Another record on The Common

1 September 2015

A large part of Tuesday was spent planning. Working the Bank Holiday had the advantage of giving me two lieu days which I’d decided to take straight away and I had some rather ambitious plans to make up for my lack of weekend walking. Mostly this meant an afternoon Googling, making notes and working out a detailed itinerary. Of course there was some food shopping in the morning and the cleaning I’d normally have done on Monday. By early evening I was as satisfied as I was ever going to be and Commando had a plan to get me out of the house for an hour or so.

At the end of July I watched Commando compete in a Magic Mile race on the Common, this was a rerun. It had a feel of déjà vu about it as we drove up The Avenue through the evening traffic. Around about then Commando realised he’d left his Garmin at home, which wasn’t ideal. He made me promise to time him with my iPhone stop watch even though the race is chipped and times would be posted on line later in the evening. I can’t say I was confident of doing a good job but needs must.

The sun was a little lower in the sky this time and there were no interesting fungi lurking in the undergrowth as we strolled along Cemetery Road. The early evening sun lit up the huge trees and we wandered through them making a circuit past the paddling pool to the meeting point. With his recent ankle issues, Commando wasn’t confident of a good time. He’d had to cut his Sunday morning run short and, although the pain stopped once he stopped running, it was a big worry with the marathon so close. It all seemed like shades of the knee problems I had before my last Moonwalk so I could sympathise but, as we walked, I tried to reassure him as best I could. The Magic Mile would be a test of the powers of the Rest ICe and Elevation treatment.

By the time we reached the Hawthorns Cafe the runners had begun to arrive. After a bit of chit chat they gathered for the briefing and I hung back feel a little superfluous. The format was much the same as the previous run, slower runners with expected times over seven minutes, would go first and then the fast group, including Commando.

Like last time Commando ran both races, using the first as a warm up. This meant I got a little walk in from the Hawthorns to the start on other side of the paddling pool and then back again to the finish line at the Hawthorns. Of course he ran the first race at a slow pace, sticking with a team member who needed a little encouragement. Even so it was over quickly and, not long after I got back to the Hawthorns, he was running past. So far the ankle was holding out, which was good news.

Walking back to the start of the second race we passed a British Military Fitness group beginning what looked like a tough workout.
“This BMF seems really popular at the moment,” Commando commented, “but it’s funny you never see any children doing it.”
He was right, all the people running around and doing squat thrusts looked like professionals, office workers like me. “I guess it’s a bit expensive for youngsters,” I said, “and office workers have the money but they don’t have much time to exercise. They drive to and from work, or commute and spend all day sitting at a desk but they can fit in a session like this once a week or so to make up for it.”

By the time we finished speculating we were at the start line. My job of stopwatch monitor meant I couldn’t take any pictures of the race start. It took a lot of concentration to press the button at the exact right moment and if felt like a lot of responsibility. If I pressed too late, I might give Commando a false sense of achievement which would later turn to disappointment. If I pressed too early he’d think he’d done worse than he had. There was a temptation not to press the blasted button at all and pretend I’d messed it up. Unfortunately, I’m rubbish at telling lies and he’d be sure to find me out so I did my best to press at the exact moment the race began.

At least this time I knew exactly how long it would take to walk back to the finish so there was no rushing. The sun was beginning to go down as I walked across the grass and a young man was using the paddling pool as a skate park. Everyone gets their exercise in their own way I guess. Then it was down the hill, past the interesting hollow tree to wait for Commando to appear.

There was a quick peek at the stopwatch when I got back to the Hawthorns to give me an idea of how long I was likely to have to wait. As it happened this wasn’t very long at all. As soon as I saw him appear round the corner I got my finger poised over the stop button, then he was zooming past at a great rate of knots. The actual finish line wasn’t all that clear, being in a crowd of cheering spectators, but as soon as I saw him pull up and stop I stopped the timer.

Walking over to meet him I was almost afraid to look at the numbers in case he’d done worse than last time. There was also the worry that I’d messed up the timer despite my best efforts. When I did look I could see straight away he’d beat his last time, even though I was pretty sure I’d stopped the timer a few seconds after he’d crossed the finish line. Last time he finished the mile in 5.57 beating his record. The timer said he’d done it in 5.51.13, probably less. The look on his face was priceless when I showed him, especially after all the ankle worries. In actual fact, when the chip times were published he’d done it in 5.45, proving my timing wasn’t too far out and that Commando is a very speedy runner indeed.