Snow, sleet, early Sunday morning – yes it’s another of Robin and his merry band of marathoneers’ masochistic ‘fun’ runs. After the first two miles from Clapham Junction station the route is all along the Thames towpath so runners are free to run at their own pace, without the need to loop back. Damian is really hard – he must be. Shorts and shirt. Madness. Suzy had yet another new toy – her camelback drinking back pack type thing. I felt OK but had had enough by the time I got to Richmond. 11 miles was plenty for me. The wonderful Roy was wiating with clean and dry clothes at Richomd so I buggered off to McDonalds for breakfast, leaving the rest to battle on in the cold for hours longer. Thankfully for them – they only have 3 weeks of marathon training hell left.

PS – I’d just like to let everybody know that I am still drinking. Fear not – just been concentrating on red wine rather than beer lately. After my v drunken night in early March I’ve been behaving until it’s time to fall off the wagon again.

The first Surrey League cross country Division 2 fixture of the season took place at Richmond Park on the 13th October. Unluckily this coincided with Leeds at home to Orient which I had promised a mate I would go to. I’d also been telling all that I’d be running the XC this year so decided to be a good boy and ran the race. Good job as we should have lost the footie.
As usual I started off a little too strongly and had to dig in for the last mile or so. John came past halfway round the second lap and despite trying couldn’t stay with him and came home 12th Strider. Full results here from the Kingston & Poly website.

After the club run and AGM on Wednesday 19th I still felt pretty good, well recovered from Nottingham so provided we could drum up enough marshalls I was going to do the Switchback for the first time.

Seeing Chris as I crossed Lloyd Park to help set up the course, he told me that in fact the Switchback ‘5′ was in fact more like 4.6 mile. The XC race up to the Shirley Hills viewing point and up and down the switchback of 4 sharp up and downs on shale-like terrain was pretty tough. My stamina from the half helped me and I managed to catch a Croydon Harrier in the last half mile – which was nice. I must get a new watch or even a Garmin but I did something like 33.40 – excellent training for the XC season – just need to get some suitable shoes for when the rains come.

Coffee and cakes in the clubhouse and even a prize for the first team – one of the advantages of the fewer entrants this year. Speaking to Steve Smith and hearing of his plans to do the Brighton 10K on 18th November set me thinking that that could be one to aim for – along with the Croydon 10K on October 21st. However I won’t be joining him for the full Luton marathon in early December.

When Phil & Susan decided to organise a Hash from the Bull Inn at Chelsham on Bank Holiday Monday I couldn’t not do this – the pub being a two minute jog from home. I rolled up at 11.00am to find a few Striders outside the pub – still after Phil explained the rules and we learnt the cries of ‘Check’ and ‘On On’ we set off.

Beer’s an important component of the Hash so we had only run a mile and a half or so and were greeted by Phil & Susan with a choice of a beaker of bitter, Czech lager or water. A nice spot of bitter for me. 3 or so miles later we had passed St Mary the Virgin church at Farleigh and were on the last stretch back to the Bull for a pint of Greene King IPA or Fuller’s London Pride to discuss extreme activities for the next Strider’s extra-curricular event – oh and a Strider’s ex-girlfriend in Huddersfield!

Phil, Jacqui & I then checked out the revamped Harrow Inn – OK it was revamped two months ago but I’d not been there yet. Bombardier and London Pride were sampled and P&J’s food looked decent.

Now it’s the Dry Hill 10 miler in Lingfield on September 2nd for me.

Want some running partners to keep you motivated? If you live in the Croydon area then get along to Striders of Croydon. The Striders train four times weekly. The main club runs are on Sundays at 8.30am and Wednesdays at 7.30pm starting from the Clubhouse . All standards are catered for and in order to encourage runners of all abilities, the club has had a long standing policy of frequently ‘turning back’ to pick up those running at the back of the pack. On Wednesdays there’s the option of running for 40 minutes or an hour, while on Sundays the choices are usually for 60 or 90 minutes.

In addition the Striders also have a Friday night Social Run, which starts at 7.30pm and lasts for about 40 minutes at a leisurely pace. These runs begin from the clubhouse and are perfect if you’re thinking of joining.

If you have a thirst for speed and want to get your times down then there are also two speed sessions on a Tuesday night. One aimed at runners up to 10,000m at Croydon Arena or one from the Clubhouse. Just turn up – more details from the Striders’ website.