Event Review : Forest Five

It's rare that I get nervous before races these days, yet all day I had butterflies in anticipation. The distance wasn't new to me, nor was the event (having run it a couple of times a few years back). What was new to me was running as part of a club. I'd joined Bracknell Forest Runners back in April but with only one social run under my belt and a brand new, unworn club t-shirt, I'd never really known what it felt like to be part of something so much bigger. Would I be shunned because I'd not been to track night? Would I feel as though I'd done the club colours justice?

The Forest Five is Bracknell Forest Runners' own event, open to all, of course, but I'd say it was pretty much the highlight of the race calendar for the club. It's a five mile run around Swinley Forest, always on a Wednesday night in June. So of course I had all day to get nervous. Thankfully I had work to keep me occupied. Normally I have PT clients on a Wednesday night but as it was a quieter evening and I knew so many people also taking part, I rescheduled appointments just so that I could run. And it was well worth the effort.

Club photo, pre-race

By 6:30pm I was on site, number pinned to my t-shirt, citronella oil strategically dabbed on hems and trainers. Hellos and hugs were dealt out to the myriad of people I discovered I knew running, including my RunFitUK girls, Ellie and Ian of Barnes Fitness, members of Box Bell Fit and of course, fellow club members. It was a warm, dry evening, the bugs were out in full force and there was a huge turn out. All set to be a great event.

I believe there was some sort of pre-race briefing but I couldn't hear it above the babble in the crowd. The starting horn was audible, though, just... The route had changed somewhat since I last ran, with the start in a different place and a long gentle uphill drag for the first few hundred meters. It was all pretty cramped to start off, but as ever, the field spread out eventually, with only minimal jostling around puddles, tree roots and muddy bits. There were plenty of (encouraging) marshals and no opportunities to take a wrong turn. A pretty, varied and fun course.

The surface underfoot varied from gravelly, hard packed trail, sand, undulating and downright hilly in places. There was The Hill, which actually seemed smaller than I remember from previous years, and of course where there's up, there's down and downhill I'm good at so I was able to pick up a few places there. I hadn't *intended* to race, but my legs felt good and I felt duty bound to stay ahead of as many of my RunFit girls as possible. What made a huge difference was the support. I started to realise that being part of a club is a bit magical. Those shouts of "come on Bracknell" suddenly applied to me! That was me they were cheering on. Other club runners gave words of encouragement as they passed me or I passed them and I endeavoured to do the same. One guy kept overtaking me, then I'd overtake him... I didn't beat him to the finish but it was great trying to push each other a little more.

The roar coming in to the finish was just fantastic and I made sure that I gave as good as I got when I finally caught my breath enough to shout others over the line. In previous years there was no medal given out, nor a goody bag, just water, a banana or mars bar and possibly some sort of memento. Times have changed, however, and this year there was a bespoke, eco-friendly wooden medal on offer, each one slightly different and one that I'm just as proud of as the super shiny, beasts of medals from the likes of Cakeathon. There was also a goody bag containing the obligatory water and mars bar, but also foot soak salts and granola - useful stuff!

It was one of the most enjoyable races I've done in ages. The support, the camaraderie, that atmosphere... it's a greta distance to race and the location is just brilliant. I'm a long-time fan of mid-week, evening races anyway and having this on my doorstep... well I feel very lucky. The icing on the cake was a course PB with a Garmin reading of 46:09!

Thank you to everyone who made the event possible, to everyone who shouted encouragement at me and especially to Dean for taking some great photos and making me run quicker. I'll get my own back soon enough.

Event Review : Woodland 5

Last night I took part in what may have been my most local race to date. The Woodland 5 is organised by Finch Coasters running club, who are based near Wokingham, and consists of 5ish miles around the Crowthorne Woods (near Broadmoor) which were burnt a couple of year ago. This is literally 1.5 miles from my front door.

Is that a Tough Mudder headband I see? Source: http://finchcoasters.org.uk/woodland5-july-results/

As you know I like a little local midweek race and so I couldn't pass on the opportunity to take part. This is another series held in May, June and July. The entry fee is £7.50 for one race or £19 for all three which I see as excellent value. These are no frills races; you won't get a medal or souvenir (although there are prizes for fastest senior and veteran man and woman) but it is very well organised with plenty of parking, fantastic marshalls and results out within 24 hours. It's timed but manually rather than chip. The little girls walking over to each finisher and handing out cups of water to save us staggering to the water station after the finish were very sweet. I believe there's a limit of 300 places per race but only around 150 took part this month.

Oddly I didn't see any FinchCoasters vests but I did see plenty of Reading Road Runners, Sandhurst Joggers, Datchet Dashers and Bracknell Forest Runners. In fact I was in the minority NOT wearing a club vest, this is very much a race by clubs for clubs although I certainly didn't feel out of place, it is open to everyone, after all. I did wear my TNLAR shirt and got a shout out from one of the lady marshalls who had also taken part, which was really lovely.

I've nabbed the route map and elevation outline from the club website. As you can see it's sort of two laps. Starting at the far left of the line at the bottom we follow undulating woodland trail for two miles before being funnelled through a very narrow overgrow path and over a further half mile a hill. It looked more like a wall to me and you have to tackle this twice! I walked it but there were plenty who managed to keep running. I doff my cap to them. I actually enjoyed the laps because you don't pass the finish point, a nice mental trick.

As I've said the marshals were fantastic but so were the other runners. It was a very companionable race, and not just between fellow club runners. I played tag with a girl in black most of the way round, encouraging each other and just after the second time up The Hill when I was in danger of not getting started again I felt a light touch on my back and a gentleman encouraging me to keep going, which I duly did. There were lots of shouts of "well done" as people over took each other and hunting out of others at the finish to thank them for encouragement or to congratulate them on their performance.

I don't often run trail these days nor much in the way of hills but I was thrilled to cover the course in 53:38. There's that strength training paying off! I would certainly consider doing all 3 next year, especially if I'm in training.