Good training this week. Some of it has had to be in the gym though with it being half term and I have had to taper a little bit for my race today.
Had a lovely run out near my parents'. So flat there. Managed a negative split on the 4.5 miles I did and averaged 7:10 min miles for second half which made me very confident about Abbey Dash in 3 weeks time. Still did over 30 miles this week despite tapering. Was difficult not running yesterday though.
This morning was the Guy Fawkes 10 at Ripley. What a beautiful place. It was really nice because several people from run club were also taking part in this race and we met at the gym and went together. It's the first time I've done that and it stopped me getting nervous. Even up until this morning I was saying I wasn't going to race hard today. Then I set my Garmin up and it all went out of the window. I am just an all or nothing kind of person and to do a race and not try my best is just not me! Met another teacher from school there as well. He was the one who told me I had to do the race. He has been injured and wasn't going to run fast (still 2 mins quicker than me though!). It tickled him that his race number was 69 - no doubt he will be wearing it in the staff room tomorrow!
We had major discussions about what we were going to wear to race in. It was freezing cold and the wind was biting. Everybody opted for long sleeved tops (very sensibly!) but I was the only one in shorts. We got going and I managed not to set off too quickly. Started with my headphones in, but teacher friend caught me up at about 3 miles so I took them off. The first real challenge (although the whole course was undulating) came at 4 miles with the Birstwith Brute. What a hill! It reminded me of the one in Kirkstall I had to walk up during run club. 15% and I tried my best to run up it. So many people were walking so I thought what the heck and did too. Even then it was a killer.
5 miles was looking good at 40 mins. After that I ran with teacher friend again for a bit then at about 6 miles the wind took my breath away and he zoomed off. Still some pretty tough hills, but I didn't have to walk again. Towards the end it got a bit scary as it was on a muddy woodland path which was very uneven and I had to slow down a bit as I wobbled a bit and was worried about injuring myself.
Coming up to the end it was uphill (not too bad though) into Ripley Castle. Support from Andy from run club and Suki the dog helped and the courtyard finish was spectacular - the view that is not my running! Finished in 1:20:48 which I was so pleased with for my first 10 mile (and one mile was done in 6:32 - I didn't realise I could run that fast for that distance!). The goody bag was packed with chocolate, coffee and very strangely a tin of condensed milk (?). A fantastic technical long sleeved black t-shirt was given away. I was 37th woman and 7th in my age group.
Had a lovely run out near my parents'. So flat there. Managed a negative split on the 4.5 miles I did and averaged 7:10 min miles for second half which made me very confident about Abbey Dash in 3 weeks time. Still did over 30 miles this week despite tapering. Was difficult not running yesterday though.
This morning was the Guy Fawkes 10 at Ripley. What a beautiful place. It was really nice because several people from run club were also taking part in this race and we met at the gym and went together. It's the first time I've done that and it stopped me getting nervous. Even up until this morning I was saying I wasn't going to race hard today. Then I set my Garmin up and it all went out of the window. I am just an all or nothing kind of person and to do a race and not try my best is just not me! Met another teacher from school there as well. He was the one who told me I had to do the race. He has been injured and wasn't going to run fast (still 2 mins quicker than me though!). It tickled him that his race number was 69 - no doubt he will be wearing it in the staff room tomorrow!
We had major discussions about what we were going to wear to race in. It was freezing cold and the wind was biting. Everybody opted for long sleeved tops (very sensibly!) but I was the only one in shorts. We got going and I managed not to set off too quickly. Started with my headphones in, but teacher friend caught me up at about 3 miles so I took them off. The first real challenge (although the whole course was undulating) came at 4 miles with the Birstwith Brute. What a hill! It reminded me of the one in Kirkstall I had to walk up during run club. 15% and I tried my best to run up it. So many people were walking so I thought what the heck and did too. Even then it was a killer.
5 miles was looking good at 40 mins. After that I ran with teacher friend again for a bit then at about 6 miles the wind took my breath away and he zoomed off. Still some pretty tough hills, but I didn't have to walk again. Towards the end it got a bit scary as it was on a muddy woodland path which was very uneven and I had to slow down a bit as I wobbled a bit and was worried about injuring myself.
Coming up to the end it was uphill (not too bad though) into Ripley Castle. Support from Andy from run club and Suki the dog helped and the courtyard finish was spectacular - the view that is not my running! Finished in 1:20:48 which I was so pleased with for my first 10 mile (and one mile was done in 6:32 - I didn't realise I could run that fast for that distance!). The goody bag was packed with chocolate, coffee and very strangely a tin of condensed milk (?). A fantastic technical long sleeved black t-shirt was given away. I was 37th woman and 7th in my age group.
Splits:
1 8:14
2 8:26
3 7:51
4 6:32 (didn't know I could do that until today!)
5 9:08
6 7:16
7 8:24
8 7:15
9 8:25
10 8:06 + 1:00
This was a truly fantastic race with very friendly marshalls all the way round, great scenery and a superb finish. One to do next year definitely. It was made even better by the fact that other members of run club were doing it too and it was lovely to stand at the finish and cheer them on.
Now I just have to hope I haven't overdone it and jeopardised my next big race...
I have a big job to do now as I have taken over our run club website and am in the process of bringing it up to date. It's needed though if we are to try to get more people to join.
This was a truly fantastic race with very friendly marshalls all the way round, great scenery and a superb finish. One to do next year definitely. It was made even better by the fact that other members of run club were doing it too and it was lovely to stand at the finish and cheer them on.
Now I just have to hope I haven't overdone it and jeopardised my next big race...
I have a big job to do now as I have taken over our run club website and am in the process of bringing it up to date. It's needed though if we are to try to get more people to join.
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