The Medal Watch blog has now moved to http://medal.watch

Medal Monday Round-up

Thank you to Derek, Emmsie, Timre, Taran, Andrea and Maria for sharing their medals today.

The Griffin Grind 5k on 09/08/2015

09/08/2015 Run Girl Run 10k

A pretty throwback from January
with the Crystal Springs Trail Run

And finally, a four week haul that includes the Chicago Rock n Roll
5K, 10k and Remix medal. the BTN Big 10k, the Chicago 10k and
the Football Gold Jacket ring which has to be one of the most amazing
medals ever.

  

Another late entry, last 4 years of City2Surf
 medals in year order.  The red one at the
end is from 2015.  Sorry to all who got it
 but it's a bit of a duff compared to the others

Medal Watch Monday

It's Monday which means it's medal day, a time to reflect on all the lovely bling that was earned last week.  You can join in and share you medals either on facebook or twitter and I'll do a round up of them all at the end of the day.  Some of them may even make the possibly maybe Medal Watch website that may be appearing very soon (but it's a secret so don't tell anyone).

Medal Watch - How Hard Can It Be Events & COD RC Special

For a while now I've wanted to write about some amazing medals from these guys.  The problem was that they just have so many that they alone could bring down walls in spare rooms just from the weight of their amazing bling.  They also do a lot of multiple and back to back events.  The sheer volume of medals that they have available warrants it's own special and so here it is, not I just have to figure out where to start.  

I've signed up for the Groundhog Day marathon but really I want to do them all.  Saturday racing too, which I love, because it means you can get the train.  They're all quite small, relaxed events based in and around Telford but seem quite popular.  For more information about any of these races please visit http://www.codrc.co.uk/Welcome.html.

I think the May 4th Be With You and Codopoly are my favourite.  Will be watching out for more details about the later.

2015 Pumpkin & Spooky medals

Saturday 31st October
9am - The Pumpkin Marathon
4pm - Spooky Halloween Challenge

So, a marathon double that ends in the dark with a bonfire and mulled wine.  Fancy dress for the Spooky is encouraged.  You can do either or but both are lap courses so you can drop down to 13.1 instead if you want.  If you did them both as halfs then you could get both races in quite easily with a good four gap between.  The Pumpkin marathon has a 6 hour cut off.  I love that the medal for Pumpkin is also a bottle opener.  Each race only has 40 places so it's going to get pretty intimate.

2014 November Nightmare medals
with Pumpkin & Spooky in the centre

Sunday 1st - Friday 6th November
November Nightmare Six Marathons

10am Start each day
You can also enter each race individually.  If you complete all six days you get a hoody aw well as the six medals. There's no photos of this year's medals yet but the 2014 nes were pretty nice.  If you do Pumpkin and Scare too then you could do 8 marathons in 8 days, if you so wish.  The race alternates between two different routes that are within five miles of each other so it's easy to stay in one place.  I think this might be one 

2015 Sunset to Sunrise Medal

Both Sunrise and Sunset medals

Saturday 14th November
Sunset to Sunrise Challenge

This race, and it's opposite Sunrise to Sunset, is another I really want to do.  I love that the medals are mirrow images of each other showing day and night.  It's a very clever idea.  The aim of the race is to basically run as many 9.4 mile out and back laps as possible between 4:16pm and 7:33am the next day so it could potentially be an ultra in like 14 hours of darkness.  You can stop at any point and there's a fire to warm you up along with the usual water station.  I'm very tempted to enter this.

2015 Newark Castle Meda

Saturday 28th November
The Newark Castle Festival of Running

The location for these races looks spectacular and the medal is pretty cool.   I love the sword design although they do look like they could put someone's eye out.  There's a 10k, Half and Full marathon on offer.

2015 Sunrise to Sunset Medal

Saturday 27th December
Sunrise to Sunset Challenge

This time you're running from 8:20 to 16:01 but as with it's darker version you can choose how long you run for.  This time though the route is laps of 0.84 of a mile.  I wonder if someone keeps count for you.  This sounds less appealing then Sunset to Sunrise but I do like how the medals compliment each other.

2015 Groundhog Day Marthon medal

Saturday 5th March 2016
Groundhog Day Marathon

I'm already signed up for this so I hope the 2016 medal is as nice.  Yes, it's 105.5 laps of the track but I'm looking forward to it almost as much as Disney.  I just hope I don't have to count my own laps or wear 105 bands.







Some more medals from this year or coming up in 2016.

2014 & 2015 Railway Ultra medals

May 4th Be With You medal
04/05/2016

2016 Codopoly Medal
More Details coming soon

2015 Holly Challenge medal

2015 The Shign Dig in the Shire medal

  

http://www.codrc.co.uk/Welcome.html

Setting the pace

I'm quite a bit behind on my race reports but I have to say that I absolutely loved being a pacer for Rock n Roll.  Thank you very much to Adrienne and Georgie at Contest Sport for giving me the opportunity and making the job as easy as possible and a massive thanks to CEP for the amazing kit and making us look good.

I was very lucky to have two amazing ladies to pace with, Louise in Dublin and Alison in Liverpool. I can't recommend pacing enough, I think every runner should do it at least once.  It's such a rewarding experience and you get to meet some amazing people.

Being a CEP Pacer

There's just over two weeks left now until Dublin Rock n Roll half marathon, where I get the amazing job of being the 3 hour CEP pacer again. So, I thought that it's about time that I reflected the experience of being a CEP pacer at Liverpool Rock n Roll ready to give both pacers and runners at Dublin a heads up of what they can expect.

I was really lucky that I have the best pace partner ever at Liverpool Rock n Roll.  Me and Alison paced the three hour half at Liverpool Rock n Roll, crossing the finish in 2:59:35.  We were really pleased with how well we did but we weren't surprised, we check our times at every mile marker against some pace bands that I made the night before (And then using a pace calculator on my phone when the pace band vanished).  We had a small group of runners that we'd see every so often during the race but we just kept to our pace and let them do their own thing.  It can be hard to leave runners who you have been encouraging but if you can't keep them with you then you just have to keep going because you don't know whether other people in front or behind you are using you as a guide for a specific time.  After we crossed the finish a number of runners were waiting to say thanks.  They'd used us as a marker to stay in front of the entire time and we'd helped get them the time that they wanted.  It is one of the most rewarding things I have ever done and I'd highly recommend everyone having a go at some point.

So, for those joining us in Dublin...

To the runners: Running with a pacer can make your race, especially if you're after a

specific time. We get to the race early and go through all of the prep stuff so that we can be waiting in the relevant corrals when you get there. We'll then do our best to try and get you round the course within the specified time (We're only human and we're still running a race too so sometimes we can have the same issues that any other runner can, so please be nice if thinks don't exactly go to plan).  Most pacers run an even pace throughout the race but your pacer should be able to tell you their plan.  You don't right next to us either.  If your pacer has a group of people around them that puts you off running with them just keep an even distance in front or behind.  At Dublin we'll be wearing a bright red CEP t-shirt and socks so we're pretty easy to spot in the distance.  We're usually quite a friendly bunch so don't be afraid to ask questions.  There is a 'Meet the Pacer' session planned for 1pm at the expo on the Saturday before the race but more details will be available on the Dublin Rock n Roll website, facebook page and twitter.

To the pacers: I'm be no means a pacer expert but I thought I'd share my knowledge.  These are just my opinions, feel free to ignore.

Marathon Art

Today was a rubbish day, not been able to move.  Found something new to fill my time though, marathon art.  I made one for my friend for her birthday and decided to do some for myself too because they're quite fun to do and you just need the route and the colour scheme of the race.  

I do like the one for Brighton better because it has a great colour scheme.  Liverbird isn't the most exciting route ever in print but who cars, I ran that.  Eight times.  They look pretty cool framed too if I do say so myself.  I'm going to do a tour one next.