When I got back did some gardening, mowed the lawn, and chopped/sawed down an overgrown tree in the garden – so I guess I can say I did some cross training as well

The Legacy Events East Manchester 5k at Debdale Park was a different affair altogether from the Great Manchester Run last week – 5k, so shorter, and about 38,000 less people, but these kinds of races are just as important, if less well known, and see runners of all abilities.

It had been an exhausting week for me, with some bouts of insomnia, things have been very hectic, so an early start on Sunday morning was one of the last things I needed, and as usual on race mornings I woke up groggy, disoriented, and wondering “why on earth am I doing this?” (or words to that effect). I has some toast wth bean pate on it, then went to get the bus (really should get better sorted these buses, the online timetable never seems to match the one at the stand, which can be very confusing). Anyway, got to Debdale Park in plenty of time and saw the Marshals dotted around. Was pretty cold and very windy. Found the grotty debdale park toilets which were thankfully empty, though am glad I only needed to pee as there was no toilet paper in sight! Lol. Could probably have held on for a 5k anyway…

Did a little jogging around for a warm up, then went to join the organised warmup, had to improvise when they started doing side steps, as that is the surest way to buggering up my dodgy knee! Massaged my legs, right hamstring felt really tight and muscles felt brittle, like cold plasticine, which wasn’t good. A bloke in a red top chatted to me on the way to the start line and said he used to do marathons in 3 hours in his army days, but wasn’t sure what he would do today.

Felt excited as the horn went off, and off we went. I usually struggle pacing 5ks and this was no different, and haven’t done one for quite a long time! And this was actually my first real 5k race, with a number – as opposed to a park run. Felt like I was going a bit fast, went down the first little hill, went round a corner, and my right lower leg almost collapsed underneath me and developed weird spasming shooting pains all of a sudden. Had visions of pulling out, but just slowed down and it went away, but was a bit scary to say the least

Overtook a few people early on and was overtaken by one or two, but the field seemed to spread out very quickly and I started to find my own pace. On the little incline past the reservoirs just before the water station, a young lady came past me, and I responded by sticking with her; she went through onto the long straight path which was very windy, and I tucked in behind her to shield me from the wind. We were destined to to share the work for the rest of the race, she would pull in front of me, then I pulled in front of her, and it was really handy to have someone to work with like that and kept me motivated. I was really hurting by 4k, but then again, only 1k to go, and somehow I found something extra and pulled away from my companion, then sped past a woman who had overtaken me early on, but who I had kept in my sights. I was wincing and hurting as I entered the finishing straight, had no idea what the time would be, but sprinted with whatever I had left for the line, and cross, according to Garmin, in 26:03, which is 2 minutes off my 5k best this season so far, so all in all the race day adrenaline and my temporary running companion really helped pull me on to an improved time.

I stayed behind for a bit to clap more runners in, including a parrot, some nuns, and a fairy. The bloke in the red top finished in about 31 mins and came and found me for a chat. I was getting a bit cold by then so wandered off to get the bus home, buzzing and a little more lively, although by the time I got home I was looking forward to a very lazy day!

Ran out towards Dane Bank as the skies darkened and spots of rain began to fall. Took on water at a few points. Was at about 5k when I got to Debdale park so thought I’d run up to the reservoirs then turn back, which should leave 3-4k to complete my target distance, but I ended up carrying on and found a nice bit of trail running, so took a risk and followed this, I knew vaguely where I’d end up but not how far it would be. Was lost for a small amount of time, then found familiar territory and ran along a bus route in case I totally ran out of energy.

As it happened I crossed the 7 mile mark as I was nearing home, and jogged a little extra to make it 11.5k to get nearer my house. Was tired, but could have gone on a little further. No sign of last week’s knee pain, though I did have a little hamstring niggle which I rubbed in the park for a bit, but it didn’t feel too much of a problem.

Somehow I have managed to run 12.74 miles for 2 weeks in a row! Plan to take this week as easy as possible before the Great Manchester Run next Sunday.

Set off at a very easy pace, downhill into the woods for a little bit of scenic trail running, and walked up the steep hills for a breather. Got hot in the second half of the run with the sun and inclines, but took it very slowly as I wound back up the hill of Stockport Road to reach home, sprinted past a girl jogger at the end as I was feeling good and could have maintained a much quicker pace, but enjoyed the easiness of the easy run in the afternoon sun!

May do a little more hill work in the next two weeks, would be good to have it in my legs for the Great Manchester Run! I don’t really seem to be picking up any speed at the moment, though must try a 5k without hills maybe next week just as a time trial to see if I can closer to 28 than 30, or my 55 target for Manchester is going to remain a pipe dream…

Went off quite quickly but slowed on the ankle-twisting terrain, then had to tiptoe over loads of cobbles, before powering up the big Stockport Road hill and then increasing pace a bit more off of that.

Lovely run

And imagined Becky with me in the woods, before she ran off to chase squirrels in the trees yonder

I knew this was a multi terrain race and knew where the course was roughly. It had been raining so I knew there would be a bit of mud, but didn’t know what else to expect.  Anyway, from previous race results I thought there would not be many entrants but there seemed to be quite a lot, so it appears the race is catching on and that’s good as it’s a special race to raise money for St Mary’s Neo Natal Unit and WIllow Wood Hospice (my mum spent some time there so it’s a worthy cause).

Anyway, they had a little kids race, then suddenly we were off too.  I was already sweating from my warm up but felt good.  I went off at sub 50 10k pace but quite soon I realised it was going to be more of an assualt course than a PB course! I was faced with mud, hills, grass, lake-like puddles, stiles, steps, more hills, huge mad dogs, and even a leap over a stream, and even queues for stiles at points (good job I hadn’t charged off in front of someone fast !!)

I really enjoyed it though, the best thing for me was that I was giving everything and when I hurt I kept going. I was astonished when I was one minute struggling to keep level with someone, but found some more, and then pulled away from them, and looked round to see they were a speck far behind – and then in front there was a speck which I reeled in. Best bit was taking people out on the hills, I just went mad and powered up them and was never overtaken after the first 2k. I enjoyed running it as a race in fact, and in the last 100 yards I was neck and neck with someone and although I felt half dead I found a sprint finish and managed to power on in front.

Will definitely do it again, a flat 5 mile road race would be handy for a PB though, he he, otherwise next up are my back to back 10k’s in 3 weeks, one of which is hilly, I think I will be doing more hill work in the meantime as I love taking them out on those hills

Saw more runners around than I normally do in my daytime runs! I am doing the Dennis the Menace 5 mile race in June so a few evening runs will be good preparation, but took it really nice and easy today.

Hamstring seemed to twinge a bit when I did a burst of race pace for a few 100 metres, but doesn’t seem to be anything major. Think I will rest for a couple of days before another easy 5 miler, and then prepare for the Great Manchester Run 2009!

Started running around streets then saw a path which lead to a trail leading to Mill Lane and Denton Woods, so was a scenic route. Had Garmin setup to bleep if I went quicker than 6mins per k, so was very slow and easy but what I needed.

Average pace was 6:35/k.  There is an art to running slowly!