Rob's Running Blog

Moonraker 10k – Middleton, Manchester – 54:58/55:06

To begin with, I still have no idea why this event is called the Moonraker 10k – and forgot to ask somebody before or after! Certainly, I didn’t see James Bond or see any moon buggies (although was very nearly hallucinating by the end of the race!)

When I got up, it was clear it was going to be a very hot and sunny day, like yesterday – and because the summer hasn’t been that great or hot so far, I have not had much chance to run in such conditions to get used to it, so it was probably a good idea that I had a little run yesterday. As always, when I was getting ready and waiting for my taxi, I questioned why I was doing this at all – dragging myself out of bed, to go out and run 6.2 miles on a blisteringly hot day! Still, the taxi was booked, which made it difficult to back out now! So my driver turned up outside the house, and we set off making small talk about running. As usual, I had allowed far too much time, so I arrived at Bowlee country park in Middelton, north Manchester with plenty of time to spare, but it was nice to be there and find time to relax and soak up the atmosphere – and make sure I stayed in the shade, and found the toilets! I also made sure I covered myself in sun screen, and applied a little extra just before the start.

The start was pretty informal, it seemed to be a lot of people milling about, then suddenly the horn went and we were off! I started off somewhere near the back, which was my plan for this run and it was quite a sedate pace back there and I was overtaking a few people and feeling pretty comfortable, although not getting carried away, and thought everything was great. Certainly I felt much better than I had on yesterday’s preparation run. After 1k I started to find my own pace and was feeling fine as the runners spread out more. The other 2 races I’ve done were so crowded, I was always either overtaking or being overtaken, but after not too long I had my own space in this one, and tried to just settle into a rhythm as we covered some trails through the country park. Then the route left the park and into a Middleton council estate, which involved the main incline of the course, a long climb up a road through the estate. This had been mentioned in a previous race review that I’d read, but I think I underestimated it. I could see this hill stretching up into the distance and could even see people walking further up – in fact, I was overtaking people, several of whom were walking up it – I never saw most of them again, although it was a bit annoying that some people walked up the hill and I passed them, then they came sprinting past me on the downhill bits later! With hindsight maybe they had the right strategy, but I had this attitude that the hill wasn’t going to beat me and I wasn’t going to slow down too much – which was probably my main mistake of the race, as my pace up the hill was kind of what destroyed me as I got further into the race. Rather than try to pick up pace after this hill and take advantage of the downhills, I just had to coast on the downhill bits and try to recover! The hill came at about 2k into the race – it normally takes me 3-4k to settle into a comfortable place and get flowing; I think I ended up with some serious oxygen debt too early, which disrupted me for the rest of the race and led to quite a bit of physical and mental pain 🙁

My Garmin was spot on with the Kilometre markers (at the City of Manchester 10k it always seemed to be counting 1100 metres for every kilometre, although more or less levelled out to normal by the end!). In this race, I didn’t feel that I was running an extra 100m every kilometre so at least didn’t have that going on in my head! But the hill, like I said earlier, had done some damage, and I felt like packing in and walking at times, it was just so hot and I was breathing so hard, and every time I saw another incline I almost despaired! But I just kept pushing myself, although I was actually wincing with the pain of it after 6k – a female runner turned round and asked me if I was OK at one point and I really appreciated that, although didn’t have the breath to explain much to her, although I did stay with her pretty much until near the end and we exchanged well done’s at the finish 🙂

I felt I was really plodding after 6k, although I did overtake one or two runners who’d started to struggle too, and I was probably going a bit slower to make sure I wouldn’t have to endure the frustration of blowing up. I really struggled mentally between 7-9k, tormenting myself with visions of the oasis of the finish line! Then I got to the 9k and I could see the area where we’d started, and assumed that was the finish too, and I felt I could manage to add just a little extra pace in the knowledge that I would be finishing soon, even though I knew I would not be breaking any personal bests today (at least it seemed unlikely according to my Garmin!) – so I overtook this guy who was in front of me and off I went, and reached the start line area – only to be told by a marshall the finish was another 450 metres, round another big bend! I could have sworn I had run 2k since the 9k marker, not one, and certainly thought I had run more than 500metres – but Garmin and marshall agreed with each other! I was tiring badly now and started swearing at myself! I could see the finish line, but 100 metres was starting to feel like torture – and by the time I staggered to the line with nothing left at all, the guy I had overtaken around 9k came running past me, – well done him, it was all a bit tortoise and hare! Wish I had just paced that last k a little better or had more of an idea where the finish line was going to be! I clocked 54:58 with my Garmin, with official time 55:06 (although I had started at the back of the field so that added the extra 8 seconds from gun time!). As I went through the funnel, a lovely little girl came and handed my my t-shirt, and I went to get some water as I slowly got my breath back and started the road to recovery!

With hindsight, I am pleased with the time, although wasn’t really thrilled at the time and felt pretty exhausted on finishing. In my favour, I had the heat and the inclines to deal with, both of which affected my pace, so the fact I was only 30 seconds off my PB was really good – I reckon in flat, cool conditions I would have smashed my PB. I talked to more experienced runner after the race, and he said it was pretty much the hardest run he had done with the heat and the hills. So I can take some comfort from that, and in all it was good experience – and getting experience of different conditions and race terrains is going to help me a lot in future (assuming I continue with this crazy hobby!). I now know I need to do a bit more hill work, in case any hills crop up in future races, as for the weather, well, I will just have to play that by ear, as it is generally so unpredictable in the UK – at least I have no plans to do Marathons in Arizona or other absurdly hot places!

And now I have done a few races, I will at least have some “course PBs” to aim for next year – so I will be able to do the Moonraker 10k again in 2009, and see if I can smash the time (although who knows, maybe it will be raining for the next one!) – maybe I will even find out why it is called the Moonraker! If you know, do post a comment!

The main thing for me is, I really, really wanted to stop, I felt like I was dying in the latter stages, but I didn’t quit, and faced up to the challenge, gritted my teeth and just kept going – and really, underneath it all, that is what it’s all about for me 😎