Vets

Welcome to the Vets page. For those of you who are too young to know what a vet is, it's short for Veteran which is anyone over the age of 35.
 
My aim is to keep you up to date of any vets races that are going on in our region. As most of you know by now I nag each of you twice a year to run in either the relays or the cross country (or both!).

As I am writing Vets Corner this month I am recovering from a Very bad chest infection that totally ruined my European Championships in France a few weeks ago.
For twelve weeks I stuck to my training plan and also managed to lose quite a bit of weight that I had put on over the last two years.
In the last few weeks I did a really hard 10 mile race in Garstang followed by the Rothwell 10K on bank holiday Monday.
Even though my races were not going really well I felt I was strong in training and was feeling confident. On the Wednesday after Rothwell I decided to do the Esholt 5K due to the fact it was the Yorkshire Championships. I did not expect to run well only two days after Rothwell and surprised myself with my fastest 5K for two years. This was just the boost I needed a week before the championships.
The next morning I had to be up by 5 as I was collecting Don from Manchester Airport. I woke up and noticed I had a sore throat and by the time I got to the airport I was streaming with a cold. I tried not to panic thinking I still had a week to the 10K.
The next few days were frantic trying to pack and visit family before we left for France.
We left Baildon on the Sunday morning and drove to Felixstowe to catch the Euro train to France. We then had a few days in Belgium before heading to Strasbourg for a couple of days sight seeing. I did feel my cold was improving but I was feeling very tired as we walked around the city. We arrived in Metz on the Saturday and met up with all the other Great Britain runners and collected our numbers. The weather was really good and race day came round to blue skies and temperatures in the 80s.
My race was 9.30 and Don was running at 11. I set off in the middle of the field but by 2K I just knew I was in trouble.
My legs felt really heavy and I just started going backwards. Had it not been the European Championships I would have pulled out at halfway. I battled on to record my slowest time ever for 10K. Next it was Don's turn and he had a solid run in very hot weather.
After the race I just could not stop shivering as every one was sitting around in the sun I had three layers of clothing on.
We went back to the hotel and I just slept the rest of the day.
The next day I felt terrible so we just sat in the park relaxing. We arrived for the half marathon to find a local half marathon was incorporated into our race so that really swelled the numbers.
Don agreed to run with me and we just set off at the back. It was a really nice course and we just enjoyed the scenery and slowly worked our way through the field. We passed 10 mile and I was really struggling but somehow pushed through the pain and finished third over 50 in the Great Britain team. We had to hang around for nearly two hours waiting for the medal ceremony and once again all I wanted to do was sleep. When I was presented with my medal it all seemed worth it but I did leave the games thinking what could have been but never mind running can be a cruel sport and your body lets you down when you need it the most.
 
Moving on to last month Sue Coates once again won the gold medal in the Yorkshire championships at Esholt.
June is a very busy month and the next Yorkshire Vets league is on 14 June at Pudsey. This is a local race so would be great to see some more Baildon runners giving these a try.
This race is quickly followed by Meanwood on 28 June, another local race.
 
On Thursday 9 June at Haworth the Bronte 5 incorporates the Yorkshire 5 mile championship but to qualify for this you have to pre enter.

The 2011 series started on Saturday, 26 March at Fartown High School, Woodhouse Hall Road, Huddersfield HD2 1DJ. Ladies run 5K at 12:00 along with the over 70 men. The 50-69 men also feature in that race but they carry on and run 9K. The 35-49 men also run 9K but their run starts at 1:00pm. These are one-off races and great to run against people your own age. Entries need to be sent off by 15 March.

April is the start of the Yorkshire Vets League so please think about giving one of these races a try. The first one is at Horsforth, so it’s nice and local. For these races we enter as Airedale Athletics [AA] and if you do not have an AA vest just turn up in a white t-shirt. Each race costs £3 (pay on the day) and this includes lots of prizes and usually a free buffet. So just go onto the Yorkshire Veterans' website (www.yvaa.org) and have a look at what’s on offer and sign yourself up. Most venues have good changing facilities and showers. The courses are a mixture of trails with the occasional road section and on average five to six miles in distance. The standard is similar to the Winter League.

Please note that for the Grand Prix only we are to register as Airedale Athletics as sanctioned by YVAA – for the individual championship races (road, fell, track and relays) you should continue to enter as Baildon Runners. Although we will be running as Airedale there is no compulsion to buy the club vest and generally YVAA are quite relaxed regarding club colours in the Grand Prix races.

You can either register at the first race you attend or pre-register on the Website before the first race – if you would like me to do this for you then just let me have confirmation of your Date of Birth.

Points are awarded both on an individual basis but also towards the club competitions and although there is a category for the first four finishers from each club there is a separate team category where everyone counts for their club. Your best 7 races count in the individual competition.

There is a link on the Website giving directions to each race and the venues agreed for the remainder of the season are:

Denise Johnson

denisejohnson16@hotmail.com