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| The Brighton 10k launches off past the iconic pier in perfect weather conditions |
Well that was a weekend of perfect weather for running about in, either in the mud, hills and water of the Brutal Spider Hill on Saturday, or the flat fast and sunny Brighton 10k.
Some also enjoyed the Adidas Fulham 10k - clear skies and closed road route on a sunday morning around london - what's not to like ?
As the temperatures dip this week we're coming to the end of our busy season - we had more races to cover on October the 7th alone compared to the rest of the year and the end of January - so this is the time of year we like to go for a bit of a run, catch up on sleep (less than 5.5hrs sleep every night for the past 7 days according to my fitbit), give the cameras a bit of a clean and a service (I think my Canon 1dx has taken about 500,000 images this year, not to mention everyone else's), give the lenses a bit of a tighten up and clean the front, and start browsing the winter sales for very very warm clothes, doing some IT backup and systems updates, and generally working on things that are important but we don't get the time to try, test or implement... like fixing the office ceiling light transformers...(Jay - I'll be round soon).
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| everybody stop, it's the start of the winter season |
Here's the latest hot table of recent action past and present
Also after last week - it's good to see some of you went and had a look at
https://sspimg.com/runpage - how did you get on ? I personally need to do mine for the Cambridge Half and Surrey Halfs that I've done (try getting time off work to run when you should be working is quite difficult actually). At the moment I just have a medal in a drawer and an online result somewhere I'd need to look up and double check. Hardly a memory curated to be memorable !
The end of the year also gives us a chance to go back through the years events and work out what we would like to be at last year. It might surprise you to know we see about a 20% year on year "churn" of old events leaving us (or stopping) and us picking up new events. We already have some exciting new events on the calendar for 2019 (sorry can't announce those yet), and our strategy of moving to sponsored photos with pic2go is starting to gather pace. We know it's the win-win of race photography - everyone gets their pictures, the sponsor gets their exposure, charities have more money raised, and goody bags are more eco-friendly, and everyone has something to talk about and show their friends ! What's not to like ?
If you're wondering about the numbers, in 2013 we covered 192 races with on average 660 runners, but this year we have covered 134 races with 1200 runners - and that's not counting the cold cancellations in March and the Velo South cancellations as well. Are we growing? well we employ more people and drive further to events, so probably yes.
We're already 75 races booked into 2019, with a few weekends that are already fully booked - so if you're thinking of having us along at a race - get yourselves sorted out soon.
I also have a weekend off coming up, first one since the end of May, but I do have my Nephew to cover in a match for his school this week as they're in some cup semi-final - so I'd best sort that out for him as his favourite Uncle (*I don't know if I am), so time for a bit of a rest - I might even go to the gym and discover how much muscle wastage I now have achieved in 2018. I wonder how I get a bone density test/scan done for free ? And on that middle aged life crisis note, as I have an appointment for joint pains in my fingers, here's a small selection from the weekend...
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| still don't know why people stick their tongues out at us, and it seems neither do other runners |
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| Proper brutal conditions |
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| He's made it through |
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| Not so lucky ! |
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| miraculously kept her hands dry |
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| chaos behind you, but you don't care or know |
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| this is what the argy bargy looked like from the side |
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| well, who doesn't like a bit of muddy muscle ? |
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| woops and a slippy balance |
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| top shoe cleaning technique |
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| little did he know the black dog was about to sit on his shoulder |
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| she crossed the entire lake like this |
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| top friends and teamwork to get round |
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| made it through the water, all is ok |
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| Mudstacle Pete does his best walking on water impression |
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| all working ok, no thumbs up though. Is this happy then ? we don't quite know ! |
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| autumn sprint finish |
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| the shock, surprise and joy of finishing |
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| what the marshals do at the finish whilst you're out on the course enjoying yourself |
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| That lifestyle-lens-flare-orange-autumn catalogue photo. Next stop M&S. |
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| I don't think those are her handprints ? |
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| Wave early |
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| correct waving timing |
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| word to the wise. 73 knows something you don't. |
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| Friends were out on the course enjoying the sun |
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| pointing and running, a new study in action |
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| Top tights, ex BA staff ? |
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| Underworld coach Mr Bigg demonstrates how to do it |
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| #1008 realises he's just been overtaken by an Olympic Legend. |
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| Shorty realises he's waving too late...good finish though |
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| in case you get lost on your run, always take a map |
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| Teapot sashaying says do your run with style like Bruno would. |
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| As someone else said about the Vegan Duck: "they must be roasting in there". |
So that's it, I'll keep off the email radar for a while with the lack of races, enjoy the galleries, don't forget to buy them too (as I'd please like to eat over Christmas), make a memory of them, stick them into
Runpage, and share it with your friends, commit to that fit.
Until next time, keep warm !
Anthony
