Nick Finney
Jan 19, 2024
It’s that time of year again; sub-zero temperatures, rock-hard running surfaces and a big old tent in Sherwood pines, filled with cakes, tea and treats; Yes, the Rasselbock winter run was back for its third year and this time it was run over two days, making it Eric’s most ambitious event to date.
I signed up for the Saturday only, so I was up at that all too familiar time of stupid o’clock to head up the M1. The bonus for running on Saturday was that you could squeeze in a Parkrun if you arrived early enough, with the Rasselbock event not starting until 10 am. Given it was one I’d not done before, I was very much up for this. There were quite a few Fartlekkers who had the same idea, including the super-speedy Pete Marshall who was the first finisher. Having finished that, I made the fatal mistake of letting myself cool down for half an hour before the six hours of running fun began.
On getting to the start line I realised I’d seized up and started the run a bit like C3-P0 before he had an oil bath. Luckily I had Mc Pauly and then Jamie and David to help get me around the first lap. That done, I then decided to stop for half an hour and consume enough cake, samosas and crisps to fuel at least fifteen more laps of the 5.79km long course. Unfortunately, this did me in and my running for the day was over. I wanted to get up to half marathon distance for the day so I walked another two laps, stopping to chat with some of the lovely marshals (including Paul and Marcia who were hosting a rave at their marshal point).
Although it was not an official Fartlek meet-up, there were a good few familiar faces, and some great efforts were put in. A good few of us met up at the infamous Premier Inn at Mansfield in the evening for food, a few drinks and a lot of laughs.
I headed home on the Sunday but my sources tell me it was another great day of running, with lots of Fartlekkers out on the course again, putting in some sterling efforts. Despite it being so cold, the weather gods at least gave us glorious sunshine and blue skies to run in, making it yet again another fantastic weekend.