Since coming back to running in early September and finding out how much fitness you really do lose by not doing anything all summer I needed a goal to get back into the way of it. I don't know what other people do but I need a race or challenge so that I can focus on training. Without it I find it easy to miss days and not give it my all. With Debbie and I planning on visiting my brother Paul and his girlfriend Gillian in Bournemouth it seemed a great place to also do a 10k where I wouldn't know anyone and so have false expectations of trying to keep up with them. Perfect.
So training started in September after being fixed up by Frank from Sports Medicine Science at Hampden I was then instructed to only run 100m at a time. Training with the lunch crowd I noticed they all now ran at International Standard or perhaps it was that I was just so slow now that I was just miles behind where they and I used to be. But the beauty of starting from scratch is that you quickly make fantastic gains and although they were slow to come by at the beginning by the start of November every week I was getting faster and my endurance better. Even so I knew that a 10k was going to hurt. With no 10k under my belt in over a year as well I had also forgotten how to race them too. Some people might think that is strange but I really think that if you don't continually race a distance you forget how to race it and have to relearn it by racing it a few times to get back to your best.
Anyway enough gibber gabber. Back to the race weekend. Disaster nearly struck when Cairn was sent home for nursery with Chicken Pox and Debbie decided to stay at home to look after the wee man. I was torn what to do and so with a heavy heart I travelled to Bournemouth myself.
Paul and Gillian have been fantastic and it has been great down here. I was getting worried by how much steak I have been eating though and how that would affect the race. When I arrived I had steak, for dinner I had steak, for lunch, yes steak. I have to admit though Paul cooks damn good steak. He also knows a butcher that sells (what I now hope is steak from a cow) very cheap. Seriously though I have eaten very well down here and they have both made me feel so welcome. Both Paul and Gillian are fab cooks. I have had lovely chicken soup, banana cake and tablet. Yum. I needed a 10k to make space for more home cooking.
Race morning came and I was shitting myself. Thankfully not because of the steak and also thankfully not literally as the water was off in the flat for maintenance and that would be embarrassing not being able to flush the toilet.
So we arrived at the stadium for the start of the race. Paul started to point out some fast looking guys to me. "he should win" or "keep up with that guy cause he does about 36mins". Although I wanted this to just be a fun run I was now getting into race mode and was sussing out the runners. Trying to figure them out. What could they do. But I wanted a conservative start so I just positioned myself in the middle of the pack and waited for the race to start.
It was a strange start. All of a sudden a klaxon sounded and away we went round the track. The runners quickly fanned out though and by the end of the loop around the track the front guys had formed a pack of 5 and were galloping off. There was another group of about 6 about 20m just in front of me. I looked at my watch and I was doing 5:40. Too fast. So I reigned it in a bit and relaxed. I felt fantastic. Now running 5:50s I noticed that the group in front weren't gaining any distance and I was now in no mans land between them and whoever was behind. So I picked up the pace and slotted behind the 2nd group of runners.
Perfect. As we ran through an expensive housing estate the wind would come and go and being tucked in helped me here. This was when I noticed the runner that Paul had pointed out to me who was "about 36 min". The thought now entered my mind that I could get 36 mins. The group started to break up now so I moved forward and kept with the lead 2 or 3.
Still this felt easy and relaxed. There was a long way to go and I was worried about the last 2 miles. I hadn't raced at this intensity for a while and I knew it was gonna hurt then.
The route was not an easy one. I had been told this before the race but as I ran through the housing estate that was far from my mind. Then we hit the first hill. I am seriously crap at hills at the moment. Really bad. The Killers Hill session a few weeks back had me crying for my mummy as I struggled round the loop. So it was a big surprise when we hit that first hill and the group collapsed and I found myself at he front and still feeling good. At the top though I slowed a bit intentionally and a couple of the runners caught back up. I still wanted to run in a group and didn't feel ready to go it alone yet.
The course was now getting a bit harder. Under an underpass and then a sharp turn and through barriers. There was a lot of wee sharp turns. I didn't mind the slowing down for them. It was the speeding back up that hurt.
Then we hit the big hill of the run at about 4 miles. A half mile slog up a steep hill just when you are starting to feel it at 4 miles. Again though I seemed to be fitter on the hill and the group collapsed again and I found my self alone. Also I started to see that the front group had collapsed too and a couple of runners that had gone off too fast had been spat out the back and looked like they were struggling.
Now the race was going through trail paths with sharp downhills that made my tired quads scream. Now I could feel the effort and my HR monitor was agreeing. It was now reaching 170. I expected that at this point in a race though. I caught one of the lead pack runners.
Then there was a grass section up a steep embankment. My quads turned to jelly but it wasn't too long and we were back on trail. Then back under the underpass and the dreaded barriers.
On the other side it was back into housing estate. I was caught by a runner who seemed shocked when I shouted well done to him. Maybe that's an ultra running thing talking to the competition. :-)
Only one mile to go and some cheeky sharp uphills through the estate. I was gaining a bit with the runner that had overtaken me but when we got to the stadium he kept the distance from me. The last section was so windy going round the track again.
So that was it. I finished in 36:27. Very happy with that and I think I would have been closer to 36 dead on a flatter course. But that is for another day. :-)
Paul finished not long after in 40:39 and Gillian in 1:03. Both a little slower than last year but happy with how they did.
I would certainly do the race again. A hard wee course but good and friendly.
Coming down and seeing Paul and Gillian and spending the weekend with them has been fab.
