Beating Bolt

Susan Partridge with husband Martin and a future running champion.

I travelled up to Pete Bland Sports, a running specialist store in Kendal, for an early morning "Breakfast Run" I first came across "The Breakfast Run" in America a few years ago. I was on holiday in Naples, Florida and was amazed at the number of runners that congregated every Saturday morning at the unearthly time of 6am at the local running shop, On the Run. They set off on an out and back course covering anything from 4 - 10 miles and then had a social breakfast of coffee and bagels back provided by the store. Pete Bland Sports start theirs at a much more civilised time. This weekend it started at 9:41am. You may think that is strangely precise but the whole weekend had a 41 theme as it was based on PUMA's Usain Bolt and his 100m World Record that he ran in 41 strides!

We were split into 2 groups. I went with a group on the 9km route where the pace was kept at around 8 minute miles. There was another group who covered around 7km in 9 - 10 minute miles. We followed Alex, one of Pete Bland's staff along quiet, rural roads. There were a couple of tough climbs but worth every ounce of lactic acid as the view from the top was magnificent. I didn't know anyone, apart from Alex, when we set off but by the end of it I had chatted to everyone in the group and we had compared notes on why we run, what kind of running we do and how we stay motivated. The run was over and done with before I knew it and I was soon in the Union Jack Cafe situated across the road from Pete Bland's tucking into good, strong Lakeland tea and bacon buttie!

After more chat in the cafe, which allowed the breakfast to digest I headed over to Abbot Park for the PUMA Bolt 100 and 200 challenge, organised by VO2 Max events who organise the Puma Lakeland Trails events. The park was ablaze with PUMA branded red and white flags, inflatable arch and tent, and a course marked out in a 1km loop. A local musician, Pete Lashley, was providing live entertainment for runners and locals who were enjoying the sunshine and warm weather in the park.

The challenge we were given was to, either cover one lap in 9mins and 58 seconds, or two laps in 19mins 19 seconds (Bolt's world records for 100m and 200m are 9:58secs and 19:19 respectively). For all those that achieved the target time there was a PUMA goody bag awaiting containing items such as pedometers, sweatband and water bottles. There were to be four opportunities to try it on the Saturday and another four on the Sunday. The "races" started at 41 minutes past the hour from 11:41am onwards.

The first run of the weekend probably had the fewest runners in it but, as the day went on, the crowds were drawn in from the surrounding area and the great thing about this was that many had never experienced running a race and so had their first taste of running with other people, aiming at a target and realising how much fun you can have putting one foot in front of the other! I noticed a few people standing back and watching on the Saturday and then turning up on the Sunday with footwear they could run in and a number pinned onto their front!

Sunday also brought another kind of runner. Several children from local running clubs had heard about the event and came down to beat Bolt's time - they made light work of it too - and we were also joined by PUMA sponsored Susan Partridge who told us that she had not run a step since winning a team bronze medal in the Marathon at the European Cup in Barcelona a couple of weeks ago. She decided to stretch her legs at this event and brought her medal to show the crowds. She was accompanied by her training partner, Piper, who is a German Pointer. He was almost as big an attraction as she was!

I covered a fair number of miles over the weekend. I did the Breakfast Run plus a 1km challenge yesterday and 2 X 2km plus 2 X 1km challenges today. The greatest thing about the weekend, though was seeing people who would not normally consider going for a run joining in and finding that it is not as difficult as they thought it might be and is actually a lot of fun! Who knows, some of them may be searching the runbritain calendar now to see where they can find this much fun again!