After my struggles in races and injury woes last season, and my more recent calf injury scare, the Great Manchester Run 2012 was a comeback and a challenge. My main plan was just to enjoy the atmosphere, run how I felt, and hopefully get a time of around 55 or under. But most of all enjoy the day.
Had not gained any recent experience of running earlier in the day, so wondered how my body would react. Just getting up was a trial in itself and it wasn’t until the second cup of coffee that my brain actually acknowledged that I had got out of bed My plan had been to go in the blue wave if I was running late, but as it happened all was well and I was up in plenty of time to start with the white wave!
On the way into central Manchester another runner sat next to me and we had a chat about training and how hard it was to get sponsors these days, and then he went off to meet his chums and I went to hang out in Manchester Piccadilly station to keep warm and use the loo. The queues were not so bad this year, and I only went once (sometimes I go about 5 times to make sure!) I walked down to the assembly area, wondering whether to pay a final visit in a portaloo, but there were long queues and I felt fine. Until the white wave started to move forward ready to start! At that point he bladder gods decided that they wanted me to make another sacrifice… I resisted the urge, thinking it was probably adrenaline, and that it would go off once I started running. But that 10 minutes or so before I got through to the starting funnel played a few mental tricks on me, and I had visions of having to stop mid race to use the portaloos!!!!
I had the Garmin on, but only showing the time of day and distance. I heard it beep before the first kilometre marker so I was glad I had decided not to pay too much attention to it! The only time I did glance at it the display said 6.66km and it’s surprising how often the number of the beast presents itself to me in random ways like that, eek!
I didn’t feel that I was going particularly fast or slow, but at 4k I was starting to get pretty hot and was breathing hard and wondered if I’d gone off too fast, but I managed to keep going at that pace. I was finding the cheering stations, the music, and the crowds really inspiring, and was enjoying running with others for the first time in ages, and soaking up the atmosphere. By 5k I was feeling pretty relaxed and knew I had enough to reach the end so decided to really get into the spirit of things and made a beeline for the sidelines where I started giving high fives to kids who were holding out their hands, and then I started encouraging adults to give me high fives as well and most good naturedly went along with this! When we hit a sort of techno band/DJ at about 6km I started doing a techno run dance, waving my arms in the air and bobbing my head about. I ran through the shower to cool down, and screamed mock-shocked at the chill! More high fives with kids and grownups, and then on the long stretch to the finish line. With 3k to go I was feeling pretty good, so increased the pace bit by bit, although the race nearly ended in disaster when I turned my head to shout encouragement to a colourful parrot going along the other side of the road, at the same time as someone on front of me decided to stop running so I had to kind of bounce off this chap…
All seemed OK though, and there were more high fives, and then I got my head down as I could see the Beetham Tower getting closer as the finish loomed. I gave the crowds at both sides long thumbs up as a way of thanking them for their support and cheers, and then headed to the finish with a big grin on my face. It probably looked more like a grimace, but I was smiling inside and out because I had really enjoyed the whole thing.
My chip time was 56:45, though on the Garmin I went through 10k in 55:40 so my pace estimate was about right, and what’s an extra minute or 200m anyway?!
I saw something on an advertisement, which said something like “I am made of every stranger who cheered me on today” and that kind of sums up my feelings about the whole thing, and fits into my philosophical views too. Sometimes, all too briefly, we join together and do something good together, and that’s what today was about for me.
And a big thankyou to all those – both friends and strangers – who kindly sponsored me, I think I ended up raising more than last year in the end
Handed an assignment in today, so needed to celebrate, and what better way than an evening run in the sun! Was aware that I have a busy couple of days Fri and Sat so won’t be able to run, so wanted to make this one count.
My target was 10k, at a leisurely pace, so set off not quite sure of a route, and ran down a street I’d not been to the end of before, only to find it coming out at the big hill I ran down the other day, so some impromptu hills followed, along with a little trail stretch past Broomstairs nursery and then another uphill. Began to feel quite in the zone at 6k and despite slowing down posted a sub 6 minute km, and had to keep slowing myself more, because the idea was not to go at breakneck speed and possibly injure myself, but just to get around 6.2 miles!
Legs and bum felt a bit numb at one point, but kept going, my strides deliberately short and heel striking, rather than trying to stretch the legs and run on my toes, at this stage was generating quite enough pace. Had to stop a few times for traffic, but didn’t really mind, and at one point a fierce looking dog came up to me in my path, so I stopped and stroked it and it licked my leg, and it’s owner said “you keep on running” so I did. Felt just fine, running very comfortably, and could have upped the pace but felt no need to at this stage.
Last bit was uphill, and coasted to a stop on just over 1 hour 3 minutes, which is a season’s best by 3 minutes and an achievement in itself as I haven’t got to 10k many times since last summer, in fact the only time I’ve run 10k that fast in months and months was the Salford 10k 2011 and I really struggled with that one!
It seems to be clicking and ironically the rest I had with the calf injury probably did me a world of good! I am learning to run within myself, as I could easily have pushed to try to run under an hour, but at the moment the minutes are falling off my times without hardly trying, I am feeling good when running, and hopefully I can save the big performances for races!
Decided it would be a good idea to try getting up to 10k, and it seemed a fitting way to mark my early bird entry to the City of Manchester/We Love Manchester 10k later in the summmer.
Left the house and it was pretty cold and a bit misty with a threat of rain in the air. Set off down the road walking to warm up while I got a Garmin signal – and walked, and walked, and walked, by the time I had walked about 600m I was getting a bit frustrated as time was starting to slip by. Eventually it got a signal and I set off, aware I was going a bit too quick and also aware of a bit of pain in my feet and lower legs, which seemed to be down to the freezing concrete.
Planned a long looping route that takes in a lot of roads, and not a lot else, but there are a few big inclines over motorway bridges and the like. At 2.5k felt ok, but a bit puffy, and had to keep slowing myself down, reminding myself that the only aim was to reach 10k, not run it in any particular time. Was going OK but when I got to one of the big inclines I wilted a bit and stopped to get my breath, before ploughing on, and would have to stop a couple of times more just to collect my breath. I saw the canal was totally frozen over at one point so it was maybe colder than I thought.
I did start to struggle in the latter stages – after all, I had only just done a fastest of season 5 miler a few days ago and have not run more than 5 miles for a few months. But I kept going, and by the time the Garmin got to 9.7k I was ready for falling over, but somehow staggered the last few hundred metres to post a respectable (at this stage) 1 hour 6 minutes and 40 seconds.
I have the distance, the idea now is to steadily bring the 10k time down with a view to running a good time in the Great Manchester Run, and of course I now have another bite of the cherry later in the year in the We Love Manchester 10k. I may even enter some more races at this rate!
With the last 2 runs not being quite what I expected, I tried to lay their ghosts to rest and start with a clean slate. Was up early, having not really slept much. Last race I took some Nytol the night before to ensure sleep, but wondered if it had interfered with performance, so this time settled for a restless 6 hours with the saturday night wailers penetrating the ear plugs at times… Had breakfast of porridge then went to get the bus, then hopped on the Metrolink to Harbour City in Salford Quays, seeing some of the Manchester Frontrunners on the tram and a couple of others too, so I knew I was heading in the right direction (last time I got a taxi but the tram is rather cheaper at £2.20!)
My friend Chris had texted me that she was there already, so looked out for her but couldn’t see her, headed to the loos in the Lowry Outlet Mall, and when I came out saw Neil and Dawn in the distance so was nice to catch up with them a little. Wasn’t long to go at that point, so we went and lined up, and there was a bit of a delay as a big boat had gone through one of the adjustable bridges, and as we were running over it we had to wait for it to be lowered again!
So we set off and I kept to a sedate pace at first, running how I felt and feeling OK, wondering if this would be the race where the training actually paid off. Was quite cool and cloudy which was a help. Anyway, we went through MediaCityUk and out into the industrial part of Salford Quays approaching Trafford. My Garmin bleeped and I couldn’t resist a peak at the KM time – it read 4:40 for the 2nd km, so far so good I thought, I felt I wasn’t going hard and could maintain that pace. However, a good while after that the official 2k marker came up and it wasn’t long before I realised that the Garmin had gone a bit crazy and was short counting for some reason (when I looked back, they were all out after that one, including one that I did in 3:30 – yeah right!). So good job I wasn’t really relying on it!
At about 4k the great Ron Hill overtook me and as I know Ron runs about 50-52 pace these days, and he went past me quite quickly, I got a bit dispirited, but resolved to keep keeping on. Got past the 5k mark and someone shouted out 28 something, it was some way past the 5k mark but I kind of thought that was pretty slow considering my perceived effort at that point. Got a bottle of water at the drinks station and then really started to struggle as I saw the runners coming back the other way. Stopped and walked a few times to take a drink. Made it down the long stretch to 7k then turned around the little roundabout, and kind of jog-shuffle-walked for the next 2k.
Got to the last bridge and could see the end in sight but had no pace left at all, just forced myself to keep going up over the bridge, knowing this course has a cruel little trick whereby you run straight at the finish line, then turn and there’s actually another km to go in a loop before you actually get to it, along a tree line boulevard. Saw Neil as I turned the corner and he shouted some encouragement. I sped up past a veteran lady, and then realised I could only hold that gear for about 20 seconds and there was a long way to go, so I slowed and she caught me again, and we duelled a little until the last stretch, when I was able to put on a finishing burst that was pretty fast and powerful, and won the duel, but had my heart hammering and I felt sick for a few minutes on finishing. Was nice to have my name read out as I crossed the line. Was so off the pace I didn’t even bother to stop the haywire Garmin (which was probably caused by a lot of winding in between tall buildings early on) but the official time eventually came out as 57:39. Which wasn’t awful, but 4 minutes slower than last time I did this race, and well off the pace of the City of Manchester 10k. Wasn’t really an improvement on last week’s race, as am sure I would have been over an hour if there had been a few hills! But it was flat as a pancake really!
Had a chat with Neil then went to get my goody bag, and then saw Chris lining up for hers so Neil went off to find Dawn who was doing some shopping, and I caught up with Chris while we had a coffee. Caught a few of the presentations and then it was time to go home and I went off feeling rather tired and deflated, without a good time to finish my 10k season, but at least no nasty injury!
I know have to figure out what went wrong over the last month. Possibly my half marathon training run took more out of me than I thought, although I did rest very sensibly afterwards, and I tapered somewhat down tot he final 2 10ks of the season, to no avail. I’m also aware that I’ve not done many all out 5k time trials this season (in fact none!) and this may have taken off some of my edge and mental toughness – I do wonder if it was partly to try to protect myself from another injury that I’ve unconsciously been trying to take it easier than I have in the past!
Oh well! Time will tell. Will now get in some base miles and enjoy it a little bit (after a rest of course) and maybe start doing some 1 mile and 5k time trials once recovered, to see if I improve over the next few months! And then maybe enter the Stockport 10 mile and possibly even the Wilmslow half next year…
Given my training this year, with long runs, and a sub 54 in my last race, and feeling good in the week, I had some hopes of a reasonable time in this race, possibly sub 52. But it was really not meant to be!
It was quite a chilly morning, I had to stand in the sunlight at the bus stop just to stop shivering, and was glad to get on the warm bus! Got to the venue in plenty of time and did the usual stuff of milling around and finding the toilets, before doing a gentle jogging warmup and joining in with the mass warmup a little bit.
They lined us up in 3 waves, fast at the front, medium, and walkers etc – though I wasn’t really sure what fast or medium meant so just put myself a few rows back. We had a countdown, then the horn didn’t go off, then it did, and off we all went! I started the Garmin but just had it set to show the time, and set off running how I felt, trying not to go too fast early on.
There was a bit of an incline then a descent, where I gathered speed, and then another descent. Then, as I thought, the payoff was some hills going the other way. I took these slowly, determined to conserve a bit of energy for the second half of the race, and tried to go back to a more normal pace when coming off the top of them.
At around 3k I tucked in behind another runner, and had a mini race with her, sharing the work, and it felt like we were doing a pretty decent pace, I was starting to breathe hard, but kept going, then we came to some more hills. When we got to 5k I glanced at the Garmin and to my chagrin in was showing 10.30 as the time. The race had started bang on 10, so it looked like my pace was actually horrendously slow… A little further on there was water station, I stopped to get a quick drink, at which point my companion seemed to speed off into the distance, I could see her for a while after that, and set myself a challenge of trying to catch her again, but it wasn’t happening. At about 7k there was a squall of torrential rain, which I would normally relish, but just found it irritating as it washed suncream into my eyes. By that point I had given up on the race, really, and decided to just use it as preparation for next weekend’s season finale – there was no point trying to push the pace and risk an injury. My Garmin felt much the same as when I glanced at the time for a prediction of just how bad my time would be, I saw that it had died in protest!! I got overtaken by people who had been a long way behind me, tried to stay with them, but couldn’t. By 9k I just wanted to see the finish line and stop, I walked a bit, a lady from the Steel City Striders gave me some encouragement, which helped me to actually run the last half km of the race.
As I approached the finish arch I saw the clock, I was surprised in fact that it was only just over the hour, as in my head I had got the time to 1hr 15 minutes!!! I smiled to myself as the PA man said “Stop being so casual about it number 46″ as I guess I had just gone into a nonchalant jogging mode and to be honest had nothing left!
Felt really shattered after getting my t-shirt, and after cheering in some more runners, went and got a coffee in the cafe tent and sat mulling things over. I really had felt I was doing a half decent pace, and have run close to 50 minutes on courses with worse hills, and even my most unpleasant race ever which included the Vernon park mega hill 3 times on a monstrously humid evening, had not resulted in a time over one hour (in fact 55 mins I think). So I have no idea what happened apart from the fact it was just an off day. My last race was sub 54 in blistering heat, and I have done quite a bit of training since then, so didn’t really expect to run my SLOWEST EVER 10k race!
At this stage there is not much to be done before the City of Salford 10k next weekend, but once that’s done maybe I need to look at the drawing board again. I have complained of feeling slower in my intervals this year compared to last, maybe I am just getting slower. One thing I have not done this year is much in the way of 5k time trials, or tempo runs, so maybe that has been my achilles’ heel, or maybe I just had a bad day.
Will see how Salford goes. At least it will be very much flatter!
My third race of the season (and my third outing to the City of Manchester 10k) began with a largely sleepless night, went to bed quite late and couldn’t seem to get off, then woke early. Fortunately this meant I got up in plenty of time to have coffee and breakfast! Was looking forward to seeing Neil and Dawn at the race, and also Chris.
It looked like it was going to be a scorcher. I chose to wear my Nike running singlet, and spent a bit of time liberally applying factor 50 to all the exposed flesh which included pretty much all of my head and face! Got the bus up the road then towards east Manchester, and had fun walking past the building where I used to work. Arrived at Sportcity and spotted some toilets, so joined a line, finding the athleticism it took for some to hold a faulty door shut while using said toilet to be somewhat admirable… I chose to use the one without the broken lock
I headed into the indoor track where I have seen Neil and Dawn before, but no luck, and tried to spot Neil at the front but no luck either. Positioned myself relatively near the front and we waited while they allowed the ladies’ loo queue to diminish so they could join the field. The sun was already starting to feel hot as the Lord Mayor of Manchester got us underway, and I set off at a gentle pace as we wound around the track. I had the Garmin set to just show the distance and the time of day. As usual at this race, the Garmin clicked over 1km long before the official marker, I accidently saw the lap time which was 5:01 – so a little quick, but I decided to ignore the bleeps after that.
Even 2k in it started to become clear just how hot it was going to be, I could see people tearing off in front of me, felt they were going far too quickly, but just ran my own race and resisted the temptation to speed up early on, as I knew by the end I would be suffering hugely if I ran the first half of the race too quickly in the sun. At 4k I was starting to get really puffy, but just held my pace, and at 5k a chap asked me what time we were roughly on, but I couldn’t tell him, I also asked him if he knew if there was a drinks station as my mouth had started to get dry, he didn’t know, and said he needed to catch up to his friend, and off he went.
At some point, maybe after 6km, there was a sign or someone said water ahead. Eventually we got to the water, and I took a bottle, which was a plastic bottle with its top off. I stopped to take a drink, and poured a little over me which gave me a shiver, and then ran with the bottle for a bit, stopping every now and then to drink until it was finished. By that point there was just over 7k to go, so I knew I could complete the race and the heat hadn’t devastated me, though it certainly felt tough running out there.
I ran in the shade of some trees for a short while and the Garmin went a little crazy and didn’t move, in fact by this point it had been behind the KM markers anyway. I didn’t really care, just needed to run how I felt, and did stop a few times to get my breath, particularly up the last hill, and I could see the stadium and hear the announcer saying 50 minutes had just ticked over. I knew then I was going to make sub 55, which had been my target, and thought I could maybe get around 54, so just maintained my pace, and although people were doing mad sprints for the line I really didn’t have much left so just went at a decent pace. I looked out for Neil cheering me in like he usually does but there was no sign, and Neil and Dawn weren’t at the finish line (they said they’d wait, but no sign, so I figured maybe Neil had to pull out).
In any case, I’d done it in 53:48, over 4 minutes off my Great Manchester Run time, and I was even more pleased to have smashed 55 minutes in such heat. I thought I could catch my friend Chris coming in, and went and cheered in loads of runners, but no sign of her, so wondered if she had turned up either I chatted to a bloke about the oases of the shady bits and the water station, and cheered in lots more runners, then headed back to the start line and cheered more people in and observed with some concern the people in ambulances – it was so hot that people had been collapsing with the heat and dehydration and breathing problems I felt really fresh and buzzy once I had got my breath back, and enjoyed wandering around, then had a bit of banter with the elites as they went up to get their prizes. I watched the toddler’s race and presentation before finally drifting away.
Got home in time for Wimbledon final, and looked up Neil’s name on the results page – he’d done it in 39:01 so it looks like he was there, but they didn’t wait around at the finish line, so I don’t know what happened. It also turned out that Chris had done really well and got well under the hour, so she hadn’t come in that far behind me – so had finished by the time I got to the stadium entrance to cheer her in.
So a day of achieved times but missed friends, but all in all I had a fab day, and really enjoyed the sense of having survived the heat and achieved another milestone for the season. I have begun to think it may be possible to go sub 50 again before the end of September, who knows – I have entered the East Manchester Legacy Event 10k, and am looking around for other races. Who knows, the Offerton 10k is happening this Wednesday, couple of years ago I ran that a few days before the City of Manchester one… I will see how I feel and maybe roll up for an on the day entry. Will see!
The day before had been derailed by some pesky hackers deleting various websites of mine or defacing them, so ended up trying to sort that out till late, rather than relaxing, and as a result got to bed late and probably got 4-5 hours at most.
Woke up, got up, and felt very groggy. Looked cold, and grey, and miserable outside. Got some toast and marmite and half an oaty flapjack down me then set off for the bus, which seemed to be late, so jogged round the corner to the next stop and eventually the bus came. For some reason there were no other runners getting on the bus, or on the bus, this year, normally there are quite a few, maybe they got on later.
Decided to hang out at Piccadilly Rail Station, and had great fun and games with the toilets with no paper in the paper holders… But got sorted eventually, then for some reason got caught short when I got to the start line so used a portaloo after the warmup and the queues weren’t too bad…
The field was quite dense and there was no way I was going to be able to push through to the front of the wave as planned, so I decided to just go with the flow, the Green Wave went off, and I switched on the Garmin, I was standing next to some guys dressed as Austin Powers, and oddly enough on the other side of me were two people wearing daffodil heads identical to the one I wore last year!
Then we were off, I crossed the mats and started the Garmin, and started to enjoy the atmosphere and the feeling of racing for the first time in a long time. I did a lot of overtaking, Garmin said I was going really slowly, but wasn’t sure, and didn’t really care, just wanted to enjoy it all, and felt good as the first K marker came up, and good as we went out on to Chester Road. I was overtaking many, many people, and saw a few 75 minute pacers around, I knew I would probably be under an hour so was just running my own race. Got to 4k and the drinks station past Old Trafford, took a bottle of water and drank it, then prepared for the long run back into central Manchester. Gave some kids high fives and gave Superman bloke a thumbs up, then started to pick up the pace, said “WoW!” to some blue Indian chaps, who seemed to appreciate it, then concentrated on the final straight, still feeling good with 3k to go.
I wanted to pick the pace up more, but did start to hurt a bit by that point, I’d caught up with the Green Wave by that point (who started some half an hour before me), there were people flying past me, I just tried to keep up the pace. With 800m to go I put on a burst of speed that had me going at 4:08 per k, but I couldn’t sustain it. My Garmin ticked over 10k in about 57 mins (which I had predicted based on my current training) and the finish arch was still a distant mirage. I was petering out a little but gave one last push, grimacing hard to get every last drop out of myself. I made it over the line in an official time of 57:50 and it took me a while to recover.
I nipped home and had a shower, before returning to town to catch the second half of the Great Manchester City Games 2011, and got a nice vantage point near the end, where I got some close up glimpses of Jessica Ennis, Tyson Gay, and the other runners, including Haile Gebrselassie who was doing a final interview, when asked if he would come back, he said “Sure!”.
The weather was crap, but it didn’t put a damper on the day, the atmosphere, the people, or my spirits one bit
Got up quite early and put the Virgin London Marathon on the tv. Noticed it was sunny outside. The elites finished their races in the time it took me to fully wake up, drink coffee, and eat breakfast! But I was quite inspired to try a run in the sun.
Splashed on the sun cream and donned my shorts and blue Nike tick running top. Went out and let the Garmin find a signal, then set off feeling OK but a little weird, having not run since the precious sunday. I ran through Victoria park and then out through Dane Bank. Was wondering if I could make 5k at that point as felt a bit puffy. At 2k I felt a jolt of pain in my hip and back but it just seemed to be a spasm and went away – and at that point I started wondering about running 10k. After all, I have done quite a lot of running lately and maybe my approach has been a bit hyper cautious – it’s not like my legs will have softened up or anything. I was getting hot at 5k and glad I had taken a bottle of water with me, took some sips after I got delayed at a road crossing, and had doubled back so I could go down the road that leads back to one of the main roads in and out of Manchester.
Safe in the knowledge I had my trusty travel pass with me I kept going, feeling the heat, feeling it in my legs, but keeping going. I thought if the London Marathoners could do 26.2 miles today, I could managed 6.2 I got a bit lost, took a sip of water, and ended up in a very cosmopolitan part of South East Manchester… running through Levenshulme and into Longsight I had a burst of speed and then had to slow down, staggered over a kerb then got my balance, and eventually crawled down to about 12 minute mile pace, but I did it, I had run 10k… I jumped on a bus and eventually got home, after noticing a parade of mocked up London buses going bast the roundabout at the Manchester Apollo…
And I realised that today was also the day of the Bolton 10k, where I got that awful injury a year ago that ruined all my running plans for so long. It was as if I came full circle, and back to full form.
The Great Manchester Run is only weeks away and I know I can run the distance now. Just need to take it steady and see how close I can get to around 55 minutes. Have also entered the City of Manchester 10k in July, and spotted one or two more local races. Feeling good now!
And now here is THE video of the Great Manchester run 2010 – the one and only daffodil waving, saluting and bowing to the adoring crowds. Muchly amusing
I wandered lonely as a daffodil – is that how the poem went?
I had been aware of the fact, ever since the Bolton 10k, that my season’s preparations were in tatters, and that the next race, the Great Manchester Run, being a bit of a ritual for me, and for charity, could be in some jeopardy So at some point my twisted mind gave birth to the idea of joining the fancy dress fun runners, and not long after, the concept of running it as a daffodil sprung up (pardon the pun!) – I was running to raise funds for Marie Curie Cancer Care after all! So I started sourcing the goods to make it all happen! I got my race pack, and was in the white wave, but on the day just had to elect to run in the pink wave. Well, walk in the pink wave, with my right leg buggered to buggery, there was no way I would be running
And so it was not going to be a day for fast running, PB’s, or anything serious – but a day to savour the atmosphere of Britain’s premiere 10k, the Great Manchester Run, and just enjoy being out and running with 36,000 other runners. My eve of race ritual was a little different, concentrating not on eating well or resting, but making sure my daffodil head fit! And then the day itself came, up a little late – and then I braved my neighbourhood streets in my green tights, tutu, and yellow top – saving the daffodil head for the race itself. But I was not to get away with it! There were another bunch of pink wavers at the bus stop – girls – and they insisted I put on my daffodil head for a group photo, and then we piled on the bus and I got admiring comments about my legs. As we arrived in town, I jumped off at Piccadilly and went to get daffodilled up in the loos, and finally emerged resplendent as a bone fide daffodil.
I went to join the pink wave, and got someone to take a photo with my camera, so I could text various friends who had sponsored me. And then it was time for the off and I finally got to the start line mats! It was an odd experience having to walk, I couldn’t even have managed a jog with my knee – yet I knew on a good day uninjured I would have been flying past all these people… But this soon wore off and I just resigned myself to walking. The 1k marker came up pretty quickly, but without my Garmin I had no idea how long it really took – and it would turn out I was in for the long haul in this race! Along Chester road I was overtaken by a caterpillar and accosted by a mad woman shouting “Ray, Ray, Ray!!!” at me – it would later turn out this was someone off Runners’ Forum who had recognised the daffodil outfit but had forgotton I go by the name of Road Runner Rob and not Road Runner Ray It was amusing that I just didn’t click at the time!
Towards old Trafford I decided I needed to use the loo, so looked out for the portaloos – there were some of those weird public urinal things, but decorum insisted that I didn’t stand at one of those as I would have to pull down my tights, skirt, shorts and underpants in public, so I waited for a cubicle. I have never “been” in a race before, so it was another novel experience! So much so I would avail myself again later! This was becoming more like a leisurely sunday walk than anything else, particularly so as the runners thinned out and the roads were sparsely populated. At the 5k drinks station I asked if they had Baby Bio for me but am not sure if they got the joke – and then at the 5k timing mats my sister texted me to ask what time I had finished in
At about 7k Bats off RF started texting me encouragement and said he would wait at the end for me. Poor soul had a long wait but his e-cheerleading text service was appreciated! I gave the showers a miss! And then it was the final walk down towards the finish. I joked with a couple of people proferring vaseline coated rubber-gloved fingers, that although it may look like it, I wouldn’t be welcoming of such attentions – and then finally into the finishing straight, which although less populated than it would have been earlier in the race, still had a good crowd showing – the good thing was I had it more or less to myself, so raised my hands, waved to the crowd, and even managed a flowery little bow as the cameras clicked away, and even got my name announced by the commentator as I crossed the line waving my petals about.
Then I met Bats briefly, before going home to get changed, then going back to catch some of the Great City Games and hooking up with Bats again – both of us ending up on the telly as two shady looking characters standing in a doorway.
So no PB, not even a run – but in a way probably one of the best things I have ever done. You just have to take what you’ve got and do your best with it, is my philosophy. And so I had a ball and wandered lonely as a daffodil
Here are the pics – I will post the video of my Great Manchester Run finish in a subsequent post!
With thanks to Liz, Rachel(s), Janine, Neil, Dawn, Dave (bats), the mad woman, Ray (whoever he is) and the entire daffodil support team Oh and my time? 01:45:50
My plan had been to go in the blue wave if I was running late, but as it happened all was well and I was up in plenty of time to start with the white wave!
I chatted to a bloke about the oases of the shady bits and the water station, and cheered in lots more runners, then headed back to the start line and cheered more people in and observed with some concern the people in ambulances – it was so hot that people had been collapsing with the heat and dehydration and breathing problems 
