Here’s my review which will also appear on www.therunningbug.co.uk, along with an article offering up the Coach’s top Tips

Town of Runners is a documentary about a small rural town in Ethiopia, which, thanks to one man has produced eight gold medalists and a feeling of hope for the youngsters growing up in this impoverished world

This beautifully filmed documentary spanning three years does what UK documentaries do best: it tells a story about humanity. Themes of passion, belief, courage, hard work and commitment, friendship and family, unfold as the cameras roll in the Town Of Runners.

Film-maker Jerry Rothwell and his small team (including an intern producer who came up with the idea) have produced a film, which like life itself has many layers, and stories running along side each other.

The focus is on two young female athletes, Hawii and Alemi, both 14 and best friends, trying to run their way to success and to ‘fame’. And through their struggles, the highs and the lows, we hear the town’s story, and the story of sporting endeavor.

Jerry’s film starts in 2008 as the town gathers enthusiastically in a packed local bar to cheer on their neighbours running (and winning medals) at the Beijing Olympics, capturing the unique character of this remote community.

The narrator is Biruk also a runner. He’s a boy who works in his Grandmother’s kiosk selling soap and sweets, and he watches the world ripple by. Scenes change with each season and from summer to winter the town is transforming. In the three years a road is built by the Chinese, a mobile phone tower is erected (Biruk says it won’t catch on, as no one has a phone) and a hotel built – all moves to connect the town to the rest of the world. Meanwhile, Biruk’s voice breaks, his kiosk becomes a co-op, and eventually changes hands so by the end of the film he’s gone from wanting to be a doctor to dabbling with computers.

The central story is about the work of Coach Sentayehu Eshetu, who heads the group that makes this the Town Of Runners. Amazingly, from this tiny town, he has created a disproportionate number of Gold medalists, including double Olympic gold medal winners Tirunesh Dibaba and Kenenisa Bekele – and he has three hopefuls for 2012.

There are 243 runners in the running group, from the age of 12 up. They meet five days a week and the Coach conducts a warm up for the group, beautifully filmed by director Jerry Rothwell and it does, as Jerry himself says, look just like a crafted and choreographed dance.

The Coach can only take the runners so far after which teenage athletes are selected for clubs hundreds of miles from home. Running is for survival in Ethiopia – there’s no fun running and when the chance of a professional career is over, then so is the running.

This film shows that there are raw universal laws of running – the desire to win, the joy and freedom of running, the camaraderie of competition – and when harnessed and nurtured, it’s these laws that can override poverty and even hunger.

For six weeks I did what my friend Julia calls ‘maintenance’ mileage, I call it ‘keeping me sane’ mileage, but this lower mileage, combined with moving house and generally being knackered, means I’m back to building!

All is not lost and after six weeks what I consider to be off (but actually averaged 29 miles, including just nine miles in the week I moved) I’m in a routine again. I did a threshold run of 11 miles last week and a speed session – both were a bit slower than they were before my break, but from experience I know that in another six weeks, with a consistent training schedule, good food, sleep etc, I’ll be back on track.

So it’s back to the marathon drawing board. The goal is Berlin on September 30th – a nice, neat 20 weeks of training lie ahead. I’ve entered the St Alban’s Half Marathon on June 10th and will ‘race myself fit’ (as running friend and prolific racer, Sam says)…

Did you miss out on your Spring Marathon? If so, what’s your comeback plan… I’d love to hear, either comment below, or tweet @therunninged

In this batch of marathon training, I’ve done three big races, two half marathons and a 20 mile race. Each race has brought its own unique challenge.

Brighton was a PB for me, according to my Garmin I ran 6:40 pace for 13.55 miles – and the course was a bit long! Then at Eastbourne I struggled round in the wind and the rain and ran 1.32 feeling knackered and a bit deflated, but convincing myself it was ‘just a training run’. And yesterday, I ran Worthing in a PB time of 2.17.58 (a PB by five seconds – but best of all an 80.2 percent age grading!)…. After the race I was delighted, during it, I experienced a combination of feelings and emotions that I’d been through separately in the previous two races.

In the first five-mile lap I wanted to give up. I hadn’t warmed up so my body was leaden and once again I was running feeling tired. In the week leading up to the run I’d eased back on running hard, and just ran 43 slow miles, and I’d slept brilliantly the night before (I was in bed by 9pm!). But the mileage, a busy work week and the renovation had taken its toll, so, even though I’m feeling fit – there’s no hiding from a busy week when you hit the streets and try to race hard!

I told myself I’d run 15 miles, and that would still be good training. Come the second lap, and I seemed to settle into the race. I decided early on not to check my splits, just see what my body could do. I didn’t want to be demotivated if I was running over seven-minute mile pace. So I just ran. At 10 miles I saw the clock, 1.08.05! Great! I worked out I only had to keep seven minute mile pace going for the next 10 miles and I’d be within the PB range! Great… and off I went, slowing down, not looking at my watch, but relaxed…

I kept in the mile I was in. I was pleased to run a good mile, and realized that would help with the whole. And I tried not to be swayed by the bad miles. I concentrated and I kept going – and even tried to keep smiling (although a very nice man had to remind me to smile again on the fourth lap ‘where’s the smile?’ he shouted). I got to the end of it, a few bad moments, some great moments and some just keeping going moments…

In the last month I’ve run two half marathons. In Brighton we all ran a bit extra, but my amended time gave me a PB of 1:28:17 for 13.1 miles, and according to my Garmin I ran at 6:40 pace. It’s a tale of ‘two Halfs’ and two weeks later in Eastbourne I couldn’t replicate the performance and had to be satisfied with a good ‘training’ run covering the 13.1 mile course at around seven-minute-mile pace in a time of 1:32:03, and rounding off my weekly mileage total to 70.

We had a great turnout. Here’s the results link and within it I found some of our members with some amazing times. Let me know if I missed you off the list:

If you’re not a member email us via our contact form with your mobile number to receive our weekly updates. Where we meet is listed below but if you have any questions please do get in touch via text: 07825 993 228. 

The price is £15 per month. For UKA affiliation you must pay by Standing order – ask Mike for details.

DON’T FORGET CIRCUITS BY THE SEA, TUESDAY AT 615AM AND FRIDAY AT 6PM! And Core training session before Running group. Text Mike: 07825 993 228

Sunday runs: informal runs arranged weekly

Wednesday 7th March 

Where? The Western Lawns

Pyramid session: 1 lap, 2 laps, 3 laps, 3 laps, 2 laps, 1 lap (each lap is 600m); 60 second recovery after one and two laps, 90 seconds after three.

Wednesday 14th March 

Where? Western Lawns

3  [4 x 400m with one minute recovery] 400 jog between each set

Wednesday 21st March  

Where? Seafront/RNLI

“Split miles”

4 x  [1000m, 1 minute recovery, 600m 1 minute recovery]

Wednesday 28th March 

Where? Western Lawns

12 x 300m with 100m jog recovery – continuous

Wednesday 4th April 

Where? Seafront/RNLI loop

Beginning of the month 5k time trial

Wednesday 11th April – Sunday 17th April Brighton Marathon

Where? Seafront

200 fast, 200 back slow

400 fast, 400 back slow

600 fast, 600 back slow

800 fast, 800 back slow

600 fast, 600 back slow

Wednesday 25th April 

Where? Western Lawns

1 minute on – 30 second recovery

90 seconds – 1 minute recovery

3 minutes – 1 minute recovery

6 minutes – 90 second recovery

6 minutes – 90 second recovery

3 minutes – 1 minute recovery

90 seconds – 1 minute recovery

1 minute – FINISH

CHECK OUT WWW.SUSSEXRACES.CO.UK FOR RACE INFORMATION OR WWW.SUSSEXATHLETICS.ORG