plenty of banter. This year the weather was a lovely spring morning with a nice cool air and not much breeze to speak of. Perfect if you ask me. If my training had been different I might have been heading for a PB but today was all about MdS prep today.

Last year I finished in 2:15 however this year I would be running with my MdS weighted pack at a steady pace. Fellow MDSer Marcus was good enough to join me for the run and we hooked up with Sharla and Lesley, 2 Harriers club runners who are a great laugh. Last year the girls ran round in just under 3 hours so this would be my goal too if I could stay with them.

Having had a week of skiing I felt fairly fresh legged but the pack has a habit of pulling you down into the ground. I can't recommend enough the need to train with the pack and I'm now starting to think that maybe I haven't done enough. Anyhow after chatting to lots of friendly runners and saying hi to Maureen the race organiser it was off onto the front. Marcus and I wore all our MdS clothing with weighted packs, during the race I observed the following:

1) I had my sleeping bag attached to the rear of my pack and on reflection it was soaked in sweat by the end so I need to rethink this strategy
2) The glue from my Velcro on the trainers was coming loose. Good job they are stitched too but I'm sending them back for a touch up
3) The pack was great overall but I think it will chafe around my neck without tape
4) The raidlight bottles were great
5) My sunglasses steamed up :-(

Marcus, I and the girls chatted with each other and lots of other interested runners throughout. We finished in 2:57, pretty much spot on target, all four of us in a line and with big smiles. I was clearly tired and Marcus seemed fresh as a daisy as he jogged off for another 15 miles afterwards. Marcus is a cyclist and it clearly does his endurance a world of good. The idea of a road race so close to an off road event might seem silly but for me it was a safe way to test everything out and get a few good miles under my belt while supporting my club too :-)