we had a briefing in a warm tent and then headed for the start, we had chip timing bracelet thingies which i had mine on my ankle, it kicks in when you cross the mat at the start and when you finish so gives an accurate time, i had my garmin on anyway so i could see the route we had taken on here the dark side run.
we all set off slowly heading through the car park down towards the main road, there were Marshalls stopping the traffic as 171 runners, some dressed as Christmas crackers ran across the road and away we went, into the forest. i decided to start off fairly slowly as id never run in the dark before, i didn't know what the ground was going to be like, beforehand i was worried we'd be running through dense trees but then common sense prevailed and i thought we'd be running on the many wide tracks the walkers use, which we did thankfully. the first mile or so was quite firm, a few slippy parts and i thought great this isn't too bad, i had got into a steady pace not to many people were overtaking me, mainly coz i started near the back anyway, i was running close to one young lady when we went down a slope, there was a sharp left turn and at the bottom there was the first mud of the night, not too thick but i had to push the young lady head first into it as she just stopped in front of me.....joking, she did stop all girly like, i don't think she wanted to get her trainers dirty, i managed to stay upright even though it was quite slippy which i am pleased about. the mud was sporadic and towards the middle of the race i found my legs getting a little tired and heavy, not sure if its because i wear knee length calf socks for a bit of extra support but anyway i carried on determined not to stop running as i have sometimes had to in the past. there were a few short sharp inclines but there was always a decline to compensate for that where i could open my legs a bit. i didn't look at my garmin but could hear it ping when id done each mile, once id heard the 4th ping i knew i only had a mile to do so tried to speed up a little bit but save some energy for the finish line, it was as i sped up that i hit the thick mud, there as no escape, i leapt from one side to another of the track to avoid it but it was there too, at one point i thought my trainer was coming on, stuck fast in the mud but i clung on to it and eventually after about 15 meters the mud finished. there was then a climb and i could hear traffic and people shouting so once id got to the top i opened my legs a bit with my eyes fixed on the light in front of me, id just overtaken a 6 foot tall bloke walking which made me feel good, he obviously didn't have the mental stamina of an elite athlete like me ;-) so i began to close in on the light in front of me, the final corner turned into an uphill climb to the finish, i was closer to the light now, i could just make out a pony tail swishing from side to side so presumed it was a woman and with 100 yards to go i picked up my knees and tried my hardest to catch her, i did and then i just wanted to get the fastest time i could so a big effort got me over the line, PHEW, i was hot, a Marshall grabbed me to take my timing chip off me, took him over a minute as he said id put it on wrong, hurry up man i need water, he got it off and i grabbed my medal off a figure in the dark and headed to the tent for some water. there i picked up my uninspiring goody bag which had an energy sachet and a pair of magic gloves, what sort of magic i can do in them i don't know!!
so there you have it, my dark side run in Delamere forest was complete, i did it in an official time of 53 Min's 24 seconds, i came in 44th out of 52 in my age category and 128th out of 171 overall here's me at the bottom
where to next? 10k's next year and the Chester half marathon
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