This was the first 10k either racing or training I’ve run in months – ran it very even paced at about 5:40ish per k all the way, and just struggled a bit in the last k, as I was running out of stamina and there was a hill. Managed it though, and recovered well, it will only a matter of time before I’m knocking the minutes off and getting close to 50 mins once the races start coming up in April. 
After Tuesday’s heroics and some swimming in between, decided to run another 10k at an even pace, to make it my highest mileage week for quite a while (a mere 12.5, but better than before!). Was tough in places, didn’t feel like I was going quick, and no heroics over last k, as some was up hill, but wound down at the end to finish in 54:57, another big improvement, without really pushing it (and only my second trot out at this distance since the injury)
Clocking up the swimming miles almost daily really seems to be helping to get my fitness up there, hopefully it will pay dividends after Christmas and into the spring racing season, as long as I can stay injury free – will keep building slowly.
Had a stressful morning, and was already running late, by the time I got my kit on my window was closing in (had Uni later). So, I was going to do a half hour run and make do with that, trouble was I headed out on a usual run route, and kind of got carried away and by the time I realised I had gone too far, I had already done 6k – so I decided to run back to the main road and get a bus, by which time I had completed 10k.
Sprinted the last k and the Garmin was flying along – 4:40, which was good for the last 1k of my longest run for a couple of months.
Have not updated my running blog for a few weeks due to picking up a bit of a niggle somewhere along the way – was worst after my last 8 miler in the preceding post, the next day, but had been lurking for a while but the 8 miler really seemed to be the last straw in a slow build up of overuse. Probably shin splints, but not sure. In any case, rested for three days then tried a gentle 2 miles, and no go – was really bad to walk on, so had to quit for a couple of weeks and miss both the Trafford 10k (my favourite race) and the Boggart Chase 10k 
Earlier this week, I felt there was considerable improvement, so swam 50 lengths on Wednesday and then tried a very tentative 3 miler on Thursday. I was going to stop at the first twinge, but it didn’t come, and the leg felt the same after the run as before – so I elected to run the City of Salford 10k, being my last race of the season; I didn’t want to end on a miserable note, and felt fit enough to be able to jog round a 10k, so decided to monitor the leg, and if all well, go for it.
Even as late as Saturday night I wasn’t 100% sure I would run, but I got my number pinned up, my chip fastened to my Adidas Supernovas, and went to bed. Woke early on Sunday, and thought yes, let’s do it! So I walked the dog, then got the bus into town and a taxi out to the Lowry. Already some athletes around, I did some warmup stretches indoors, but no running warmup. I wasn’t going for a time here, so I would use the first part of the race as the warm up, having had no running in my legs for a bit, I felt 10k was my limit, without a few k’s warmup on top!!
The inflatable arch went up, and I positioned myself right at the back. The horn went, and off went the front runners. It felt quite surreal to start off plodding along at a very slow trot, without the slightest inclination to bomb out in front of people, but I felt a certain camaraderie with these runners at the back, even as I slowly started to find my form and overtake them. I heard someone beside me tell their mate the first K had gone by in 5:30 and figured I wasn’t running THAT slowly, then, and at 2k I felt Ok and started to go a bit faster, steadily overtaking people, which gave me a lift.
Somewhere along a big main road, I spotted two girls running in frilly pink skirts, and decided I would just have to catch them and enjoy a bit of flirting and banter about the skirts, so I kept them in my sights and slowly reeled them in. They said they thought the skirts might cheer people up on the way round – which they certainly did 
But it seemed to affect also their running aerodynamics I passed them, and waved to them again later when they were on the other side of the road.
I passed a drinks station, which was two people trying to fill one cup at a time from a barrel of water, so passed on joining the queue I was feeling OK as I passed 5k, but was into unknown territory by then, as had not run any further than that since back at the beginning of the month. At about 6k I saw Ron Hill going down the other side of the road, and shouted “Go Ron!” and got a thumbs up from him, which motivated me, and then it was the long slog back to the Lowry Plaza over the bridge, by which point I was grimacing, but still going as hard as I could, and still overtaking people (in fact I was only overtaken once in the whole race). Got over the bridge and it was torture to see the blue finish arch straight ahead, but know their was still another k to go around in a big circle. I overtook more people, swearing blue murder at myself and pushing even though I was really hurting, and made a sprint over the line, to find I had tied my chip so tightly to my laces, that half the lace had to be sacrificed to get the chip off I hung around and cheered in the very last runner. You can see me in the official video at the end, grinning away and there’s also a glimpse of the girls in the skirts
My time was 53:26, a very similar time to my first race of the season, and very similar in tone. I really enjoyed this race, the atmosphere, the banter, took it easy at first and ran harder near the end. Not a bad time at all considering my preparation hit such a hitch, and nice to finish the season on a bit of a high after the low of picking up an injury.
Now if I can keep injury free this winter, and build up a solid base, I might just get that sub 50 next year.
But my main goal is – to enjoy the journey
Pictures and video courtesy of Sports Tours International, who ran both the City of Salford 10k and the Salford Cycle events, and who organise lots of different sporting events and holidays
My training’s been going well and I had given myself a relatively easy running week in preparation for the race, so was confident of good things. Didn’t get much sleep the night before, really, but was up bright and early and made my way off to Oxford Road station, where I duly caught the train to Birchwood. Things were a little different last year; then, I used the toilets in the train station, until eventually they decided too many runners were using the facilities and pretended they were out of order. This time, the toilets were “closed for cleaning” when I got there and still closed when I left. Additionally, I remember the actual shopping centre being open when I got there last year, at least to walk around and use the toilets in Asda, but it was shut up by the looks of it – maybe the recession. So it was the portaloos or bust
Anyway, on the way to join the queue for the portaloo I saw Dawn and Neil so I waved and went over, and was introduced to Ashley, one of Dawn’s daughters, who was going to do the fun run. We chatted and then went off to catch the fun run, which involved a bit of a stroll out to the finish line at the other side of the area. All the younger runners did really well and Ashley did fantastically
Then it was time to make the portaloo queue this time, and then do a warm up, although the line was so long, my warmup ended up being a bit curtailed, and ended up being a jogged 1.5k instead of a few jogs and walks, but by that point there was only 5 minutes left till the start. I lined up, and then the horn went, and we were off!
Probably, with hindsight, I set off far too quickly. I remember thinking all the people in front of me were going quite slowly and was dashing around a bit to overtake. I did the first k in 4:51 but may have done the first half of that at twice the pace. I didn’t get near that pace again, maintained roughly sub 10 pace up till about 5k, but then by the drinks station I knew I was in trouble when I needed to take double water (stealing, I know, apologies!) and stop to drink it. I was wilting after that and when the inclines over the motorway came I had just about had it! I stopped about a K from the end and this bloke tapped me on the arm and said come on not far to go now, and it got me going again, in fact I went ahead of him until I ran out of steam near the end and loads came flying past me. I saw Neil in the finishing straight, and more or less limped to the finish line in a final time of 52:35. Of course all the info above is with the benefit of hindsight, I had the Garmin set to show only the distance and time of day, but it was tempting to look at the time of day and work out my potential time from the start time, so next time I will keep all trace of time off the display, though I think it was more to do with possibly humidity, or just my recent training catching up with me at the wrong time
But all’s well that ends well. I saw Dawn come in and finish and found her, then we found Neil and Ashley, and then this lady collared us for some free finishing photos courtesy of http://www.absoluterunning.com/ All the people in the pics ran really well on the day and it was good to see everyone
The results are below, with a nice group photo, together with us doing some mad Usain Bolt arrow posings, Neil would have had my eye out if it hadn’t been for the shades
Ok, I finally found out why it’s called the Moonraker 10k – apparently locals in that area call themselves moonrakers, and it goes back to a tradition when poachers, about to be apprehended, would throw their spoils into a pond and then pretend to be raking the moon’s reflection, for the cheese…
Hmm, anyway, this was a rematch with what was my third ever race last year, but to date my slowest 10k time unless you counted my first 10k. Last year I found the course really tough, with a big hill and heat, but after this race my times started to improve dramatically. So this time round, I was really looking at it as preparation for my next 2 flatter 10k’s, and was just hoping to get a course PB, and see what racing with the Garmin switched to ignore mode was like.
What a change from last year in so many respects! I had a different cabbie from my usual one, and the motorway was all shut down and diverted. Instead of sunshine and the hottest day of the year, it was threatening rain, and this duly started to come down before the race. I did a bit of a more sedate warmup than usual, trotting around for 15 minutes but resisting the temptation to start bombing around like a mad thing.
The time came, and we were off. I set off at what I hoped was a manageable pace, and kind of let the flow of people around me dictate my speed for the first k. I resisted a look at the Garmin, which I had set to silent so I could ignore the lap alerts. I felt OK as we came up to the hill at 2k, and was determined to take this easy come what may, rather than attacking it with gung ho bravado and paying for it later. A few people came bombing past me, full of confidence, but they started dying like flies as the hill took its toll and I started to overhaul them. I kept my pace steady enough but once I got to the top of the hill I was filled with adrenaline and went flying down the other side, determined to make up, and I enjoyed the downhills before it became a bit flatter. I had no idea what time I was headed for, but just got into a pace I felt I could keep up, and ramped it up a bit when I felt I could, focusing on runners ahead and taking them one by one. By the last 3k it got really cat and mouse, I overtook a group, but for a while I could hear them on my heels and I was starting to hurt. Someone overtook me but I just tried to stay with them. I just had to keep going somehow! A few from an earlier group overtook me in the last 200, and I had a sprint finish in which I pulled away from another chap. It was all good fun. Those little mini races helped me keep going! I crossed the line feeling tired yet really good. I looked at the Garmin, flipped it to show my time, and I had done 50:21 – not just a course PB but a lifetime PB, and with that bugger of a hill as well!
Looking at the splits, the hill added a couple of minutes on to my time, really slowing me for a couple of k’s, but the good news was I had handled the hills well and left myself enough in the tank to run a negative split – did the first 5k in 26, the second in 24:21 – which equates to my 2nd or 3rd fastest 5k best. The reason I could do that, was I didn’t know I was doing it. Normally I would look at my 5k on the Garmin, feel I was behind, and maybe give up on some level, or feel there was no way I could run fast enough to make up the time. Without the Garmin to refer to, I didn’t know, and I just seemed to run faster in the second half quite naturally, without all the mental guessing games. From now on this is how I am going to race, if this performance is anything to go by, it really helped!
Considering what happened last year, this race was a springboard to real improvements – if the same happens again, in the 3 remained 10k’s of the year I hope not to just to beat the 50 minute barrier, but to smash it once and for all
Had a busy day cleaning out carpets and reducing Mum’s house to a completely empty shell, so had lungs full of dust and crap, but went out in the evening to catch up on my running. Intended to run 10k at 10 minute miles pace, so not pacey, and tried a new route, heading up towards Guide Bridge, along South Street and the house where my Mum grew up and my gran lived for over 60 years and where I spent many a weekend, and summer holiday playing. Negotiated random streets then headed back around towards Corporation Road then just made up the last few k’s with random streets.
Felt a bit puffed out half way, but found it difficult to keep going at 10 minute mile pace for the first 5k, and kept having to deliberately slow down. Felt heart was going a bit too fast at times but soon recovered once I had jogged to a stop.
Quite a frustrating race in some ways – to begin with I spent the entire night lying awake, as I seem to have done for the last month – got snatches of sleep but not the kind of restful sleep you need between back to back 10k races – have hardly slept since the Offerton 10k and been nodding off at my desk and feeling irritable – not good and no idea what’s wrong, but I do have phases of insomnia.
Anyway, I managed to get up and had peanut butter on toast for breakfast, walked the dog, then got the buses to east Manchester, where I used to work, so it’s one of those where I’m very familiar with the area. First thing was to use the loo. I got to the venue at 8.45 and by the time I had hung around in the queue for the single cubicle and done what I needed to do, it was 9.10 – time not too well spent! Anyway I needed to warm up, and started jogging round the indoor track when I spotted Neil and Dawn (remember them from the Bolton 10k!). So we had a brief chat and I carried on with my warm up, before making my way out on to the track. It was very bustling and busy, I couldn’t work out which way we were starting so did a lap of the track and then found out we would be doing 700m on the track. So off went the starter and I could see the elites snaking out, but by the time I got going I was quite boxed in somewhere near the back so I got a bit frustrated, but at least it stopped me going off at a suicidal pace. Anyway, the first k clicked over in 5:04 so it wasn’t that slow, but certainly not the 4:13 opening burst of Wednesday!
In lieue of a fast start, I decided I would maintain that pace and attempt to run a negative split, and I ran a few sub 5 minute k’s and kept around the 5 minute mark as I started to feel the heat. I felt OK and just kept it going, and went through 5k in just under 25 minutes – so far so good, if I could only keep it going! Just like last year, the kilometre markers on the course did my bleeding head in – my Garmin would tell me I had done one k, and about 100m later I would reach the KM marker, but I tried my best to ignore it and not run faster to overcompensate, as I would hate to miss a sub 50 by 10 seconds and find out I had run 10.2k… Anyway, that wasn’t to be. After 5k I tried to speed up and that worked for a little while, but somewhere around 6-7k it felt like a force field went up in front of me, I think really it was the hills and heat of the last race still in my legs and a bit of tiredness too, I just couldn’t keep the pace up and went down to 5:15/k which added a minute on to my time, really. Got a bit frustrated as I sprinted into the stadium, the Garmin saying I had already finished (done 10k) with the finish line a blur in the far distance, had to run half the track more or less, last year the finish was in a different place so that played tricks with my mind a bit. If I just went off Garmin I did 10k in 50:42 but the official chip time was 51:12 – exactly the same as my chip time for the Bolton 10k! At least I am consistent!
Neil cheered me in, anyway – and after I had recovered a bit I went off to cheer in Hayley from runners forum, and another bloke recognised me too, then I found Dawn and Neil and we had a good chat before watching the presentations. Thought it would kick off when a lady cop got annoyed when they announced her in the wrong position, thought she was going to shove the megaphone down the announcers throat, but it seemed to end well in the end. Ron Hill and Louise Gilchrist won in the veterans 70 categories and I saw Ron posing for photos, Louise looked as glamorous as ever
All in all a great day out, even if I didn’t get that sub 50 – but given the race earlier in the week, the warm weather, the lack of sleep, etc, it was a fine effort and I enjoyed the whole atmosphere Check out the official video:
The first of my 10k races this week, and coming on a very hot day. I knew I would not, in all probability, get a PB with heat and hills combined – but I did not expect the race to more or less kill me!
I got my taxi to Woodbank park, where Stockport Harriers are based, and located the track and got my number, and located the toilets, all so far so good! It was hot, but I had hydrated well and carried on sipping water, then started to do warmup laps of the track, going pretty slowly, then throwing in some bursts of speed, did some stretches, and although I felt pretty hot, I could feel my body getting into running mode.
So we lined up, and off we went, starting with 2 laps of the track before heading out into the park. I was well warmed up and running at what I felt to be a comfortable yet pacey pace, so was astonished to see the first k tick over in 4:13 – faster than the first k of my one mile flat out PB 2 weeks ago… But I didn’t feel I was pushing hard, and felt I could maintain it, so just kept going, and the second k ticked over in 4:29. Cool – I was heading for a sub 50, but by how much?! I knew the hill was coming and that it would slow me, but I thought I could afford to slow on the hills then pick up the pace again.
WRONG! The hill was a total and complete bugger, combined with the heat. Reached what I thought was the top of the hill, then there was a turn, and another uphill stretch, followed by another. By the time the ground was level again, I felt drained and my legs had gone shaky. I carried on, but my pace slowed dramatically and never got going again – and as the race was 3 laps, I knew that bugger of a hill was coming for another 2 goes at me, and didn’t even attempt to go any faster. I actually stopped at the water station to drink every time after that, and more or less walked the hills the 2nd and third time. The 2nd time, a lady runner was struggling with me, and walked a bit too, I said something to her about the sign saying 6 miles instead of 6k and that it bloody felt like 6 miles… I stayed with her for a bit and then she just pulled away, I had nothing left to stay with her, so don’t know if she sped up or I slowed down. 3rd time up the hill was murder then it was the slog back to the athletics track, a few people overtook me at this point, I really had neither the motivation, energy or inclination to get into a duel and just meekly trotted over the line in 54:45, my slowest 10k of the year, and I think my 3rd slowest to date Funny that I PB’d on a tough hilly course on a very hot day last year, in 51:40, maybe this hill was a really bad one, it’s certainly described as a testing course!
As I grabbed water at the end of the finishing funnel a nice lady handed me a bit of paper – she must have taken pity on my sweat-soaked, staggering, tortured form, and gave me a “spot prize” which turned out to be some tea tree oil shower gel. It would come in handy later!
I hung around for a bit then went off to the rendezvous with my taxi and had a nice chat with the driver.
Well done Stockport Harriers – a well organised race and the friendliest marshals! The encouragement was ace, I am almost tempted to join the club for more torture on the training runs up that hill
Well, I had been really looking forward to this, and been training well, with 5k PB’s and all sorts, so had some confidence that I could go sub 50, although I knew it might be a bit tough due to the 33,000 strong field.
The race came at the back of an emotional week, with a few things going on – have started the clearout operation at my mum’s house, which is proving to be a mammoth task, and just lots of little emotional bursts at having to throw things out, finding old notes/letters etc, so I have been carrying that around in my head, but felt quite chilled on the eve of the race. Had also been feeling a bit run down with some spots and a mouth ulcer developing – despite eating well and taking the usual multivitamins. Last pre-race run was a bad ‘un, did 5k in 29 minutes and felt awful, but that’s happened before and resulted in PB on race day so I didn’t worry about it too much.
Didn’t get to bed too early, then was up before 7am, felt groggy but that’s not unusual for me at that time of the morning! Unfortunately I also woke up with a tongue the colour of a brand new cricket ball, felt a bit sore as well, so used some mouthwash after a breakfast of peanut butter on toast. Walked the dog then got my kit on, made sure I had my chip around my ankle then went to get te bus. It felt a bit chilly, but was warm on the bus. I holed up at Piccadilly rail station for a bit to keep warm, plenty of other runners around, but no real opportunity to jog for a warm up. Used loos etc – an old lady asked me if I could stay and listen out for the phone for her, as she was waiting for a call, then she asked if there was a first aid man about to check her blood pressure as she was getting stressed out waiting for this call. I hope she got the call, but I had to leave, lol.
So I went to join my wave, jogging from the station to Portland Street, and they were doing the mass warm up. I jogged on the spot a bit, but felt a twinge in my shoulder area, think I have a bit of a strained muscle there. In any case, as we moved forward I ended up next to a person dressed as a big teddy bear – I automatically thought “Wait till I tell mum about the teddy bear…” as she always used to like the fancy dress element on the TV, then of course I realised I couldn’t share such things ever again and the waterworks started up a bit so good job I had the shades on In any case, I steeled myself and off we went, a long walk to reach the start line and then people around me broke into a jog. Great atmosphere as usual!
I felt a bit crowded in at first, and was zigzagging and dashing to make headway, although I felt being kept in check for the first few k might actually do me good and save a bit for the second half. So I went over the first k in 5:08 which was pretty slow but not too much to catch up if I was to get a sub 50. As we headed onto the long road out of the city, I started to get really bad pins and needles in my hands, have no idea why, maybe it was a by-product of adrenaline, as I had felt pretty nervous and pumped up about the occasion at the start. This did go, and I felt ok, and at 4k I put in what was to be the fastest kilometre of the course at 5:02. I was getting hot but not too breathless, and bypassed the water stations, but thereafter I was totally stuck in 3rd gear and couldn’t find anything else, I put on some bursts of what felt like speed but couldn’t keep it going. I thought if I could see the last 3k as a time trial and blast through them I could make up the time (I was way off the intended pace by then) but I had nothing left and by the time I was in the finishing straight I was pretty much dragging myself along and just wanted to get it over and done with. My shiny left Adidas Supernova had been dyed red by blood, the sock was soaked with the stuff, think a little nail was digging in to the toe next to it – have run quite a bit in the shoes and done a race before without problems, looks like this just wasn’t my day all round!
According to the Garmin it was 52:53ish for 10.1k, will see what the chip time is but not really bothered – I felt half dead going through the finishing funnel. Not sure what’s going on as that’s 2 races on the trot where my time has got progressively slower after a good PB, don’t know if it’s just been the hard week, or whether the red tongue and stuff is just a sign I have picked something up and am not fully fit tho I don’t feel ill (although throat is starting to get sore now) – certainly I know I can run much better than that, but I couldn’t find my top gear at all today. I don’t know if it was because I couldn’t find my own rhythm early on as I was having to slow down with walkers in front of me, then sprint-dash around them when space allowed – probably a bunch of factors that didn’t allow me to run at the pace I know I can.
Still I enjoyed the day out and the atmosphere and raised a few quid for Marie Curie. The day didn’t end up so bad – in fact it’s not every day you run in the same race with Haile Gebreselassie, then get to watch Usain Bolt and Christine Ohuruogu race, and end up with high fives off Usain Bolt, who had just recorded the fastest ever speed recorded by a human in running the fastest 150 metres time in history as part of the Manchester Great City Games 2009
Bolt even made the rain stop when he was due to come out to run – respect!
I have entered plenty of other races so I have to come good in one of them sooner or later for that sub 50.
