What happened?! A blog post which for the first time this year that is not entitled with a month name!! Well I thought this one deserved a blog of its own and didn't want to wait till the end of the month where I might forget.
On my last post I did say I wasn't going to do this and that was posted just last Saturday. But after further thought I just put last weeks run down to a bad day. I have been running not badly at parkruns recently and I am not just going to lose the slight fitness I have at the moment in such a short period of time. Plus I really wanted a medal and a t-shirt and didn't want to regret not doing it and waiting for another year.
So onwards to yesterday. I set off at 8.30am and made my way down to Kielder with only a few navigational mishaps with a short stop at Gretna services. I got there about 11.30am which was ideal as the race started at one. They ran shuttles from the car park to the start which were excellent as I got on one straight away, So I got to the start at 11.45, with plenty of time before the 1pm start. I passed the time reading runners world. Then I dropped off my bag in the baggage area at the finish and walked to the start. The weather was ideal conditions for running. Cloudy about 10 degrees. It wasn't the day for views but it really is a stunning area.
Anyway to the race. I positioned myself at the back of the 55 minute - 1 hour 15 minute section. First of all the run bike run guys headed off and immediately double backed down a path parallel to the single track road we started on. Once they were gone we started moving forward. When we got going the pace was very much dictated, which I was happy about as it meant I was not going out to quick. After about 1/2 a kilometer the route turns off the road and on to a trail. Initially everyone slowed right down due to the narrowness of the path but it soon picked up again.
After a kilometer, I was warned by one of the guys I spoke to on the shuttle about the hill and not to attack it as it was to early on. So as many people continued to run up it. I decided with my limited hill training just to move right over to the side and walk the hill. It was fairly steep and pretty much lasted the whole of the second kilometer. As the steepness reduced I did start to run again and overtook quite a lot of folk who the hill took too much out of them. When I use to run I would always attack hills and use to love it but due to fitness levels at the moment I thought this approach would make for a more enjoyable experience for the rest of the run.
Everyone had really spread out after 3k and the kilometers from then on seemed to fly by. I was walking for bits where there was hills but I was running quite a bit too. I loved the trails which were surrounded by trees. This really was my kind of race. There was a water station after 3k and one at 7k. The second 5k was definitley easer than the first in terms of hilliness, but there was still a few undulations. Unlike the Mens 10k earlier in the year I felt a lot better in the last 5k and I put this down to having a better strategy and maybe even being a bit fitter than I was back in June.
The last k I actually speeded up! There was a great atmosphere at the finish where I got my medal, t-shirt, goody bag and banana. Overall I had a great experience and so glad I did go. Its not a PB course and if you go with the approach to enjoy the day you will not be disappointed. I ended up completing it in 1.06.40. So only 2 and half minutes off my flat mens 10k time from earlier in the year. So pleased with that. The organisation was amazing and its such an amazing part of the world. I definitely want to return to do the half/or the marathon one day to explore more.
