Back on the Road

Sunday race day and I needed to hit the road again, more in search of a confidence booster than anything. In my recent fell running I seemed to finish well down the pecking order in final standings, whereas in road running I always seem to be in the top quarter, so a confidence boost was needed. So off I went to the little village of Whitechapel near Inglewhite overlooking the Bowland fells for a 10K road race in a lovely and peaceful scenic setting.

I arrived in good time about an hour before start, off to registration in the village hall only to be met en route by Mr Hall (for those who don't know him, he always likes a bit of lighthearted banter between clubs) who was on form today despite not running, him being there to support his girlfriend who was. He told her "Whatever happens make sure you beat him!" I don't think he had any worries on that score as she was first lady back in 38 mins - good running!

Anyway, into the village hall to register and the first thing that hit me when I walked in was the smell of bacon cooking. Now I have greatly reduced
my bread intake since Christmas but this was hard to resist! With time to spare a bacon bap with lashings of brown sauce was too good to miss, so I got two being greedy. Once devoured, I headed back to the car to change and have warm up.

I needed because I picked up a strain a few weeks ago at Catforth, and I have to run it off before the start of any race or else I generally just limp through the first mile dragging my leg behind me! So got changed and jogged back to the road only to hear one of the marshals trying to discourage people from running on the road, so one or two of us looked around and grumbled a bit between ourselves wondering where else we could warm up.

I made a quick retreat back to my car in search of deep heat and when I couldn't find it, remembered I'd left it on the kitchen table. Oh dear! Anyway a quick glance round and I spotted Briscoe from the dark side so made my way to him and asked him if he could help and, hey presto, he produced some spray which helped.

I then climbed over a fence into a field to have a jog around and generally loosen up only to hear the starter shouting "Two minutes! Two minutes!" over the PA system, so I jumped back over the fence and beat a hasty retreat to the start. I decided to start way out back for this one in the hope of not breaking to fast. The pistol was fired after a brief health and safety announcement, and everyone surged forward.

I immediately began to think starting at the back was not such a good idea after all, as no one was eager to go anywhere, so I found myself looking for spaces to run into, trying to be polite by putting my arm out to let people behind know my intended route.

I thought to myself "This is only a 10K" and was eager to get going, and wondered why no one else seemed to keen - perhaps they knew something I didn't. Anyway after around half a mile things did open up and I was able to make some ground up on the front runners. I was passing quite a few at this stage and, when I think about it, only one person passed me in the entire race!

This was not a flat course and had a few steep inclines, but nothing too drastic, after all we are Trawden and are used to hills. Remembering what I've always been told, take small steps conserve your energy and make sure you get to the top, one or two people were walking by now but I kept plugging away and still managed to pass people on the climb. I felt good and full of running but what goes up must come down. I don't think I ran as fluently downhill as I did going up, but was still running at a comfortable pace.

When I reached the 4-mile mark I decided to up the pace a bit and started using my arms to power me forward, overtaking another four people in the process, only to think I'd gone too soon so I dropped ofd the pace to save it till later. Anyway, I got to the 5-mile marker and upped the pace again only to spot a Clayton runner in front, so I gradually closed the gap and started a personal battle, me passing him then him passing me, alternating three or four times right up to the finish. It was a good tussle to the end which kept us both going.

I completed in 46:40, not a PB but then again it's not really a PB course, but almost achieved what I set out to do, finish in the top quarter, coming 47th out of 177 runners. A good position and I'd gained a little confidence back plus a piece of blue cheese - which I hasten to add was the worst thing I have ever tasted - but I didn't go for the cheese, I went for the run, which i enjoyed.