Last Sunday I took part in 10k run in Delamere Park, Cheshire. I had only done a couple of runs before hand since my latest injury, so I was determined to go slowly and make sure I got round in one piece. I arrived early to a slightly snowy Delamere, it didnt last long it soon turned to cold rain, there was also an icy wind blowing so I stayed wrapped up in my thick fleece, Ron Hill running pants, tracksuit, hat and gloves and made my way to the registration tent, signed in and got straight back in my van and put the heating back on.
Slowly but surely the place started filling up, athlete after athlete turned up, looking like Mo Farah and Paula Radcliffe and I felt quite unfit, I am so that wasnt a problem. 30 mins from the start I made my way downt to the start area, I'd text my running friend for last minute advice on energy gels and dextrose tablets and ended up just having an energy drink. It was bitterly cold so I ended up warming up, I dont normally warm up very much but i had a good 20-30 minute warm up running slowly up and down a small grass bank, stretching and keeping as warm as I could. It was lmost time and the 2 warm up girls decided to get everyone moving, I already was so I didnt get involved in the dancing and waving and just wanted the raace to start, I was ready, I was eager, start the flipping race!!!!!
5, 4, 3, 2, 1 Goooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
and we were off, very slowly, too many people in too small a space and there was only 500 of us. The course was a loop through the forest, around a large mere and a lap was 5k, some people had decided on 5k but I had signed up for 10k so had to do 2 laps, the course was reasonably flat but quite muddy and slippy in places, plenty of people were avoiding the puddles, in my eyes they were losing time going around them instead of through them, its this winning attitude that makes me so fast , yeah right.
first lap, once we got going seemed to go quite quickly but I was puffing a bit and wondered should I only do 5k instead of 10, but there was a nagging voice in my head, "DONT GIVE IN", so I kept going past the 5k finish line and there was no going back. I took a bottle of water from the drinks station, bit of a waste of time as the water went more down my top than my throat so I only had a few sips and then threw it by the marshalls post not like the inconsiderate people throwing them wildly into the forest. There were signs at every kilometer and at the 7km marker my achilles was beginning to suffer a little, I wanted to ease off a bit but I also wanted to finish as strong as I could too, so I just plodded on, kept leaning forward and picked a target in front of me, which happened to be a blonde girl about 100 metres in front of me. I got to the 9k marker and tried to speed up a touch, there was the sound of the tannoy at the finish line in the distance and it was getting louder, the blonde was getting closer too, as we took the final bend I made my final push, breathing hrd I overtook the blonde and sort of sprinted as fast as I could for the last 50 yards, i'd made it, I was pooped, I grabbed a medal nd a bottle of water and snuck off back to my van to have a breather and a protein bar. I had finished the run and checked my time, i had done the 5.97 miles in 58 minutes and 34 seconds, I was very pleased with that and a bit surprised it was so fast.
my achilles was sore afterwards and still is today almost a week later and I am planning to run slowly tomorrow morning. my next race isnt until the end of March, 5 miles over the Runcorn Bridge
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